Sanibel- Captiva Rotary Club art show set

The Rotary Club of Sanibel-Captiva will hold its 25th annual Arts & Crafts Fair on Feb. 16 and 17 at the Sanibel Community Center, located at 2173 Periwinkle Way. This two-day art fair has become an island tradition, and continues to be one of Southwest Florida's finest outdoor celebrations of the arts. Over 100 artists and craftspeople will be displaying their work. Artists are selected from hundreds applying to be part of this long-running event at which they display their sculpture, pottery, jewelry, photography, and fine arts paintings. There will be food, refreshments, and entertainment.

Proceeds from the Sanibel Arts & Crafts Fair are used to meet community needs, to fund local scholarships, and for human service needs worldwide. The Rotary Club in affiliation with Polio Plus program has worked to eradicate polio around the world, and was selected to receive the Gates Global Health Award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2002.

Since 1983, the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club has distributed nearly $500,000 to people, organizations, and student scholarships. Locally, Rotary projects include the countywide Dictionary Project, which supplies every 3rd grade student in Lee County with their own dictionary. The Rotarysponsored Nigerian Wells Project provides much-needed drinking water to parched areas of Nigeria. The Shelter Box project focuses on providing necessary supplies to areas affected by disaster or warfare. The Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club is a major contributor to Sanibel School, and provides funds for the Lee County Children's Cancer Ward and C.R.O.W. It also oversees two endowed university scholarships and sponsors kids camp for terminally ill and disabled children.

Barbra's Friends is a project that helped build a children's cancer ward at Health Park. The list is endless with each cause or project important to both local and global communities.

For more information on the Sanibel Island Arts & Crafts Fair, call (239) 810-9333 or (239) 634-4295.

The Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club meets every Friday at 7:30 AM at the Beachview Golf & Tennis Club.