By now, you will have either keyed in or hand-marked your calendar with February 28 and March 2, Virtual Rotary Leadership Institute evening sessions!
Parts 1, 2, 3 and Graduate must be taken in order. Registration, $25 for members; $15 for Rotaractors.
DISCUSSION TOPICS…..
Part 1: Character of Leadership; Purpose of Rotary, Understanding Rotary’s Organizational Structure and Core Values; Ethics and Vocational Service; Basic Goals and Programs of the Rotary Foundation; Engaging Members; Creating Service Projects
Part 2: Rotary’s Structured Programs; Effective Leadership Strategies; Attracting Members; Club Communication; Team Building; Foundation II, Targeted Service and Grants
Part 3: Strategic Planning; Foundation III International Service; Public Image and Public Relations; Building a Stronger Club; Making a Difference
Graduate: Long Range Strategic Planning
Watch the E-Bulletin and District 7930 website for more info. Curriculum is available at rlinea.org.
You are all leaders, but good leaders know that learning never stops!
Back with a vengeance, and coming to YOUR area! Created for Interact students, Rotary Advisors and Rotary Leaders Run by students, so you KNOW it’s going to be a blast!
A fresh idea, a new approach. See what all the talk is about! Meet other Interact members. Network, share challenges, ask questions, get answers! Free food while you have fun! Student-led table topics like:
✔ How to energize your club with vibrant DNA
✔ Summer leadership camping trip...WHAT?
✔ How can we network to get a head start on our career?
✔ International project...what is KIVA, and how do we get involved?
All InteractCafes start at 6 and end at 7:30.
Newburyport HS - Oct 19
Marblehead HS - Oct 20
Winchester HS - Oct 26
Andover HS - Oct 27
Lynnfield HS - Nov 2
This event is designed to give your club a shot in the arm for THIS year, so it will not be repeated in the spring.
The Belle Isle Rotary is gearing up to bring all the greatness of a Fall Faire including baby goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits, face painting, cider donuts and games/prizes to the children of East Boston, Revere and Winthrop. This is our third year of our Club members working together to bring this event to our area and we cap off this fun day with an exciting game of chance called Goat Pebble Bingo! $20 ticket can win you $1000 if the goat leaves pebbles on your square!
Belle Isle Rotary Fall Fair & Goat Pebble Bingo
Sat., Oct. 1 at 10AM (rain date Oct. 8) Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 150 Byron St., East Boston
There will be lots of food, prizes and fun for all ages! Small animal petting zoo, face painting, pumpkin decorating!
How to play: Pay $20 and buy a numbered ticket. On Friday Sept 30, 2022, the ticket numbers will be randomly assigned to a land parcel/square. The first land parcel that our visiting goat opts to drop some pebbles in WINS!
Chalk on the Walk is The Rotary Club of Cambridge’s Annual Fundraiser. It is the Harvard Square version of an Italian street painting festival.
All levels of artists are welcome! They are paired with local businesses and individuals who are sponsors. Kids and families are all encouraged to participate. Most of all it is about having fun! The top three artists are awarded prizes along with the “people’s choice” award.
Proceeds fund the Cambridge Rotary Club's annual college scholarships, local literacy and education programs, programs for the homeless and refugees, and many other Rotary Club of Cambridge’s service projects.
Registration is now open & program book ads / sponsorships can be purchased online
Thursday, November 10th will be our annual Rotary Foundation event, but this year we are renaming it the “ROBERT C. WOOD MEMORIAL HEROES CELEBRATION” in honor and memory of our friend, the late Past District Governor Bob Wood (2018-19). This event will be starting at 5:30 PM at the Danversport and we hope that many of you will be attending. The evening will include a social hour, silent auction, dinner, and Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) presentations.
In addition, we invite all businesses in the district to support the event by taking out an ad in the program book or becoming a sponsor for the event. In addition we now offer the option to purchase a small Well Wisher listing (two lines, text only, approximately 20 words). Program book ads, sponsorships, and well wisher listings can be purchased online here!
As a reminder, all Rotary Club are invited to nominate a hero from their community to present them with a PHF recognition at the event. Candidates could be doctors, nurses, teachers, crossing guards, emergency services personnel, veterans, or anyone else whom the Rotary Club believes to be a community hero. The online nomination form has been sent to Club Presidents and Foundation Chairs, and the nomination deadline is October 10th. Please send your heroes nominations ASAP!
We would also like to ask all Rotary Clubs to start thinking about silent auction items: we would ideally like to see items with a minimum value of $200, so that people will be eager to bid high and bid often! All monies raised in the silent auction will directly go to The Rotary Foundation! The Online Auction submission form as also been sent to Club Presidents and Foundation Chairs.
Join our zoom webinar on October 13 from 7 to 8:15 to disucss PolioPLUS. Learn how to use the district's fundraising platform, hear ideas for fundraisers, hear about the PolioPLUS Society, the recent detection of vaccine-derived poliovirus in NY, the new vaccine & more!
The time for urgent action is now. Hope to see you at our webinar on October 13.
Yours in Rotary, The District Rotary Foundation Committee
"The women of Rotary that have inspired me are compassionate, powerful do-gooders. While I can't name them all, I can talk about the very first. I met Patricia Doyle when I was 15 as an attendee of RYLA. It was a truly transformative experience with Pat at the core of the program. I was so inspired that I attended the conference as a facilitator the next two years and again as a volunteer every year since then. But Pat is so much more than RYLA. Over the past two decades, she has taught me what it means to be a leader, both in and out of Rotary. As a teacher herself, I was inspired to take up the profession with her as my role model and mentor. When she became the District Governor alongside her husband, Skip, I took note of her studious diplomacy mostly due to her ability to remember everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, she has ever met. And not only remember them, but care for them."
Kelsea Lawler, Parkway Rotary Club President
Why are you happy that there is more female leadership in Rotary International? Email us your quote and photo at rotary7930publicimage@gmail.com.
After a two-year COVID pandemic absence, the TBM Fall Foliage Classic returns for its 41st Running on Sunday, October 16th at 11:00 AM. The races start at Proctor School in Topsfield and follow a most picturesque route through the countryside of Topsfield and Boxford to the finish line at Topsfield Town Hall. Register for the 5-mile, 5 k or fun run or 3-mile walk. Long sleeve heavy-weight shirts will be presented to the first 200 registrants. Individuals and Teams of all ages are welcome to participate. This year's event will support the Food Pantries in Topsfield, Boxford and Middleton.
The Rotary Club of Cambridge Welcomes Global Scholar Sara Fattori. Cambridge Rotary Club is hosting Sara Fattori from Bologna, Italy. Sara will be studying for her Master’s Degree in International Relations at Tufts' prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
The Greater Salem NH Rotary's Annual Commemoration of 9/11 was held at the Salem NH Fire Station. The tribute this year was a reflection of 9/11 and supporting families to realize peace-of-mind. Our speaker was John Beland who shared stories on the development and rewarding experiences of the 9/11 Lakes Region NH Respite Program. The Respite Program is a safe haven for families of individuals connected to the 9/11 catastrophe to mend in a serene environment.
On August 27 the Swampscott Rotary Club sponsored and held our 37th annual picnic for North Shore residents with disabilities behind Swampscott High School. Our picnic is coordinated with Bridgewell and the North Shore ARC.
We had a beautiful day, mostly sunny and not too hot. Hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, drinks and cake was served and over 80 guests attended. During the day we were all entertained by music from our long-time volunteer DJ, David Legere.
The day was enjoyed by all. It has been our privilege and pleasure to hold this great event for many years!
Many Rotarians, family members, and Swampscott High School students also help setup, cook and serve and interact with our guests.
We continue to be proud to uphold our Rotary motto of " Service above Self."
Pictured here from left to right are exchange student Sebastian Sanchez, Bryan Cousin, Vicktor and Philipp Zeissig, Joe Caponigro, Fran Peralta, Doug Dubin, Debra Goldberg, Scholarship winner Ayman Alzaeem & Peter, Buck Weaver.
Swampscott's Annual Cookout for Residents with Disabilities
Join Zone 32 Foundation Team learn best practices how to create and submit your lifesaving Disaster Response Grant. Presentations by RI Grant Managers, experienced grant writers & expert panel of Rotarians. Wednesday Sept 14 at 10:00 am EST.
Save the Ipswich River & Watershed: The Lifeblood of Our Communities Global Grant has been approved by RI. It couldn't have come at a better time. The Ipswich River is rated one of the top 10 endangered rivers in the US. Currently the river is facing its worst drought ever. “To be blunt, the river is dead,” said Wayne Castonguay, executive director at the Ipswich River Watershed Association (IRWA). As of Aug. 30, the river plummeted through all previous drought records when it reached zero flow. Last week, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a mere trickle at 0.07 cubic feet per second. “Basically at zero,” Castonguay said.
Is your club interested in participating in the Fall Mini Grants that have just opened? The new Environmental Committee suggests you plan now to participate in the “No Mow May” initiative this spring.
We are working on a template for lawn signs. You customize it with your Club name and they are ready to print. We also have flyers that explain “No Mow May” for you to print and disperse and a template to pledge to support “No Mow May”.
For further information and templates contact Environment Committee Chair Terry Curran at TerryCurran7930@gmail.com.
Peter E. Simonsen, 72, passed away September 5th at Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers after a lengthy battle with kidney disease. Born in Malden, he was the son of the late Aage A. Simonsen and Edna A. (Dauphinee) Simonsen. He was the beloved husband of Diane Humphries Simonsen for 49 years.
Peter attended Saugus High School and was a graduate of Northeastern University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Insurance. Peter held senior financial positions for over 45 years mainly as Chief Financial Officer at Cape Ann Bank and Trust, Beverly National Bank and ending his career at SeniorCare Inc. in Gloucester.
Peter joined Rotary in 1991 as a charter member of the Rotary Club of Hamilton Wenham. He was president of the club in 1996-1997. Over the years he held many positions in Rotary District culminating with serving as District Governor in 2014-2015.
As the Rotary International President, Jennifer Jones is already proving, 'Skies are the limit' once the glass ceiling has been broken. She is already setting the bar high and motivating all of us to think out of the box with her theme 'Imagine Rotary!'
Pooja Singla, one of the Assistant Governors for District 7930 this year, said she cannot imagine herself in Rotary without two specific women.
"When I was promoted to be the president elect with the support of my club's members, I was really nervous if I would be able to fulfill those responsibilities that I was committing to. No one could hear my voice across the table. I was so shy of speaking. Then I met Joan Arsenault, in March 2019. She was going to be the DG when I was starting as President.
Greater Salem NH Rotary members helped with the cleanup and beatification of the ADA accessible pathways at Sunset Hill Educational Institute (SHEI) and the Wheelchair Health in Motion (WHIM) Bradford, NH. SHEI has over 2,000 feet of hard packed gravel pathways with ADA bathroom accommodations. SHEI is a safe space in a private setting for individuals of all walks of life and disabilities to gather and embrace the peaceful countryside and spectacular vistas.
To learn more about this rare find check out www.sheinh.org.
A 12-month Gloucester photo raffle calendar will be sold through the Gloucester Rotary that includes a raffle ticket. A winning number will be chosen each week in 2023. All profits from the calendar sales will go to the Gloucester Rotary’s efforts to raise money to support the many community and international activities in which the group is involved.
In my monthly District Governor email a few days ago I had invited Rotary Clubs to do a project during Basic Education and Literacy Month (September) and perhaps build a "Little Library" in their community:
"September is Basic Education and Literacy Month. If your club has not done a District Managed Grant this year you might consider this area of focus. Build a “Little Library” with your Interact Club or your local scout troop and stock it with books. Do a project with your local library or school library, even set up a reading club or afterschool program. Consider purchasing books in languages other than English to donate. Many libraries only have a limited supply."
I want to follow up on this invitation with an offer. In recent months, Nora and I have gone through our library and removed a whole series of duplicate books that had accumulated over the years. We'd be happy to donate these books to any Rotary Club who actually wants to build such a "Little Library". It's about 250 books, mostly English and German, about evenly split 50:50.
Past Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta has announced those clubs who have fulfilled the requirements to be awarded the Presidential Citation for the Rotary year 2021-2022.
Congratulations go to the following clubs in District 7930:
Burlington
Cambridge
Lawrence
Lynn
Lynnfield
Newburyport
Parkway
Reading
Wakefield
Clubs will have received an email with this certificate. Any club that wants their certificate presented to last year's President, should contact IPDG Terry Curran at TerryCurran7930@gmail.com.
Q: How are you impacted by seeing a woman Rotary International President?
A: I am incredibly pleased that Jennifer Jones is appointed as our first woman Rotary International President. I believe that you cannot be what you cannot see, and this is an especially key step in Rotary demonstrating their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am motivated to carry out her mission to create peace and unity, despite our differences, as I lead the impact of the Rotary Club in my community.
-Sheila Clarke, Reading Rotary Club President, 2022-2023.
Why are you happy that there is more female leadership in Rotary International? Email us your quote and photo at rotary7930publicimage@gmail.com.
Today, September 1st, we will start accepting applications for Mini-Grants and I want to invite all Rotary clubs to do a project in one or more of the areas of the Environment, Membership, Public Image, or Diversity/Equity/Inclusion. Projects that touch multiple areas are encouraged!
The grant is a reimbursement grant with a $200 maximum to each club and only one grant per club. Grants are available on a first come, first served basis until the $3,000 district budget for mini-grants is exhausted.
If you want to know why our District Governor cares about pollinator habitat restoration, the answer is very simple: over the last 50 years we have already lost 45% of pollinators worldwide! That is a staggering number!
We all need to come together to help with pollinator habitat restoration, and our DG not only turned his backyard into a pollinator habitat and Monarch butterfly waystation, but he became a beekeeper himself and created an apiary with two beehives in his yard. The location on the Atlantic coast is not ideal, but the two hives are somewhat shielded behind the house and have been thriving this season.
Today, August 31st, was the first day we harvested honey from the hives. We took only 4 frames - because we want the bees to have enough honey to survive the brutal New England winters - and extracted honey from them, yielding about 17 jars of honey.
Shown in this picture is a jar of honey harvested today, with the pollinator habitat in the background.
Rotary District Youth Exchange Chair Robert Ford welcomed our four inbound Youth Exchange students for the 2022-23 high school year at our annual Welcome Picnic at Camp Rotary on Sunday, August 28th, where Rotary Youth Exchange program leaders, host families, and students got together to welcome the students to our district and to conduct an initial training session.
District Governor Alexander Falk delivered remarks on the importance of the Rotary Youth Exchange program for Peacebuilding in the World and presented all students with Rotary 2022-23 theme backpacks, as well as baseball caps and Rotary 4-way test coins - encouraging them to use the coins as conversation starters when other people ask them about Rotary.
Our four inbound students this year are (left to right in the photo):
Sebas from Colombia hosted by the Swampscott Rotary Club
Rasmus from Finland hosted by the Ipswich-Rowley Rotary Club
Talia from Uganda hosted by the Marblehead Rotary Club
Ada from Switzerland hosted by the North Andover Rotary Club
We are grateful to those four Rotary Clubs for hosting our students and to all volunteers and host families in the Rotary Youth Exchange program in our district!
Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) 2023 Dates Announced
Happiness reigns in most homes whenever a Save the Date announces a happy upcoming occasion. So, to all District 7930 current members and future leaders: Be happy and.....
SAVE THE DATES February 28 and March 2, 2023 6:00-9:00 p.m. Special Two-Evening Virtual Session
Watch upcoming eBulletins and District Newsletters as well as the district website for more information as we get closer to those dates!
Don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about Rotary plus interact and share excitement and ideas with Rotarians, both from our district and outside 7930.
On August 25, 2022, Lynn Rotarians met at the Old Tyme Restaurant to gather together school supplies for donation to the Salvation Army. The Rotarians organized supplies by category to make it easier for Salvation Army Captains Kevin and Helen Johnson to put in backpacks for children.
At the end of the evening there were at least 15 heavily laden bags of school supplies, primarily for elementary age students. The supplies will be provided to the students at a Salvation Army distribution later in August. The Salvation Army is accepting donations at its headquarters at 1 Franklin St., Lynn Monday thru Friday.
More than 150 local businesses, clubs, and non-profits
Antique car show
3rd Annual Cornhole Classic Tournament
Dedicated children’s area with games and activities
Amusement zone with inflatables
Delicious food choices
Beer garden and tailgate area to watch the Patriots play on a big screen
If you want to be a part of it, now is the time. Sign up now before it's too late!
Sponsorship opportunities still available. Support this beloved community event. The Reading Fall Street Faire is offering corporate sponsorships at various contribution levels. See fallstreetfaire.com for details.
When asked about female mentorship, Lori Karas, District Governor Elect of District 7930, said:
"There are two women in Rotary who stand out. Joan Arsenault and I met at NEPETs when I was preparing to become President of Boston #7 in March 2017. I was still a relatively new Rotarian – just about 1.5 years. Through our discussion she then asked, 'do you know who your AG will be?' I didn’t. She immediately said, 'I will be your AG and help you take what you’ve learned at NEPETs and help you navigate Rotary.'
"One month later at the District Assembly, Joan introduced me to PDG Ingrid Brown. As the three of us spoke, Ingrid was incredibly encouraging, supportive, and felt I had what it took to make a difference.
"Now in order to lift up other women," Lori says she "makes introductions and opens doors and windows."
Why are you happy that there is more female leadership in Rotary International? Email us your quote and photo at rotary7930publicimage@gmail.com.
Melrose Rotary Club will host its first ever Left-Right-Center tournament on Friday September 23rd at Melrose's Memorial Hall (590 Main St., Melrose). If you've never played before, it's the most fun you'll have playing a game that takes under three minutes to learn! There will be cash prizes, raffles, 50/50, side games, a cash bar (beer/wine) and pizza & popcorn! Tickets are $20 per person, and tables of 10 are selling quickly. Bring your friends and family and fill a table for this 21+ event. Tickets at www.melroserotary.org/lrc or contact us at melroserotaryclub@gmail.com.
A recording of this webinar is now available on YouTube, and you can access the entire webinar through the following link, or you can click on any of the three segments above and directly jump to that portion of the recording: https://youtu.be/v-mYKheYxVo
Rotary Peabody is excited to operate a booth again this year at Peabody's annual International Festival on Sunday, Sept 11th. We're continuing our successful partnership with the Chamber of Commerce to add a sangria experience to the Beer Garden. All purchases directly benefit Rotary Peabody's scholarships and other service projects to improve our community. Stop by our booth to have some refreshing sangria and say hi to fellow Rotarians!
Greater Salem NH Rotary Serving towns of Salem, Pelham, Windham, Atkinson, & Hampstead
Standing outside the supermarket encouraging shoppers to purchase a little extra to contribute to our food drive was rewarding as we filled carriage after carriage. Thanks to our members and all those who contributed to make this food drive a success.
Our Third Annual Cornhole Tournament was a fun night for all who attended. Thanks to our tireless members who organized the tournament, our sponsors, and participants, we were able to raise 10,000 to distribute to food pantries within our five communities.
When asked what she thinks about Rotary finally having a woman as the International President for 2022-23, Marnee Walsh says, "Jennifer Jones has already demonstrated her commitment, as early as the late 1980's, by being actively involved in the numerous Rotary roles and activities she has held on her path to the Presidency. She has already made a significant difference and will continue to do so.
"The Rotary International Glass Ceiling has been broken!
"Additionally, her presidential theme 'Imagine Rotary' opens the door for powerful, creative, dedicated, diverse leadership that is so representative of her open-ended commitments. Let's hope this is a start for more females in the Rotary leadership ranks and let us all support President Jones in every way we can."
Marnee Walsh is an Assistant Governor of Rotary District 7930, the District Community Services Committee Chair and a member of the Winchester MA Rotary Club.
Why are you happy that there is more female leadership in Rotary International? Email us your quote and photo at rotary7930publicimage@gmail.com.
Posted by Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis on Aug 16, 2022
Luis Lopez de Rivera arrived from Monterrey, Mexico in Melrose in the frigid days of January to stay with hosts Mary Beth & Michael Margolis while he completed a DEDP Master’s program at MIT. The program included many international students with its main focus being to equip high-potential young professionals from all around the world with the right tools to produce rigorous evidence-based policy to fight global poverty and inequality.
Mary Beth is a past President of the Melrose Cub, Past Assistant Governor and District Governor Aide, and member of the Paul Harris Society. But her Rotary passion has been the Rotary Youth Exchange Program the District began almost 15 years ago, helping coordinate and manage the many high school students who have visited District 7930 and those outbounds who left us to travel abroad. Luis was kind enough to stay and mind Oliver the cat while Mary Beth & Michael went to Florida in February. He was introduced to the Melrose Club and found the members to be quite helpful in getting him settled, including acquiring warm clothing. He was able to attend a few District events with the current Global Scholar Fransisco with whom he became close friends and found they share the same home town, Monterrey! Our friendship will continue for many years to come thanks to Rotary!
Now Francisco's sister Regina is looking for a family to host her this coming year at Simmons College where she'll be doing a Masters in Nutrition. Mary Beth and Michael are considering hosting her in the 2nd semester but Regina would love to find a family in the District for her start of school in mid September. She is a frequent volunteer at home in Monterrey and wants to continue her service to others. Please consider this wonderful opportunity to expand your service to Rotary and the world by offering to host Regina. You may contact Mary Beth at margateer@verizon.net or Kelsea Whittemore at kelsea.whittemore@gmail.com for more details.
Jennifer Jones has inspired women all over the Rotary world. How are you impacted by seeing a woman Rotary International President? Why are you proud there are more females in Rotary leadership? We would like to highlight the women of Rotary District 7930. If you'd like to participate, please email us your answer and a photo to rotary7930publicimage@gmail.com for possible inclusion in our social media campaign, website, and e-bulletin.
Stephanie A. Urchick, a Rotarian since 1991, representing the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania has been selected as Rotary Internation President-Nominee.
If no other candidates are nominated by 1 October, Stephanie will be elected by acclimation and will serve as RI President for Rotary year 2024-25.
Stephanie has traveled around the world in the name of Rotary to such countries as Vietnam and Dominican Republic. She served as an RI Director as well as RI Foundation Trustee and is a Major Donor and member of the Bequest Society.
Please join me in congratulating Stephanie, as she will be only the second woman in history to lead us as Rotary International President.
Recently at the luncheon at the Boston Yacht Club, the team of Marblehead Rotary Service Dog Project and its partner, Chelsea Rotary's Maureen Foley (1st row, third left), welcomed the Bachours family: Gabriel (fourth left), his mother, Angelica (seated second from left), younger brother Simon (third row). After a hiatus of two years because of the pandemic, the membership finally met the family's service dog rockstar, Kacey, the dependable black Labrador and companion to Gabriel. Marblehead Rotary and Chelsea Rotary clubs pulled together their resources to fundraise for NEADS on behalf of Gabriel. The 40-year-old charitable organization, NEADS, offers a wide range of Service Dogs and Assistance Dogs to meet the needs of people with a variety of disabilities or hearing loss. It was a lively visit tempering the summer heat into an enjoyable occasion!
Our district has applied for a 25K Disaster Response Grant to provide shelter for internally displaced peoples in Ukraine. This grant will provide beds, mattresses, and other items needed to provide housing. The grant is in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Kyiv International. Your generous support of our Foundation's Annual Fund allows grants like these to help support those in need. Please continue to give!!!
DG Alexander Falk in conjunction with the DMG District Foundation Subcommittee have approved that more than one grant can be awarded per club: one international grant (up to $10,000 for the grant with $5000 reimbursed) and one local grant (up to $6000 for the grant with $3000 reimbursed).
Grants are approved on a first come first serve basis so get your applications in soon. Deadline to submit grants is October 31, 2022.
Want more information? Contact Joan Arsenault or Martha Holden. We would be happy to help you in this process.
This important individual leads and supports the clubs in D7930 by inspiring and motivating them to Do Good in the World! All clubs are encouraged to propose suitable candidates who meet the qualifications to serve. One of these requirements is that at the time of taking office, they must have been a past president of a club, completed seven years of membership in one or more clubs, and to have attended governors-elect training seminar and International Assembly. If you feel that your club has such a leader among your members, please consider nominating them to help fulfill Rotary's ongoing missions.
The Beverly Rotary Club presented the City of Beverly and Mayor Cahill with a check for $50,000 to go towards repairing and maintaining the Gazebo on the common. It was originally built by the Club in 1997. The Club over two years and two Presidents, Marshall Handly and Diane Howard, raised this money to repair and provide upkeep for this beauty. It sits in the common across from the Beverly Public Library and right next to Montserrat College of Art. It is a wonderful structure that the community uses, but it is in need of repair. The fix-up has started and will continue so that the structure is safe for use. Thanks to the members of our Club and the community who helped to raise this money. Looking forward to a spruced-up Gazebo soon!
It took only 16 years for Rotary to appear in the dictionary. On the inside front cover of the 1921 Old Farmer's Almanac was an ad from the G. & C. Merriam Co for their new edition of 'Webster’s New International Dictionary.' The ad opens by asking ‘have you and yours mastered these new words.’ One of the new words was ‘Rotarian.’
We are saddened to inform you that Past District Governor 2008-09 Thomas R. Elliott, formerly of the Danvers Rotary Club, has passed away this week. There is not going to be any service in the immediate future.
The family is going to work with the town of Danvers to have a memorial bench put in at the Pavilion that was the Rotary Club’s Centennial gift to the town. The intention at this time is to have a ceremony when that happens, a celebration of his life and a dedication of the memorial bench.
Our condolences go out to Carol Elliott, and their family.
Rotarians who want to, can make a donation to the Danvers People to People Food Pantry. This was a cause that Tom and Carol strongly believed in.
The Parkway Club is looking for an individual or individuals to house a graduate student who will be attending Simmons College in September. The incoming student is our last year's scholar, Fransisco's sister. She has received funding for tuition but not for housing. Please contact us as soon as possible if you can host her for a month, a couple of months, or the full year.
Has your club recently hosted an event or project or are you planning something in the near future that you would like to share with your fellow District 7930 Rotarians?
The weekly eBulletin depends on the content provided by clubs, so please submit your stories and we will publish them on the district website and in the next eBulletin. Stories that showcase your club or event should be submitted via the website portal at this link.
The deadline for submitting items for the weekly District 7930 eBulletin is Friday morning in order to be included in the following Monday's edition. If the eBulletin being prepared is getting to be too long and the story submitted is not time-sensitive, we may choose to delay including it until the following week.
For some guidelines on creating stories, please read more!
In-person exchanges are back this year! To celebrate, Rotary Youth Exchange has unveiled a new video that showcases the life-changing experiences students, families, and volunteers can have through Rotary Youth Exchange.
We hope this video inspires you — whether you’re a Rotary member, a volunteer, or part of the next generation of Rotary Youth Exchange students — to create lasting change through peacebuilding exchanges that span the globe.
And if Rotary Youth Exchange has made a positive impact on your life, or if you’re excited about participating in the future, please share this video to let others know about this transformative program.
Each year we in the Greater Salem NH Rotary notify the high schools in our five communities of Salem, Pelham, Windham, Atkinson, and Hampstead requesting applicants for our Scholarship Awards.
This year we chose eight applicants based on their scholastic achievement and their community service. We had the pleasure of presenting the award in person to six of the students who were available to attend out meeting.
The selected students demonstrated their ability to achieve a high level of accomplishments in studies, leadership, interest and service in their communities, and some extended their compassion to a third world country.
Our best wishes to our future leaders as they enter a new chapter in their life by attending the college of their choice. Pictured here scholarship recipients Donovan Homsey, Jordan Krahn, Gabrielle Driggers, Mahi Patel, Katrina Souter and Kyleigh Walker
Want to have fun sharing wine with fellow Rotarians from D7930 & D7790? Consider joining the Corks & Caps Local RWAF Chapter Sunday July 31 from 6-7 pm on Zoom. For this tasting, choose a bottle of Chardonnay & a bottle of Pinot Noir. Email Joan Kelly Arsenault for the invite. All levels of wine lovers welcome!
This month, PDG John Kramb, co-owner of Adams County Winery in PA, will be our guest speaker. Adams County Winery opened its doors in 1975 in Orrtanna, PA and is currently Pennsylvania’s fifth oldest operating winery. The Farm Winery sits on 40 beautiful acres of never-ending rolling hills and farmland. The vineyard is home to five different varieties of grapes, spanning over 12.5 acres.
The Rotary Club of Woburn had the pleasure of organizing, cooking and serving a breakfast at the Senior Center on School Street in Woburn on Tuesday, July 19th. We were able to provide over seventy of our well-deserved seniors a delicious breakfast as well as live music from Irish Entertainer Mossie Coughlan. It was a great morning of fun and fellowship.
The Rotary Club of Woburn is dedicated to serving our local community in any way we can. If you are interested in being part of an organization that makes a difference and a positive impact on your local and global community, please contact us. We're always looking for good people that want to do good things!
DG Alexander Falk, DRFC Joan Arsenault and PolioPLUS Chair Ingrid Brown are excited to announce D7930 will be launching the PolioPLUS Society in our district.
Join this new society by pledging to donate a minimum of US$100 each year until the world is certified polio free. Everyone who joins before World Polio Day, which is October 24, 2022, will be considered a charter member of D7930’s Polio Plus Society.
2nd Step, make your donation. You can choose to donate in various ways, either by credit card online, or by check. If you choose to donate by check, make the check out to “The Rotary Foundation” with “PolioPlus” in the memo section and submit to your club’s Foundation Chair. If you choose a credit card, go to my.rotary.org, click on donate and choose “Polio Fund.” (To donate online, make sure you have registered on myrotary.org for a My Rotary account for you and your club to receive proper credit. Signing up is quick and easy). You can then:
• Make a onetime donation of $100 (or more) with your credit card by clicking on the “One-time donation” button and choosing the appropriate amount from the boxes below. Remember to donate again next year if you choose this option.
The Wakefield Rotary Club will again be hosting a Red Sox ticket chance at the WCAT Movies by the Lake. Thanks to a generous donation from Wakefield Rotarian Frank Fiorentino and Mahoney, Fiorentino, and Co., PC, raffle participants can win a pair of tickets for the Red Sox versus the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. Club President Gene Mullen said, “This is an easy way to win some great Sox seats and support local causes through Rotary.” The previous raffle drew in over $2,000 which was donated back to the community throughout the year.
Ticket chances cost twenty-five dollars and the prize includes two seats at Fenway between the visitor on-deck circle and home plate. The value of the pair of tickets is about $275. Last year’s ticket winner, Jonathan Chines said, “I’ve never sat so close to home plate! The seats were amazing, and we had a great time.”
Tickets are on sale during the Movies by the Lake on the Common. Visit the Rotary table to grab your chance to win. Tickets are also available at WCAT (24 Hemlock Road) and from any Wakefield Rotarian. You can also Venmo the club @wakefieldrotaryclub. Indicate “sox raffle” in the memo and provide your contact information. The winning ticket will be pulled at 8:00pm on Thursday August 4th at the Movies by the Lake event.
Picture here is 2021 winner Jonathan Chines and his son at the Sox game.
Marblehead Rotary's annual fundraising and summer favorite, Lobstah Raffle, is a blockbuster hit! Since 2002, Lobstah Raffle has raised thousands of dollars for scholarships and camperships for Marblehead Youth and Children. For twenty years, and held every Fourth of July weekend, Lobstah Raffle kiosks located all over downtown have been an iconic presence during our Festival of Arts weekend for returning visitors, locals, and community members! This week, we have drawn four winners of 20-pound live lobsters. This year has been a record year, with over 25K raised! Sold-out tickets went for $5 for one ticket or $20 for 5 tickets.
Pictured from top left clockwise: Lobstah Raffle chair Marsha Christensen (far left), co-chair Aviv Hod (middle), and volunteer and Rotarian Linda Sullivan. Next are photos of children and furry friends participating in the fun during the festival.
Rotary Club of Stoneham President David Gardner (Boyd’s Direct) recently announced Rotary International’s theme for the 2022-2023 year – Imagine Rotary.
President Gardner notes that the intent of this powerful messaging is for individuals to consider what impact they could have locally and around the globe if they invest their time, talent, and treasure to find ways to provide meaningful service to others who need help. For Rotary members, that could involve any of the Five Avenues of Service - Club Service, Vocational Service, Community Service, International Service, or Youth Service, or it could overlap one or more of these areas. He also noted that the seven dots surrounding the Rotary circle in the middle of the logo signify the Rotary ‘s Seven Areas of Focus – peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention & treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development and supporting the Environment. These seven areas suggest the areas in which the Five Avenues of Service might find opportunity.
Spend a beautiful day in Gloucester! Start with pancakes and then visit the Waterfront Festival and Gloucester's many attractions.
The Gloucester Rotary will hold its annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday, August 20, 2022, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Stage Fort Park, located on Hough Avenue in Gloucester, MA. This popular event takes place concurrently with the Gloucester Waterfront Festival, which is sponsored by the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and is held in Stage Fort Park on Saturday-Sunday, August 20-21, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. both days. A special free parking area is available for Pancake Breakfast attendees. For information on Gloucester attractions, visit www.capeannvacations.com.
Tickets for the Pancake Breakfast are $8 per person, $5 for children six and under, and are available in advance online or from any Gloucester Rotarian. Tickets will also be available on the morning of the breakfast.
The Scholarship Winners have been announced! Thank you to Judy Laspesa and the scholarship committee for their efforts in soliciting applications and selecting the winners. Here is the excerpt from our press release:
The Manchester-Essex Rotary Club is pleased to announce the 2022 "Service Above Self" scholarships. Scholarships are awarded to students demonstrating leadership, integrity, and academic success. Graduating high school seniors must either attend Manchester-Essex Regional High School or have parent(s) or legal guardian(s) residing in Manchester or Essex, Massachusetts. Students must be enrolling in a certificate or degree-granting program in the fall of 2022.
Congratulations to this year's recipients who are both attending Suffolk University in Boston. Jacob Brown will be studying Business and Law. Isabella Thurlow will be studying Psychology, Criminal Justice and Law.
The first group of ten Chelsea children preparing to attend a week at Camp Rotary in Boxford MA. The Chelsea Rotary Club annually sends twenty deserving Chelsea children to Camp Rotary. The children are chosen from essays they write as to why they should be selected to attend Camp Rotary. They are sent in groups of ten children each week for the first two weeks of camp. The Chelsea Rotary Club covers all the costs for attending Camp Rotary for the twenty children. Transportation to and from camp is provided by volunteers from the Chelsea Police Department.
The Belle Isle Rotary Club had the pleasure of presenting three graduates from Winthrop with Academic Awards as they leave high school and go on pursue higher education.
We were also pleased to continue with the tradition of presenting an Academic Award for the Salesian Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year, a student from Lynn, MA that has dedicated herself to work with young children from the East Boston community.
Pictured are two recipients from Winthrop and the Salesian Youth of the Year.
The Parkway Club is looking for an individual or individuals to house a graduate student who will be attending Simmons College in the fall. The incoming student is our last year's scholar, Fransisco's sister. She has received funding for tuition but not for housing. Please contact us as soon as possible if you can host her for a month, a couple of months, or the full year.
As the gavel was passed from outgoing President Audrey Gordon to incoming President Rob Lowell, Rotary Peabody commemorated 100 years as a club. Club members gathered in celebration with Representatives Tom Walsh and Sally Kerans and State Senator Joan Lovely. A time capsule with the club's history and narratives of moments of our current time was buried for future Rotarians to find.
Many thanks to the time capsule committee members Tom Griffin, Emily Cooper, Martha Holden, Peggy Pedro, Loring Merrow, Stephanie Johnson, Dan Vassallo and Cathy Gravel for their hard work and research. The club is looking forward to another 100 years of Service Above Self!
At its regular meetings in June, Ipswich-Rowley Rotary welcomed two new members, Andrea LaCroix and Susanne Pedersen.
Andrea is well known in our area as a realtor with Churchill Properties who serves on the committees of both the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and North Shore Realtors. She considers herself an environmentalist and hopes to support club initiatives that focus on sustainability. Andrea donates her time and talent to numerous conservation initiatives, including the Ipswich Waste Reduction Committee and the Open Space Committee, and has organized town-wide cleanups in Ipswich.
The Manchester-Essex Rotary Club held the annual Red White & Blue Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, July 2nd. I was a record-breaking success. We served over 1,200 breakfasts while offering free pony rides and face painting. The new addition to this year's event was a free water taxi from Manchester town center to the event location at Tuck's Point. Not only did it alleviate the traffic backup and parking, but it was also fun for our guests. One person who had lived in Manchester 20 years was overheard to say they had never been out on the harbor before.
Pictured here are guests in their patriotic attire enjoying pancakes at the Red White & Blue on July 2nd in Manchester.
Manchester-Essex Red, White & Blue Breakfast a Huge Success!
On June 30, District 7930 gathered at Danversport Yacht Club to celebrate installation of District Governor Alexander Falk and new Club Presidents for 2022-2023. Taking the helm at Rotary International is Jennifer Jones, RI's very first female President. This year's Presidential Theme is Imagine Rotary.
Peabody Rotary's Source-to-Sea Run on June 18th successfully completed by champion marathoner and Peabody Rotarian Dan Vassallo, raised over $4,000 for the Ipswich River Watershed Association (https://www.ipswichriver.org/), $1,000 over our goal!
The run raised awareness about the watershed, a local environment that is essential for clean water and for sustaining the life that gives our ecosystem its richness, which can help combat climate change. Clean water and environmental protection are two primary tenets of what Rotary stands in service of and we are thrilled to have had such a successful event to support these goals. For more about what our club does visit: rotarypeabody.org.
The Rotary Club of Peabody proudly supports 7 students going on to college next year with our annual scholarships. This is the culmination of the Club's yearlong fundraising efforts (including the perennially popular Taste of the North Shore) allowing us to award a total of $12,000 to these deserving students who understand what it means to put Service Above Self.
Congratulations to: Madeleine Scacchi (Sam Berns Scholarship)
Service Above Self Scholarship:
Josh Comito
Jacob Palhares
Emma Bloom
Julia Malionek
Jacquelyn Scopa
Ketsia Kabeya
Pictured here from left to right: Josh Comito, Emma Bloom, Jacquelyn Scopa, scholarship recipients and our guests at our June 16 morning meeting. More information about our scholarship efforts can be found at our website: www.rotarypeabody.org.
A lot was happening on Monday, June 27th at the Rotary Club of Lexington's annual Installation Luncheon Meeting. President Cleve Coats handed the gavel over to incoming President Veronica Caira. Veronica was also presented with her first Paul Harris Fellow Award.
President Cleve also received his third PHF from Lexington Past President and Treasurer Dan Busa and Concord Past President Sharon Spaulding. Sharon recommended Cleve to the Lexington Club and Past President Dan was his sponsor. Also, on his last meeting as president, Cleve together with Membership Chair Domenic Sicari inducted the Club's newest member, Ibn Insan Sauti.
DG Terry Rezendes Curran and DGE Alexander Falk are proud to announce that our District has been designated HERO recognition for Rotary Year 2021-2022 from ShelterBox USA. District 7930 will be listed at the end of the Rotary Year your club will be listed on ShelterBox's HERO page.
ShelterBox is a cutting-edge charity that hand-delivers emergency shelter for families devastated by natural disaster and conflict. Its ShelterBoxes and ShelterKits contain the tools to transform lives and rebuild communities in the aftermath of disasters.
ShelterBox has provided aid to over 2.2 million people since 2000. It could not have been reached them without our help.
Please join us as we celebrate the Installation of District Officers & Club Presidents in Rotary District 7930 on June 30th, 2022, at 6:00 PM at the Danversport, 161 Elliott St, Danvers. Since we are a little bit later than usual with the date of our installation, the theme for this year’s event is “It’s Almost the Fourth of July”.
Accordingly, we will have a summer cookout style dinner buffet with Danversport's own New England Clam Chowder, Warm Dinner Rolls, Strawberry Salad and Caesar Salad, Quinoa and Vegetable Salad, Watermelon Salad, Grilled Steak Tips, Chipotle BBQ Chicken, Hardwood Smoked Pulled Pork, Herbed Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob, and we will finish the evening with Blueberry Tarts and coffee/tea.
Doors will open at 5:30 and we will have cheese platters, vegetable crudites, and a cash bar for fellowship from 6:00 – 6:45 PM. A brief opening ceremony will be held from 6:45 – 7:00 PM followed by dinner starting at 7:00 PM. At 7:45 PM we will begin the installation festivities. The dinner cost per person is $65.
The current total donations to the End Polio Now campaign as of June 25th are $66,423. Congratulations to the following Clubs who will receive the End Polio Now Certificate for donations to Polio over $1,500. Marblehead $20,991; Gloucester $4,964; Lexington $4,274; Winchester $3,550; Peabody $3,367; Wilmington $3,000; Woburn $2,521; Arlington $2,335; Wakefield $2,250; Reading and North Reading $2,046; Rockport $1965; Parkway $1,706.
Donations were also received in the following amounts from clubs around the district. Lynnfield $1,375; Lynn $1,100; Manchester-Essex $1,008; Chelsea $1,000; Somerville $975; Andover $804; Burlington $718; Danvers $625; Amesbury $600; Greater Salem, NH $515; Medford $500; Stoneham $500; Swampscott $500; Newburyport $475; Belle Isle $450; Ipswich-Rowley $428; Beverly $406; Boston #7 and Evening $400; Hamilton-Wenham $398; Salem $275; Cambridge $200; Burlington Breakfast $100; Melrose $100.
There is still time to send in those donations from the Polar Plunge or activities you did in your club or with your Interact Club.
Celebrating its 99th anniversary in 2022, the Gloucester Rotary has provided $32,428 to local projects, donated $10,825 to international causes, and awarded $5,350 in scholarships to local students since July 1, 2021. The Gloucester Rotary is a diverse group of civic-minded business and community leaders joined in a mission to support the community and the world beyond the North Shore.
“The Rotary motto ‘Service Above Self’ brings us together to make meaningful investments at home in our community and across the globe,” said Gloucester Rotary President, Tracy Arabian, who credits the generosity of spirit shared by the Rotary’s 56 members for making this possible. “These amazing people donate their time, their money, and their knowledge to make the world a better place. It has been a highlight of my life to have served the Rotary this past year as President.”
Although it is just the beginning of summer, Reading Rotary is gearing up to host the 14th annual Reading Fall Street Faire on Sunday, September 11. Members of this committee are hoping to host the biggest, best Fall Street Faire yet.
Under the leadership of YMCA Executive Director, Rotarian and Fall Street Faire Chair John Feudo, the fourteen-person committee has already started meeting and planning for Reading's biggest annual event. According to Feudo, “This would be way too much work for one person to do alone. We have an incredible team. Some of the members are relatively new and bring great energy and enthusiasm. Some of the members have been doing this for years and just know how to get the job done. At the end of the day, we’re all proud to be able pull off an event of this scope for the whole town to enjoy.”
The Wakefield Rotary Club hosted its second Father’s Day Fishing Tournament at Lake Quannapowitt on Sunday, June 19th. The free event, open to all ages, welcomed about 25 families fishing for various top spots. Wakefield Rotary Vice-President Gene Mullen explained, “We were thrilled with the turn-out, despite the gloomy weather.” He added, “It was great to see kids with their extended families.” In fact, for many families, this event was their first fishing experience and the perfect opportunity to learn safe and responsible fishing techniques before casting their first line.” Loaner rods were made available thanks to Mass Wildlife and bait was donated by Boats & Motors on North Avenue in Wakefield.
The Rockport Rotary Club used a District 7930 Matching Grant to complete Phase One of the construction of the Kateta House of Joy. It is a kitchen and dining hall on the second campus of the Village2Village Project in a very remote area of northeastern Uganda. The Village2Village Project is a charitable organization based in Indiana. It serves children in an area of Uganda where four out of five families live in devastating poverty. The second campus had only had a latrine and main office. It had no place for eating, teaching or meeting. Instead, children had to walk up to 20KM for activities on the main campus.
This project will ultimately benefit up to 150 children and their guardians. But even unfinished, the building has allowed 56 children to have their daily activities in their own local area. This area of Uganda is food insecure. Children are used to having only one meal per day, often lacking in nutrition. Now they will have regular meals and participate in their lessons on the local campus.
The Kateta House of Joy is well on the way to becoming a place not only to eat but to learn, sing, dance and grow.
The Marblehead Rotary Club congratulates the students who have been awarded its 2022 scholarships in academics, leadership, community service, and extracurricular activities. These scholarships support one of Marblehead Rotary Club's most important goals: assisting local students in pursuing their studies at higher education institutions. Yearly, Marblehead Rotary awards four to six students with a one-time scholarship and one with a four-year scholarship. There are six outstanding awardees: Sophia Nickolas, Tariq Abdelkahlek, Benjamin Kahn, Alexis Earp, Grace Miller, and Owen Murphy.
At its June 7th lunch meeting at Gaetano’s Ristorante, Rotary Club of Stoneham members hosted four students from the Stoneham High School (SHS) Interact Club and their Advisor, SHS teacher Kim O’Connor.
This year, the Stoneham High School Interact Club - which has about 20 students - with their Advisor Kim O’Connor, engaged in several service projects, including gathering and sending clothing to Ukraine, collecting over 200 new children’s books to deliver to children in local hospitals and soliciting and delivering hundreds of packages of Pop Tarts to be distributed to Boston’s homeless population. The group meets regularly prior to the beginning of their school day. Rotary Club of Stoneham member Craig Celli has been the club’s liaison to the SHS Interact Club.
Rotary Interact Clubs welcome young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills as they come to understand the importance of Service Above Self, a Rotary motto. Clubs are encouraged to organize at least two service projects a year, one focused on their school or community and the other promoting international understanding. Currently there are 14,911 Interact Clubs in 145 countries around the world.
As our Rotary Year 21-22 ends you still have time to submit your Club’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion citation and score sheet.
Most Clubs have found that when they review the Citation requirements (25 suggested action steps, Club must achieve 13 of the 25 for certification) that the Club has already achieved some of the action steps.
In what turned out to be a very busy week for Ipswich-Rowley Rotarians, the club hosted its annual lunch for senior citizens on May 26. This popular annual gathering could not be held the past two years due to the pandemic.
Co-sponsored by the Ipswich Council on Aging, the event featured entertainment and a delicious lunch prepared by Rotarian and Chef Ray Morley. Also assisting and cheerfully greeting the senior citizens were students from the Ipswich High School Interact Club.
A great time was had by all. We also are grateful to fellow Rotarian, the Rev. Brad Clark, and Ascension Church for making their beautiful hall available.
The Rotary Club of Woburn hosted their annual Student Government Day Luncheon last week. Twenty-six high school students shadowed twenty-six city department heads as part of a civics project for Woburn Memorial High School. Winners were selected based on their Civic Action Project portfolio. Woburn Mayor Scott D. Galvin was on hand to speak to the group and congratulate the winning students by awarding each with a commemorative city coin. Woburn Rotary also awarded the students with a commemorative Rotary coin.
We are excited to announce that the Annual Red, White and Blue Pancake Breakfast will take place at Tuck's Point on Saturday, July 2nd, 7:30 a.m. to Noon.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, children 8 and under are free.
Pony rides, live music, face painting, all right on the beautiful Manchester Harbor at Tuck's Point, Manchester MA.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.manchesteressexrotary.org. Use the Pay/Donate button or go to the event page.
We will also be drawing our prize winners for the RWB Raffle, $10,000 in prizes. For raffle tickets email info@manchesteressexrotary.org
Annual Manchester Red, White and Blue Breakfast July 2
Peabody Rotary is thrilled to partner with many other District Clubs in support of the Ipswich River Watershed Association (ipswichriver.org). On June 18th, Peabody Rotarian and marathon-winning runner Dan Vassallo will be running the 30 MILE length of the Ipswich River from "source to sea" to raise money and awareness for the Ipswich River Watershed Association.
This is a perfect Rotarian project because it supports the original Rotary tenet of supporting clean water and the newest tenet of sustaining a healthy environment. Would you or your club like to get involved? We’d love to have you!
You can get more info and donate at bit.ly/IpswichRiverRotary. We would also love other Rotarian’s to cheer on our marathon-winning runner Dan Vassallo as he runs the 30 miles source to sea to raise awareness for this great cause.
The Gloucester Rotary has named Tony Corrao as a Paul Harris Fellow, the prestigious award named after the Chicago lawyer who founded Rotary in 1905. Corrao was selected by a committee of previous recipients of the award and will be honored at a special dinner on Monday, June 27, 2022, at Cruiseport Gloucester, located at 6 Rowe Square in downtown Gloucester. The social hour will begin at 5:30pm, followed by dinner at 6:30pm.
Corrao, perhaps better known as Uncle Tony, was born and raised in West Gloucester. He graduated from Gloucester High School with the Class of 1977, and then spent 3½ years in the Army—serving at NASA’s Space Center in Alabama, Homestead, Florida, and Fort Bragg in North Caroline with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Upon his return to Gloucester, Tony founded Precision Roofing Services of New England in 1984. The company has been an important part of the Cape Ann economy for almost 40 years, providing solid jobs to several generations of laborers. In 2007, Corrao was the recipient of the Northeast Roofing Contractors’ Association President’s Award. After being nominated by his staff, he was named “Best Boss” of the year by the National Certified Contractor’s Network.
The Lynnfield Rotary hosted “Build A Bed” on Saturday, May 21, District 7930’s Day of Service. We worked with “A Bed For Every Child,” a Lynn based initiative of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless providing beds for needy children in Essex County.
Over forty volunteers took part in an event which produced ten beds for the community.
Bed building teams were provided with lumber, hardware, tools, varnish and detailed instructions to produce the beds. After 2 hours they proudly displayed the beds that were constructed. Everyone had a wonderful time and went home knowing that ten children were going to have a bed of their own.
We wish to thank all of those who sponsored the building of a bed as well as the “builders” who joined us for this project as well as our fellow Rotarians from Ipswich, Methuen, Somerville and Wakefield for your support of this project. Special thanks to Lynnfield Fire Chief Glenn Davis for assistance with the use of the Firehouse parking area.
A Bed For Every Child receives about 250 requests per month for beds for children.
The Lynnfield Rotary Club, established in 1963 has a history of active service in our community and around the world.
The Rotary Club of Lexington held its annual scholarship luncheon on May 23rd, at the Minuteman High School in Lexington. Twelve deserving seniors from Lexington High School, Minuteman High School and Lexington Christian Academy received the annual awards. We were also joined by senior officers of the Lexington Interact Club in Minuteman High School who were awarded an appreciation plaque for their fundraising efforts for the Polar Plunge. Interact sent 27 plungers to the event.
Citizens Who Care is the Rotary Club of Andover's longest running program that honors outstanding community volunteers. Since 1996 our club has honored 10 people each year who have contributed to the local community through their extraordinary volunteer contributions. In 2009, the Club added the Educator of the Year and Student of the Year awards to Citizens Who Care. Those chosen to exemplify what it means to be an "unsung hero." They come in all ages and professions.
This year we saluted members from various organizations and groups for their outstanding work to our community. Whether it be working with our youth, creating environments for our elders to gather, or influencing the positive growth of Andover, our honorees have all made our world better.
The Rotary Club of Lynn Scholarship Committee recently reviewed some 30 applications from area high schools where Lynn seniors attend before finally coming to consensus on five truly outstanding students.
Lynn English seniors Vatana Chen and Nantenen Kiata along with Abigail Constine from St. Mary’s, Lynn Classical’s Prisila Romero and KIPP Academy’s Stacey Munoz Arreaga emerged as the recipients of Rotary’s Richard Maloney & Robert Hastings Memorial Scholarships. Pictured here from left to right: Nantenen Kiata, Stacey Munoz Arreaga, Vatana Chen, Prisila Romero and Abigail Constine.
“I know I can speak for the committee members when I say how the selection process gets more challenging every year,” admitted Ray Bastarache, a longtime Lynn educator and committee chair. “Vatana, Nantenen, Abigail, Prisila and Stacey had an average GPA (Grade-point average) of 4.25, with a total of 35 Advance Placement or honors level course over their last three years of high school. They captained sports teams, led school clubs and organizations, and all five were very involved in community service. The Lynn community has a lot to be proud of.”
Flags for Heroes is a fund-raising activity sponsored by the Rotary Club of Arlington. People have sponsored a flag in memory of the men and women who are serving or have served as members of the Military, Police Officers, Firefighters, First Responders, Parents, Teachers, Coaches, Mentors, Community Leaders, and fly them for all the people who have made a difference in their lives.
You may sponsor as many heroes as you want, and a flag with the name of each hero will be flown at Park Circle on Park Avenue from May 25th through June 15th.
The public dedication will be on June 5, 2022, at 1 pm at the Park Circle Water Tower. The installation will be dedicated to the teachers and educators that serve the Arlington community.
We will follow whatever Covid-19 restrictions that are in effect at that time.
Posted by John Muldoon and Bob Wicks on May 23, 2022
Ipswich-Rowley Rotary members got a workout on Friday when they hit the South Green in Ipswich to place holders for 200 American flags.
The flags, which are on 10-foot poles, will be installed shortly as part of the Flags for Heroes project. Rotary placed 100 on the green last year but enlarged the Ipswich display this year — and expanded to Rowley, where 100 flags will be placed on the town common.
People can sponsor a flag for $50 to honor a personal hero. “The hero may be a veteran, teacher, medical professional, mentor, or any person you would like to honor for their contribution to your life, the community, or the world,” organizers said.
Sponsorships are still available online, or by visiting the Institution for Savings and Bank Gloucester branch offices in Ipswich.
Display dates are May 27 to June 18 in Ipswich, and June 18 to July 9 in Rowley.
Proceeds from the volunteer-run organization will be used to fund scholarships and service projects in the two towns.
Story and photo by Rotarian John Muldoon, Editor/Publisher of The Ipswich Local News.
The Gloucester Rotary Club is taking steps to expand the diversity, equity and inclusion within our club and our community. We have partnered with "Art for Equity" to purchase books that promote DEI. These books will be donated to local and school libraries. Anyone wishing to support this DEI fundraiser may make a donation at https://gloucesterrotary.org/page/dei.
Art for Equity is a student run art collaborative, working to creative more equitable educational spaces within the Gloucester Public School district, one book at a time.
The Wakefield Rotary Club will be again sponsoring the Father’s Day Fishing Tournament at Lake Quannapowitt. The fun-filled morning is free and open to all ages on Sunday, June 19th. Wakefield Rotary Vice-President Gene Mullen explained, “The pandemic put a hold on the past two years, but we’re really excited to bring this event back to the community.”
Registration will be held on Veteran’s Field on North Avenue from 8:30am-10:00am. Registration is required to compete, and bait will be provided while supplies last. The Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game will also provide a limited amount loaner fishing rods upon request. The derby competition will be open from 8:30am-11:00am. Trophies will be provided for largest fish by category at the 11am ceremony.
The Father’s Day Fishing Derby is part of the Club’s on-going efforts to focus on local support during its 100th Year Anniversary celebration; the club will celebrate its centennial on September 28, 2022. Mullen added, “This year is special to us as we approach our club’s 100th year of service to Wakefield and the global community. This local event fits right in.”
In addition to the fishing derby, the club will have resources on environmental sustainability, an area of focus for Rotary International. Wakefield Rotary respects the nature and beauty of our natural resources and we encourage all participants to fish responsibly. Mullen noted, “We strongly support catch and release and ask that all participants use good judgement in deciding if your fish is of competitive size or should be released immediately.”
Wakefield Rotarian Judy Gordon recently visited the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library's Children's Librarian Annie Hochheiser to donate several books related to environmental awareness. Recently, Rotary has added supporting the environment as an Area of Focus. The books were donated in honor of the club's 100th Anniversary which is being celebrated all year.
Pictured here: Wakefield Rotarian Judy Gordon delivering titles to Beebe Library's Children's Librarian Annie Hochheiser. Judy was the club's first female Club President in 1996-97.
Wakefield Donates Books in Honor of 100th Anniversary
Looking for Rotarians interested in the Environment
As you may have heard, Rotary added the Environment as our seventh ahead of focus and our district is now looking into forming a new District Environmental Committee that will look into what environmental projects we can do locally within our own district, and also what other options may exist to participate in or start a new global grant in our seventh area of focus.
Possible local projects we may want to look into include pollinator habitat restoration (bees, monarch butterflies, etc.), beach cleanups, plantings in parks and on traffic islands, river/watershed restoration, etc. We are also going to be joining Operation Pollination and partnering with the National Park Service and National Heritage Areas in our region.
Our goal is to ideally have the new District Environmental Committee begin forming this spring and then start their work at the beginning of the new 2022-23 Rotary year on July 1st. If you are interested in participating on this committee, please contact DGE Alexander Falk.
The Lynnfield Rotary Club is hosting “Build a Bed” on Saturday, May 21 from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm at the Lynnfield Fire Dept., South Station, 600 Salem St., Lynnfield, MA. We are working with “A Bed For Every Child,” a Lynn based group providing beds for needy children in Essex County.
At this event, all materials will be provided to teams of four. You will construct a bed with lumber, tools, and hardware (and expert instruction) being provided. It will be a wonderful experience for you and a significant resource for the children.
We welcome your financial support and would be pleased to have any or all of you join us for the construction event. The cost to build a bed is $350. Register a team of 4 or more to build a bed for $350. Sponsorships of $350 are also accepted.
The Lynnfield Rotary Club, established in 1963 has a long history of active service in our community and around the world.
This Tuesday, May 17, 2022, at 7:45am, the Gloucester Rotary is hosting members on the Boneza community on a zoom call during our weekly meeting. Gloucester Rotarian Dave McKechnie -- who introduced us to Boneza and the Kivu Hills Academy -- is visiting Boneza and will be on the zoom call from Rwanda.
Since 2017, the Gloucester and Rockport Rotary Clubs have partnered and obtained grants to support the community of Boneza, Rwanda. This community is roughly the same population as the combined residency of Rockport and Gloucester. But, unlike those of us fortunate enough to live on Cape Ann, there is little infrastructure support in Boneza.
Rotary Peabody is proudly partnering again with the Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce for our annual Torigian Golf Classic. Golfers and sponsorships are still available. Proceeds go back into the community for scholarships for local students. Join us for a morning of golf, food and fun!
The members of Medford Rotary Club wish to congratulate Vin Frattura for being chosen by the Medford Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year! Vin has been a member of the Medford Rotary Club for 29 years. He served as Past President and has been on the Board of Directors many times.
Vinny was chosen by the past recipients of the Citizen of the Year Award and truly exemplifies the Rotary Motto of "Service Above Self," which he referenced in his speech upon accepting the Clippership Award. Vinny is a "doer" and a "giver." You ask him and he is there with his time and energy. Our membership gives a resounding thumbs up to the Chamber for nominating and voting Vinny as their "Citizen of the Year."
Pictured here is Chamber President Maury Carroll presenting Medford Citizen of the Year Award to Vinny Fratura.
As of last Thursday, May 5th, Beverly Rotary Club has inducted a total of 15 new members this year into our club. We feel this is quite a feat! Our membership is now up to 114 members. One of the new memberships is a corporate one, bringing our corporate total to five. Having the ability to have a corporate membership available, has enticed some places to join our club. We will continue in this vein actively to recruit new members into our vibrant club for the next year!
The New England Center and Home for Veterans (NECHV) is excited to announce that our Community Volunteer Program is resuming with weekday lunch and dinner meal services.
In light of the positive developments of the last two months, the NECHV is looking forward to re-commencing a scaled program of community volunteering here at the Center. The Veteran residents are eager to open up their home as well.
Thank you for all your past engagement and support, and for your continued interest in volunteering to support Veterans at the NECHV. It has been a challenging past two years of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and our focus here at the Center has been protecting the health and wellbeing of Veterans.
Now is the time to get your club qualified for participating in district and global grants for the coming 2022-23 Rotary year. For a club to get qualified you have to have at least two members who have taken the district grant management seminar, and the club's current president for 2021-22 as well as the incoming president for 2022-23 both have to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the district and the club. The signing process is fully electronic, and you can click this link to find the e-signing instructions for Presidents.
Any club member who has already attended the District Assembly on April 27th has already taken the grant management seminar and is already qualified. Those who have missed the assembly, or if you have additional members in your club who want to be qualified to access the grants module in ClubRunner, the grant management seminar is now available online on the district website. If you follow this link you can watch the seminar in a 20 minute YouTube video and then all you need to do is complete a short online quiz.
This spring, the Lynnfield Rotary Interact Club hosted a recycling event for the community. Data Recycling of New England partnered with Interact students to host an event at Town Hall in which Lynnfield residents could safely recycle their electronics, preserving the environment, and providing parts that can be refurbished for future use. The club made a portion of the recycling fees collected, raising over $3,000 to support future community service and Interact Club activities. Kudos to the Lynnfield Rotary Interact!!
The Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor will be holding a two-day yard sale at 217 Humphrey Street in Marblehead on Saturday, May 14, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Sunday, May 15, from Noon to 4 p.m.
In case of rain, the sale will be conducted on the better of the two days.
The venue is located on the 441/442 bus line at the Humphrey Street / Ruby Avenue bus stop and there is plenty of on-street parking.
Featured items include costume jewelry, small furniture items, artwork, rugs, dishes, holiday décor, clothing, toys, books and more.
All proceeds will benefit the club’s scholarship program and philanthropic projects.
Hobbs Playground will soon undergo a makeover. The new layout and updated equipment will guarantee access to children of all abilities. Leading the way to these improvements is Laney Dowling (center), Marblehead Family Fund's (MFF) Chair, who presented the playground’s final plans to Marblehead Rotary members. The MFF’s mission, since it started as a grassroots organization in 1988, has been to improve Marblehead's playgrounds, parks, and open spaces.
Marblehead Family Fund’s efforts were strengthened by individuals, families, businesses and civic organizations who managed to collectively raise $300,000, in the midst of lockdowns, to make this new playground a reality. The Municipal Americans with Disabilities Act Improvement Project Grant contributed $62,000. Marblehead Rotary capped the goal with a $25,000 sponsorship and also gave contributors an opportunity to benefit from the organization's charitable foundation status, encouraging more generous giving with tax exemption.
Come join us and celebrate the emergence of our clubs from the pandemic. Friday, May 6. We are going to have a special Paul Harris Luncheon where we recognize all those who have generously donated to the foundation over the past year.
The 2022 Rotary International Convention is now just two months away so if you would like to attend, the time to register is now! We are pleased to announce that the Rotary International Board of Directors has confirmed that the 2022 Rotary International Convention will be an in-person event in Houston, TX, June 4th-8th. For more information see also this flyer from Zones 28&32.
There will also be a special District 7930 TexMex dinner on Monday, June 6th, at 7:00 PM local time, at The Original Ninfa’s on Navigation Street in Houston so please make sure to register for that dinner as well.
Returning from a two-year hiatus the Manchester-Essex Club is thrilled to host the 7th Annual Kentucky Derby Party and Auction on Saturday, May 7 from 5 to 8:30! This event brings items from all corners from golf outings and beach barbecues to fine clothing and complete wine cellars. There is a silent auction for smaller items. The live auction features State Senator Bruce Tarr as auctioneer for the big-ticket items, including an 80-inch smart television!
We will watch the Derby race live. There will be a non-betting lottery on the outcome, a hat contest for best women's and men's hats for prizes of a bottle of real Kentucky bourbon and a bouquet of roses. An excellent buffet dinner will be served throughout the evening, cash bar (yes, mint julep). Best of all we are raising money for local scholarships, food banks and international projects.
So, put on your Derby hats and be ready to have a fun time with fun people. Tickets can be purchased online in advance for $30 or at the door for $35.
Join Fellow Rotarians on May 21 on the Ipswich River for a Day of Service. Two Volunteer service opportunities are available:
1. 9am to 12pm Spring 2022 Rotary Club Ipswich River Landings Work Day: approximate teams of 4 people per site. The goal of this project will be to support our River Warden program by helping to prepare canoe/kayak landings on the Ipswich River for the paddling season via picking up trash, pruning and cutting back vegetation, and checking the condition of kiosks and signage at the following landings:
Brookline Rotary is sponsoring an on-line auction as a spring fundraiser. Among the items are tickets for the US Open being held in Brookline June 16- 19, 2022. Other items include gift cards for local restaurants, services such as tutoring and legal, and special opportunities like a luxury Mexican vacation. Enjoy yourself while supporting Rotary.
Join with Rotary to promote the power of vaccines to protect children and save lives
During World Immunization Week, 24-30 April, let’s advocate for polio eradication and the importance of vaccines to the health and well-being of our communities.
So far this year $44,853 has been raised within the district to End Polio Now. That is matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at a 2:1 ratio for $89,706 additional going to Polio Eradication. This means that this year a total of $134,559 is earmarked to provide 224,265 vaccines so far this year. Let's keep collecting our pledges to reach our goal of $100,000.
The District Assembly is our next step in the journey of training incoming club leaders for the upcoming Rotary year 2022-23, including the Grant Qualification Seminar, which is open to all club members. This year we will be in-person again and will be meeting at the Four Points Sheraton in Wakefield on Wednesday, April 27.
For the Grant Qualification Seminar we recommend that each club send at least two members to attend - but there is no limit. If your club grant committee includes multiple members, it would be ideal if they could all attend and get qualified. The District Assembly is open to all Rotarians in our district!
The evening will begin at 6:00 PM with five parallel tracks for: Presidents-Elect, Secretaries, Treasurers, Foundation Chairs, as well as a fireside chat with DG Terry Curran (for all Rotarians who don't fall into any of the previously mentioned four roles).
At 7:00 PM we will be serving a soup & sandwich buffet and continue the evening with a working dinner meeting for all groups together, which includes the District Qualification Seminar and the presentation of the District Budget.
Inspired by the District's Homelessness and Hunger Initiative years ago, the Wakefield Rotary Club made strong connections with the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. This year, the Club decided to donate half of the income from the Dine Anywhere in the World Raffle to the organization. This past week, we were delighted to present the Wakefield Food Pantry a "big" check. Food Pantry board members and volunteers sold 30 of the 200 tickets. Doreen McGowan, Food Pantry Board President, accepted the check and hopes she can find a big ATM.
Pictured here Wakefield Rotary Club President Bruce Donovan, Food Pantry Board President Doreen McGowan, Club Secretary Suzanne Bowering and Club Treasurer Barbara Worley
We are very excited that our first-ever Advanced RYLA will be held at Camp Glen Brook in Marlborough, NH on May 14–15.
The purpose of this weekend is to support RYLA alumni who wish to continue their leadership journey and to have them help with the relaunch of RYLA for 2023. Since we have not held a traditional RYLA since 2019, we are without student leaders, so we are enlisting the alumni to help!
We are reaching out to RYLA alumni, going back more than 10 years, through Facebook, texts, calls, emails and Instagram. If you are in contact with any RYLA alumni, please feel free to share this information with them and encourage them to visit the Facebook page from their RYLA year or they can reach out to Christina at christina@PartnerWithChoice.com or 978.270.6706.
Our meeting started out as usual, with members trickling in at first to check in. President-Elect Mike Jones gave me a make-up slip which was signed Mickey Mouse from the Lake Buena Vista club. I had remembered that he was at Disney World, so I thought it was a cute joke on the part of the Florida club. Next came in Past-President Marshall Handly, who gave me a make-up slip from Athens, Greece. He went on and told me all kinds of details of his trip and I was telling him how I wanted to go there so badly. A few more members came in and then SEVEN other make-up slips were turned in. It dawned on me that they were all the same style of make-up slip. When I read one of them closely, my suspicions were validated. This one was signed by Glinda Witch, from Oz, Kentucky Rotary Club. Weren't our members from Beverly something else? I had slips from Key West, Berlin Bunker, and the Bowery, New York. They got me good!
Saturday, April 2, Gloucester Rotary put on a hugely successful Polar Plunge. Approximately 200 Rotarians from the District's 45 clubs plunged into the water at Long Beach in Gloucester. In addition to the Plungers were many supporters, on lookers and cheerleaders. The sun was out, but the water and air temperatures were both approximately a chilly 40 degrees.
Gloucester Rotary assembled a command center at the Cape Ann Motor Inn. Gloucester President Tracy Arabian addressed the crowd right before the 11 am plunging time to emphasize that all donations made will be double matched by the Gates Foundation to End Polio.
The Wakefield Rotary Club will be honoring the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, recognized annually on the last day of April, with a free raffle to win a tree valued at $300 in support of the Town of Wakefield’s CommuniTREE Program. Wakefield Rotary and the Beebe library will have an Arbor Day display with the raffle tickets from April 15th to May 1st. Community members may visit the library during regular hours and register to win. The drawing for the tree is April 29th at the library. This year also marks the club’s 100th year of service to Wakefield and the global communities. Project Chair Gene Mullen noted, “This project falls right in alignment with our club’s 100th anniversary as it fits one of our seven areas of focus.” In addition to the raffle, the Rotary Club will contribute another $300 to the CommuniTREE Program to sponsor a new tree planting on the Beebe Library grounds.
Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience.
Corks & Caps Local Chapter of Rotary Wine Appreciation Fellowship (RWAF) was founded by two Rotary District Governors during the COVID-19 crisis in May 2019: DG Joan Arsenault (D7930) and DG Suzanne Uhl-Melanson (D7790). Joan and Suzanne share a passion for wine, Rotary and the desire to extend this appreciation to fellow Rotarians and non-Rotarians.
Our objective is to learn more about wine, wine and food pairings and any other topics related to the appreciation of wine so that our own appreciation of good wine will be enhanced.
Join us to learn more about wine and have fun at the same time!! Meet fellow Rotarians and non-Rotarian wine lovers across two districts, two countries and three plus states. We have members from MA, ME, NH, CT, LA, VT, Cananda and FL.
We meet the last Sunday of the month from 5-6 pm on zoom. Email Joan at corksncapswine@gmail.com for more information. All Welcome regardless of wine knowledge!!!!
BE INSPIRED BY ROTARY! BE PART OF A ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE IN THIS DISTRICT...
When: April 30, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Where: Sheraton Four Points, Wakefield, MA
Who: Rotarians from our district and surrounding New England districts. New Rotarians and "Experienced" Rotarians who want to learn more and be re-energized for service
What: Parts I, II, III: A discussion-based, participant-centered curriculum that focuses on the structure of Rotary, implementation of proven leadership skills and methods, and the spirited interchange of ideas for planning and implementing club growth, membership retention, acquiring leadership skills that work! Graduate course will cover the 7 Areas of Focus; Facilitator Training also offered (must have District Governor recommendation and pre-approval).
Fee: $95 Rotarians; reduced fee for Rotaractors. Covers continental breakfast, mid-morning coffee, all curriculum materials, and buffet luncheon. All at a convenient conference center easily accessible via Route 128. Dist. 7930 registrants for Part I and II will receive a $50 reimbursement from Dist. Gov. Terry upon completion. Special rate of $139/night if making a weekend of it (good for two days before 4/30 to two days after. Specify RLI when making the reservation).
How: REGISTER TODAY at www.rlinea.org. Past Institute attendees have given this course rave reviews!
This spring Lynnfield Rotary enjoyed a special presentation on Connor’s Kindness Project (CKP) as part of our Rotary Club lunchtime speaker’s series. Connor Wright, the innovative founder of CKP, is a 12- year-old from Lynnfield MA who is often balancing his academic life, his passion for playing hockey, and his dedication to his successful business venture. Connor’s Kindness Project is about making “Kindness Kits” to help improve the lives of local children who are emotionally, physically, or financially in need.
“When Covid-19 hit things changed for all of us” Connor explained. He decided to launch a non-profit, Connor’s Kindness Project. He started with delivering Covid Care Packages, bags of thoughtful presents, to hospital workers on the frontlines of the Covid pandemic. From that success came Connor’s Kindness Kits.
Connor has delivered boxes for the Woburn police department, local health care centers and for people near and far (Alabama) helping families with chronically ill children. Connor’s Kindness Project starting small but now plans to deliver 2000 Kits!
To support Connor in his mission Lynnfield Rotary donated $1000.00 to his cause.
Pictured here are Sharon Marrama and Connor Wright, from Connors Kindness Project with Lynnfield Rotary President Jack Moynihan.
The Rotary Club of Peabody has put in sweat equity for Habitat for Humanity, working two different projects helping get homes ready for families to move in. These projects are based locally in Peabody and the club is thrilled to give back to their immediate community in such a tangible way.
Pictured here are Peabody Rotarians on their Mar 26 build day. #RotaryInAction
Reading Rotary just completed its Rotary Readers project. Rotary Readers is an annual literacy project where reading books and a backpack are given to each Reading Public Schools student in kindergarten. This year approximately 300 literacy bags will be delivered by Rotarians to the five Reading elementary schools. In addition, Rotarians read to each Kindergarten class as part of Read Across America. It was exciting and fun to be able to read in person this year after doing virtual reading in 2021.
This literacy project has been adapted from Rotary’s previous dictionary and thesaurus giveaways. Teachers expressed their preference to have the younger students receive reading books. Basic Education and Literacy is one of Rotary International's Areas of Focus. This particular project was adapted from a Girl Scout Gold Award literacy project by Mary Kate Kelley, who is a Past President of RMHS Interact and one of its Founding Members.
After a recent fundraiser, the Interact Club at Woburn Memorial High School donated proceeds to the Woburn Dollars for Scholars program. Here, Interact Club President Emily Sullivan presents a check to WDFS Committee President Rosemary Donovan.
The Downtown Boston Rotary is proud to host the Ukrainian Cultural Center of New England at their next speaker meeting on April 5th.
The UCCN has organized various fundraisers for the people of Ukraine during the current war in their country. They have also provided information on the many other organizations helping Ukraine during this conflict and directed many in the Boston-area towards appropriate ways to donate funds and supplies to the people of Ukraine.
The DBRC is thrilled to welcome Ukrainian Cultural Center of New England to discuss the war in Ukraine and what we can do to help, and we hope Rotarians from around the district will join us. The meeting will be taking place downstairs at Elephant & Castle on Tuesday, April 5th, doors open at 6 PM and the meeting will begin at 6:30 PM.
Downtown Boston Hosts Ukrainian Cultural Center of NE
The Gloucester Rotary will hold its annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at 11am at the Cape Ann Motor Inn on Long Beach, located at 33 Rockport Road in Gloucester.
Anyone wishing to support the #EndPolioNow campaign may make a donation online at my.rotary.org/en/donate. Please be sure to select the “Polio Fund.” Each of the D7930 clubs are invited to participate and may register their participation by clicking here.
The Polar Plunge is this coming Saturday in Gloucester. I look forward to seeing you all at the beach. 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 seven clubs above have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs.
Year to date we have raised $36,734.01 of our $100,000 goal, that’s over one third of the way there. I have heard from many clubs that they are submitting their donations after the plunge, so I will continue to list the clubs as we head toward our goal.
“To support and ensure sustainable long-lasting safe water, sanitation and hygiene programs to communities in need.”
To further this cause, WASH-RAG’s Board of Directors is delighted to announce a one-time, special grant of $25,000 to encourage Rotary Districts and clubs to become active participants in a WASH project. Better still – that $25,000 will be eligible for a dollar-to-dollar match from DDF and/or cash contributions to the Global Grant.
Eligibility
All Rotary Districts and Clubs qualified to participate in The Rotary Foundation’s Global Grants Program can apply for the grant. Clubs who have participated previously in a small WASH project, funded by a District Grant are encouraged to apply.
Danvers Rotary is excited to announce our 2nd Spring Raffle is off to a great start as we approach the first draw date on April 1.
Every day in April a new winner will be drawn at the Danvers YMCA.
Prizes include gift certificates for restaurants, coffee shops and local services and there are also cash prizes of $750 to be won. Tickets are on sale now and through the drawing period for just $10 each and remain in the pot until drawn!
Contact any Danvers Rotarian or call the Danvers YMCA (978-774-2055), 34 Pickering Street, Danvers, MA 01923 to enter. Any questions, please call 978-774-2055 or email DanversRotary@gmail.com.
Raising money for scholarships is one crucial cornerstone activity for Marblehead Rotary Club. Last week, with close to 150 spectators, Marblehead’s Got Talent 2022 was a roaring success at its new venue at The Cabot Cinema in Beverly. Congratulations to the talented winners!
Senior Colby Kramer took in $6,000 first place of scholarship winning. He played Scherzo No. 2 Op. 31 by Frederic Chopin. As second-place winners, Junior Charlie Smith and Sophomore Mona Gelffgatt won $4,000 with an original song titled “Will Get Past This.” Freshman Brady Weed came in third place with $3,000 for his rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire.” Junior Griffen Collins and seniors Olivia Gardener, Audrey Jones, and the duo of Nora Bekkai and Kasey Louden took home a scholarship for fourth place with $500 each.
Dr. Philly Karani, brother of Burlington Breakfast Rotary member Zareen Karani Araoz, has received the Rotary International Service Above Self Award for 2021-22, the highest recognition from Rotary International.
Dr. Karani dedicated much of his life to serving through Rotary. He was the District Governor and also served on the RI Rotaract Committee, among others. He was very loved by the members of the Club he founded in Pune, India. He did and inspired hundreds of projects there, uplifting the condition of many and transforming lives, leading a long-term project to adopt a village and bring all amenities to it.
He continues his good work in New Zealand, since the past 8-9 years. He has attended one of our District Inauguration dinners during one of his visits here. Dr. Karani would welcome meeting and helping any Rotarian from our District visiting New Zealand! Congratulations Dr. Zarani! You are a true inspiration!
Dr. Philly Karani Receives Service Above Self Award
The Arlington Rotary Club is excited to celebrate Earth Month! On April 30th Arlington Rotary Club is teaming up with our new Arlington Catholic Interact Club to hold our 1st Mystic River Clean Up.
10-12pm Mystic River Arlington. Please park on side streets of Webster, Palmer and Beacon.
We are challenging other district clubs along the Mystic River to join us in keep the Mystic River Watershed clean and healthy! If you are not located on the Mighty Mystic, please consider picking a day in April to clean a watershed area in your community.
Thank you to the Greater Salem, Woburn and Salem clubs who have started adding their donations through MyRotary. 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 six clubs above have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs.
Year to date we have raised $35,559.01 of our $100,000 goal, that’s one third of the way there. There are 15 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio through MyRotary and I have got questions from many of them and some are planning to attend the plunge in Gloucester and then add their donations in. We cannot count donations and add your club to the list, if your club doesn’t record them through the RI website.
Last week Woburn Rotary donated a defibrillator to Nexus, Inc. Nexus provides residential alternatives for developmentally challenged individuals that promote the highest quality of life possible and opportunities for full integration into the mainstream of life in their home.
Executive Director Greg McGowan was on hand to receive the donation and spoke about Nexus currently serving individuals in Woburn and surrounding cities.
Winchester Rotary club has been blessed with a wonderful core group of members who have help me as President over the past two years to maintain and grow our Club. We are adding four new Service members along with two new Corporate members will be joining us shortly. Thank you, Kurt Heisler, Co-President Elect. What a great way to start off 2022! Keep all members moving forward and engaged!
Rotary International President-Elect Jennifer Jones recently addressed all our Rotary Club Presidents-Elect at the Northeast PETS (President Elect Training Seminar) in early March. Her powerful speech referenced her presidential theme - Imagine Rotary - and also related a story from her first few days in the RI PE office in Evanston and the power of connections across the Rotary world.
Her message is not only inspiring for Presidents-Elect, but for all Rotarians. You can now watch her speech and the following Q&A here: https://youtu.be/Aur2YZXoRNI
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 six clubs above have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs.
Year to date we have raised $33,225.01 of our $100,000 goal, that’s one third of the way there. There are 7 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio through MyRotary. I have got questions from many of them and some are planning to attend the plunge in Gloucester. We cannot count donations and add your club to the list, if your club doesn’t record them through the RI website.
Belle Isle Rotary Club is set to have our Trivia Nite on Friday April 1, 2022, to be held at the Salesians Boys & Girls Club. We are gearing up to have a night full of fun competition with prizes and of course, bragging rights and awards for the winning team.
Friday, April 1. Doors open at 5 pm.
Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 150 Byron Street, East Boston, MA 02128.
Complementary make your own nachos bar. Cash Bar. Prizes and Raffles. Donation/ticket price $25 per person
For info about the event, tickets or sponsorships please contact Joe Steffano (617) 909-5382, Steve Miliotis (781) 731-3057, Vera Carducci (617) 909-5384 or Mike Triant (617) 913-1531.
Dear Rotary Friends, The President of the Rotary Club of Lviv, Ukraine spoke to the NYC Rotary Club today and I was invited to join. Please accept this report on happenings live from the devastation.
-Amy Luckiewicz, Wakefield Rotary Club
The Rotary Club of Lviv International
The Lviv RC is made mostly of international business people and they commonly speak English. Lviv is the largest city in western Ukraine. Lviv Rotary Club President James Joeriman is American and he was the primary speaker. He is currently sheltering in Warsaw, Poland with his wife and small children. He's working through RC networks to raise money for consumable supplies for the military hospitals. $1.2 million Euros has led to 10 trucks of supplies and they are fully stocked at the moment. Overflow is managed by Lviv defense forces and distributed by priority need to Lviv and the entire country. Supplies are sourced from Poland and Germany; he is unaware of any supply shortages. Lviv Rotary is focused on supplying medical aid, not military equipment.
Lviv Rotary Club (in particular his English-speaking club with international members), are utilizing their international networks to maximize effective response. To his knowledge, the other Lviv Rotary Clubs, Ukranian speaking clubs, are still operating.
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 six clubs above have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs.
Year to date we have raised $33,550.01 of our $100,000 goal. That’s one third of the way there. There are still 18 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio through MyRotary. We cannot count donations and add your club to the list, if your club doesn’t record them through RI.
Club officers, “experienced” Rotarians, new and newer members of Rotary...This message is for you! RLI sessions are offered in both internet and in-person venues this year. Meet other Rotarians from different districts and enrich your Rotary experience by sharing leadership styles and program ideas.
Virtual:
March 12, D7870, Southern NH and VT
March 19, D7430, Southeastern PA
April 19, D7475/7490, West Orange, NJ
In-person:
March 26, D7950, Southeastern MA, Cape Cod, RI at Upper Cape Tech, Bourne, register by March 16
OUR HOME DISTRICT... April 30, D7930, Sheraton Four Points, Wakefield (all parts plus Graduate and Facilitator Training). We will be offering Sessions 1, 2, and 3 and also an advanced class and a class for facilitators. Cost for this day (which includes a continental breakfast and lunch) is $95. Those D7930 Rotarians taking Session One or Session Two will receive a $50 refund after attending the session from the District.
Want to complete all three parts in one year? Register for both virtual and in-person Parts I, II, and III at www.rlinea.org.
Leaders know there is always more to learn!
Multiple Opportunities at Rotary Leadership Institute
Rotary Club of Topsfield Boxford Middleton invites you to join them for a fun evening of St. Patrick's Day- themed virtual MUSIC B-I-N-G-O for a great cause!
Sunday, March 13, 2022, 6:00-7:15 PM. Online from your Computer, Phone, or Tablet. Entry id $25.00 per computer.
Proceeds will benefit NEADS. NEADS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Princeton, MA that provides highly skilled Service Dogs for people who have a disability.
As in year’s past it would be wonderful if you would bring your club banners to hang over the railings on the back of the motor inn. We have revised the registration sheet so that you can add all who are coming to cheer you on. So, if you are the only member of your club plunging, but you are bringing 5 members/friends/family with you, please go back into the following link and re-register your club. Clubs can register their participation by clicking here. Currently, we have approximately 100 Rotarians, Interactors and friends coming to the beach.
District 7930 District Equity & Inclusion Committee Discussion Series
Join Us for a discussion on Privilege & Belonging.
Guest Speaker: Ricky Meinke
Associate Director of Student Involvement at Berklee College of Music, Ricky is an educator, Community organizer and advocate for change. Ricky’s experience working in cultural and student centers across Higher Education has shaped his goals of creating inclusive environments and breaking down barriers that disrupt communities. Ricky does this by addressing inequity in various ways through critical research, building active collaborations across communities, and targeting toxic elements that lead to disparaging dynamics for community members.
We promise to inspire Presidents-Elect to lead their clubs and to empower them to achieve success as we Imagine Rotary!
This year’s keynote speakers include RI President-Elect Jennifer Jones, Evan Burrell, Dr. Tunji Funsho, and Carolyn Jones. They will aim to inform and reinforce our program and our conversations, inviting us all to consider concepts like “thinking out of the box”; becoming a change agent; leading your club to be more project-oriented; collaboration and flexibility. You will leave this PETS program feeling “fired up” and eager to begin the amazing year ahead as your club’s President!
The Northeast Presidents-Elect Training Seminar (NEPETS) is Rotary’s training program for club Presidents-elect and Assistant Governors throughout New England and parts of Canada. The goal of NEPETS is to prepare Presidents-elect and Assistant Governors for their upcoming roles through provocative plenary speakers and discussions with peers from various districts during breakout sessions. NEPETS is a collaborative effort of seven Rotary districts and includes the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, southern Maine, and southern Quebec.
Even if you are not a President-Elect or Assistant Governor, we invite you visit the NEPETS Virtual House of Friendship to learn more about Rotary Fellowships, Action Groups, and the amazing projects being conducted in our seven districts.
Over 950 Runners have already registered for the Malden Half Marathon + 5 Mile Race being held on Sunday, March 13. The Half Marathon begins at 8:00 am and the 5 Mile Race kicks off at 9:30 am.
The Malden Rotary Club is respectfully asking for volunteers to assist with some Race Day activities that will begin at 7:00 am. Volunteers will receive a shirt, libation, and meal at the Post Race Party circa 11:00 am, right in the heart of Malden's vibrant Downtown Dining and Gaming District.
Please contact Malden President Paul Solano at psfinserve@aol.com or 617-240-4130 by Friday, March 11 to provide the name or names of your volunteers.
We will be most happy to sign off on any Community Service hours! Thank you!
The Gloucester Rotary invites the public to attend their FUNdraising event – “A Night at the Races” on Friday, March 18, 2022, at Cruiseport Gloucester, located at 6 Rowe’s Wharf in Gloucester. Doors open at 6:30 pm. All proceeds from this event will support local and international programs of the Gloucester Rotary.
A Night at the Races is a fun-filled evening for adults with all the suspense and excitement of being at the racetrack. High quality, video-taped horse races are narrated from start to finish by lively announcers. During the evening there will be complimentary hors d’oeuvre, a cash bar, and variety of raffles. At various points during the evening, betters will be able to use their winnings to bid on merchandise and services that have been donated for the event. For the most fun, reserve a table – bring a group.
Gloucester and Rockport Rotaries partnered together, along with funding from a District Managed Grant and several additional individuals and organizations, to purchase and install a standby power generator for Kivu Hills Academy in Boneza, Rwanda. Boneza is a community similar in size to the combined population of Gloucester and Rockport and has limited infrastructure. In the past several years, Gloucester and Rockport have worked with the Arise Rwanda organization to support the installation of a kitchen at Kivu Hills Academy and a well for the citizens of Bugarura District. The well project was also supported with a District Managed Grant.
Arise Rwanda is a multi-dimensional education, community building, and infrastructure improvement organization. They facilitate project selection and completion based on community members' expressed needs and the community's own priority setting. Education has been a leading and pressing need in the region. As a result the Kivu Hills Academy, an accredited Technical and Vocational Secondary School, was founded in 2016 and now serves a student body of 273 high school students. (Kivu Hills Academy is the only high school in the region.) Kivu Hills Academy offers academic programs in Masonry, Computer Systems Technology and Networking, and Tourism.
Consistent electric power is required to maintain the productivity of the academic environment, power the pumps bringing water to the school, provide safety and lighting, and prevent power surges that can destroy expensive computer equipment. The generator installed this winter will meet this need of a stable electrical supply.
Thank you to Gloucester Rotarian David McKechnie for bringing this opportunity to our attention. Thank you also to the District Grants Team for your support with these important projects.
We’re back! In-person Rotary Leadership Institute, Saturday, April 30, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Four Points, Wakefield, MA. Located just off Route 128 and near the shops of Lynnfield’s MarketStreet, The Four Points is one of the premier conference centers north of Boston and offers ample parking, comfortable meeting rooms, and hotel-wide Wi-Fi for break periods. Parts I, II, III, Graduate and Facilitator training will be offered. The registration fee for the day is $95 which will cover a continental breakfast, all curriculum materials, a mid-morning coffee break, and buffet luncheon. Participants do not have to be club officers – All Rotarians are leaders in their communities and businesses! All leaders know that learning never stops! Rotarians participating in Session 1 or Session 2 will receive a $50 reimbursement after attending from the District.
Mark your calendars and register today at www.rlinea.org. Guided by experienced facilitators, the day will be full of Rotary fellowship and stimulating, challenging discussions about Rotary’s organization, resources for Rotarians about membership, strategic planning, club communication, fundraising, and a host of other subjects. (Curriculum content is available at rlinea.org).
Fellow Rotarians… The first (that I know of) plunging has taken place at St. Camillus parking lot in Arlington, where the Arlington Club members have been plunged into a dunk tank. Don’t think that the dunk tank had any heated water in it. No, on the contrary, these brave Rotarians and friends plunged down into the icy water with President Becca losing her glasses on her tumble. Thankfully one our senior members had their “grabber” handy and was able to fish them out of the tank. If your club is also doing a separate “Plunge,” let me know and I’d be happy to join you, if I’m available.
As in year’s past, it would be wonderful if you would bring your club banners to hang over the railings on the back of the motor inn. We have revised the registration sheet so that you can add all who are coming to cheer you on. So, if you are the only member of your club plunging, but you are bringing 5 members/friends/family with you, please go back into the following link and re-register your club. Clubs can register their participation by clicking here.
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 $1,500.00, 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 five clubs below have already surpassed that level. Let’s try to get our District back to more participation throughout the clubs.
The list below includes your donations made to PolioPlus from July 1, 2021, as of February 19, 2022. But this is just a list of the TOP TEN. Year to date we have raised $29,250.01 of our $100,000 goal. There are still 20 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio through MyRotary. We cannot count donations and add your club to the list, if your club doesn’t record them through RI.
If you are planning to go to the RI Convention in Houston, please join us for an evening of relaxation and fun and some awesome Tex-Mex food at The Original Ninfa's on Navigation!
Monday, June 6th, 2022, at 7:00 PM (local time) we will gather for a family style "Fajita Fiesta” meal at a cost of 35.00 per person plus 8.25% tax and 18% gratuity. So we are collecting a $46 per person as a registration fee, which includes tax, gratuity, and the credit card processing fee. Payment is required at the time of registration, and we can only accept credit card payments (sorry, no checks!).
Drinks will be on individual tabs and will be separate.
Seating is limited, so we can only accommodate 40 people at this event. Please click here to register to reserve your spot! We will be opening the registration to friends in other districts in 1-2 weeks, so please register ASAP before the event fills up...
And if you have not registered for the RI Convention in Houston yet, please use this link to learn more. The special low registration rate of $495 is only available until February 28th!
In February 2020, the Interact Club of Marblehead started a fundraising project to build toilets for individual homes in Mewat in the Nuh district, 2 hours south of New Delhi, India. Predominantly populated by Meos (indigenous Muslims), Mewat lags on almost every developmental measure, where sanitary facilities such as toilets and clean drinking water are persistently lacking in homes and schools.
As a result, Mewat is a hot spot for international development assistance. It is also a go-to site for National Immunization Day (NID) in the Delhi region for Rotarians from many parts of the world. The latrine project addresses the multiple issues endemic to poverty-stricken villages like Mewat, in which women often bear the most. Girls have suffered from higher dropout rates, poor maternal health, high infant mortality, and violence when they try to relieve themselves in the open without a closed-in structure.
When the lockdown hit in March 2020, activities across non-essential organizations, schools, businesses came to a standstill. However, as the new virus spread globally, the sponsoring club for the latrine project in India, the Rotary Club of Delhi South Metropolitan, and its lead US partner, Rotary Club of Morgan Hill in California, were committed to seeing this project through. More than ever, it became urgent to build these toilet stations as these communities were reporting an unprecedented spike of Covid 19 cases. As a result, the fundraising efforts for this project took on a pressing turn.
It's 2022, and Marblehead's Got Talent (MGT) is back with $15,000 in performance art scholarships for Marblehead students.
Every year, Marblehead Rotary awards scholarships to qualified students who compete for the top three prizes: $6,000 for first place, $4,000 for second place, and $3,000 for third place. With an additional four runner-up winners of $500.00 each. More and more financial scholarships for the performing arts are hard to come by. But we made it a goal to recognize our talented high schoolers through healthy competition to foster their development in the performing arts and help them pay for college.
As our year-long celebration comes to a end, we reminisce on the past and look forward to the future. We are having our culminating event on the very date that the Beverly Rotary Club was started 101 years prior!
Join us for a fun time of socializing, hors d’oeuvres, dancing to live music and examining our time capsule! The details are on the invitation posted. Click here for the link to purchase tickets. Maybe you’ll join us?
A Ukrainian 12-yr old boy with electrical burns over 90% of his body was recently airlifted from Ukraine and brought to Shriners Hospital (Mass General) in Boston. This was done with assistance from Ukraine Rotary Club Kyiv-Sophia and Rotary Clubs in our neighboring District 7910. Dr. Gennadiy Fuzaylov, who is treating the boy advised that his mother Oksana is staying in Mass General Hospital "parent apartment" available to her only while her son is in the hospital for treatment. However sometime in the next 3-weeks Taras will be released and both mother/Oksana & Son/Taras, who do not speak English, will need a place to stay near Massachusetts General Hospital as Taras needs to receive follow up treatments for up to 6 Weeks then needs to return to Ukraine.
Fellow Rotarians… I hope that you and your club are planning to join us on April 2nd in Gloucester for the Polar Plunge. As in year’s past it would be wonderful if you would bring your club banners to hang over the railings on the back of the motor inn. We have revised the registration sheet so that you can add all who are coming to cheer you on. So, if you are the only member of your club plunging, but you are bringing 5 members/friends/family with you, please go back into the following link and re-register your club. Clubs can register their participation by clicking here.
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 list below includes all donations made to PolioPlus from July 1, 2021, as of February 12, 2022. Year to date we have raised $27,950.01 of our $100,000 goal. There are 20 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio through MyRotary. We cannot count donations if your club doesn’t record them.
1. Marblehead
2. Rockport
3. Arlington
4. Reading
5. Lynn
6. Chelsea
7. Wakefield
8. Parkway, Swampscott, Amesbury and Gloucester are tied
The Rotary Club of Lynn held its Eighth Grade Recognition Program Thursday, February 10th, at Old Tyme Family Cuisine. This signature program, a staple on Rotary’s annual calendar, seeks to recognize young middle school students from Lynn who, each in their own way, has overcome an obstacle in their lives to achieve success both inside and out of the classroom. This is the first recognition since the start of the pandemic. The Club will have two more before the end of the school year. The program's longtime sponsor is RiverWorks Credit Union.
Seated from L - R: Daniel Brown, North Shore Christian School; Sindy Carbajal Santos, Thurgood Marshall Middle School; Tyler Desmond, St. Mary’s, Marian Division; and Aysia Olaes, Breed Middle School. Back row, Dick Ruth, Rotarian and Program coordinator; Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, Rotarian and Superintendent of Lynn Public Schools; Peter Kopoulos, Chief Financial Officer for RiverWorks Credit Union, and Dr. John Dolan, Rotarian and Head of School at St. Mary’s High School. Absent when photo was taken but recognized for her outstanding achievement was Jazlene Ledesma, Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, Discovery Program.
Increasing Access to Clean Drinking Water for the indigenous Wayuu people
The Chelsea Rotary Club is cooperating with the Fonseca Club in La Guajira, Colombia on a new global grant to bring clean drinking water to the villages of the indigenous Wayuu people on the Guajira peninsula. The area where the Wayuu live is a desert climate and there are over 350,000 indigenous people in this northern peninsula in Colombia. Over 5,000 indigenous children have died in the last few years from lack of water and other diseases derived from lack of water.
Our objective is to build 24 wells that will serve around 7,000 indigenous people, including children. Children and their mothers are the ones who are searching for water, on an everyday basis, they have to walk, ride mules for miles in search of water.
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 list below includes all donations made to PolioPlus from July 1, 2021 as of February 5, 2022. Year to date we have raised $27,716.01 of our $100,000 goal. There are 21 clubs in the district who have not started making their donations to Polio. Please register with the Gloucester Club to let them know the number of participants. Clubs can register their participation by clicking here.
The Greater Salem, NH Rotary Club recently distributed more than $16,000 to area gas and oil companies to support over 60 families in need in its service area with their heating costs. This is the second year the club has offered this Fuel Assistance Program. Special thanks to our partners: B & H Oil, McLean Oil, Palmer Gas & Oil, and Murphy & Sons.
Deb Whitten, Credit and Collections Manager of Palmer Gas & Oil said, “Families continue to struggle during this pandemic and this donation will help tremendously. This is the second year that we have received this extraordinary gift from the Rotary Club, and we could not be more thankful.” Adds John Lilly of the Greater Salem Rotary Club, “This has become one of our major service projects and we are thrilled to work with the Ermer family and Palmer Gas & Oil long with B & H Oil, McLean Oil, and Murphy & Sons.”
Pictured here: John Lilly and Jeanne Geisser of Greater Salem Rotary Club present a check to Deb Whitten of Palmer Gas & Oil.
The Rotary Club of Peabody is hosting its biggest fundraiser of the year "Taste of the North Shore" in person again this year! This popular fundraiser promised an evening of fun, prizes and, of course, delicious food from some of the best restaurants to be found on the North Shore. All proceeds benefit scholarships for Peabody High School children and our other community projects throughout the year.
Join us at 6 pm at the DoubleTree in Danvers on March 1. Raffle tickets for our $10,000 grand prize includes 2 admissions to the event and cost $100. Business sponsorships are still available. For tickets and more information click here.
*Full vaccination or negative COVID test required. Masks will be required at all times, except for eating.*
While we wish it was safe to hold an in-person RYLA for high school students in 2022, we don’t believe we are there yet! Because of that, D7930 will hold an Advanced RYLA for a small group of students who have already participated in RYLA.
The purpose of this weekend will be to continue to develop alumni who wish to continue their journey of leadership development and to support the RYLA program going forward. While RYLA students currently lead families and participate in some of the planning, the event is primarily led by a group of Rotarians. The longer-term goal is to have the weekend be more alumni/student led.
We are hopeful that the weekend will be held at Camp Glen Brook in Marlborough, NH, tentatively on Saturday-Sunday, May 14-15. We are returning to Camp Glen Brook to be good stewards of our resources as we have a deposit there from 2020, when we had to cancel due to the pandemic.
The Gloucester Rotary Club invites the public to attend their FUNdraising event – “A Night at the Races” on Friday, March 18, 2022, at Cruiseport Gloucester, located at 6 Rowe’s Wharf in Gloucester. Doors open at 6:30 pm. All proceeds from this event will support local and international programs of the Gloucester Rotary.
A Night at the Races promises to be a fun-filled evening for adults with all the suspense and excitement of being at the racetrack. High quality, video-taped horse races are narrated from start to finish by lively announcers. During the evening there will be complimentary hors d’oeuvre, a cash bar, and variety of raffles. At various points during the evening, betters will be able to use their winnings to bid on merchandise and services that have been donated for the event. For the most fun, reserve a table – bring a group.
This year our district is hosting six Global Scholars who are here to further their studies in their chosen fields: Deborah Kang (Korea) in Public Policy and Urban Planning, Makiko Mitsunami (Japan) in Maternal and Child Health, Paul Schmidt (Germany) in Bioelectronics, Yumeka Kawahara (Japan) in Refugee Integration, Yusuke Yoshikawa (Japan) in Public Health and Francisco Barrera (Mexico) in Epidemiology.
These scholars all have extensive backgrounds in their specialties and would be delighted to share their knowledge and cultures with you. Please reach out and arrange for them to speak to your clubs. You can access links to their biographies and email addresses on our district website (rotary7930.org), under Our District/Rotary Foundation/Global Scholars.
Our German friends from our Inter-Country-Committee Austria-Germany-USA, for which our district 7930 is a founding member, have organized a great virtual event with Thomas Neubert, Senior Director Strategic Incubation & Innovation, Intel Corp./Silicon Valley as keynote speaker. Please see the attached invitation PDF for more details, including the Zoom link (requires login).
The Inter-Country-Committee Austria-Germany-USA invites you to an emotional and informative presentation via ZOOM on February 9th, 2022, 12:30 PM EST (06.30 PM CET).
Thomas Neubert has lived in Silicon Valley for 30 years and will deliver an inspiring keynote speech "Life lessons - The glass is always half full", which will be held in English. We look forward to welcoming guests from Germany, the USA and Austria.
The Gloucester Rotary will hold its annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at 11am at the Cape Ann Motor Inn on Long Beach, located at 33 Rockport Road in Gloucester. Anyone wishing to support the #EndPolioNow campaign may make a donation online at www.Rotary.org/donate. Please indicate that your donation should support the “Polio Fund.”
The Annual World Peace and Understanding Event on February 3 featured two movies this year. The evening started with the Premiere of a documentary, by Sarah Furie, a member of Boston Rotaract, titled “The Talk With My Black Sons.” This was followed by a lively question-and-answer session with the director. If you missed the event, you can watch the documentary here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JuG2CusHaJo
The second movie was a compilation about the fruits of our Interact MicroFinance grant through the eyes of the Interactors and other young adults; building compassion and understanding around the world and within the students themselves. Our district has provided ten Interact Clubs and other youth organizations with $500 in seed funds each to begin doing Microloans on the Kiva platform. Four of the clubs recorded short video segments of the young adults choosing a microloan to support and explaining why they picked that particular project. You can watch the video here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9F7rx4BXyNA
Building Peace and Understanding in our Communities and Around the World
The Ipswich-Rowley Rotary Club is holding its annual “25 Days of Kindness” food drive this month to help address food insecurity in its communities. Rotary is partnering with The Open Door’s Ipswich community food pantry and local businesses to collect food items for neighbors in need.
“Food needs often increase after the holidays, especially among our fellow citizens whose livelihoods are impacted by the ongoing COVID pandemic,” said a Rotary statement.
Donations will be accepted through February 3 at the Ipswich branches of Brookline Bank, BankGloucester, and the Institution for Savings, as well as at the Ipswich Community YMCA.
The most-needed food items include peanut butter, canned meats (tuna, chicken, and turkey), break- fast cereal, hearty soups, canned fruits and vegetables, spaghetti sauce, boxes of macaroni and cheese, rice, noodles, pasta, and pancake mix.
The donated food will be delivered to the Open Door in early February and distributed to clients of the Ipswich food pantry.
Rotary International President-elect Jennifer Jones wants members to imagine the possibilities in the change they can make to transform the world.
Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, revealed the 2022-23 presidential theme, Imagine Rotary, as she urged people to dream big and harness their connections and the power of Rotary to turn those dreams into reality.
“Imagine, a world that deserves our best,” Jones told incoming district governors on 20 January, “where we get up each day knowing that we can make a difference.”
Jones, who will make history on 1 July by becoming Rotary’s first female president, gave a live online address to precede Rotary’s annual training event for district governors from around the world, the International Assembly. The assembly was rescheduled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will now be held virtually 7-14 February.
The Salem Rotary Club is thrilled to present our first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training at our Rotary meeting on January 25th. Our training will be conducted by Human in Common. Human in Common is an innovative team of experienced diversity consultants who specialize in providing professional diversity and ethical upstander training for nonprofits, municipalities, businesses and schools.
Members of the Human in Common team who will join us include:
Deborah Cohen, M.Ed. (pronouns: she/her) is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Human In Common. She is the creator of Ethical Upstander training -- a compassionate, experiential model of teaching active bystander intervention skills. For 30 years, Deborah has worked as a social justice educator, integrating community organizing and collaborative arts projects as a vehicle for amplifying diversity, equity & inclusion.
Robert Gordon, B.A. (pronouns: he/him) is a Diversity Specialist at Human in Common. He has a background in organizational planning, education, and multicultural recruitment. His expertise lies in bringing people together across organization levels to develop and strengthen a sense of belonging among people of color within the workplace or community. Robert collaborates with clients to identify and break down systemic barriers, increase cultural humility, and empower people from marginalized backgrounds.
Pictured here is presenter Robert Gordon.
Salem Presents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training
Camp Rotary is pleased to announce that tickets are now available to our Centennial Gala Celebration! The event will take place on site at our camp in Boxford, in our new dining hall, on the evening of June 11, 2022 from 6 – 11 PM. The committee has planned this event to be a touch of elegance as a formal way of recognizing the achievement of providing 100 summers of camp for generations of children from the North Shore and beyond! The gala is geared towards adults only (21+) with cocktails, dinner and dancing on the agenda. With only 200 tickets available, the event is expected to sell out, so if you are planning on attending, we advise you to purchase your tickets quickly.
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!
Happy New Year and hoping for a very productive 2022! We kickoff with a big FOOD DRIVE ON 1/22!
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.
There are a few more calendars left for purchase by contacting Anne Lewis at car4forever@yahoo.com or 603-721-1038.
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.
It's 2022, and Marblehead's Got Talent (MGT) is back with $15,000 in performance art scholarships for Marblehead students.
Every year, Marblehead Rotary awards scholarships to qualified students who compete for the top three prizes: $6,000 for first place, $4,000 for second place, and $3,000 for third place. With an additional four runner-up winners of $500.00 each. Marblehead Rotarian David Deutsch explained, "More and more financial scholarships for the performing arts are hard to come by. But we made it a goal to recognize our talented high schoolers through healthy competition to foster their development in the performing arts and help them pay for college."
How to join? It is open to all Marblehead High School. Send a video audition to us by midnight on January 24. The audience will choose semi-finalists on Thursday, February 3, at the Marblehead High School Auditorium, and then capping the event in the grand finale at Cabot Theatre in Beverly on Thursday, the 17th. For more information and to get an application online, visit: www.marbleheadsgottalent.com.
On January 12, 2022, the Rotary Club of Lynn continued with its tradition of distributing dictionaries to 3rd graders in the 18 public elementary schools in Lynn. Since 2008, the Rotary Club of Lynn, MA has presented over 1,200 dictionaries annually to third-grade students in the Lynn Public Schools. This year marks the 14th consecutive year of this service project for the club and a distribution of nearly 18,000 dictionaries since its inception!
This year the Reading Cooperative Bank (RCB) funded the cost of the dictionaries. The prior sponsor, the Coastal Heritage Bank branch in Wyoma Square was purchased by RCB in 2021. Tess Cunha, VP and Branch Administrator for RCB was more than happy to step-up and sponsor the project. In 2021, due to Covid 19 restrictions, the dictionaries were distributed by the teachers, but this year the Rotarians and employees of RCB were able to personally distribute them.
The deadline to submit a District Managed Grant for either local or international projects is January 31, 2022. Your club must be grant qualified to apply for a grant. District Designated Funds (DDF) can provide 50% of funding up to $3000.00 for local grants and $5000.00 for international grants. For example, if your club contributes $6000 for a local project, then DDF match would be $3000.00. DDF monies are available to distribute once grant applications are closed, our spending plan is approved by RI and monies received. Once the district receives the funding and after your project is completed, you will receive the grant distribution. Please note: due to reduced giving to the Annual Fund Share in year 2018-2020, (Annual Fund Share giving provides our grant monies 3 years later), only one grant is able to be approved per club.
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.
Pictured cooks, l. to r., Don and Linda Doliber, Heidi Whear, Judith Black, Mike Elkin, and new Service Members Greg and Jean Cassanos. Not pictured but appreciated for their cooking skills and contributions, President Patricia Sullivan and President Elect Jessica Barnett.
As you all know the Polar Plunge has been scheduled for April 2nd this year in Gloucester, however you can plunge when and where you choose. All Rotarians and their sponsors are donating directly to Polio Plus through the donate button in MyRotary or through your club’s Foundation Chair. This list includes all donations made to PolioPlus from July 1 as of January 7. Year to date we have raised $24,772 of our $100,000 goal.
Join the Party and Raise Money for the Rotary Foundation!!! You are invited to the Gala Fundraiser for the Rotary Foundation with Fellow Rotarians from Zones 28 & 32.
Wednesday, 23 February 2022, 8:00 pm ET. With District 7930’s Pre-Gala Event 7-7:45 pm ET hosted by DG Terry & DGE Alexander
Don’t Miss this Event!!!
Your ticket gets you into the Zone Event as well as the Pre-Gala Event & Matching Points Click this link for detailed program information & ticket pricing: Registration/Tickets for Zone Virtual Foundation Gala. FYI, you will receive a separate Pre-Gala Event Link close to the event.
Because the Coronavirus and its variants have again become more active, I have moved the next two district events back to Zoom.
First is the Mid-Year Leadership and Pre-PETS meeting scheduled for January 27th. This is for all Presidents, Presidents-Elect and future Presidents for the following two years. This meeting is now open for registration at https://rotary7930.org/event/mid-year-leadership-meeting-1/. The agenda is for a welcoming statement and then to breakout rooms with your respective Governor, DGE, DGN or DGND. Each room will have their own agenda with the DGE staying in the main room to have his Pre-Pets presentation with the Presidents-elect.
The second half of the Pre-PETS presentation for the Presidents-Elect is scheduled for February 12 from 3:00 to 4:30pm. Registration is open for this event at https://rotary7930.org/event/pre-pets-part-2/.
The Wakefield Rotary Club recently announced the election of its new officers and directors at its Annual Meeting. The club elects new leadership each year in accordance with its by-laws. The 2022-2023 Board of Directors include Paul Adams, John Dale, Margie Daniels, Wendy Maguire, Jill McWilliam, Bruce Donovan and Amy Luckiewicz. Suzanne Bowering will serve as Club Secretary, Barbara Worley as Club Treasurer and Frank Fiorentino as Sergeant-at-Arms. Glen Duffy was elected Vice President/President-Elect and Gene Mullen will serve as President for the 2022-2023 term. Mullen commented, “I've been so impressed with the meaningful work that our club members have been able to accomplish over the past several years. I’m thrilled to be elected as President in 2022!”
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.
The teenage group is often looked over or last thought of when it comes to Christmas generosity by local resources. We wanted to do something in our little corner of the world for these kids. Our newest member John Kingston of the Revere City Credit Union and Revere's newest school committee member was gracious enough to deliver the gift cards for us!
This November and December the Arlington, MA Rotary Club has been busy! The club supported The Salvation Army of Cambridge, Massachusetts by serving Thanksgiving Lunch with students from Arlington Catholic, raising over $400 bell ringing, donating over 100 pairs of socks and creating 20 family game night bags for families in need.
We honored Peter Lundstrom, Lead Teacher of the AHS Alternative Education Program, as a Paul Harris Fellow at Rotary District 7930's Heroes Dinner.
We collected toiletries for a drive set up by one of our members kids through the Martin Richards Foundation.
The club sponsored 10 children and teens engaged with the MA Department of Children and Families through the Wonderfund MA.
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.
This year there were approximately 60 families in need and donor families/groups were matched to provide Christmas gifts and holiday meals to these families anonymously. Reading Rotary’s efforts were coordinated by new Rotarian Adam Sandberg.
This is a truly inspirational and humbling event to see the community come together to help others. The generosity of the donors is overwhelming as evidenced by the many smiling faces as well as some tears of thanks. Reading Rotary is proud of and grateful for our partners ReadingCares and the Town of Reading in this community giving event. A huge thank you to all the donor families and groups. Their generosity makes this all possible! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Despite the gray weather, everyone had a festive time on Saturday as the Ipswich community celebrated the annual arrival of Santa Claus. The Jolly Elf arrived at town wharf at 11 am and was escorted by children of all ages, and by the host Ipswich High School Interact elves, along Water Street to Santa’s Village at Town Hall.
At Town Hall, Santa held court to meet the children, who also enjoyed seasonal games provided by Santa’s Elves. Christmas Trees were auctioned off, and the Marines collected 6 boxes for ‘Toys for Tots”. Downstairs at Town Hall, additional elves from the Ipswich-Rowley Rotary Club were on hand to prepare and serve food. Even the Grinch had two green thumbs up for this fun event.
The ‘Jingle Bell Walk’ is an annual gift to the town from Ipswich High School Interact, a school-based club of community service minded young leaders that is supported by the Rotary Club and Ipswich High School. The event also benefits from strong community support and the generous sponsorship of many local businesses.
Beverly's beloved Rotarian Jack Good passed away last year. The project of bell ringing for the Salvation Army was his baby. The tradition carries on and we know that Jack is with us. Rotarians were stationed at two Stop ’n Shops and a Walgreen’s in Beverly. There were shifts throughout the day, organized by Alan Temkin, who has assumed Jack’s job for this project. Some Rotarians wore costumes and were chatting with all the customers going in and out of these businesses. Needless to say, we are a merry group! The question now remains: which location collected the most money......? Time will tell. Thanks to all of our Beverly Rotarians who were part of this project!!!! Happy Holidays!
Manchester-Essex Rotary Club is donating $6,000 to Black Earth Compost, a local food composting facility.
One of the major existential crises we face today is climate change. Whether this is a manmade issue or a global cyclical issue, greenhouse gas emissions are a substantial contributing factor to the warming of the planet. Scientists today are realizing that the predictions of this global warming trend have a much shorter timeline than originally thought and unless we figure out how to produce fewer greenhouse gasses and recapture them resulting in lowering their concentration in our atmosphere there will be catastrophic results to our climate, food and water availability and sea level changes. In response to these issues, the Manchester-Essex Rotary club has submitted a grant to support the Black Earth Composting project.
One of the ways we can contribute to the solutions of this complex issue is composting. Compost reverses global warming through deep carbon storage and reinvigorates our ability to grow food. A major challenge being in Massachusetts, a vast amount of food we eat comes from outside New England. So, we are net importers of nutrients. It is not cost effective to ship compost out of the area. Compost is a nice carbon sink, it stores carbon long term in the soil, and it pulls CO2 out of the air, so it has a net negative impact on the emissions. It’s just the simplest thing people can do right now to have an impact on solving this problem.
This a great opportunity to engage or re-engage your interact advisors and students. The project is simple. I am having one of the clubs put through a District Managed Grant for $6,000, which the District is funding. We are going to use Kiva as a microfinance platform, because we've already had great experience with it both with some Rotarians in our district using it, as well as the Marblehead Interact Club using it successfully for many years. We plan to create separate accounts on Kiva for each Interact Club that wants to participate. The accounts will be set up in the Rotary Club's name but you should provide the Interact Club with the login information and let your Interactors decide which projects to fund. As the loans are repaid over time the funds go back into your account and are available to be re-loaned.
Rotary Clubs need to apply by December 30th to participate in this program. There is an online application here and clubs and interactors should watch the MicroFinance YouTube video on our District Website or by clicking here.
Once we know how many Rotary/Interact Clubs will be participating we will divide the grant money equally and set up the accounts.
District Governor Terry Curran showered our club with recognition in many areas of contributions to Rotary Foundation 2020-2021. Among them: Marblehead Rotary is one of the handfuls of clubs to achieve the district's top three highest per capita on annual giving and for individual member participation. In addition, the Marblehead Rotary was recognized as one of the top contributors to the district’s campaign for the Rotary Foundation’s “End Polio Now” fund-raising campaign.
Accepting these citations is the past 2020-2021 president, Arthur Schwartz (right), whose leadership steered the club in staying the course during the challenging year of the pandemic, and Blair Lord (left) the 2021-2022 club president.
After a recent fundraiser, the Woburn Memorial High School Interact Club presented Woburn Veterans Agent Larry Guiseppe with gift cards for Woburn Veterans.
From left to right: Guiliana Long, Interact Club VP Cece Allen, Interact Club Advisor Devin McDonough, Woburn Veterans Agent Larry Guiseppe, Interact Club President Emily Sullivan, Maelle Pierre, Macayla Hamilton, Caden Fleming and Dawson LeBlanc. (Missing: Rebecca Michel)
The Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor purchased materials for, and is distributing, buckets of sand and pet-friendly ice melt and scoops to local senior citizens. Prevention of falls and serious injuries is a serious issue for the senior population. The Club partnered with the Marblehead Council on Aging, which is delivering buckets via its bus to those seniors who cannot pick them up at the Community Center.
Pictured are two of the several club volunteers, Linda Doliber and Cyndi Kilbarger. Missing from the photo are volunteers Club President Patricia Sullivan, Judith Black, Donald Doliber and Tim Shotmeyer.
Belle Isle Rotary Club has submitted a District Managed Grant to support campers from East Boston to Camp Rotary.
For those Clubs without Interact Clubs (or even for Clubs with Interacts), please consider supporting the District Managed Grant from Belle Isle Rotary Club. It will support 10 students from the Salesian Boys & Girls Club in East Boston to go to Camp Rotary for a week this summer. This experience will make a lasting impact on these children, who otherwise will never experience summer camp. It will also support Camp Rotary as it enters its 100th year.
Donations to support this can be sent to Belle Isle Rotary c/o Tom Hankard, 14 Edgehill Road, Winthrop, MA 02152. Please add Camp Rotary to the memo line.
The Rotary Club of Lynn welcomed seven new members into its ranks at Thursday’s monthly meeting Old Tyme Family Cuisine.
From L to R: Dr. John Dolan, Head of School at St. Mary’s High School; Claire Price, Department Head at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute; Dianna Chakoutis, Ward Five counselor and manager of Old Tyme; Stephen Archer, Lynn Fire Chief; Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, Superintendent of Lynn Public Schools. Administering the oath of office was Rotary President Ray Bastarache. LVTI vice-principal Kerry Hayward, and Asst. secretary for Housing & Urban Development, Danielle Bastarache, were unable to attend due to prior commitments.
On November 18, the Lynnfield Rotary Club hosted its annual Thanksgiving Luncheon at the Salem Country Club. Unique to this event is the celebration of the athletic rivalry between the North Reading and Lynnfield High School football teams prior to the annual Thanksgiving Day Game. Captains of both teams, as well as Captains of the Cheer Teams and the North Reading Band joined the festivities. A letter about sportsmanship written by our Rotary Unsung Hero, Linda Naccara, from the Lynnfield Council on Aging, was read to the group of aspiring young leaders. Coaches from each team spoke about the outstanding camaraderie and growth of student athletes throughout their varsity careers.
In addition, special to this occasion, the Lynnfield Rotary Club gave a check of $5,000 to the Rotary Foundation to support international service projects across the globe. District Governor Terry Rezendes Curran accepted the donation and spoke about the wonderful work of the Rotary Foundation. The young adults at the luncheon got to hear how "Service Above Self" is put into action through Rotary.
The District Governor would like to support the revitalization of our Interact Clubs this fall. To that end we have put together a $100 mini grant for clubs to use to assist their Interact Club in doing a service project. Applications are now available online and close on January 30th. Start talking to your Interact club now and plan a service project with them. This can also include a service project to celebrate World Polio Day on October 24. We are asking all Interact Clubs to plan a project to celebrate our progress towards Polio Eradication.
Mini-Grants for Interact: Deadline Extended to Jan. 30
The Rotary Club of Chelsea is holding a Sports Raffle to benefit its Charitable Foundation. Proceeds from the raffle will support the amazing work the Rotary Club does in Chelsea and the surrounding communities including sponsoring Chelsea students at a week of overnight camp each summer, scholarships to graduating high school seniors, support of the Jordan Boys and Girls Club, HarborCov, ALS Walk and so much more. There are 9 amazing prizes with the Grand Prize being a trip for 2 to Patriots vs Dolphins on Jan 6-10, 2022. Thanks to our President Dan Pranka for organizing such amazing prizes. Tickets are $50 each. Drawing will be held December 14th. Do not need to be present to win. For tickets please contact Bruce Mauch Secretary Rotary Club of Chelsea at dgmauch@comcast.net or 857 544-9041.
Ipswich, MA – “Jingle Bell Walk” Saturday, December 18 2021, 11:00 am to 2 pm
Join us for a day of holiday festivities and cheer! Greet Santa as he arrives at the Ipswich Town Wharf. Sing carols with Buddy the Elf as we await Santa’s arrival! Jingle bells will be available for purchase. Jingle your bells and follow our honored guest and Buddy the Elf on a festive “Jingle Bell Walk” to the Ipswich Town Hall at 45 Green Street. Keep a sharp eye out for the “Grinch”!
Once Santa arrives at Town Hall, he will receive children, 11 and under to take photos with. Parents are urged to bring a camera! Each child will receive a gift bag from Santa as well. Following their visit with Santa, the children can have their faces painted, play festive games, and create holiday crafts. The Rotary Club will serve pizza, hot cocoa, cookies and more in the cafeteria.
Tickets will be available for purchase in order to enjoy delicious food, face painting, and crafts. There will be free games to play as well as raffles for Christmas trees and other great items!
Attendees are encouraged to bring unwrapped gifts fit for a child to support the Marines in their organization, Toys for Tots! For more information go to www.ipswichrotary.org. Proceeds from the Jingle Bell Walk will be donated to local business and we are working towards funding an international project!
As we close out Foundation Month, I wanted to remind you that #GivingTuesday isthis Tuesday, November 30. This global day of giving is an opportunity for all Rotary members to make a big impact with a gift of any size to our Annual Fund-SHARE. Last year, we raised more than US$800,000 — and we’re asking you to help us raise even more this year! Watch and share our Giving Tuesday video from the Rotary Foundation.
The Foundation will again recognize the top three clubs in fundraising, donor participation, and online giving. See last year’s top performers and set a goal to be on this year’s list.
As part of our ongoing efforts to keep you informed and educated on ways to support The Rotary Foundation, we are pleased to share information on a new initiative that is launching in Rotary District 7930. The 70+ initiative is a district-wide effort to encourage Rotarians to consider the benefits and opportunities of a charitable gift via their IRA.
Starting at age 70 1/2, the IRS allows individuals to make a tax-free distribution or qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from their IRA directly to a charity of their choice. And in the year you turn 72, you can use your gift to satisfy all or part of your required minimum distribution (RMD), which is required annually when you reach this age.
Each year Reading Rotary partners with the community for the Adopt-a-Family project for Thanksgiving and Christmas. 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 meals for Thanksgiving and meals and gifts at Christmas. Donors drop off at the DPW garage in the first shift, then recipient families pick up during a later shift.
Reading Rotary thanks one of our newest members, Adam Sandberg, for coordinating our work with Adopt-a-Family. Along with Reading Cares and the Town of Reading, our goal is to make sure every family in town has a happy Thanksgiving. Pictured here are Rotarians and other volunteers at the Thanksgiving Adopt-a-Family on November 22.
A millennial, two young professionals, two retirees, and three returnees to Marblehead Rotary with a combined 115 years of Rotary experience are among Marblehead Rotary’s new additions. These new members share one common thread: the Rotary brand made a strong impression on them as a touchpoint to make a difference. In addition, they have an enduring connection to the town of Marblehead. “We'll continue to adopt innovative ideas to make our members even more engaged and hope to attract more new talents,” says Blair Lord (top right), our club president. Meet the new team…
(First Row, from Left to Right)
Wilson Lautner grew up in Marblehead through sophomore, moved out to Sonoma Country in California, where he finished high school. Recently, he moved back to Marblehead to begin a career in residential real estate. His mission is to build partnerships with non-profit organizations to bring new opportunities to elevate and extend fine arts' reach to Marblehead.
The Rotary Club of Chelsea recently installed Dr. Aaron Jennings as its newest member. Aaron is the Equity, Diversity and Excellence Officer for the Chelsea Public Schools. Pictured with Aaron is Dr. Almudena Abeyta, Superintendent of the Chelsea Public Schools and Aaron’s sponsor, Allan I. Alpert, the Installing Officer and Richard Gopen, President-Elect of the Rotary Club of Chelsea.
On November 18th our Rotary District 7930 held a webinar to look into Microfinance and how we can easily come together to help to empower people around the globe to lift them out of poverty by providing them with small loans to support them in buying chickens, buying a sewing machine, fabrics, seeds, and many other things that enable them to be more productive members of their societies.
As an example we looked, in particular, at the non-profit organization Kiva that provides a platform to connect borrowers around the globe - via field partners in their home countries - with lenders in the US and Europe who come together to support those loans via crowd-funding.
Microfinance is also a great tool for Interact Clubs: the club can raise some money and then decide which loans to give out and follow those borrowers and their progress. The Marblehead Interact Club has been doing this for many years. This would also be a great opportunity for Rotary Clubs to apply for a Mini-Grant for their Interact Club. Mini-Grants for Interact are still open until December 15...
Posted by Tracy Arabian (she, her) on Nov 16, 2021
The Gloucester Rotary has produced a beautiful 2022 calendar, featuring scenic photography from local artists. In addition to the calendar, each purchase enters the buyer into a weekly raffle. $50 prizes will be drawn each week with two bonus prizes-- a $250 prize in June and a $500 prize in December. Calendars are $25 each, and proceeds from the sale of calendars will be used to support the many projects of the Gloucester Rotary. The calendars are available for purchase online (link: https://gloucesterrotary.org/) or in person at the Weathervane Gift Shop, located at 153 Main Street in downtown Gloucester (phone 978-281-1227), at BankGloucester, located at 160 Main Street in downtown Gloucester (978-283-8200), and from any Gloucester Rotary member.
On Thursday, November 11th the district held our annual Rotary Foundation event “A Celebration of Our Heroes” starting at 5:30 PM at the Danversport. The evening included a social hour, silent auction, dinner, and Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) presentations from 25 Rotary Clubs honoring 43 community heroes for their work during the pandemic.
This video is a compilation of just a few of the things we have done in our 100 years. Our Rotarians are featured in the video, with some beautiful birthday wishes from our sister clubs.
Thank you to them for being a part of our celebration!
The North Reading Rotary Club is proud to announce a new project with a mission of making this an annual or semi-annual event. Volunteers of all ages are invited to come together for a common purpose of taking responsibility for our town in order to help create a clean, green, litter-free place to live, work and play! While North Reading is a beautiful town, when you start looking for litter, you will see it everywhere – in neighborhoods, parking lots, sidewalks, buried in the woods and along the Ipswich River. From soda bottles to pizza boxes, beer cans and alcohol containers, amazon boxes and bubble wrap, plastic bags and old masks, there is an abundance of trash in our natural habitat.
This video is a compilation of just a few of the things we have done in our 100 years. Our Rotarians are featured in the video, with some beautiful birthday wishes from our sister clubs.
Thank you to them for being a part of our celebration!
This week, Woburn Rotary celebrated Harris "Harry" Cohen who has been a Rotarian for 50 years! Harry joined Rotary Club of Woburn in 1971 and is a Paul Harris Fellow +3. He also served on the Board of Directors for a number of years and has volunteered many hours of service to Woburn, included organizing the annual pancake breakfast. Harry continues to be an active member of Rotary Club of Woburn and comes to almost every weekly lunch meeting. Harry was presented with a proclamation from State Representative Richard Haggerty and a proclamation from Woburn Mayor Scott D. Galvin.
Picture here is Past President Susan Hartmere present presenting Harry with a commemorative clock to celebrates his 50th anniversary as a Woburn Rotarian.
The Wakefield Rotary Club hosted it’s Purple Pinkey event at the Fall In Love With Wakefield event last month. Club Secretary Suzanne Bowering explained, “Our Purple Pinkey event is designed to raise awareness of Rotary’s efforts world-wide to eradicate polio.” She continued, “In countries that experience technology challenges and in some rural areas, children have their pinkey fingers dyed purple to indicate they received a polio vaccine on their immunization day.” Rotary has been a global leader in the eradication of polio worldwide since 1985. Today, 99.9% of the world is polio-free. To learn more, visit endpolio.org.
Thursday, November 11 will be our annual Rotary Foundation event “A Celebration of Our Heroes” starting at 5:30 PM at the Danversport. The evening will include a social hour, silent auction, dinner, and Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) presentations.
Registration closes Monday, November 8, at 5PM!
Registration is required for this in-person event. There will be no walk-ins permitted!
We will be adhering to all current Covid-19 regulations to make sure this is a safe event for all Rotarians. Any person not vaccinated will be required to wear a mask, and you may choose to wear a mask even if you are vaccinated, if you are concerned about gatherings in indoor spaces. As you know, the Danversport facility has a very large ballroom, so we are confident that we can have people spaced out sufficiently to ensure a safe dining experience.
Newburyport: Come topple the smartest trivia team in the area! The Rotary Club of Newburyport invites you to test the trivia waters, as Newburyport resident and business owner Jill Santopietro Panall hosts and shares her Jeopardy!® expertise with those brave enough to play a local version of the popular quiz show. The games will be held on Thursday, November 18, at the Elks Club on Low Street in Newburyport. Doors open at 6:30 and at 7:00 let the games begin! Jill and her team have prepared questions that will span many categories, so everyone has an opportunity to showcase his or her unique knowledge.
Proceeds will support college scholarships for local students. According to Newburyport Rotary Club President Dan Hartman, “The club contributes up to $9,000 per year in scholarships to local graduating seniors. We are proud of our students and happy to help them. Your continued support is so important!”
Our generous major sponsor again this year is the Institution for Savings. Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available, including multiple round sponsorships at $100 each.
It gives me great pleasure to announce the results of the Nominating Committee, who met on November 4th. 2021. After interviewing candidates. the decision was made to nominate Thomas Hankard , past president of The Belle Isle Rotary Club of East Boston, Revere, Winthrop, as the District Governor for Rotary Year 2024-2025.
According to the By-Laws of District 7930, if there are no dissensions by December 31, 2021, Tom will be considered elected by acclimation.
The Beverly Rotary Club is once again having its Turkey Raffle. You can purchase a ticket for $20 and you might win a 40 lb. turkey!!!
The dressed, locally-grown 40 pounds plus turkey will be delivered to the winner's home three days before Thanksgiving with an industrial-sized roasting pan, which will be engraved with the winner's name.
With proceeds from the North of 40 Turkey Raffle, we are partnering with Rotary Clubs around the world to END POLIO NOW.
And, we are also working with local Rotary Clubs to protect the Ipswich River and adjacent watersheds -- the lifeblood of our North Shore communities.
Do you have dinner plans for Tuesday, November 9th? No? Great! Grab a flatbread and enjoy some bowling from 4-10 p.m. at American Flatbread in Somerville.
Boston Rotaract will be holding a fundraiser there. $4 of every large flatbread and $2 of every small flatbread sold that night goes to supporting Afghan Immigrants and Refugees coming to Boston via partnership with Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Spread the word!
Service during COVID is alive and well! Greeted by CEO Janet Nittmann of Windrush Farm, North Andover, members and friends of the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor were joined by Marblehead High School Interactors in spending a day of fellowship and service spreading cushioning mulch on bridle trails, performing light carpentry work, and cleaning out and hosing down the barn.
Windrush, which depends on volunteers to perform many upkeep duties, offers therapeutic horseback riding to children and adults with disabilities and also offers services to veterans dealing with the effects of PTSD. An added plus at the end of the day for the Rotarians and Interactors? They were invited to meet and greet Windrush's handsome horses in their paddocks.
The Wakefield Rotary Club recently completed its annual donation of dictionaries to every third grader in Wakefield. 253 copies were hand-delivered to all Wakefield public schools as well as Odyssey and St. Joseph’s School.
The club would like to thank the following Rotarians for their diligence in delivering the books: Suzanne Bowering, Jim Fitzgerald, Jill McWilliam, John Tramontozzi, Tom Stapleton, Barbara Worley and Catherine Dhingra.
Is your club planning a great community project this year? Consider applying for matching funds from D7930! In the current funding round, the District has approved funding for six projects to support projects that address literacy and education both locally and internationally, and support local food pantries. These projects provide great benefit to our communities, enhance the visibility of Rotary on a local level and provide the opportunity for clubs to demonstrate Rotary "ideals in action" for the benefit of attracting valuable new club members.
Projects are required to fall into at least one of the 7 Areas of Focus, must be a new project for your club, involve broad participation by members, and will be complete by May 15, 2022. If you are considering a project that meets these criteria, you may want to consider this matching grant opportunity. The application can be found here.
Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather was the setting for the PUMPKIN PAINTING IN THE PARK in Beverly Common. The event was hosted by the Beverly Rotary Club in partnership with Beverly Main Streets. 100 children registered to paint their pumpkins at the Gazebo. All of the pumpkins were donated thanks to the State Sheriff’s Department, Smolak Farms and Dr, Bill Beckman. Tables were set up with paint and decorations. After the children finished painting, their pumpkins were photographed for a montage of pumpkins.
Beverly Rotary continues to celebrate its Centennial Celebration with special events happening each month! Happy Birthday all year to the Beverly Rotary Club and its 112 members, serving the community!
Rotarians from Ipswich, Rowley and Wakefield, together with 12 high school students from St. Johns Prep, Danvers, joined Rachel Schneider, Ipswich River Watershed Association, Sat. Oct 23, for an outstanding hands-on training for Keeping Water Clean Day, a Greenscapes program.
Our inter-generational volunteer teams learned about the intricacies of the water cycle through a terrarium-like model, explored the cleaning of drinking water in a wastewater treatment plant, followed the polluting of water within our communities using a model of the local landscapes, and defined our watersheds within the different towns. We are ready to train more volunteers, and put our skills to action in our communities. Contact Ann Witzig, aswitzig@gmail.com.
Learn more about wine and have fun at the same time!! Meet fellow Rotarians and wine lovers across two districts, two countries and three plus states. Monthly tastings are themed and many feature special guests and presenters. We meet every last Sunday of the month from 5-6 pm on zoom for a tasting of two wines -- typically one white and one red varietal. Rotary Fellowships are open to fellow Rotarians and non-Rotarians. There is currently no cost to join our local chapter but we encourage you to join the Rotary Wine Appreciation Fellowship (RWAF). Next meeting October 31. For more information contact Joan at corksncapswine@gmail.com.
D7930 & D7790 Corks & Caps Wine Fellowship
Methuen Rotary Club held its 4th Annual June Jubilee. We choose non-profits that we feel their values align with the mission of Rotary and give away $1,000.00 per week every Friday in June.
This year one of the organizations we chose was On The Move INC. The mission of OTM is First, to promote literacy for children in need, so that they achieve 3rd grade reading proficiency by the end of third grade while simultaneously sparking their interest in reading as one step to becoming life-long learners. Second, to encourage a healthy lifestyle, for these same children, by providing them with bikes to stimulate their bodies as well as their minds. For more info visit www.otminc.org.
Pictured here: Rotarians James Savarino & Erica Hadley & William Haddad BOD from OTM INC.
Dr. Patrick Tutwiler is starting his fourth year as the Superintendent of the Lynn Public School District. Lynn is one of the five largest school districts in Massachusetts with over 2200 teachers and staff, 25 buildings to maintain and nearly 17,000 students to educate. To say he has a lot on his plate would be a massive understatement. However, when he was recently asked by three Lynn Rotarians and former LPS educators, Steve Upton, Dick Ruth and Ray Bastarache, to consider a Rotary Corporate Membership for his school district, he responded with a smile, “Absolutely! Why wouldn’t we team up with Rotary?”
Tutwiler has seen firsthand the many benefits this partnership between Lynn Rotary and the school district has delivered to Lynn students. These include: multiple college scholarships to high school seniors; eighth graders, who have overcome challenges, are recognized three times a year with a special lunch, a citation, a certificate of deposit at a local credit union, and a gift card to Barnes & Noble. In the 18 Lynn elementary schools, over 1300 dictionaries are distributed annually to all third graders through Rotary International’s Dictionary Project, as well as the Club’s 50-year sponsorship of the “Special Games” for the many Lynn elementary students who are challenged by physical or learning disabilities.
Are you a business owner? Do you want to show your creativity and Holiday Spirit? Methuen Rotary Club is holding the 2nd Annual LIGHT UP METHUEN this Holiday Season. December 4th - January 1, 2022 trees will be lit up all over the City.
A google map will be posted on our website and Facebook page with all the tree locations throughout the City. We will ask viewers to vote on the best displays and there are prizes for the TOP 3! Help us and decorate the Downtown, too. Limited number of spots available. Contact methuenrotaryclub@gmail.com or call Julie at 978-835-2819.
Posted by Joan Kelly Arsenault, PDG on Oct 23, 2021
In celebration of World Polio Day, District 7930 hosted “PolioPLUS and its Impact on Covid & Viral Outbreaks” on October 20th from 7-9 pm via Zoom. The featured speakers were Nancy Barbee, Ina Pinkney, and Michael McGovern. This event also set the stage for the return of our Polar Plunge with details forthcoming by DG Terry Curran.
The Belle Isle Rotary Club will hold their Annual Comedy Nite on Wednesday Nov. 3, 2021. Doors open at 6 pm at
Giggles Comedy Club 517 Broadway (Rt 1 S), Saugus, MA 01906.
All You Can Eat Pizza – Cash Bar Prizes and Raffles 3 Great (and different!) talents on the stage
Donation/ticket price $35.00 per person
Venmo Belleisle-rotaryclub or Paypal Rotary Club of Belle Isle Foundation.
Got questions about this event or to purchase tickets, please contact Joe (617) 909-5382, Steve (781) 731-3057, Vera (617)-909-5384 or Mike (617) 913-1531.
The Wakefield Rotary Club is hosting its third contest that offers the winner a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Dine Anywhere in the World Contest offers one lucky winner and a guest the opportunity to win a trip to any destination in the world of their choosing! The winner will receive round-trip airfare for two, an overnight in a 4-star or better hotel and a gift certificate for dinner to the restaurant of their choosing!
Tickets cost $100.00 each and a limit of 250 tickets will be sold. 10-packs of tickets are offered at a reduced rate of $750.00 and are available to a single entrant, not groups. The winning ticket will be pulled on Tuesday, February 15th at the club’s regular meeting at Brightview Senior Living in Wakefield.
You can purchase your tickets now by visiting Holiday Travel of Wakefield, calling (781) 245-5131 or purchasing online at www.wakefieldrotaryclub.org/raffle-2021. Wakefield Rotarians also have tickets available for sale.
Bring a team of up to five players, or we can create a team for you. Topple last year's smartest team on the seacoast and vie for cash and other prizes! Hosted once again by our local Jeopardy!™ winner Jill Santopietro Panall, the evening promises interesting questions, odd historical facts, and lots of friendly competition!
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Elk's Club, 25 Low St., Newburyport
Doors open @ 6:30, Game starts @7:00 pm.
Food and drink available for purchase.
$125.00 per team; up to five people per team. Or $25 to register as a single. Grand Prize for the winning team is $250. Other fun prizes are on tap, too.
Newburyport: Are you as smart as a “Jeopardy!” champ?
Proceeds will support college scholarships for local students. According to Newburyport Rotary Club President Dan Hartman, “The club contributes up to $9,000 per year in scholarships to local graduating seniors. We are proud of our students and happy to help them."
Our major sponsor again this year is the Institution for Savings. Round sponsorships are available for $100 each.
In light of our commitment to support the environment, Marblehead Rotary has been working in partnership with Bike Marblehead and Sustainable Marblehead to provide bike racks throughout town. We were able to fund the project with a matching district grant.
"Installing bike racks sends out the message that we are serious about the reduction of carbon emissions, as well as the personal wellness and health of our community," said Linda Sullivan of Marblehead Rotary. Furthermore, what is a better way to promote and enhance the cycling culture of our town?
Previously, riders would secure their bikes on signposts, fences, or trees, too often causing damage to the makeshift rack. For years, we’ve had the bike path and now we have accessible racks to encourage people to use the path more. We’ve installed the first racks at Shubie’s Marketplace, Beach Bluff Park, Upper, and Lower Stramski Way and at Abbot Hall.
Pictured here are Linda Sullivan of Marblehead Rotary and Ed Futcher of Sustainable Marblehead inspecting the bike rack at Clifton Improvement Association's Beach Bluff Park.
The Board of Directors of Senior Care, Inc, a Gloucester based senior citizen services organization, has awarded Ipswich Rotarian Nat Pulsifer their 2021 ‘Myra L. Herrick Outstanding Older American Award’ for his contributions to the safety and well-being of North Shore citizens, especially in his home town of Ipswich.
According to Scott Trenti, CEO of Senior Care and a Gloucester Rotarian, Nat was recognized for repeatedly volunteering at ‘the COVID-19 vaccination on-site in Ipswich, greeting the participants in the first two waves of vaccinations. He knew most of the people coming in, and welcomed everyone with genuine warmth and efficiency’.
According to Trenti, ‘the Myra L. Herrick Outstanding Older American Award is given yearly to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the welfare of elders in an innovative, creative, or dedicated way, or who is a role model for continuing to live an active, healthy, and purposeful lifestyle.’
One of several recipients recognized this year, Pulsifer has long been an active supporter of numerous environmental and humanitarian non-profit organizations and charitable events in Ipswich and the North Shore. Congratulations Nat on this well-deserved recognition!
In the photo, Scott Trenti presents the award to Nat in front of the Pancake House in Rowley following a recent Rotary club meeting.
The Burlington Breakfast Rotary is taking Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta’s message “Each One, Bring One” to heart. In just 4 months, we have added 4 new members.
Sometimes it is just a matter of being present at an event. We had an opportunity to have a table promoting the Burlington Breakfast Rotary and what we are all about at both the “Celebrate Burlington” event and the “Diwali Festival” on the Burlington Common. We had a poster and flyers with our recent projects and our Banner prominently displayed. We also had a Cornhole game for the children at Celebrate Burlington. Members took different shifts to take charge of the table and share with interested persons how our club “enriches Burlington.” From these two events, we attracted 3 new members.
Recently, new neighbors moved into our area. As we spoke to them during the past few months, my husband and I mentioned that we are Rotarians. They told us that they used to be Rotarians. We invited them to a complimentary breakfast at one of our meetings and to learn about our Club. Next week, our neighbor is being inducted into our “Small but Mighty” Burlington Breakfast Rotary Club!
So be present, spread the word, and “Each One, Bring One” or two, or three! Can’t wait to see what the next 8 months will bring!
On Thursday, September 30th, members of the Lynn Rotary Club gathered at the Old Tyme restaurant for one of its regular meetings. The Club choose to do a service project prior to conducting a regular club meeting. The project was to put together 50 brown bag lunches for My Brother’s Table. The lunches consist of 2 PB&J sandwiches, a drink box, and a nourishing snack. This is an ongoing need at My Brother’s Table. Especially since they are restricted in how they can feed those in need.
Since the Covid pandemic restrictions began, back in March 2020, the Table has relied on volunteers to make and deliver to the Table the brown bag lunches. Since that time members of the Rotary Club of Lynn have made well over 5,000 sandwiches.
If you are interested in helping the Table, please feel free to contact Meredith Nash at: Meredith@mybrotherstable.org. If you would like to join the Rotary Club of Lynn please send a note to: lynnrotaryclub@gmail.com.
Pictured here are various Rotary Club members hard at work making the 100 sandwiches for the bag lunches.
Lynn Club Makes PB&J Sandwiches for My Brother's Table
Posted by Leila Brandao dos Santos on Oct 09, 2021
Boston Rotary #7 members are taking their fight against polio to Club Cafe during the Pints for Polio 2021 fundraising event set for the month of October.
Pints for Polio is an annual fundraiser that raises money to help in the global fight against polio. For every pint purchased, $1 will be donated to Rotary International’s Polio Plus campaign.
Club Cafe is located at 209 Columbus Avenue in Boston's Back Bay/South End.
Rotary International and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, at a time when there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. Since then, Rotary has been internationally recognized as a leader in eradicating polio across the globe, and cases have been reduced by 99.9%. Just two countries continue to report cases of wild polio virus — Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Creating successful and sustainable eco-tourism and micro enterprise among extremely poor mountain villages. Build on proven initiatives started in the Makalu and other parts of Nepal over the past 20+ years, harness a proven Appreciative Planning and Action (APA) development methodology along Nepal’s 1000 mile Great Himalaya Trail (GHT)—spanning the entire 500 miles from East to West Nepal.
This proposed Economic Development International Project, supported by District 7930 and Amesbury Rotary, is being designed by Amesbury Rotarians Malcolm (Mac) Odell, Mark Bean, and Sandy Carlisle from the Amesbury Rotary Club, who would love to present this project to your Rotary Club with an awesome PowerPoint presentation.
On October 23, 1-4 pm, Ipswich / Rowley Rotarians are looking for volunteers to help work hands-on-science activities that support watershed education for 5th graders. This Greenscapes program was cancelled last year due to COVID - https://greenscapes.org/your-school/ .
The Ipswich River Watershed Association is offering, instead, an afternoon of family activities developed for 5th grade classrooms across the county. Volunteers are needed to lead / direct a table (total of 8 tables) that has a Greenscapes hands-on watershed activity.
Please email Ann Witzig at aswitzig@gmail.com if you are interested in volunteering Oct. 23, 1 pm-4 pm. The location will be determined shortly.
Looking for Volunteers! Imagine a Day without Water.
This is a fun suggestion for all the clubs in our District:
On Sunday October 24th, which is World Polio Day, organize a Paws For Polio walk in your town! This can be a simple but fun event, and won’t take a lot of planning. Find a starting point, take donations for Polio, give out some dog treats and take a walk with friends! This will be good exercise for you and your dog (s), and raise community awareness for Rotary’s mission to eradicate Polio world wide all in one easy package!
The Belle Isle Rotary had a Fall Fair event for the children and families of East Boston Revere and Winthrop. We aimed to bring some of the highlights of the Topsfield Fair to our neighbors that may not be able to go to Topsfield for a variety of reasons, we helped subsidize this event by selling squares for Goat Pebble Bingo and the lucky winner was John Francis.
We had baby goats, baby pigs and bunnies as well as a two chickens and two ducks The kids had a great time hand feeding and getting to sit down and spend time with the small animals, hold them and learn about them.
We also offered treats hot dogs, hot apple cider donuts, popcorn and chocolate milk and lemonade from Peabody's own Dujanski Farm. It was a real joy to be able to bring a little bit of Fall Fair to our friends and neighbors in the Belle Isle Rotary region and we look forward to having this event again next fall.
Did you know that we have a gem right here in District 7930? Camp Rotary, located on Stiles Pond in Boxford, MA, is the longest running, consecutive service project of any club! It started back in 1921 when several members of the Lynn club were approached by the secretary of the Lynn YMCA (who happened to be a past president of the Lynn club) with the idea to purchase land that could be used to open up camping opportunities for boys from the Lynn area.
Over the past 100 years, much has changed (the camp is coed; cabins have replaced tents; the facility has continuously been upgraded – most recently with a new, spacious dining hall) but through it all, the club has ensured that the vision of those original founders would continue. This year, after being forced to close for a summer due to COVID, the camp reopened and nearly 1000 campers enjoyed part of their summer making new friends while experiencing a sheltered independence, personal growth and a lot of fun!
The camp’s board of directors have planned a gala event for June 11, 2022 to celebrate the 100th year anniversary. More information on that event, as well as other centennial activities will be coming over the next few months.
In May, as the state relaxed COVID restrictions, the Reading Rotary was met with a challenge. Could they pull of planning the Fall Street Faire in just three months? Fall Street Faire Co-Chair Gregg Johnson explains, “It was never a question of what we wanted to do. Of course, we wanted to hold the Faire. But it usually takes six months of planning and organization. We were all aware that trying to do it in three months would be hard. But we decided to just go for it and try to pull it off.” The Faire was held on September 12 from noon to 5 pm.
The team of more than 20 Rotarian and other volunteers mobilized, set up the website, got the word out to vendors and sponsors, and worked with Reading Town officials on logistics. John Feudo, Fall Street Faire Co-Chair said, “We’re lucky that this event was well supported by the Town. We have a long history of working well together. We couldn’t do this without their support and coordination.”
The Belle Isle Rotary Club is gearing up for their annual Goat Pebble Bingo Bash on Saturday Oct 2, 2021 to be held at the Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 150 Byron St East Boston, MA.
The goats will be arriving and be let loose on the bingo squares and a lucky $20 ticket holder will win $1000!
We will have a petting zoo, Fall Fair treats, face painting and pumpkin decorating.
Every week you read this newsletter learning new and wonderful things about Rotary. Some members feel comfortable in their local group, some seek more from the district and other can’t stop until they’ve circled the globe again and again. Regardless of the depth or the topic, Rotary International offers a remarkable amount of information.
Start by clicking https://my.rotary.org/en/news-media/newsletters log into “MyRotary,” and then click on the blue “Manage Subscriptions” button to subscribe. Here are a list of some of our current newsletters:
The Belle Isle Rotary had a wonderful night Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at the Marina Wharf Restaurant in Revere presenting member and Past President Ashley Melnik with a Paul Harris Fellow. Many Rotarians including DG Terry Rezendes Curran were in attendance as well as many of Ashley's friends and family. In addition, Ashley Melnik was recognized as an Unsung Heroine Award in June 2021 presented at the State House for her community of Revere where she works as City Clerk and does a lot of good deeds for local Veterans.
Posted by Bill Tobin, ShelterBox USA on Sep 17, 2021
Here is an update of current ShelterBox response work. Except for Haiti, all our current response work is due to people displaced by conflict. Our work in areas of conflict displacement has twice earned the Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Shelter is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone for peace. At ShelterBox, we work tirelessly each day to provide displaced families with shelter and basic household items. We have also implemented COVID-19 mitigation items in our aid packages. Items such as soap, wash basins and face coverings are helping to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Let this sink in…There are over 3 times as many Rotarians in District 7930 than in the entirety of any of the countries covered in this report. You can help us extend Rotary’s reach.
We are available for online meetings to clubs, and district leaders. We have a critical need for funding, your support is very much appreciated. www.shelterboxusa.org
HAITI – Earthquake
ShelterBox has a team in Haiti after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the country on Saturday 14 August. Buildings have been flattened and hospitals already under strain from COVID-19 are overwhelmed. Days later, Tropical Storm Grace dumped more than a foot of rain over some of the worst affected areas. Families face an impossible choice: shelter in their damaged, dangerous homes, or shelter outside at risk of rains and floods. We are partnering with Habitat for Humanity Haiti, who have strong local connections and knowledge of communities. They will help us identify the most vulnerable people in the local communities who need support, and who are not being served by other agencies. We have a ShelterBox team in country who are working closely with Habitat for Humanity Haiti to coordinate assessments, practical training, running distributions and post distribution monitoring activities. Our aid has arrived in Haiti, has passed through customs, and distributions will take place imminently.
Rotary International requires Rotary Clubs to segregate their financial activity between Operations and Charitable Activities. At a minimum, this should be done by utilizing separate bank accounts for operating funds (dues, meal income and expenses, etc.) and charitable activities (donations received and project expenses incurred). However, even with this clear segregation between operations and charitable activities, donations made to Rotary Clubs are generally not tax-deductible, because Rotary Clubs are organized under chapter 501(c)4 of the IRS code.
For this very reason, several Rotary Clubs have successfully created a separate second legal entity, typically called the "Rotary Club of XXX Charitable Foundation" and then applied for section 501(c)3 status with the IRS for that second entity. This setup then allows Rotary Clubs to fund-raise for charitable projects through this charitable non-profit organization and thus provide their donors with the benefits of those donations generally being tax-deductible.
On September 16th, District 7930 hosted a Zoom webinar where we discussed in more detail what a 501(c)3 charitable / non-profit entity is, what the minimum requirements are to operate one, and how to set one up. Our speakers, Elizabeth Roth, Esq. and Ed David, CPA - members of the Rotary Club of Greater Salem, NH - are experienced in the process of setting up such entities and consulting with non-profit organizations. We also had members of Rotary Clubs attending, who have set up their own 501(c)3 charitable entity in the past, and spoke about their experience and results.
My name is Anne Lewis of the Rockport Club and I am pleased to be serving as your D7930 Global Grants Chair this year, working with Foundation Chair Joan Arsenault and DG Terry Curran. I would be glad to help with any of your application, implementation and reporting questions.
Links to many excellent Global Grant resources will be posted on our district website soon but in the meantime, a good place to start is with “A Guide to Global Grants”. To find the link, just go to rotary.org, My Rotary, The Rotary Foundation, Apply for Grants and then Global Grants.
Please be sure to contact me early in your application process to discuss funding and the availability of DDF (District Designated Funds). Only Global Grants that originate within our district will be eligible for DDF this year. There have also been other changes in the funding model from Rotary International that we can discuss.
On Tuesday, October 5th the Rotary Club of Arlington will hold its Annual Paul Harris Fellow Award and Community Persons of the Year recognition banquet at St. Eulalia's Church, 50 Ridge St. Winchester. Cocktails start at 5:30 followed by dinner and program.
We welcome you to join us in celebrating the outstanding service that each of our award recipients have contributed to our community. (See attached invitation for all the details.)
Our water sources, the Ipswich River and adjacent watersheds, the Parker and the Essex, are threatened and may disappear if conservation action is not taken.
Please join us on September 30th on Zoom, 7-8 pm to hear about the In-District Global Grant “Save the Ipswich River and Watershed: The Lifeblood of our Communities”. Find out how you and/or your club can participate in this grant including a District Rotary Day of Service. This global grant is the second In-District Global grant that our district has ever undertaken. Be a part of this historic moment and help us save our River and water supply!!! Registration required in order to receive the zoom link, which will be sent the day of the event. Questions? Contact Joan Arsenault (joan@massteximaging.com), Ann Witzig (aswitzig@gmail.com) or Ingrid Miles (ingridmiles@kw.com).
The Manchester-Essex Rotary Club is pleased to honor two great residents from Manchester-by-the-Sea: Sue Thorne and Tom Kehoe.
Most recently, this impressive pair were the Co-chairs of the town's 375 Committee starting in 2019 that is still working together in 2021. Their skill and dedication to this milestone celebration has been exemplary. They brought together a cross section of town citizens to their 375 Committee that produced and excellent program of events, fundraising, gatherings and historical updates and education.
The District 7930 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee is proud to announce that seven (7) Clubs have achieved the District 7930 Governor’s 20-21 DEI Citation.
The following clubs achieved at least 13 of the 25 action steps are:
Burlington Breakfast
Cambridge
Lynnfield
Malden
Manchester/Essex
Marblehead
Peabody
When told about the achievement of the seven clubs, PDG 20-21 Betsy Manzelli remarked “I am very proud of the efforts of the seven clubs; not only the achievement the DEI Citation but also that their efforts highlight the work they perform in their communities.”
Over the next several weeks PDG Manzelli and District 7930 DEI Committee Chair will be visiting the above seven clubs to present their District 7930 DEI 20-21 Citation.
Ipswich Rotarian Keith Harris will soon hop up on his bicycle and tow his faithful dog around 70 scenic miles west of Boston.
Owner of Harris Graphics in Rowley, Keith and doggie Cheyenne will cycle through Lincoln, Sudbury, Acton and Concord to raise money to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS.
“If anyone else is so inclined to join as a rider, the course is gorgeous,” Harris said of the Sept. 19 event.
Posted by Joan Kelly Arsenault, PDG, DRFC on Sep 07, 2021
Support Rotary’s Foundation year-round by making an automatic recurring gift with Rotary Direct. You choose how much and how often to give. It’s a simple and secure way to make a big impact!
Online credit card contributions can be made monthly, quarterly, or annually, with a US$10 transaction minimum. Donors can also enroll using the Rotary Direct enrollment form, The Rotary Foundation Contribution Form, by calling the Support Center at +1-866-9ROTARY, or by going online here.
Donors can change or cancel their recurring giving online at any time through My Rotary. After you sign in, go to Account Settings by following the link in the upper right. Then choose the Donor Self Service tab. Rotary Direct is safe, secure and easy… Sign up today!
Rotary International has recently updated Rotary's Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with this new DEI statement that was just released this summer:
At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.
We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs.
Sign up now for The Rotary Club of Cambridge’s annual event Chalk on the Walk. Chalk on the Walk is the Cambridge version of an Italian street painting festival.
This year’s event will be held at Oktoberfest on October 10th in Harvard Square. We are looking for artists who will have the unique opportunity to draw their work right on the street in designated squares. Artists can choose to reproduce existing artworks or create their own. This event is lots of fun! Both individuals and families with no training in art are especially encouraged to participate. It can be a great team building exercise as well.
With the help of a District 7930 Managed Grant, the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor purchased a commercial refrigerator for North Shore Families Together Food Pantry in Lynn.
Since March 2020, after specific food insecurity was brought to their attention, North Shore Families Together has been providing food to local families in need. The refrigerator will enable the organization to extend and expand the storage of perishable foods including fresh vegetables, fruits and dairy items.
The refrigerator is a double-glass-door, full-height commercial unit manufactured by True Appliance. Tom Kulevich and Rick Cohen of Tri-City Sales in Salem facilitated the purchase. Tri-City Sales, a third-generation, family-owned discount appliance store, has been a landmark in Salem since 1959 with a second location in Ipswich, serving customers throughout New England.
Salem Rotarian Bruce Whear, founding president and owner of Wire 4 Hire in Salem, was a consultant on the project.
The Marblehead Harbor Rotary Club has made food insecurity its primary focus during COVID-19 by helping to support the work of The Marblehead Food Pantry, Casa Mariposa in Lynn, and Salem State University in addition to securing the refrigerator for North Shore Families Together.
Club Foundation Chair Linda Doliber and Maestro Dirk Hillyer received the delivery of the refrigerator to North Shore Families Together. Proceeds from the club’s annual Holiday Pops conducted by Hillyer funded the club’s contribution to the purchase.
Marblehead Harbor Receives District Managed Grant for Commercial Fridge
Posted by Joan Kelly Arsenault, PDG, DRFC on Aug 31, 2021
The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotary members and friends of The Rotary Foundation who elect to contribute $1,000 or more each year to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus Fund, or approved global grants. The purpose of the Paul Harris Society is to honor and thank individuals for their generous, ongoing support of The Rotary Foundation.
Paul Harris Society contributions also count toward Sustaining Member (Annual Fund contributions only), EREY (Annual Fund contributions only), Paul Harris Fellow, and Major Donor recognition. Paul Harris Society members are listed in the Paul Harris Society Report. Recognition consists of a chevron style pin and a certificate provided by your District Paul Harris Society Coordinator Maria Bertolone.
Medford Rotary members are very generous when it comes to helping those with food insecurity. Every year for more than 40 years they give away 200+ food baskets to families in Medford with all the fixings for a Holiday dinner; including the turkey. Even last year, the committee decided the pandemic wasn't going to stope their efforts. So $50 gift cards were given to 226 local families in lieu of the actual basket.
The committee again wanted to do something to help those still in need. So it was decided to help others through 4 of the pantries housed in Medford. A check for $2500 was presented to: Community Cupboard located @ the Unitarian Universalist Church on High St., Saint Raphael Food Pantry on Boston Ave., W Medford, Mystic Community Market on Mystic Ave and Bread of Life, Malden, who serves the Medford, Malden & Everett Communities
Attention Professional and Recreational Photographers Gloucester Rotary 2022 Raffle Calendar Submissions
The Gloucester Rotary is looking for photographs to include in our 2022 calendar. A raffle ticket will be attached to each calendar and a winning number will be chosen each week in 2022. All profits from the calendar sales will go to the Gloucester Rotary Club’s efforts to raise money that supports the many community and international activities in which the club is involved.
Thursday, November 11 will be our annual Rotary Foundation event “A Celebration of Our Heroes” starting at 5:30 PM at the Danversport. The evening will include a social hour, silent auction, dinner, and Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) presentations.
All Rotary Club have been invited to nominate a hero from their community to present them with a PHF recognition at the event. Candidates could be doctors, nurses, teachers, crossing guards, emergency services personnel, veterans, or anyone else whom the Rotary Club believes to be a community hero. The online nomination form has been sent to Club Presidents earlier this summer, and the nomination deadline is October 11th.
We would also like to ask all Rotary Clubs to start thinking about silent auction items: we would ideally like to see items with a minimum value of $100, so that people will be eager to bid high! All monies raised in the silent auction will directly go to The Rotary Foundation! Details about how to submit the silent auction items will be announced in September.
Program Book Ads can now be purchased
There will be a program book for the event that will contain the photo and bio for each hero as well as ads from event sponsors and local businesses to help reduce the cost of the event and to support our foundation fund-raising efforts. Sponsorship and program book ad details are now available, and we hope that many of you who run businesses in our communities will consider putting in an ad for your business to help support this event. Please click on the Read More button (or see further below, if you are already on the detailed article page) to learn about sponsorship and ad options.
The Parkway Rotary Club will be packing and distributing back to school supplies to local elementary students in West Roxbury and Roslindale. The club has partnered with the local food pantry, Rose's Bounty and the Chittick Elementary School to provide kids with things they want, but can't afford -- stickers, cool erasers, key chains, scrunchies. You know, the exciting stuff that makes young kids feel special when they return to school. Our goal is to not only provide those supplies, but also to draw families into the food pantry to eliminate their food insecurity.
We would be ever so thankful if you were able to donate to the project.
You can send monetary donations to our PO Box 320552, West Roxbury, MA 02132.
Or you can order directly from our Amazon wish list here: tinyurl.com/ParkwayBacktoSchool2021 Make sure to select "add to cart" directly from the list. If you click on the item first, it will ship to your house and not Rose's Bounty.
The club will be accepting donations until Saturday 9/4. Thank you for supporting Boston kids in need.
During Beverly Rotary's 100th anniversary celebration year, we are doing activities each month especially connected to our community. August is absolutely no exception.
The Beverly Rotary Club was a part of the Arts Fest event held in downtown Beverly this past weekend. We set up our tent and had a day filled with volunteers from the club to facilitate children painting T-shirts to take home. This is always a happy event but it was extra special this year because the weather cooperated with us and we had a beautiful crowd appreciating what we do! We also distributed ice cream to senior citizens at Homecoming! We love our community!
August is Membership and New Club Development Month.
On August 19 we held a Membership Forum on Zoom. In case you missed it, we invite you to view the recording on YouTube to help you grow your Rotary clubs. We had three speakers present on August 19, 2021, and you can find links to their presentations here:
Alexander Falk, DGE, presented the new fillable membership brochures created in cooperation between the District Membership and Public Image committees.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, August 14, 2021, causing widespread destruction in the Caribbean country, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The death toll has risen to more than 2,000 as search and rescue teams are racing to find survivors in collapsed buildings and rubble. At least 6,000 are injured and many more are still missing.
Many Rotarians have asked how they can help, and Rotary International is coordinating global relief efforts through Rotary District 7020, which includes Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, St. Barth, St Maarten, St Martin, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, US Virgin Islands, and Haiti. District 7020 - in cooperation with the Disaster Network of Assistance Rotarian Action Group - has set up the Haiti Earthquake Disaster Recover Fund and is asking for donations. You can donate via PayPal, Credit Card, by wire transfer, or by sending a check. Please click on the flyer on the left for detailed instructions for wire transfer or for mailing check.
The Wakefield Rotary Club recently returned to his “home” at Brightview Senior Living on Crescent Street. On Tuesday, August 17th, the club moved offline and returned to in-person meetings after over a year of online meetings. Although there were less handshakes than usual at a meeting, club members were thrilled to see each other in person. Past President Mario Portillo shared, “After a year and a half of Zoom meetings, which I was grateful we did to stay active, it was wonderful to meet face to face again, share a meal and discuss how we can be of more impactful service during a time of great need.”
In preparation for the transition back, Wakefield Rotary Club President Bruce Donovan met with Brightview staff to establish safety protocols. Each fully vaccinated member is allowed to meet in the meeting room after providing their vaccination card, an arrival check-in, and a temperature check. Masks will remain in place in common areas of the facility.
The Lynnfield Rotary Club recently held their annual (except for last year during COVID) Concerts on the Common. In addition to bringing in some terrific musicians for everyone to enjoy, the club also awarded two $2,500 cash prizes to local nurses as part of a raffle fundraiser that raised over $14,000.
As club President Jack Moynihan shares “Lynnfield Rotary created the raffle in order to honor the first responders, doctors and nurses that have served our communities selflessly over the past year. We are thrilled that two nurses won. They deserve every accolade we could give them.”
Lynnfield Sponsors Concerts Honoring First Responders
Several Lynn Rotarians, as well as Assistant Governor Peter Majane, supported Lynn’s Salvation Army Captain Kevin Johnson with its drive for school supplies for students returning to school in the fall. The annual campaign is known as Stuff the Bus! The drive was conducted August 6th thru the 8th. This is the third year that the Lynn Club assisted in this project.
The Rotarians distributed flyers to people entering Walmarts in Lynn and Saugus asking if they could buy much needed schools supplies and donate them to the Salvation Army. There were bins at the store exit where they could place the items. In one three hour shift of distributing flyers, 6 large storage bins were full of donated supplies. The Rotarians were there for 4 three hour shifts and similar results were seen in all shifts. It helped that Walmart had several aisle of supplies available, many at a discounted price. The donated supplies will be put in backpacks and distributed to school children later in August; it is an annual event the children look forward to.
If you were unable to donate supplies, you may contribute funds to the Salvation Army by mailing a check to 1 Franklin Street, Lynn Mass. 01901
The Rotarians assisting in the distribution were: Pater Majane, Rotary District 7930 Assistant Governor; Ray Bastarache, Lynn Rotary Club President; Alex Sanchez and Bill Reilly both members of the Lynn Club.
Pictured here is Lynn Rotary President Alexandra Sanchez.
Lynn Partners with Salvation Army on School Supply Drive
Join us on September 17th, (7-11pm) at Woburn/Stoneham Elks #908, 295 Washington St. Woburn for a fundraiser featuring Irish/American Entertainer Mossie Coughlan. Tickets are only $40 per person and includes dinner: Garden Salad, Pasta and Meatballs w/house made sauce, Chicken stir fry w/white rice, cookies/brownies, Coffee from Dunkin', Cash Bar and dance floor. There will also be silent auction items to bid on and a 50/50 raffle. Fun for the whole family! Contact Bill Sullivan for tickets: Email: sully1980@comcast.net Phone: (781) 686-0317. Woburn Rotary fundraisers benefit Council of Social Concern, Woburn Student Government Day, Veterans, Seniors, etc.
Ipswich Rotary is seeking Club/individual contributions for Global Grant 2229621 “Saving the Ipswich River & Watershed: The Lifeblood of Our Communities.”
This global grant is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ipswich East, Ipswich England in District 1080 and hosted by the Rotary Club of Ipswich, in District 7930. With a budget of $34,000.00 all Rotary Club and individual contributions will be impactful in raising the funds needed to finance this in-district global grant.
The Ipswich River is the lifeblood of our region providing drinking water to 350,000 people and businesses daily, including 30 communities within Rotary District 7930.
The Wakefield Rotary Club is pleased to announce that it completed 421 hours of community service, 9 service projects and donated over $16k last Rotary year, which ended on June 30, 2021. Immediate Past President John Tramontozzi commented, “During the pandemic, we’re especially thrilled that we were able to remain active and impactful as a club.”
Projects were completed using social distancing with a priority on safety, allowing Rotarians who chose to attend in-person projects to feel safe. Projects included writing cards for the veterans of Wakefield, creating blankets for the Special Care Nursery at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, and packaging party-to-go bags for the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. Club Service Chair Judy Gordon noted, “These projects helped others and lifted our spirits during a very challenging time for everyone."
With limited opportunities for in-projects, the club focused its donations on impactful projects. Locally, gifts were made to the Scholarship Foundation of Wakefield, the town’s virtual Mental Health Community Forum, and supporting holiday gifts for Wakefield families to name a few. The club also contributed funds to the Rotary Foundation’s efforts towards disease prevention and treatment, supported a project to buy respirators for India’s COVID patients and the Chelsea Rotary Club’s trip to Texas to assist with a winter storm’s damage to water service.
The club will be returning to in-person meetings full time starting August 17, 2021 with safety rules in place.
The Belle Isle Rotary members (Sterling Sobey, Joe Steffano, Mike Triant, Tony Zambuto Tom Hankard and Vera Carducci) and the great staff from the Salesian's Boys & Girls Club (Zoe Bakos and Damian Salgado) collected food items at Market Basket in Revere to donate to the East Boston Salesian's Boys & Girls Club camp to help offset their summer camp food budget. Belle Isle Rotary is so grateful to Market Basket Revere for letting us collect the food items at their store and we were blown away by the generosity of the shoppers on Friday July 16th 2021.
Belle Isle Teams up with Camp Staff for Food Collection
Reading Rotary is holding the 13th annual Reading Fall Street Faire, as extremely popular event that brings together local restaurants, retail businesses, and community groups for a fun-filled, family-friendly day.
Downtown Reading streets will shut down for the public to stroll and enjoy local shops, restaurants, musical and dance performances, and community group booths. Planned events include a tailgate area, cornhole tournament, children’s activity area, a vintage car show, and three stages with performances going throughout the afternoon. There is something for everyone.
The Reading Fall Street Faire Committee is looking for help! Here’s how you can show your support:
Sponsor: The Fall Street Faire is an enormous undertaking. It wouldn’t be possible without the sponsorship of local businesses and organizations. This is an opportunity to get your business in front of thousands. Many sponsorship levels are offered, to ensure all local businesses can participate. See fallstreetfaire.com or contact Jenniffer Rogers for more information.
District 7930's RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) program is a two-year program. High school students attend the RYLA weekend as first-time attendees--participating in several leadership development activities and discussions. The following year, selected participants are invited to spend 20+ hours over five months training to be Youth Facilitators at the next RYLA weekend. Young adults who participate in both years come away with an amazing skill set and great friends from among their peers and from the Rotarians who help guide the program!
Due to COVID, RYLA was certainly different this year! Instead of inviting Sophomores and Juniors in High School to attend, we invited back our RYLA Alumni. The program was held over two weekends. In late July, a Zoom session with special speaker Tisha Hood was held. Last weekend, an all-day in-person RYLA day was held with twenty young adults and the D7930 RYLA Committee. The day started with a paddle on the Ipswich River, various leadership activities and sessions, special guest speaker, a BBQ, and campfire at Camp Cedar Mill in Rowley. Our guest speaker was the extraordinary endurance athlete Katie Spotz, who inspired the entire group with her efforts to raise funds and awareness of the issue of clean water around the world. Learn more about Katie at www.katiespotz.com.
The RYLA Reunion was a wonderful success. All who attended were inspired to continue to serve their communities and the world beyond, and several of the attending young adults agreed to help with RYLA in the coming year!
A special Thank You to the Rotary Clubs of Malden and Ipswich for their support of our impactful day!
Wakefield Rotarians have been hosting a table at the Wakefield Movies By The Lake. The group has been promoting memberships as well as their Red Sox Raffle to raise funds for their local projects. To learn more about the Red Sox Raffle, visit
The drawing is Thursday, August 5. Get your tickets today.
Back row: President Bruce Donovan, new member Susan Hubbard, our first female President Judy Gordon, Past President Tom Stapleton, Past President Anthony Guardia. Front Row: Past President Barbara Worley and President-Elect Gene Mullen.
On August 5th we will be having a District Business Meeting, on Zoom, to take care of administrative tasks. All club Presidents and Secretaries have been emailed the credentials for electors for their clubs and asked to return them to Tom Hankard, Chair of the Credentials Committee at TomHankard@yahoo.com. Any member of the District is welcome to attend this meeting and learn more about the state of the District.
Also sent to the Clubs was a revision to the existing ByLaws of the District which will need to be approved by the majority of Electors present. We will also be confirming the appointment of Lori Karas as District Governor Nominee, and the positions of Assistant Treasurer, Secretary and Assistant Secretary as well as a new member of the Permanent Fund.
The Zoom link will be sent out on August 5th to all those who have registered on the district homepage in ClubRunner at:
The Medford Rotary Club recently presented $11,500 in scholarship awards to graduating seniors from the City of Medford. The students were recognized for their academic achievement, community service and leadership. Congratulations to our recipients for their hard work, leadership and dedication to our community. Ed Hackett and his committee diligently reviewed all of the applications and chose the following recipients:
Leo McCabe Memorial Scholarship – Ruby Piscatelli
John C. Kirwan Memorial Scholarship – Jack Benoit and Rian Benoit
Joe Carr “Spirit of Life” Scholarship – Josephine Rizzo
Medford Rotary Leadership Award – Amy Orcutt
Mark Egitto “Service Above Self” Scholarship – Talia Ritchie
The Medford Club welcomed District Governors of District 7930.
Pictured here from left to right Marnee Walsh, Asst. District Governor, Alexander Falk, District Governor Elect, Terry Rezendes Curran, District Governor and Doug Shoop, President, Medford Rotary Club.
Terry greeted the members of the Medford Rotary thanking them for all their hard work and service over the past 18 months, especially during the Pandemic. She encouraged them to "keep helping" others through the many service projects that we undertake annually. The club is currently planning their annual Dictionary Giving, where they provided each 3rd grader in Medford with a student dictionary. Also in the works is their Annual Charter Night to celebrate their 98 anniversary as a Chartered Rotary Club.
Reading Rotary’s Reading Fall Street Faire will return on Sunday, September 12 from noon to 5 pm in Downtown Reading.
The 13th Annual RFSF, hosted and coordinated by Reading Rotary, is an annual community event bringing together local restaurants, retail businesses and community groups for a fun-filled, family-friendly day. The Faire route will feature numerous vendors and community group booths to visit. This is always a fantastic day to celebrate community and to meet and mingle with friends and neighbors.
The Faire also features: Children’s Area, Kids’ Zone, performances on three stages, a Car Show, Football Tailgate, Cornhole Tournament, dunk tank, food, fun and much more.
This is Reading Rotary’s biggest event and fundraiser of the year and the Town’s biggest community event.
Event Chair John Feudo says of this year's Faire: “After we have had to cancel or change so many community events, it is so exciting that we can put on the traditional Faire in the Downtown. We are faced with the difficult task of cramming 6 months of planning into about 2 months, though. So we hope vendors and sponsors will sign up in force!”
The Greater Salem NH Rotary Club committed to a multi-year program to support dental care through the Children’s Dental Network.
According to Dianne Powers, Program Director of the Children’s Dental Network, the program provided care to 142 Salem, NH students in Pre-K through Grade 12 towards the end of last year.
The program’s success is a result of the tremendous support provided by Dr. Michael Delahanty, Salem NH school superintendent. It should be noted that Dr. Delahanty is a also a member of the Greater Salem, NH Rotary Club.
The program enhanced its infection control protocols to operate safely. It is estimated that the value of services, not including the network's education piece was $45,458.52.
This effort covers 8 schools in Salem. In addition to the Greater Salem Rotary Club it is supported by other local community groups. In addition, the program is highly grateful for the dentists and their staffs who donate their time and expertise to this important health effort.
The Children’s Dental Network has functioned for 13 years. It provides dental care to children who don’t have access to dental coverage.
New Manchester-Essex Rotary President Jennifer Doane comes from a Rotary family. Her parents, Tom and Barb Guebert are lifelong Rotarians and both are past Presidents of the Carlyle, IL Rotary club. Tom is a past District Governor (2015-2016) of Southern IL, District 6510. They reside in Griffin, GA. Jennifer was a Rotary International Exchange Student in 1988-89, and spent her junior year of high school studying in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Jennifer in married to Michael Doane and has two children, Finn and Ava and is a resident of Manchester.
On June 29th the District 7930 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee hosted our final event for the 20-21 Rotary year: a panel discussion about how your Club and/or District can start or enhance DEI initiatives.
The DEI Committee had secured four great panelists and DEI subject matter experts, who shared some great ideas and initiatives.
The four Panelists were:
Lexi Kantor – District 7930 DEI Committee Member, Boston Rotaract Club member and Human Resources professional for Ovia Health.
Bill Paulson - Rotary Club of Needham member, Past President, and Chair of the Rotary District 7910 Social Equity Task Force.
Earl Miller - Greater Newburgh Rotary Club member, past President, past Assistant Governor and currently leads the Rotary District 7210, “Think Differently,” DEI Team.
The recording only includes the panel discussion of the evening, and does not include the Q&A session to preserve the privacy of the attendees and allowing them to ask questions in a safe space.
The Wakefield Rotary Club will be hosting a Red Sox ticket raffle at the WCAT Movies by the Lake. Thanks to a generous donation from Rotarian Frank Fiorentino and Mahoney, Fiorentino, and Co., PC, raffle participants can win a pair of tickets for the Red Sox versus Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. Club President Bruce Donovan explained, “These tickets are a great way to support our local projects and enjoy our first place Sox. Your twenty dollar donation can win you great seats between the visitor on-deck circle and home plate and all proceeds will benefit our humanitarian projects.”
Project Coordinator Barbara Worley added, "We are excited to have the ticket donation from Rotarian Frank and his firm to kick off the Wakefield Rotary year with a fun and easy fundraiser. It's a good warm up to get in the swing of bringing in funds for local Rotary projects."
Tickets are on sale during the Movies by the Lake on the Common on July 8th, July 22nd, and August 5th. Visit the Rotary table to grab your chance to win. Tickets are also available at Holiday Travel (402 Main Street) and at WCAT (24 Hemlock Road). You can also Venmo the club @wakefieldrotaryclub. Indicate “sox raffle” in the memo and provide your contact information. Only 120 chances will be sold and the winning ticket will be pulled at 8:00p, on Thursday August 5th at the Movies by the Lake event.
Rotarians, if you are in touch with any of your former RYLA participants (particularly from 2017 - 2020), please reach out to them to make sure they have heard about the RYLA Reunion!
RYLA Reunion 2021 - July 25th via zoom (with Tisha!) and in person July 31st all day!
The Rockport Rotary Club, with matching D7930 grants, has seen to completion the renovation of the House of Joy in the Village2Village Project Children’s Center in northeastern Uganda. The Village2Village Project is a charitable organization based in Indiana and serves children in an area of Uganda where four out of five families live in devastating poverty. Their House of Joy is not only a kitchen but a dining and activity center for nearly 200 children, their families and the community.
Rockport Rotary’s first district matching grant in 2019-2020 was designated for complete renovation of the ten year old building. But significant structural problems were discovered that had to be addressed. So a second grant in 2020-2021 provided funds for new countertops and cabinets, painting and the purchase of two high efficiency cook stoves, 15 tables and 150 chairs.
The House of Joy is now double the original size, more easily cleaned and structurally sound. It has enhanced lighting, arched open air windows and a new paint job inside and out. Food storage, eating and cooking are much more hygienic. The new Rocket Stoves are 90% fuel efficient and produce little to no indoor smoke.
Today the House of Joy is not only a place to eat but to learn, sing, dance and grow.
On June 14, 2021, the Town of Ipswich dedicated a field of 100 flags to honor heroes. A stunning display of large flags on ten foot poles will grace one of the main gateways of our town, the beautiful and historic South Green, until July 10.
Ipswich-Rowley Rotary developed this field of honor so that citizens could remember the heroes in our lives. The field recognizes anyone who made a difference in their life, such as a first-responder, medical professional, teacher, essential worker or someone who served in the military. It is an especially poignant year to begin this annual project to honor heroes given the COVID pandemic.
The flags were dedicated during a special ceremony on Flag Day, June 14.
Spend a beautiful day in Gloucester! Start with pancakes, visit the Waterfront Festival and Gloucester's many attractions, and end your day with the District Cruise in Gloucester Harbor aboard the Beauport Princess.
The Gloucester Rotary will hold its annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday, August 21, 2021, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Stage Fort Park, located on Hough Avenue in Gloucester, MA. This popular event takes place concurrently with the Gloucester Waterfront Festival, which is sponsored by the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and is held in Stage Fort Park on Saturday-Sunday, August 21-22, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. both days. A special free parking area is available for Pancake Breakfast attendees. For information on Gloucester attractions, visit www.capeannvacations.com. For information on the District Cruise, visit https://rotary7930.org/event/pdg-joan-arsenault-s-district-conference/ (information and registration should be online shortly).
Tickets for the Pancake Breakfast are $8 per person, $5 for children six and under, and are available in advance online at www.gloucesterrotary.org or from any Gloucester Rotarian. Tickets will also be available on the morning of the breakfast.
The District Installation celebration at Danversport Yacht Club was a fun and inspiring night for District 7930’s first large face-to-face gathering since the pandemic hit. Congratulations to incoming DG Terry Curran, her team of District Leadership and all the incoming Club Presidents for a wonderful evening.
Cowboy hats off to DG Betsy and her team for persevering and achieving so much through a most unusual, Zoom-filled year.
It was an uplifting and promising kick off to the 2021-22 Rotary year. This year’s theme is Serve to Change Lives
Reading Rotary recently presented Boy Scout Charlie Lloyd with a donation supporting his Eagle Scout Project. Charlie is a Life Scout in Troop 702 in Reading working to complete the Eagle Scout rank. Charlie's Eagle Scout Project is to repair and replace a trail boardwalk in Reading's Town Forest. Charlie's project will add to the network of boardwalks throughout the Town Forest. Charlie had to plan with and get the approval of the Town Forest Committee, the Trails Committee and Conservation in Town.
A Boy Scout Eagle Project must help a non-profit or community entity for the improvement of the community. Troop 702 Boy Scouts have completed many Projects in the Town Forest. This boardwalk will be of service to hikers, campers, mountain bikers, dog walkers, cross country skiers, runners and many other types of people who use the Town Forest.
Reading Rotary's donation is part of an initiative to forge a partnership with Boy and Girl Scouts as there is a natural commonality of purpose in these organizations. Reading Rotary is happy to be able to help Charlie achieve his lifelong goal of obtaining the Eagle Scout Rank.
Charlie's Project is scheduled to be completed this summer.
By now, you will have either keyed in or hand-marked your calendar with February 28 and March 2, Virtual Rotary Leadership Institute evening sessions!
The Belle Isle Rotary is gearing up to bring all the greatness of a Fall Faire including baby goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits, face painting, cider donuts and games/prizes to the children of East Boston, Revere and Winthrop. This is our third year of our Club members working together to bring this event to our area and we cap off this fun day with an exciting game of chance called Goat Pebble Bingo! $20 ticket can win you $1000 if the goat leaves pebbles on your square! 
Registration is now open & program book ads / sponsorships can be purchased online
Join our zoom webinar on October 13 from 7 to 8:15 to disucss PolioPLUS. Learn how to use the district's fundraising platform, hear ideas for fundraisers, hear about the PolioPLUS Society, the recent detection of vaccine-derived poliovirus in NY, the new vaccine & more!
After a two-year COVID pandemic absence, the TBM Fall Foliage Classic returns for its 41st Running on Sunday, October 16th at 11:00 AM. The races start at Proctor School in Topsfield and follow a most picturesque route through the countryside of Topsfield and Boxford to the finish line at Topsfield Town Hall. Register for the 5-mile, 5 k or fun run or 3-mile walk. Long sleeve heavy-weight shirts will be presented to the first 200 registrants. Individuals and Teams of all ages are welcome to participate. This year's event will support the Food Pantries in Topsfield, Boxford and Middleton. 
The Rotary Club of Cambridge Welcomes Global Scholar Sara Fattori. Cambridge Rotary Club is hosting Sara Fattori from Bologna, Italy. Sara will be studying for her Master’s Degree in International Relations at Tufts' prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. 
Join Zone 32 Foundation Team learn best practices how to create and submit your lifesaving Disaster Response Grant. Presentations by RI Grant Managers, experienced grant writers & expert panel of Rotarians. Wednesday Sept 14 at 10:00 am EST.
Save the Ipswich River & Watershed: The Lifeblood of Our Communities Global Grant has been approved by RI. It couldn't have come at a better time. The Ipswich River is rated one of the top 10 endangered rivers in the US. Currently the river is facing its worst drought ever. “To be blunt, the river is dead,” said Wayne Castonguay, executive director at the Ipswich River Watershed Association (IRWA). As of Aug. 30, the river plummeted through all previous drought records when it reached zero flow. Last week, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a mere trickle at 0.07 cubic feet per second. “Basically at zero,” Castonguay said.
Is your club interested in participating in the Fall Mini Grants that have just opened? The new Environmental Committee suggests you plan now to participate in the “No Mow May” initiative this spring.
Peter E. Simonsen, 72, passed away September 5th at Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers after a lengthy battle with kidney disease. Born in Malden, he was the son of the late Aage A. Simonsen and Edna A. (Dauphinee) Simonsen. He was the beloved husband of Diane Humphries Simonsen for 49 years.
Deadline extended to Monday, September 19, 2022
In my monthly District Governor email a few days ago I had invited Rotary Clubs to do a project during Basic Education and Literacy Month (September) and perhaps build a "Little Library" in their community:
Today, September 1st, we will start accepting applications for 
If you want to know why our District Governor cares about pollinator habitat restoration, the answer is very simple: over the last 50 years we have already lost 45% of pollinators worldwide! That is a staggering number!
Rotary District Youth Exchange Chair Robert Ford welcomed our four inbound Youth Exchange students for the 2022-23 high school year at our annual Welcome Picnic at Camp Rotary on Sunday, August 28th, where Rotary Youth Exchange program leaders, host families, and students got together to welcome the students to our district and to conduct an initial training session.
Melrose Rotary Club will host its first ever Left-Right-Center tournament on Friday September 23rd at Melrose's Memorial Hall (590 Main St., Melrose). If you've never played before, it's the most fun you'll have playing a game that takes under three minutes to learn! There will be cash prizes, raffles, 50/50, side games, a cash bar (beer/wine) and pizza & popcorn! Tickets are $20 per person, and tables of 10 are selling quickly. Bring your friends and family and fill a table for this 21+ event. Tickets at 
Rotary Peabody is excited to operate a booth again this year at Peabody's annual International Festival on Sunday, Sept 11th. We're continuing our successful partnership with the Chamber of Commerce to add a sangria experience to the Beer Garden. All purchases directly benefit Rotary Peabody's scholarships and other service projects to improve our community. Stop by our booth to have some refreshing sangria and say hi to fellow Rotarians! 
Greater Salem NH Rotary
Luis Lopez de Rivera arrived from Monterrey, Mexico in Melrose in the frigid days of January to stay with hosts Mary Beth & Michael Margolis while he completed a DEDP Master’s program at MIT. The program included many international students with its main focus being to equip high-potential young professionals from all around the world with the right tools to produce rigorous evidence-based policy to fight global poverty and inequality.
Jennifer Jones has inspired women all over the Rotary world. How are you impacted by seeing a woman Rotary International President? Why are you proud there are more females in Rotary leadership? We would like to highlight the women of Rotary District 7930. If you'd like to participate, please email us your answer and a photo to 
Stephanie A. Urchick, a Rotarian since 1991, representing the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania has been selected as Rotary Internation President-Nominee.
Our district has applied for a 25K Disaster Response Grant to provide shelter for internally displaced peoples in Ukraine. This grant will provide beds, mattresses, and other items needed to provide housing. The grant is in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Kyiv International. Your generous support of our Foundation's Annual Fund allows grants like these to help support those in need. Please continue to give!!! 
DG Alexander Falk in conjunction with the DMG District Foundation Subcommittee have approved that more than one grant can be awarded per club: one international grant (up to $10,000 for the grant with $5000 reimbursed) and one local grant (up to $6000 for the grant with $3000 reimbursed).
This important individual leads and supports the clubs in D7930 by inspiring and motivating them to Do Good in the World! 
It took only 16 years for Rotary to appear in the dictionary. On the inside front cover of the 1921 Old Farmer's Almanac was an ad from the G. & C. Merriam Co for their new edition of 'Webster’s New International Dictionary.' The ad opens by asking ‘have you and yours mastered these new words.’ One of the new words was ‘Rotarian.’ 
We are saddened to inform you that Past District Governor 2008-09 Thomas R. Elliott, formerly of the Danvers Rotary Club, has passed away this week. There is not going to be any service in the immediate future.
Has your club recently hosted an event or project or are you planning something in the near future that you would like to share with your fellow District 7930 Rotarians?
In-person exchanges are back this year! To celebrate, Rotary Youth Exchange has unveiled a new video that showcases the life-changing experiences students, families, and volunteers can have through Rotary Youth Exchange.
The Rotary Club of Woburn had the pleasure of organizing, cooking and serving a breakfast at the Senior Center on School Street in Woburn on Tuesday, July 19th. We were able to provide over seventy of our well-deserved seniors a delicious breakfast as well as live music from Irish Entertainer Mossie Coughlan. It was a great morning of fun and fellowship.
The first group of ten Chelsea children preparing to attend a week at Camp Rotary in Boxford MA. The Chelsea Rotary Club annually sends twenty deserving Chelsea children to Camp Rotary. The children are chosen from essays they write as to why they should be selected to attend Camp Rotary. They are sent in groups of ten children each week for the first two weeks of camp. The Chelsea Rotary Club covers all the costs for attending Camp Rotary for the twenty children. Transportation to and from camp is provided by volunteers from the Chelsea Police Department.
The Belle Isle Rotary Club had the pleasure of presenting three graduates from Winthrop with Academic Awards as they leave high school and go on pursue higher education.
As the gavel was passed from outgoing President Audrey Gordon to incoming President Rob Lowell, Rotary Peabody commemorated 100 years as a club. Club members gathered in celebration with Representatives Tom Walsh and Sally Kerans and State Senator Joan Lovely. A time capsule with the club's history and narratives of moments of our current time was buried for future Rotarians to find. 
On June 30, District 7930 gathered at Danversport Yacht Club to celebrate installation of District Governor Alexander Falk and new Club Presidents for 2022-2023. Taking the helm at Rotary International is Jennifer Jones, RI's very first female President. This year's Presidential Theme is Imagine Rotary.
A lot was happening on Monday, June 27th at the Rotary Club of Lexington's annual Installation Luncheon Meeting. President Cleve Coats handed the gavel over to incoming President Veronica Caira. Veronica was also presented with her first Paul Harris Fellow Award. 
The Wakefield Rotary Club hosted its second Father’s Day Fishing Tournament at Lake Quannapowitt on Sunday, June 19th. The free event, open to all ages, welcomed about 25 families fishing for various top spots. Wakefield Rotary Vice-President Gene Mullen explained, “We were thrilled with the turn-out, despite the gloomy weather.” He added, “It was great to see kids with their extended families.” In fact, for many families, this event was their first fishing experience and the perfect opportunity to learn safe and responsible fishing techniques before casting their first line.” Loaner rods were made available thanks to Mass Wildlife and bait was donated by Boats & Motors on North Avenue in Wakefield.
The Rotary Club of Woburn hosted their annual Student Government Day Luncheon last week. Twenty-six high school students shadowed twenty-six city department heads as part of a civics project for Woburn Memorial High School. Winners were selected based on their Civic Action Project portfolio. Woburn Mayor Scott D. Galvin was on hand to speak to the group and congratulate the winning students by awarding each with a commemorative city coin. Woburn Rotary also awarded the students with a commemorative Rotary coin. 
Peabody Rotary is thrilled to partner with many other District Clubs in support of the Ipswich River Watershed Association (
The Rotary Club of Lexington held its annual scholarship luncheon on May 23rd, at the Minuteman High School in Lexington. Twelve deserving seniors from Lexington High School, Minuteman High School and Lexington Christian Academy received the annual awards. We were also joined by senior officers of the Lexington Interact Club in Minuteman High School who were awarded an appreciation plaque for their fundraising efforts for the Polar Plunge. Interact sent 27 plungers to the event. 
Citizens Who Care is the Rotary Club of Andover's longest running program that honors outstanding community volunteers. Since 1996 our club has honored 10 people each year who have contributed to the local community through their extraordinary volunteer contributions. In 2009, the Club added the Educator of the Year and Student of the Year awards to Citizens Who Care. Those chosen to exemplify what it means to be an "unsung hero." They come in all ages and professions.
Wakefield Rotarian Judy Gordon recently visited the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library's Children's Librarian Annie Hochheiser to donate several books related to environmental awareness. Recently, Rotary has added supporting the environment as an Area of Focus. The books were donated in honor of the club's 100th Anniversary which is being celebrated all year.
Looking for Rotarians interested in the Environment
Fashion Show Fundraiser to benefit Newburyport Rotary. 
Monday June 13. The Meadow at Peabody. 
As of last Thursday, May 5th, Beverly Rotary Club has inducted a total of 15 new members this year into our club. We feel this is quite a feat! Our membership is now up to 114 members. One of the new memberships is a corporate one, bringing our corporate total to five. Having the ability to have a corporate membership available, has enticed some places to join our club. We will continue in this vein actively to recruit new members into our vibrant club for the next year!
Now is the time to get your club qualified for participating in district and global grants for the coming 2022-23 Rotary year. For a club to get qualified you have to have at least two members who have taken the district grant management seminar, and the club's current president for 2021-22 as well as the incoming president for 2022-23 both have to 
This spring, the Lynnfield Rotary Interact Club hosted a recycling event for the community. Data Recycling of New England partnered with Interact students to host an event at Town Hall in which Lynnfield residents could safely recycle their electronics, preserving the environment, and providing parts that can be refurbished for future use. The club made a portion of the recycling fees collected, raising over $3,000 to support future community service and Interact Club activities. Kudos to the Lynnfield Rotary Interact!! 
Hobbs Playground will soon undergo a makeover. The new layout and updated equipment will guarantee access to children of all abilities. Leading the way to these improvements is Laney Dowling (center), Marblehead Family Fund's (MFF) Chair, who presented the playground’s final plans to Marblehead Rotary members. The MFF’s mission, since it started as a grassroots organization in 1988, has been to improve Marblehead's playgrounds, parks, and open spaces.
Brookline Rotary is sponsoring an on-line auction as a spring fundraiser. Among the items are tickets for the US Open being held in Brookline June 16- 19, 2022. Other items include gift cards for local restaurants, services such as tutoring and legal, and special opportunities like a luxury Mexican vacation. Enjoy yourself while supporting Rotary.
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Past District Governor Jack Maloney of Lexington. A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, April 30 at St. Brigid Church in Lexington. 
Inspired by the District's Homelessness and Hunger Initiative years ago, the Wakefield Rotary Club made strong connections with the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry. This year, the Club decided to donate half of the income from the Dine Anywhere in the World Raffle to the organization. This past week, we were delighted to present the Wakefield Food Pantry a "big" check. Food Pantry board members and volunteers sold 30 of the 200 tickets. Doreen McGowan, Food Pantry Board President, accepted the check and hopes she can find a big ATM. 
Chelsea Rotary presents Stand With Ukraine Telethon on April 29 from 4-7 pm.
Our meeting started out as usual, with members trickling in at first to check in. President-Elect Mike Jones gave me a make-up slip which was signed Mickey Mouse from the Lake Buena Vista club. I had remembered that he was at Disney World, so I thought it was a cute joke on the part of the Florida club. Next came in Past-President Marshall Handly, who gave me a make-up slip from Athens, Greece. He went on and told me all kinds of details of his trip and I was telling him how I wanted to go there so badly. A few more members came in and then SEVEN other make-up slips were turned in. It dawned on me that they were all the same style of make-up slip. When I read one of them closely, my suspicions were validated. This one was signed by Glinda Witch, from Oz, Kentucky Rotary Club. Weren't our members from Beverly something else? I had slips from Key West, Berlin Bunker, and the Bowery, New York. They got me good! 
Saturday, April 2, Gloucester Rotary put on a hugely successful Polar Plunge. Approximately 200 Rotarians from the District's 45 clubs plunged into the water at Long Beach in Gloucester. In addition to the Plungers were many supporters, on lookers and cheerleaders. The sun was out, but the water and air temperatures were both approximately a chilly 40 degrees.
Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience.
The Rotary Club of Peabody has put in sweat equity for Habitat for Humanity, working two different projects helping get homes ready for families to move in. These projects are based locally in Peabody and the club is thrilled to give back to their immediate community in such a tangible way. 
Reading Rotary just completed its Rotary Readers project. Rotary Readers is an annual literacy project where reading books and a backpack are given to each Reading Public Schools student in kindergarten. This year approximately 300 literacy bags will be delivered by Rotarians to the five Reading elementary schools. In addition, Rotarians read to each Kindergarten class as part of Read Across America. It was exciting and fun to be able to read in person this year after doing virtual reading in 2021.
After a recent fundraiser, the Interact Club at Woburn Memorial High School donated proceeds to the Woburn Dollars for Scholars program. Here, Interact Club President Emily Sullivan presents a check to WDFS Committee President Rosemary Donovan. 
The Downtown Boston Rotary is proud to host the Ukrainian Cultural Center of New England at their next speaker meeting on April 5th.
Danvers Rotary is excited to announce our 2nd Spring Raffle is off to a great start as we approach the first draw date on April 1.
The top ten clubs in giving this week are:
Last week Woburn Rotary donated a defibrillator to Nexus, Inc. Nexus provides residential alternatives for developmentally challenged individuals that promote the highest quality of life possible and opportunities for full integration into the mainstream of life in their home. 
Winchester Rotary club has been blessed with a wonderful core group of members who have help me as President over the past two years to maintain and grow our Club. We are adding four new Service members along with two new Corporate members will be joining us shortly. Thank you, Kurt Heisler, Co-President Elect. What a great way to start off 2022! Keep all members moving forward and engaged!
The top ten clubs in giving this week are:
Belle Isle Rotary Club is set to have our Trivia Nite on Friday April 1, 2022, to be held at the Salesians Boys & Girls Club. We are gearing up to have a night full of fun competition with prizes and of course, bragging rights and awards for the winning team. 
As our year-long celebration comes to a end, we reminisce on the past and look forward to the future. We are having our culminating event on the very date that the Beverly Rotary Club was started 101 years prior!
A Ukrainian 12-yr old boy with electrical burns over 90% of his body was recently airlifted from Ukraine and brought to Shriners Hospital (Mass General) in Boston. This was done with assistance from Ukraine Rotary Club Kyiv-Sophia and Rotary Clubs in our neighboring District 7910. Dr. Gennadiy Fuzaylov, who is treating the boy advised that his mother Oksana is staying in Mass General Hospital "parent apartment" available to her only while her son is in the hospital for treatment. However sometime in the next 3-weeks Taras will be released and both mother/Oksana & Son/Taras, who do not speak English, will need a place to stay near Massachusetts General Hospital as Taras needs to receive follow up treatments for up to 6 Weeks then needs to return to Ukraine.
The Rotary Club of Lynn held its Eighth Grade Recognition Program Thursday, February 10th, at Old Tyme Family Cuisine. This signature program, a staple on Rotary’s annual calendar, seeks to recognize young middle school students from Lynn who, each in their own way, has overcome an obstacle in their lives to achieve success both inside and out of the classroom. This is the first recognition since the start of the pandemic. The Club will have two more before the end of the school year. The program's longtime sponsor is RiverWorks Credit Union.
The Rotary Club of Peabody is hosting its biggest fundraiser of the year "Taste of the North Shore" in person again this year! This popular fundraiser promised an evening of fun, prizes and, of course, delicious food from some of the best restaurants to be found on the North Shore. All proceeds benefit scholarships for Peabody High School children and our other community projects throughout the year.
With a total of $27,091.01 raised towards our $100,000 goal this week's new listing of the top ten clubs in the district for donations are as follows:
The Annual World Peace and Understanding Event on February 3 featured two movies this year. The evening started with the Premiere of a documentary, by Sarah Furie, a member of Boston Rotaract, titled “The Talk With My Black Sons.” This was followed by a lively question-and-answer session with the director. If you missed the event, you can watch the documentary here on YouTube: 
The Salem Rotary Club is thrilled to present our first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training at our Rotary meeting on January 25th. Our training will be conducted by Human in Common. Human in Common is an innovative team of experienced diversity consultants who specialize in providing professional diversity and ethical upstander training for nonprofits, municipalities, businesses and schools.
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 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. 
Despite the gray weather, everyone had a festive time on Saturday as the Ipswich community celebrated the annual arrival of Santa Claus. The Jolly Elf arrived at town wharf at 11 am and was escorted by children of all ages, and by the host Ipswich High School Interact elves, along Water Street to Santa’s Village at Town Hall.
Beverly's beloved Rotarian Jack Good passed away last year. The project of bell ringing for the Salvation Army was his baby. The tradition carries on and we know that Jack is with us. Rotarians were stationed at two Stop ’n Shops and a Walgreen’s in Beverly. There were shifts throughout the day, organized by Alan Temkin, who has assumed Jack’s job for this project. Some Rotarians wore costumes and were chatting with all the customers going in and out of these businesses. Needless to say, we are a merry group! The question now remains: which location collected the most money......? Time will tell. Thanks to all of our Beverly Rotarians who were part of this project!!!! Happy Holidays! 
District Governor Terry Curran showered our club with recognition in many areas of contributions to Rotary Foundation 2020-2021. Among them: Marblehead Rotary is one of the handfuls of clubs to achieve the district's top three highest per capita on annual giving and for individual member participation. In addition, the Marblehead Rotary was recognized as one of the top contributors to the district’s campaign for the Rotary Foundation’s “End Polio Now” fund-raising campaign.
After a recent fundraiser, the Woburn Memorial High School Interact Club presented Woburn Veterans Agent Larry Guiseppe with gift cards for Woburn Veterans.
The Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor purchased materials for, and is distributing, buckets of sand and pet-friendly ice melt and scoops to local senior citizens. Prevention of falls and serious injuries is a serious issue for the senior population. The Club partnered with the Marblehead Council on Aging, which is delivering buckets via its bus to those seniors who cannot pick them up at the Community Center.
The Rotary Club of Lynn welcomed seven new members into its ranks at Thursday’s monthly meeting Old Tyme Family Cuisine.
The District Governor would like to support the revitalization of our Interact Clubs this fall. To that end we have put together a $100 mini grant for clubs to use to assist their Interact Club in doing a service project. 
As part of our ongoing efforts to keep you informed and educated on ways to support The Rotary Foundation, we are pleased to share information on a new initiative that is launching in Rotary District 7930. The 70+ initiative is a district-wide effort to encourage Rotarians to consider the benefits and opportunities of a charitable gift via their IRA.
Wishing you all the joys of the Holiday Season.
The Rotary Club of Chelsea recently installed Dr. Aaron Jennings as its newest member. Aaron is the Equity, Diversity and Excellence Officer for the Chelsea Public Schools. Pictured with Aaron is Dr. Almudena Abeyta, Superintendent of the Chelsea Public Schools and Aaron’s sponsor, Allan I. Alpert, the Installing Officer and Richard Gopen, President-Elect of the Rotary Club of Chelsea. 
The Gloucester Rotary has produced a beautiful 2022 calendar, featuring scenic photography from local artists. In addition to the calendar, each purchase enters the buyer into a weekly raffle. $50 prizes will be drawn each week with two bonus prizes-- a $250 prize in June and a $500 prize in December. Calendars are $25 each, and proceeds from the sale of calendars will be used to support the many projects of the Gloucester Rotary.
This week, Woburn Rotary celebrated Harris "Harry" Cohen who has been a Rotarian for 50 years! Harry joined Rotary Club of Woburn in 1971 and is a Paul Harris Fellow +3. He also served on the Board of Directors for a number of years and has volunteered many hours of service to Woburn, included organizing the annual pancake breakfast. Harry continues to be an active member of Rotary Club of Woburn and comes to almost every weekly lunch meeting. Harry was presented with a proclamation from State Representative Richard Haggerty and a proclamation from Woburn Mayor Scott D. Galvin. 
The Wakefield Rotary Club hosted it’s Purple Pinkey event at the Fall In Love With Wakefield event last month. Club Secretary Suzanne Bowering explained, “Our Purple Pinkey event is designed to raise awareness of Rotary’s efforts world-wide to eradicate polio.” She continued, “In countries that experience technology challenges and in some rural areas, children have their pinkey fingers dyed purple to indicate they received a polio vaccine on their immunization day.” Rotary has been a global leader in the eradication of polio worldwide since 1985. Today, 99.9% of the world is polio-free. To learn more, visit 
Gobble… Gobble… Gobble…A 40 pound turkey??!!
Do you have dinner plans for Tuesday, November 9th? No? Great! Grab a flatbread and enjoy some bowling from 4-10 p.m. at American Flatbread in Somerville.
Service during COVID is alive and well! Greeted by CEO Janet Nittmann of Windrush Farm, North Andover, members and friends of the Rotary Club of Marblehead Harbor were joined by Marblehead High School Interactors in spending a day of fellowship and service spreading cushioning mulch on bridle trails, performing light carpentry work, and cleaning out and hosing down the barn.
The Wakefield Rotary Club recently completed its annual donation of dictionaries to every third grader in Wakefield. 253 copies were hand-delivered to all Wakefield public schools as well as Odyssey and St. Joseph’s School.
Beautiful, crisp, sunny weather was the setting for the PUMPKIN PAINTING IN THE PARK in Beverly Common. The event was hosted by the Beverly Rotary Club in partnership with Beverly Main Streets. 100 children registered to paint their pumpkins at the Gazebo. All of the pumpkins were donated thanks to the State Sheriff’s Department, Smolak Farms and Dr, Bill Beckman. Tables were set up with paint and decorations. After the children finished painting, their pumpkins were photographed for a montage of pumpkins. 
Rotarians from Ipswich, Rowley and Wakefield, together with 12 high school students from St. Johns Prep, Danvers, joined Rachel Schneider, Ipswich River Watershed Association, Sat. Oct 23, for an outstanding hands-on training for Keeping Water Clean Day, a Greenscapes program.
Methuen Rotary Club held its 4th Annual June Jubilee. We choose non-profits that we feel their values align with the mission of Rotary and give away $1,000.00 per week every Friday in June.
Are you a business owner? Do you want to show your creativity and Holiday Spirit? Methuen Rotary Club is holding the 2nd Annual LIGHT UP METHUEN this Holiday Season. December 4th - January 1, 2022 trees will be lit up all over the City.
The Belle Isle Rotary Club will hold their Annual Comedy Nite on
On Thursday, September 30th, members of the Lynn Rotary Club gathered at the Old Tyme restaurant for one of its regular meetings. The Club choose to do a service project prior to conducting a regular club meeting. The project was to put together 50 brown bag lunches for My Brother’s Table. The lunches consist of 2 PB&J sandwiches, a drink box, and a nourishing snack. This is an ongoing need at My Brother’s Table. Especially since they are restricted in how they can feed those in need.
The Belle Isle Rotary had a Fall Fair event for the children and families of East Boston Revere and Winthrop. We aimed to bring some of the highlights of the Topsfield Fair to our neighbors that may not be able to go to Topsfield for a variety of reasons, we helped subsidize this event by selling squares for Goat Pebble Bingo and the lucky winner was John Francis. 
The Belle Isle Rotary Club is gearing up for their annual Goat Pebble Bingo Bash on Saturday Oct 2, 2021 to be held at the Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 150 Byron St East Boston, MA.
The Belle Isle Rotary had a wonderful night Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at the Marina Wharf Restaurant in Revere presenting member and Past President Ashley Melnik with a Paul Harris Fellow. Many Rotarians including DG Terry Rezendes Curran were in attendance as well as many of Ashley's friends and family. In addition, Ashley Melnik was recognized as an Unsung Heroine Award in June 2021 presented at the State House for her community of Revere where she works as City Clerk and does a lot of good deeds for local Veterans. 
Here is an update of current ShelterBox response work. Except for Haiti, all our current response work is due to people displaced by conflict. Our work in areas of conflict displacement has twice earned the Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Shelter is a fundamental human right and a cornerstone for peace. At ShelterBox, we work tirelessly each day to provide displaced families with shelter and basic household items. We have also implemented COVID-19 mitigation items in our aid packages. Items such as soap, wash basins and face coverings are helping to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
My name is Anne Lewis of the Rockport Club and I am pleased to be serving as your D7930 Global Grants Chair this year, working with Foundation Chair Joan Arsenault and DG Terry Curran. I would be glad to help with any of your application, implementation and reporting questions.
Our water sources, the Ipswich River and adjacent watersheds, the Parker and the Essex, are threatened and may disappear if conservation action is not taken.
Ipswich Rotarian Keith Harris will soon hop up on his bicycle and tow his faithful dog around 70 scenic miles west of Boston.
Support Rotary’s Foundation year-round by making an automatic recurring gift with Rotary Direct. You choose how much and how often to give. It’s a simple and secure way to make a big impact!
The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotary members and friends of The Rotary Foundation who elect to contribute $1,000 or more each year to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus Fund, or approved global grants. The purpose of the Paul Harris Society is to honor and thank individuals for their generous, ongoing support of The Rotary Foundation.
Medford Rotary members are very generous when it comes to helping those with food insecurity. Every year for more than 40 years they give away 200+ food baskets to families in Medford with all the fixings for a Holiday dinner; including the turkey. Even last year, the committee decided the pandemic wasn't going to stope their efforts. So $50 gift cards were given to 226 local families in lieu of the actual basket.
Attention Professional and Recreational Photographers Gloucester Rotary 2022 Raffle Calendar Submissions
During Beverly Rotary's 100th anniversary celebration year, we are doing activities each month especially connected to our community. August is absolutely no exception.
Several Lynn Rotarians, as well as Assistant Governor Peter Majane, supported Lynn’s Salvation Army Captain Kevin Johnson with its drive for school supplies for students returning to school in the fall. The annual campaign is known as Stuff the Bus! The drive was conducted August 6th thru the 8th. This is the third year that the Lynn Club assisted in this project.
Join us on September 17th, (7-11pm) at Woburn/Stoneham Elks #908, 295 Washington St. Woburn for a fundraiser featuring Irish/American Entertainer Mossie Coughlan. Tickets are only $40 per person and includes dinner: Garden Salad, Pasta and Meatballs w/house made sauce, Chicken stir fry w/white rice, cookies/brownies, Coffee from Dunkin', Cash Bar and dance floor. There will also be silent auction items to bid on and a 50/50 raffle. Fun for the whole family! Contact Bill Sullivan for tickets: Email: 
The Wakefield Rotary Club is pleased to announce that it completed 421 hours of community service, 9 service projects and donated over $16k last Rotary year, which ended on June 30, 2021. Immediate Past President John Tramontozzi commented, “During the pandemic, we’re especially thrilled that we were able to remain active and impactful as a club.”
District 7930's RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) program is a two-year program. High school students attend the RYLA weekend as first-time attendees--participating in several leadership development activities and discussions. The following year, selected participants are invited to spend 20+ hours over five months training to be Youth Facilitators at the next RYLA weekend. Young adults who participate in both years come away with an amazing skill set and great friends from among their peers and from the Rotarians who help guide the program! 
On August 5th we will be having a District Business Meeting, on Zoom, to take care of administrative tasks. All club Presidents and Secretaries have been emailed the credentials for electors for their clubs and asked to return them to Tom Hankard, Chair of the Credentials Committee at 
Reading Rotary’s Reading Fall Street Faire will return on Sunday, September 12 from noon to 5 pm in Downtown Reading.
New Manchester-Essex Rotary President Jennifer Doane comes from a Rotary family. Her parents, Tom and Barb Guebert are lifelong Rotarians and both are past Presidents of the Carlyle, IL Rotary club. Tom is a past District Governor (2015-2016) of Southern IL, District 6510. They reside in Griffin, GA. Jennifer was a Rotary International Exchange Student in 1988-89, and spent her junior year of high school studying in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Jennifer in married to Michael Doane and has two children, Finn and Ava and is a resident of Manchester. 
On June 29th the District 7930 Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee hosted our final event for the 20-21 Rotary year: a panel discussion about how your Club and/or District can start or enhance DEI initiatives. 
The Wakefield Rotary Club will be hosting a Red Sox ticket raffle at the WCAT Movies by the Lake. Thanks to a generous donation from Rotarian Frank Fiorentino and Mahoney, Fiorentino, and Co., PC, raffle participants can win a pair of tickets for the Red Sox versus Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. Club President Bruce Donovan explained, “These tickets are a great way to support our local projects and enjoy our first place Sox. Your twenty dollar donation can win you great seats between the visitor on-deck circle and home plate and all proceeds will benefit our humanitarian projects.”
On June 14, 2021, the Town of Ipswich dedicated a field of 100 flags to honor heroes. A stunning display of large flags on ten foot poles will grace one of the main gateways of our town, the beautiful and historic South Green, until July 10.
