Welcome to the Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. We meet Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m. at E.J. Wills Gastropub.
 1910 N Stonebridge Dr. Suite 100, McKinney, TX 75071. Come join us!
You can also find out more about the McKinney Sunrise Rotary Club on our Facebook page. 
How We Give Back
 

Build an All-Abilities Playground

The Rotary clubs of McKinney built an All-Abilities Park in Bonnie Wenk Park in 2018. They raised $530,000 for this project.
 

Provide Clean Water

Clean water project in South America.

 

 

Support Local Students with Scholarships

McKinney Sunrise Rotary Club has distributed over $49,000 in college scholarships over the past six years through the McKinney Education Foundation to high-achieving students in at high schools in the North Texas area

Stories and Projects
 
Thomas Earl Kurth passed into the hands of our Lord and Savior on Monday, January 29, 2024.  Tom was born on March 15, 1948, in Waterloo, Iowa, in Black Hawk County, and was the second of five children to Robert and Margaret Kurth.
 
In 1973, Thomas Kurth married Paula Louise Nabors.  Tom is survived by his loving wife Paula and his two sons, Daniel Michael Kurth and Jeffrey Thomas Kurth.  Tom was especially fond of his two grandsons, Jakeb Kurth, Daniel’s son, and Jordan Kurth, Jeffrey’s son.  In addition, Tom is survived by his sister, Betty Steck, and his three brothers, John Kurth, Charles Kurth, and James Kurth.
 
Tom spent his early years in school at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where his father was a flight surgeon serving as a Full Bird Colonel in the United States Air Force.  Tom quickly learned English and German in his worldly travels during his younger years, eventually moving back to the States and settling in San Antonio, Texas.  He graduated from Central Catholic High School in San Antonio, Texas, and would eventually graduate from Creighton University in Omaha, NE, where he majored in History.  Tom decided to continue his education with a focus on studying law and received his Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  He rose quickly in his law firm at Haynes and Boone Law, leading their Oil and Gas litigation practice, along with trying cases in various industries, and being recognized for many years as one of the top lawyers in the State of Texas and across the country.  He continued with his distinguished career and practiced corporate law for 50 years.
 
Tom was active in many organized sports and was an outstanding softball player with his law firm.  He was also an avid sailor and a member of the Rush Creek Yacht Club, where he sailed his 26-foot-long S2 cabin cruiser.  He was heavily involved in the Exchange Club at his son’s high school and was a gifted photographer, taking pictures from the sidelines of the varsity football games for many years and sharing them with the players, students, faculty, and coaches.   Tom’s biggest passion was horses and living the Cowboy way of life, riding the Colorado Trail on his stallion Maurader with a group led by Michael Martin Murphy, the famous Cowboy poet and songwriter.  He was also an avid fisherman and upland bird hunter with his prized English Setters, Dudley and Winston. 
 
Most of all, Tom Kurth loved his God, his family, his hunting dogs, and his horses.  He led an active life till just before his death from complications of lung disease.
 
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Thomas Earl Kurth can be made to the McKinney Sunrise Rotary Foundation in Memoriam Fund or to EquusFoundation.org, a charity foundation for performance horses.
 
 
Please click the button below to donate to the McKinney Sunrise Rotary Foundation online.
 
 
To make a donation to The Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise Foundation:
 
Checks can be sent to:
Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise Foundation
Attention: Donations
PO BOX 2244
McKinney TX, 75070
 
OR, please click the button below to make an online donation.
 
 
The Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise started the flag lease program more than thirty years ago. Club members Col. (Retired & deceased) Paul Yeager and Fred Bahrenburg (deceased) had no idea leasing US flags would take off and become a significant fundraiser for the club. 
We are People of Action!
 
The club confirmed initiating a scholarship-granting relationship with the Collin County College Foundation. The scholarship granting will be a partnership relationship whereby the Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise will provide the initial funding of one scholarship Endowment by seeding the endowment with $5000.  
 
This endowment is scheduled to appreciate through additional gifts to a total of $30,000. During the growth period, only interest income will be available for granting scholarship grants. In addition, the Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise will provide $45,000 for Technical Campus Scholarships in the area of Automotive Technology, Construction Management, HVAC Technology, Welding Technology, and Health Science professions.
Community Service avenue of service director, Bill Smith, guided us to our bicycle involvement with Scott Johnson Middle School in McKinney. Bill's inquiries included a need for textbooks, computers, clothes, and shoes. But, one thing that kept coming up again was the need for transportation. Bill says, "Some students walked up to 2-4 miles, sometimes leaving their house in the dark before sunrise and getting home in the darkness of evenings" because no school buses were assigned to their resident area. In addition, some of the places where the students walked were too unsafe to walk alone. So, the Sunrise Rotary Club purchased 15 bicycles ($100 ea.) for students, plus a bike light and lock. More to come. 
 
Director Bill Smith of the McKinney Sunrise Rotary Club presents a check to the Principle of Scott Johnson Elementary School in McKinney, Holly Rogers, for $4000 to support student activities this year.
Our First Year History
 
The McKinney Sunrise Rotary Club
Chartered on May 22, 1992
 
The Rotary Club of McKinney Sunrise is celebrating its 30th club anniversary this month. To be exact, on May 22nd. The Club started through a unique postcard campaign that the Rotary Club of McKinney was conducting. Unfortunately, their Club had reached the maximum membership growth from the old part of the city of McKinney. However, new members were not coming from the new growth area of McKinney because of the Club’s meeting location, which was downtown McKinney.  
 
The postcard campaign would uncover new potential members for a new Rotary breakfast club and possibly some prospects for them. The McKinney Rotary Club would be ready to sponsor a new club in the Stonebridge Ranch area where the actual new population growth was happening.
 
The McKinney Rotary Club was ready to make it happen, and this is what occurred below. You can read the story for yourself.
 
 
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Bulletins
Connect With Us
 
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