What is SERTOMA?

For more than nine decades, mankind has been served by a special family of volunteers known as Sertomans. Founded in 1912 in Kansas City, Missouri, the club was originally known as the Co-Operative Club The well-known Sugar Bowl classic in New Orleans had its beginning in Sertoma. In 1934 the New Orleans Club began this very successful project when former International Director Warren V. Miller introduced the resolution that the Club sponsor a football contest to be held in New Orleans during the Christmas holiday season.

In the early 1940s, confusion emerged between the Co-Operative Club name and consumer cooperatives. A contest was announced and the name SERTOMA from the slogan, SERvice TO MAnkind, was coined and adopted.

Sertoma Foundation

On November 15, 1960, the Sertoma Foundation was formed to strengthen the partnership between our international organization and our clubs. In 1963, after a long search for an International sponsorship, Sertoma clubs were encouraged to help the more than 24 million Americans who have speech and hearing disorders. This sponsorship continues to be of utmost relevance, as there are currently over 50 million Americans with speech and hearing disorders.

The Foundation began to establish Sertoma Centers for Communication Disorders in 1973. Four years later, the Foundation began to encourage affiliation with existing speech and hearing facilities and departments. The Affiliate program has been very successful, with over 300 facilities now affiliated with Sertoma clubs and the Foundation.

Programs

Hearing & Speech Programs

• WISE EARS! Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign - Through our affiliation with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), Sertoma International's clubs educate the workforce, students and the general public about noise-induced hearing loss and prevention.
• S.H.A.R.P. Hearing Aid Recycling Program – Specific clubs collect used hearing aids, then refurbish and distribute them to people in need. If you are an individual or a club (without a recycling program) with the opportunity to collect used hearing aids, you may send those used hearing aids to Sertoma International’s Membership Services Department, and we will be happy to forward them to our clubs that have recycling programs.
• Howard P. House Award – recognizes an individual who has contributed significantly to the field of communicative disorders. Awarded bi-annually on odd-numbered years.
• Affiliation Program – an agreement between a club, a nonprofit hearing and speech facility and Sertoma International. Includes a Purchasing Cooperative, Community Service Matching Grants, Professional Education Grants and more.
• Some clubs sponsor hearing screening, hearing aid purchase and hearing aid repair programs.

Service to Mankind Award ·

• The highest honor Sertoma can bestow on a nonmember, the Service to Mankind Award honors outstanding volunteer service to the community, which comes in many forms. Past recipients have included educators, foster parents, volunteer camp directors, activists – people who make a significant volunteer contribution to those in need. Award levels include club, District, Regional and International.

Freedom and Democracy Programs

• National Heritage Art and Essay Contests are only a few ways that clubs celebrate and promote national heritage in their communities.
• The United States Freedom Week, during Presidents’ Week, is a special observance made by Sertomans through distribution of historical documents and program presentations.

Sertoma International supports this Freedom and Leadership Youth Conference through staff planning and coordinating, while the sponsoring Sertoma clubs provide tuition and transportation.

Tri-Village Sertoma History

Chartered in September 1960, the club started with over 30 members and three of the chartering members are still active in the club. Built on charitable work, cooperation in business and social activities, the club thrives today.

Meeting weekly for lunch, invited speakers became an important part of the program. The club has worked with numerous charities including:

Columbus Speech and Hearing
Boy Scouts of America
Buckeye Boys Ranch
Junior Achievement
Grandview Parks and Recreation
James Cancer Hospital

 Through the years and using dances (the No Run Run with Phil Dirt and the Dozers), the Golf Marathon (in which 100 holes of golf are played in one day by golfers who have secured sponsors) and other cooperative activities, the club has raised and given away over $750,000.