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The Manchester Rotary Club officially welcomed two new members into the club during its most recent meeting Tuesday, March 26. Ben Walker of the Ben Walker State Farm Insurance Agency and Lori Mangrum of Coffee County Bank both officially received their Rotary pins.

Mangrum said she has lived in Tullahoma since late 2021, when she accepted a job in the loan department of Coffee County Bank.

“I love my job, the leadership and the organization,” she said. “I also sit with an elderly gentlemen on the weekends whom I adore, I clean an office for a concrete company, so in short I am always on the go.”

The mother of three children and grandmother to four grandchildren, Mangrum said her hobbies include antiquing, barbecuing with friends and family and rarely, some alone time to rest and recharge.

“I chose to join the Rotary for a few reasons, one is because I enjoy helping others, but I also know what it is like to need help and how hard it is to ask for it sometimes,” Mangrum said. “I want to let people know that we see them and we are here to help.”

Mangrum said she would also like to get to know her community better and work alongside its leaders to “not just see the change, but be the change.”

A native of Jackson, Tennessee, Ben Walker said he moved to Manchester in 2017 when he opened up his State Farm Insurance Agency on the historic Manchester town square.

“I have a beautiful wife named Kate, I have a 16 month old baby boy…so that is pretty much my only hobby right now is raising him, but I do like to play golf, I like to hunt I like to fish,” he said.

Walker said he decided to join Rotary because he would like to build good relationships and get to know some new people as well as make a difference in his community.

Rotary President-Elect Marianne Myers said the longtime Manchester civic club has been making a push for new members in recent months, and has welcomed four new members this year to date.

“During COVID-19 a lot of people dropped out of stuff, went home, people retired and the club just kind of lost members to the point that we can’t do as much as we want to do,” Myers said. “We are looking to grow out club membership and make a lasting impact on our community because we know that Rotary is strongest when we have a diverse and vibrant membership group.”

However there is more to the club’s push for growth than simply increasing its membership roster.

“We want to be a positive impact into the community and we can only do that if we have enough members to meet our goals,” Myers said. “Every new member is a fresh perspective, they are going to bring up some new skills and give us a better ability to serve the general community.”

Those interested in learning more about the Manchester Rotary Club can email rotaryclub3872@gmail.com or visit the Manchester Rotary Club Facebook page.

“We want to share the benefits of Rotary with our friends, family and colleagues,” Myers said. “We want to show everyone that Rotary is more than just a club, it is a community of passionate individuals dedicated to changing lives. We would like to invite you to attend our meeting, engage in our service projects our experience the joy of making a difference.”