(MURFREESBORO) With temps in the 50's, Saturday morning's 17th annual Murfreesboro Rotary Club's "Hotcakes and Holly" pancake breakfast at Middle Tennessee Christian School attracted one of its largest turnouts.

The local club advances leaders with training for each year of service. During Murfreesboro Rotary Club's 100th anniversary year, Phil King is serving as president-elect. The noon club was chartered October 1, 1919, and is this county's oldest civic organization.

Since 1985, Rotary's focus has been to eliminate polio around the world. Three years after beginning, statistics showed that in 1988 there were 350,000 cases of the disease.

King noted, "It's everyone working together that makes a difference. Today we have seen a 99.9 per cent reduction of this disease since Rotary started the END POLIO NOW campaign. there are only 82 cases of polio in the world, and they are limited to only Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Since 2011, Rotary has donated $900-million toward vaccinations for children. Two-billion children now have a fighting chance, instead of a life in an iron lung, or not being able to walk.

The local Murfreesboro Rotary also focuses on helping youth. Members present dictionaries to all third grade students in both public and private schools. While doing that, the members share the importance of developing a good vocabulary with the students.

In addition, Rotary has linked arms with the local READ TO SUCCEED program, whose goal is to increase literacy.

The Murfreesboro Rotary Club meets every Tuesday at noon in the second floor ballroom at the Stones River Ballroom. Their website is murfreesbororotary.com