Contributed photo Front row, left to right: Deborah Knight, JC Watkins, Jimmy McDonald, Jewell Price, Olivia Webb. Second row, left to right: David Wood, Lacy Sheppard, Emily Tucker, Bobbie Sue Ormsby, Debbie Rohleder.

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Contributed photo Front row, left to right: Sue Stevenson, Mary Ann Prevatte, Judy McEntire, John Jackson. Back row, left to right: David Wood, Laura Grier, Rev. Steve Cruz, Monty Crump, Crystal McLendon.

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The Rockingham Rotary Club has begun its first wave of donations, fueled with the profits of its annual Election Day barbecue that netted $60,000 in one day.

This week, Rockingham Rotary donated $27,900 to organizations including India Eye Project ($1,000), City of Rockingham Bronco League ($500), City of Rockingham Rotary Lodge ($5,000), AmVets Post 316 ($1,000), FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital ($2,000), Our Daily Bread ($1,000), Richmond County Arts Council ($1,000), Richmond County Autism Society ($1,750), Presbyterian Church New Shoes Program ($1,500), Helping Hands of Hamlet ($2,000) and Leak Street Alumni ($2,000), Leath Memorial Library Summer Reading ($500), Friends of Thomas H. Leath Memorial Library ($500), L.J. Bell School Summer Reading Program ($1,000), McLaurin Center ($750), New Horizons ($1,000), Rankin Museum ($900), Richmond Community College Foundation ($2,500), and Richmond County 4-H ($2,000).

“It is exciting to see the representatives come forward to get their grant check and to hear them tell how that money will be used to make Richmond County a better place to live,” said Rotary member Rick Bacon. “This is the most we’ve ever done in grants.”

According to Bacon, next week the rest of the donations will be given out, totalling $14,900.