A new partnership between the Clinton-Sampson Rotary Club and Dr. Tommy Newton has the potential to help hundreds of our children, improving their health, raising their self-esteem and preventing them from falling into obesity categories that are currently haunting our county.

It will be a win-win situation for the civic organization, for Newton and his Fitness Renaissance program and for the community itself.

For the Rotary Club, selecting what members are calling a signature project gives the organization a greater community identity and solidifies their commitment to service above self. Coupled with providing quality drinking water, through the purchase of wells, to families in Third World countries, sending young people to the Rotary leadership school and continuing its Vial of Life program, which provides at-your-fingertips medical information to emergency workers, the Fitness Renaissance program will be the perfect anchor.

The entire Rotary group deserves a lot of credit for stepping up its efforts to do even more in the community than it currently does and for ensuring its fund-raising efforts have a far greater impact than perhaps it already does, reaching children, the elderly and people who, unlike us, can’t easily get a drink of water to quench their thirst.

For Newton, the Rotary club’s financial endorsement of the program takes Fitness Renaissance to an even higher level, infusing it with money needed to bring the exercise regiment to more children and reemphasizing its importance in the community.

It also provides more visibility to a program that, without question, is making a significant impact on the lives of children. Whether it’s the delight they get in receiving a gold or silver medal for a job well done or the excitement they have over beginning a new exercise, the program is changing the way children think about fitness and, in turn, it’s reducing their waistlines.

For the community, the Rotary club’s commitment to children should be a welcome sign that yet another civic organization has its sights set on improving the quality of life and by so doing will make a lasting impression on the footprint of Sampson County.

And it should make the community more receptive to the fund-raising projects, such as the now annual Shrimp Fest in the fall and the upcoming February bingo, that will only bring more money to programs that, without question, will make a lasting impact on the lives of people, particularly this county’s children.

In other words, when you buy a Shrimp Fest ticket or come out to play bingo, you’ll know that the money you’re contributing will be used to serve others, and the results will be something tangible.

Clinton-Sampson Rotary Club president Frank Bradshaw made it his goal when he took over last June to lead the civic organization into a new era of giving, not because there was anything wrong with the previous contributions but because he had visions of a larger impact the club could make.

Club members followed Bradshaw’s lead, standing, to a person, behind Fitness Renaissance and giving their own seal of confidence to the significant role it plays in this community.

The partnership is the perfect fit; the possibilities limitless.