Benny Westcott
Aaron Hegge is a name known in town because of the Farmers Insurance Aaron Hegge Agency on Main Street. Now the 39-year-old is also the president of the Sweet Home Rotary Club. He took over the role from Rose Peda in July.
Hegge first got involved with the Rotary in 2021 when fellow Rotarian Henry Wolthuis invited him to his first meeting.
“I really enjoyed the people there, the atmosphere, and what Rotary was about,” Hegge said. “I was able to join, and it’s gone on from there.”
Hegge was the organization’s president elect for a year prior to becoming president, as is Rotary’s custom. He attended some in-person training in Seattle during that time to help him prepare for the role, meeting with other presidents-elect throughout the Northwest and swapping ideas.
Rotary’s current president elect is Jamie Melcher. Its secretary is Christy Duncan and its treasurer is Ken Bronson.
Hegge graduated from Sweet Home High School in 2002. He then graduated from Northwest Christian College in 2007 with a business management degree.
After school Hegge and his wife Mallory, also a Sweet Home graduate, moved back to Sweet Home in 2008. He got in with Walgreens and ended up working as store manager at their Albany location, before starting the Farmers Insurance Aaron Hegge Agency in Sweet Home about six months prior to first getting involved with Rotary.
“Coming back to Sweet Home, having the opportunity to own a business, that’s kind of what got me interested in the Rotary as well,” Hegge said.
Sweet Home Rotary’s biggest focuses are scholarships for high schoolers and literacy in Linn County. The club has played a big part in bringing the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to Linn County. That program gives kids the opportunity to receive a free book each month from the age of zero to five years old.
“Studies have shown that the earlier kids read, the better off they are later in life,” Hegge said.
He added that “We do quite a bit of stuff throughout the community. That’s kind of what drew me into it, just the service above self. The people here are great. They’re business owners, past business owners, and just people in the community that want to serve and help others.”
Speaking on his goals for the club, Hegge said “The biggest thing is making sure we can support the programs we’ve got going. And then another goal is to grow the club and find other like-minded people that want to serve.”
Rotary recently put on a golf tournament to raise money for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. The club will have a booth at the Harvest Festival. They sponsor an egg hunt in the spring for Easter. They run a track meet at the end of the school year for all the fourth, fifth and sixth graders in town. And in the summertime, Rotary sends a couple students to a leadership camp called Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening.
The club also raises money to support the eradication of the polio virus, a mission that Rotary puts a lot of emphasis on worldwide. In the last 35 years, 99.9% of all the polio cases in the world have been eradicated.
The Sweet Home Rotary Club was founded in April of 1941. And it certainly isn’t the only one around.
“As you drive into different cities and towns, a lot of times you’ll see the Rotary signs,” Hegge said.
He said the numbers at the Sweet Home Rotary have been steady since he joined. The club currently has 21 active members.
Hegge said that at weekly Rotary meetings, which take place at the Jim Riggs Community Center, someone from the community often comes in and gives a 30 minute presentation, spreading information to club members. Meetings run from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Tuesday.