SIDNEY — The Sidney Rotary Club presented its Service Above Self award during its Monday, July 24, meeting.
Julie Gilardi, who volunteers at organizations throughout the county, was presented the award by Tilda Phlipot, director of the Shelby County Historical Society.
“This really is a surprise,” said Gilardi. “When I retired, I decided to volunteer. That became my mission. I started with the historical society and went all over town from there. I’ve had so much fun. There are so many good people here. Thank you. This was a surprise and a great honor.”
In introducing Gilardi, Phlipot talked about how lucky she is to know Gilardi.
“If you’re lucky enough, someone comes into your life and changes your life and everyone around you.”
Gilardi is the president of the Shelby County Historical Society, she volunteers at Wilson Health and gardens all over town. She visits nursing homes and judges essays at the Shelby County Fair. She is also a board member of Sidney Alive.
The program for the meeting was by officials from the historical societies in Shelby County. Phlipot said the societies in Sidney, Anna, Botkins, Fort Loramie and Jackson Center formed a new a new corporation which links all of the societies together.
“We work together on problems we all have,” said Phlipot. “We talk about our strengths and weaknesses.”
Phlipot said the Fort Loramie Historical Society is known for its Christmas dinner. The volunteers are trying to add additional events at their location. She said they recently had an artifacts display and 400 to 500 people attended.
“The ice cream shop next door also had a great day,” she said.
The Jackson Center Historical Society, said Phlipot, is facing challenges with the floor of its building; there is no heat or air conditioning; and the board is getting older.
“We’ll work together to find ways to help them do what they need to do,” she said.
Phlipot said she met Jennifer Duncan during a meeting in Botkns, where they were talking about tearing down their building.
“I probably was not well liked at the meeting,” she said. “I told them, ‘Somebody a long time ago loved you enough to buy a building and put all the artifacts in it. Do you want to tell your children they’re not as important to you?’”
Jennifer Duncum said the Botkins Historical Society shut down 25 years ago. In September 2014, a move began to get it opened back up.
“We want to broaden our horizons,” said Duncum.
The Botkins Historical Society hosts an ice cream social annually with this year’s event planned for Aug. 6; Christmas with Santa and they participate in the Carousel. They also do fundraisers. The group is trying to get HVAC for their building.
Kathie Eshleman, of the Anna Historical Society, talked about how one of their members, Linda Glessner, purchased a house at 112 W. Main St. during a sheriff’s sale. The house was donated to the historical society and has been named the Packer Historical Society.
Anna administrator Wayne York, she said, wrote an application for a grant from Honda. The society received $50,000, which was used for plumbing, electric and HVAC at the building. On June 17, Honda employees helped with clean-up at the building.
A fundraiser is planned for Oct. 14 and the society sells Christmas ornaments every year.
