Lyon Area Rotarians are more than what they do – it is who they are and what their group focus represents that defines them.

The Lyon Area Rotary Club (LARC) members come from many different professions and backgrounds. They share the love of service and the desire to promote humanitarian efforts. They strive to forge connections and organize volunteer efforts to bring people together to create powerful and positive change in our community and in the world.

"We do service and that is a big part of my life – service above self," said Mary Knauer, the current president of the Lyon Area Rotary Club. "I like working with people who are interested in volunteering and who are aware of the needs of the people in our community. We can do good in the world. Our club offers members camaraderie and the opportunity to plan and volunteer together, to raise funds for our projects, and to put our time and efforts into action to make a positive difference."

Bob Limbright has been involved with the Lyon Area Rotary Club from its inception in 2007 when his wife, Carol, helped to charter the club with Ben Stein, the developer of Abbey Park of Mill River. Stein was a Rotarian and had the desire to create a Rotary club in the community.

"Rotary embodies friendship, fellowship and service,” Limbright said. “When you bring Rotary members together, little things grow into big things. Important, impactful things happen in our communities and throughout the world.”

The Lyon Area Rotary Club prides itself in being a hands-on service group of people who are ready to volunteer wherever they can be of assistance and provide benefit to our community. They embrace the focus and efforts of other charitable organizations. LARC members can be found building Easter baskets with Families Building Faith, selling Operation Injured Soldier raffle tickets at the OIS annual golf outing, creating hygiene kits for the homeless, decorating lunch bags, making sandwiches for the South Lyon Summer Lunch Program and stocking shelves in the Active Faith food pantry.

Randy Bizer describes the Lyon Area Rotary Club as "a dedicated group of friendly, service-oriented folks.

“The strength of our club is not only our service, but our collaboration with our community,” he said. “We eagerly work with any service group or organization, which allows the extent of our impact to be multiplied."

The LARC welcomes people who would just like to volunteer with them as they are serving the community. They are happy to provide service hour documentation to many middle and high school students to support their involvement in key clubs and national honor societies. They also welcome people to join them at their lunch meetings to project plan, assemble kits, socialize and enjoy interesting speakers from the community.

"The kind of service the Lyon Area Rotary Club does arises from the interests and passions of our members," said Ann Knauer-Bizer. "Most recently our members have become involved with Ivy Table in Brighton and Cycling Without Age Joy Rides in Ann Arbor, and have brought speakers and information to our club meetings to share. These are evolving into new service projects for us."

To learn more about the Lyon Area Rotary Club, visit them at one of their Tuesday noon lunch meetings at Abbey Park at Mill River or check out their website lyonarearotary.org and their Lyon Area Rotary Facebook page.