Rotary: Jimi Lynn is Multiple Paul Harris Fellow 

On November 8, 2023, Marlin’s Rotary Club Paul Harris Foundation Chair Roger Nutt presented Rotarian Jimi Lynn the distinguished Multiple Paul Harris Fellow blue sapphire pin. 

A Paul Harris Fellow goes above and beyond in serving our local and world community by promoting change such as eradicating polio and fostering understanding by encouraging conversations within and across cultures. 

Rotarian Jimi Lynn has served our community since December 31, 2000. He is a Rotary Club Past-President. 

As Scholarship Chair in the local Rotary Club, he provides scholarship applications to the high school Guidance Counsellor, oversees their review and selection, and at the end is a most eloquent speaker at the MISD Scholarship Awards on behalf of the Rotary Club of Marlin. 

Every week he demonstrates his service-above-self by scheduling year-round programs for the Rotary Club and publishing Rotojet. He donates food and monies for Food for Families and helps purchase blankets for homeless persons.

He worked alongside 55 other volunteers at local-event Rise Against Hunger for Haiti’s earthquake recovery. He has participated in the Marlin Christmas Parade and provided candy for a children’s favorite, Trunk or Treat. He has contributed First Aid kits to elementary students, read to elementary students every year, and collaborated in the purchase of books possible for each MISD Pre-K, K, 1st, and 2nd grade student, made possible by a district grant.   

Rotarian Jimi Lynn is a deacon at his church and a member of the Board Planning and Zoning board for Marlin. He was a Texas plains team manager for area adjusters. He has been a State Farm agent for 35 years. Rotarian Jimi Lynn is an inspiration to others to do the same, to serve beyond self. 

To be a Paul Harris Foundation (PHF) Recognition Fellow is to be the representative of the highest award in Rotary. Rotary Foundation Fellowship is Rotary International’s way of expressing its appreciation for a substantial contribution to its humanitarian and educational programs. The awardee receives a Fellows pin, with no gem stone for donating $1,000 or more to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, or approved Foundation grants. The title is named for founder Paul Harris, a Chicago Lawyer who began Rotary International with three business associates in 1905. 

Awarding the Paul Harris Fellow Blue Sapphire Pin is Rotary International’s way of recognizing Rotarian Jimi Lynn’s having more than doubled his initial contribution to The Rotary Foundation. Rotarian Jimi Lynn’s generous contributions to The Rotary Foundation are essential to securing and growing Rotary programs throughout the world.

By giving from the heart each and every year, Paul Harris Fellows support families and change lives, including continued dedication to rid the world of polio. Paul Harris Society gifts have helped provide vocational training for teachers establishing an early childhood education center in South Africa; water filters, toilets, and hygiene training to prevent fluorosis, diarrhea, and other diseases in India; a scholarship for a medical professional in Italy to research treatments that minimize mortality rates among premature babies; peace-building seminars for 200 teachers and 1,300 students in Uganda, and; treated mosquito nets and medical services that prevent malaria in Malibu. Currently, Rotarian Jimi Lynn’s (as are all Marlin Rotarians’) contributions are being used for a Uganda 3-D Limb and Digital Fabrication Project. 

Mr. Jimi Lynn joins the ranks of many other notable figures named Paul Harris Fellows, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuellar, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk.

Rotary members believe in a shared responsibility to take action on the world’s most persistent issues. 46,000+ clubs work together to promote peace, fight disease, and provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. Rotarians work to save mothers and children, support education, grow local economies, and protect the environment.      Rotary is an international organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide. In providing humanitarian service, Rotarians encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary is 1.2 million neighbors, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities (graduating high school Seniors’ scholarships, for example) and around the world (eradicating polio, for example).

Rotary Club of Marlin meetings are held every Wednesday at noon at the Chicken Place in Marlin.

Photograph: L-R Rotarians Jimi Lynn and Roger Nutt as Roger Nutt presents Paul Harris Fellow Blue Sapphire pin.