Donations to this year’s Polar Plunge are being directly made through the donate button in MyRotary or through your club’s Foundation Chair. Once a club has donated a minimum of $1500 it qualifies them to receive the End Polio Now Certificate from Rotary International. Last year only four clubs in our district reached that benchmark. I’m pleased to say that the top four clubs below have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs. The “Official” Polar Plunge has been scheduled for April 2nd and is being sponsored by the Gloucester Club. Again we will meet at the beach at the Cape Ann Motor Inn. More information on whom to contact in the Gloucester Club to apprise them how many people will be joining them, and information on how to make reservations at the Cape Ann Motor Inn will be forthcoming. The list below includes all donations made to PolioPlus from July 1, 2021, as of January 14, 2022. Year to date we have raised $24,906.01 of our $100,000 goal.
1. Marblehead
2. Rockport
3. Reading
4. Arlington
5. Lynn
6. Chelsea
7. Swampscott
8. Amesbury
9. Wakefield
10. Boston #7
Winchester Rotary Club combined with our Interact Club to deliver 85 meals to our Local Housing Authority residents. Then we all gathered for some Christmas Cheer at Sons of Italy for some food and drink and wonderful song from our very talented INTERACT members!
Rockport Rotary President Rob Audano and Rotarian Anne Lewis present a check for $50 to Lynne Anderson, the winner of the raffle drawing on January 6. Rockport Rotary’s 2022 Calendar features 13 photographs of the Rockport area selected from over 200 submitted to their photo contest. Every calendar has a raffle ticket that will be entered into a drawing each week of 2022 with winners in the first week of July and the first week of December receiving $250 and all other winners receiving $50. Winning tickets will be reentered for future drawings.
Seven Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor rang in 2022 by cooking and serving a New Year’s Eve dinner to over sixty clients and staff members at Lifebridge, a shelter in the center of Salem, MA. The menu included baked glazed ham, sweet potato, roasted vegetables, and rolls...But the best was left for last...brownie sundaes with homemade chocolate sauce.
Because the Coronavirus and its variants have again become more active, I have moved the next two district events back to Zoom. 
The Swampscott Senior Center approached Swampscott Rotary in early November and asked if we could offer some support so they could send out some meals at Thanksgiving. We donated $300 which was the entire cost of the meals they distributed. 
The Belle Isle Rotary typically donates Market Basket gift cards during the Christmas season. Working collaboratively within our community, this year, we decided instead to give five (5) $100 Target gift cards to the Revere High School guidance department and five (5) $100 Target gift cards to the Revere Seacoast Alternative High School guidance departments to be disbursed based upon the needs of their students/families.
Each year Reading Rotary partners with the community for the Adopt-a-Family project for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Christmas distribution day was December 22. Rotary works with the local organization ReadingCares and the Town to coordinate this long-standing community giving program. Receiving families are matched anonymously with donor families and/or groups to provide meal and gifts at Christmas. Donors drop off in the first shift, then recipient families pick up their food and gifts during a later shift. .png)
