Rotary Club of Park Cities and Scottish Rite Popcorn

When years ago the polio epidemic necessitated specific programs to treat the children, some of the pediatricians of the time did not want the children to dread coming to a place that smelled like a hospital. Their solution was to pop popcorn and keep popping it, so the children would be greeted by a much more appealing smell. 

If you have been to Scottish Rite Hospital, you know that that tradition is maintained at the hospital entrance, where fresh, redolent popcorn is available for a very nominal cost. Over the years, popcorn has become associated with Scottish Rite Hospital, even to the point of their Christmas fundraiser of selling and shipping tins of popocorn.

That is where RCPC comes in. Many years ago a member of RCPC, who was also associated with Scottish Rite Hospital, volunteered RCPC members to pack the popcorn and get it ready for shipping. Once a year sixty RCPC volunteers meet at Scottish Rite Hospital where huge bags of pre-popped popcorn wait to be packed into the holiday tins. Using three “assembly lines,” they pack the popcorn into the tins, insert the greeting card, box them, label them and take them to the loading dock for pick up.  In a matter of three hours of “team work” and laughter, over 800 tins of popcorn are made ready for shipping. It is one of RCPC’s most fun Christmas prjects and assists Scottish Rite Hospital in a very tangible way.