Bethel Park Interact Club ‘always looking to help others’

For more than a century, Rotary International has carried the motto of Service Above Self.

The spirit seems to be alive for the next generation in Bethel Park.

“I see a lot of kids who have a drive for community service, and they’re always looking to help other people,” high school senior Addison Hill said. “They’re very focused on not themselves, but the community as a whole, and they’re just trying to help everyone live the best lives that they possibly can.”

She is 2022-23 president of the Bethel Park Interact Club, one of nearly 15,000 such Rotary-affiliated groups around the world providing leadership skills for students ages 12 to 18.

Locally, the sponsor is the Rotary Club of Bethel-St. Clair.

“They definitely help us financially, but they also give us many community service opportunities,” Emily Ashton, Interact treasurer, said. “I just feel like they’re always there, mentoring us.”

With a high percentage of Rotarians already balancing work and family, they also serve as good role models.

“It just shows that you can really help out your community and then still live your day-to-day life,” Emily said.

Among this year’s Interact projects are helping with Bethel-St. Clair’s 63rd annual pancake breakfast, scheduled for March 4 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair, and a March 24 Easter egg hunt.

During the holiday season, the students assisted with the gift-giving efforts of Adopt a Family South Hills by conducting their own “Mom’s Morning Out” fundraiser, according to Addison.

“Parents could drop their kids off, and then we would be crafts, games and activities with them so the parents could either get last-minute shopping done, have a morning to themselves or anything like that,” she said. “It was really successful, for the first time we ever did it. One of our fundraising committee members came up with the idea, and we decided to go through with it.”

In 2022, Interact members came up with the idea to host a sensory-friendly movie night, which they plan to expand by inviting families from nearby areas. Such events represent opportunities for individuals with autism and associated conditions to enjoy films in a welcoming environment.

“It’s not something that you see in most communities, and the people who went to it last year, they also said the same thing and they’d like to see that for the kids with sensory needs,” Addison said.

A screening of “Finding Nemo” is scheduled tentatively for April 15.

In May, the club will participate in the annual coin drive to benefit Smiles from Sean, a nonprofit established by a Bethel Park High School freshman and his mother with the goal of cheering up childhood cancer patients by providing care packages.

“Sean Rovers is the kindest soul I have ever met in my entire life,” Melina Stewart, Interact past president, said. “He genuinely changes the course of this club and really brings energy that’s vibrant and inspires all of us to work 10 times harder for our community.”

When Sean, now an Interact member, was a student at Memorial Elementary School, he underwent surgery for a rare form of brain cancer.

“His mom, Maria Rovers, has been doing a coin drive even well before we knew about it,” Melina said. “With what he has gone through, he really knows what it’s like to be one of those kids. So taking the money and investing it into those kids really speaks measures about his character and his mother’s character. They definitely are heroes.”

Supporting such causes fits right in with the Interact Club’s emphasis on altruism.

“It’s an important part of your own life, because you’re going to need help from other people,” Addison said. “So it’s best to start helping other people at a young age.”