Ipswich-Rowley Rotary is delighted to welcome Beth Chase to the Rotary family, where we achieve more together than we can alone.

Beth joins our club with years of experience as a licensed mental health therapist. She holds advanced degrees in both Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Education. Her typical client is “an adult who is dealing with depression, anxiety, life changes and life stages, and who seeks to find joy in life and new tools to meet everyday challenges.” Beth also is a skilled practitioner of coaching, e-learning, educational technologies, and professional research.

Beth lives in Ipswich where she is active in her church and passionate about conservation. She holds memberships in the Ipswich River Watershed Association and the Trustees of Reservations. Beth discovered her love for nature early, as a Girl Scout while growing up. In her leisure time she enjoys paddling, birding, environmental activity, and reading.

Her Rotary sponsor/mentor is Rev. Brad Clark.

The Rotary Club of Andover (Andover Rotary) is proud to announce the awarding of three $3,000 scholarships to outstanding graduating high school seniors residing in Andover. These one-time scholarships support students pursuing higher education in the upcoming academic semester and reflect the club’s ongoing commitment to service and community investment.

Recipients were selected based on demonstrated financial need, dedication to community service, academic achievement, and clarity of future goals.

This year’s distinguished scholarship recipients are:
• Gavin Cleary, who will study Computer Engineering with a minor in Music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Calvin Paul, who will pursue a degree in Statistics at the University of Virginia
• Shriya Bala, who will major in Biomedical Engineering at Northeastern University

 

In honor of plastic free July, I would like to share a story about a fellow Rotarian who attended one of my plastics presentations at a Rotary meeting and how it's affected her:

Sometimes, it’s a small moment that shifts your entire perspective. For Susanne, that moment came while standing in her own kitchen. “I looked at the glass jars I was about to throw out and thought—why am I doing this?” she recalls. “I had been saving plastic containers, thinking they were more useful. But suddenly I realized I had it all backwards. The glass was reusable, recyclable, safer. And the plastic? That’s what needed to go.”

This quiet epiphany sparked a deeper awareness, one that has since changed the way Susanne approaches consumption in her everyday life. “Now I actively seek out products packaged in glass. When I was in Vermont recently, there were two maple syrup vendors—one sold it in plastic, the other in glass. That decision was easy.”

 

More than a dozen districts have joined together during the 2025-26 Rotary year to increase membership in the PolioPlus Society (PPS), and ultimately eradicate Polio, once and for all!

 

You can help by setting up your annual or monthly recurring Polio donation today.

 

The district with the greatest percentage increase of PPS members by June 2026 will win a fancy banner and bragging rights! Better yet we will all know we did our part in saving the lives of children all over the world!

 

To learn more about the PolioPlus Society and find out how easy it is to join, please click here.

The Rotary Club of Chelsea participated in the District 7930 2025 RYLA program by sending four students from the Chelsea High School.

 

Upon returning from RYLA the four students attended a Rotary Club of Chelsea luncheon meeting where they shared their RYLA experience. The four students were extremely grateful for the opportunity to participate in the RYLA program. Joining the students were their Interact advisers. 

Twenty-three teachers at Pine Grove Elementary School, Rowley, were provided workshops in grade specific environmental education curricula through an Ipswich-Rowley Rotary District grant. Each classroom, for a total of 430 students, joined their teachers for a demo outdoor lesson along the new nature trail, Trackers Trail. It elevated the entire schools awareness of the local surroundings and built sustainalbe support for environmental education in the future.

Ipswich-Rowley Rotarians also designed, built, and installed a large trail kiosk with a large poster introducing the new outdoor education space. 

 

Please share with us and with your local news and social media networks the exciting news of your Club installation celebrations and your new leadership.  Almost as important as the Service we do in the community is getting the word out about Rotary.

 

Pictured here are: (top left) DGE Pooja Singla with Chelsea incoming President Dr. Aaron Jennings, (top right) Chelsea outgoing President Madelyn Garcia with Aaron; (lower left) Pooja giving the oath to Andover incoming President Ann Ormond; and (lower right) outgoing DG Tom Hankard with Andover's outgoing President Allen Timm.

 

Remember the importance of telling your Rotary stories!

The gardening shed is to support the elderly residents at Chebacco Terrace, a 40 unit elderly housing development owned by the Essex Housing Authority. Residents had expressed interest in gardening, but the housing authority has no budget for this enrichment activity.

The Manchester Essex Rotary Club purchased and installed a pre-fabricated, no-maintenance 8x12 foot gardening shed for the residents, along with a modest set of gardening tools to get the residents started.

The Club will also have service opportunities for the for the 2025 growing season and beyond including help with initial bed creation, initial planting and other work to move the residents towards self-sufficiency in their new gardens.

The project was supported in part by a District 7930 grant.

From our co-president Ken Riehl:
 

The Salem Rotary Club has been making Salem a better place for local residents and has contributed to communities around the globe for over 100 years. The largest impact they make each year, however, is to local Salem high school-aged students. This spring, the Salem Rotary Club was pleased to present $55,000 in Scholarship and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Awards to senior students from Salem.

Last Tuesday, the Club held their annual Salem Rotary Scholarship luncheon where they awarded $45,000 in scholarships to 12 Salem seniors.

“This is the most special meeting we hold each year, and it is a joy for our members to meet students and their families whose lives are positively impacted by these awards,” said Carolyn Shapiro, Salem Rotary Club President.

Successful applicants are high achieving students who are also involved in their local community. They are athletes, scholars, civically engaged volunteers, and hard workers. Through this program, the Salem Rotary Club is the largest non-profit contributor to student scholarships in Salem.