July 7, 2003 — Bringing his term as president of the Rotary Club of St. Croix to a close, outgoing president Tom Baldauf presented Rotarian Elizabeth "Liz" Goggins with Rotary International's Four Avenues of Service Citation at the club's annual installation in June.
Baldauf also awarded Goggins the Club's Rotarian of the Year award.
The award that Goggins received from Rotary's international organization acknowledges club, vocational, community, and international service. The citation is not often deserved or easily won; this lady Rotarian has served Rotary International and the St. Croix community in particular in an unusual number of ways, said a release from Baldauf.
Goggins is chairperson of Rotary Club of St. Croix's Community Service Committee and, in her professional career, is directly involved in Virgin Islands environmental issues. During the past year she arranged for presentations to Rotary by the U.S. Forest Service and the V.I. Planning and Natural Resources Department. In January she organized The Peace Table – A Roundtable Discussion on Peace and Fellowship for Our Time, Our Community. She is also credited as the driving force that involved all four St. Croix Rotary clubs in last fall's successful Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society.
Rotary's PolioPlus project has been instrumental in eliminating polio as a threat to mankind. Goggins kept Rotary's polio project in the forefront of every member's mind by collecting for PolioPlus at each meeting and arranging for the Rotary Club of St. Croix to partner with the Rotary Club of Brisbane-Muskoka Lakes, Ontario, in a polio fundraising campaign.
Goggins has been tireless in publicizing the Rotary Club's wheelchair project, Mission Mobility, whereby those in need will be provided with serviceable wheelchairs next month. She was instrumental in arranging for Rotary's district governor, Amos Durosier, to speak at the St. Croix Vocational School's career day. She also served as a judge at the proceedings. During the past year Goggins has been editor of the Rotary Club of St. Croix's bulletin, has arranged for a series of outstanding speakers to visit the club, and has organized and participated in a number of press conferences to bring Rotary's Wheelchair project to the public's attention. Another project was the sponsorship of an exchange student from Denmark who arrived in St. Croix in February 2003.
Wheelchairs are still available. Anyone knowing of someone in need of a wheelchair can call 778-1992 for additional details.
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