FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Rotary Club is in the midst of its poinsettia sale and gearing up to start its annual book sale. Funds from both sales go to the STRIVE mentoring program.

Fairmont Rotary Club member Steve Myren said for the next few weeks members will be reaching out to people to see who is interested in ordering poinsettias.

Myren said this is the third year of the poinsettia sale. The first year since it was new and they got a late start, he said they sold around 80.

“Last year about 130 poinsettias were bought from us. It grew by more than 50 percent,” he said.

They’re selling 6-inch red poinsettias for $20. The plants come from Fairmont HyVee.

Rotary members are calling on people that they know, but they also rely on businesses. Myren said last year First Farmers and Merchants bought a good number and had them in their lobby but also gave some to costumers.

“We would love to sell more this year than last year,” Myren said.

The poinsettias will be delivered on Nov. 18 and the deadline to order them is the day before.

“We like to hand deliver them,” Myren said.

The sale serves as a fundraiser for STRIVE, which stands for Students Taking Renewed Interest in the Value of Education. The mentorship program is done with members of the Fairmont Rotary Club and Fairmont High School students.

Myren said 20 students are chosen for STRIVE and they’re each assigned a mentor.

“Every three weeks we have lunch with the students and we have a speaker come in, sometimes one who has been through the STRIVE program,” Myren said.

He said they give out three scholarships, including a $1,000 scholarship to the students who improves their GPA the most from the beginning to the end of the year. Two $500 scholarships are give out to the students with the second and third highest GPA increase.

Toward the end of the year Myren said they do a social with the STRIVE students that has been held at Bowl-Mor in the past.

The Rotary Club is also getting ready for its annual book sale. They’ll start setting up this week inside Five Lakes Centre and Fairmont and it will open the day of the Glows Parade, which is Nov. 19.

Myren said they’re always looking for book donations and will even accept them while the sale is happening. He said they’ll have some barrels outside the space where books can be donated.

Books of various genres will be available for a free will donation. Money raised from the sale will also go toward the STRIVE program.

“We have it set up for about five weeks. It’s very popular,” Myren said.

Myren has been a Rotarian for about 21 years. He first joined in Bettendorf, Iowa, and then was in a rotary club in Indianapolis. He’s been a member of Fairmont’s Rotary Club for about four years.

Fairmont Rotary Club welcomes anyone who is interested in joining to attend its weekly meetings, which take place each Monday at Holiday Inn at noon. More information on the club can be found at fairmontrotary.org.