Stories

Buy your ticket here, $75 per person with dinner

The speaker at this meeting was Dr. Wayne Saltsman, a geriatrician at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington who lectured us on the importance of creating a document naming persons whom we authorize to make treatment decisions for us if we became medically unable to do so ourselves. Good advice for all of us and quite easy to do without even requiring a lawyer.

(Photo by Lori Becker)

At this meeting we were visited by David Gardner, Past District President who discussed the uptick in addictions to opioids affecting people of all ages as well as increases in addictions to other drugs and alcohol. Rotary has introduced programs to help people gain freedom from their addictions. Gardner also presented our club with two citations, one from the president of Rotary International for our 2017-2018 performance and a second one for our significant addition of new members during that time period.

Pictured are David Gardner (center) with President Elect Roger Bell (left) and club Past President John Tuccinardi (right) holding the award certs.

(Photo by Lori Becker)

Our guest speaker at this meeting was Andrew Ryan an investigative reporter for the Boston Globe newspaper. He joined the newspaper in 2006 as a breaking news reporter. In 2010 he became the City Hall Bureau Chief covering the final term of longtime Mayor Thomas Menino and the first term of Mayor Marty Walsh. He was one of the Globe's Spotlight Team of Reporters who wrote the articles about Aaron Hernandez. Shown above with club President Beverlee Vidoli.

(Photo by Lori Becker)

The speakers at this day's lunch meeting were members of the Burlington Police Department who told us about their new program within the department to assist the police officers in dealing with persons with mental health issues. To this end they have added Karen DeRenzo, a veteran mental health clinician and social worker who is a Burlington resident. She is working to establish relationships with several community organizations and also hospitals, all to better serve the needs of the persons in our community who require mental health services.

Shown are (l-r) Police Captain Greg Skehan who is in charge of the program, Club president Beverlee Vidoli, Karen DeRienzo and club member Jim Tigges, detective with the Police Department.

(Photo by Lori Becker)

At this evening dinner meeting several awards were presented to club members acknowledging their service to our club and serving  those in need of assistance around the world.  Pictured above are Al Fay and Cheryl Stanton, who each received a Paul Harris award in recognition of their having reached a significant overall personal contribution level to the Rotary Foundation.

At this meeting, Rita Orchanian, the incoming Interact Club President for the 2017-2018 school year was introduced to our members. Pictured above from left to right are our Club's President Brad Bond, next Interact President Rita Orchanian, our Club's President-Elect John Tuccinardi and Rita's Parents Andrea and Zohrab Orchanian.

Nelson Kawalya, a long time Rotarian from Rotary District 9216 in Uganda paid a visit to our club en route to the Rotary convention in Atlanta. He brought with him his daughter and grand daughter who live in the Boston area. Club President Brad Bond is shown in this photo exchanging club pennants with our visitor.                                                                               

Our club held its annual joint meeting with the Burlington High School Rotary Interact Club at the school library. This photo shows the current and next school year's club officers and directors as they introduced themselves to the attendees. Among them the students who were graduating from the school this year told us where they would be heading to college.

Another trip to the Greater Boston Food Bank was made today by Club members (l-r) Frank Vozzella, Lynne Kelly and Joe Capua. They brought back a truckload of food to the Burlington Food Pantry from where it will be distributed to needy individuals and families in our community.                                                                                            

Students from the Burlington Rotary Interact Club joined with many others at the Middlesex Community College in Bedford to package meals for needy children.  Members of our club were aided by Rotarians from the Burlington Breakfast and Bedford Rotary Clubs to help oversee this event.  Over 3,000 meals were packaged on this day.

This year's "Friday Night at the Fights" was a resounding success thanks to the efforts of the members of the event's committee and other members of our club who attended and worked all evening at the many allied events including raffle ticket sales and food concessions for the fighter's families and friends.

Past President Sarah Boulos holding the Paul Harris award presented to her at today's meeting by Past President Cheryl Stanton.

Our speaker today was Yanice Mak, a Rotary Scholar from Hong Kong shown here exchanging club flags with club President Brad Bond.  Yanice is studying at Boston University and when she graduates she hopes to develop programs to help uneducated and underprivileged people in Massachusetts, a noble undertaking.

The Burlington High School Select Chorus conducted by Julie Weller entertained us at this meeting with holiday songs from Christian, Jewish and Kwanzaa religions.  Joining us at this meeting were members of the Burlington Breakfast Rotary Club and the Bedford Rotary Club. This "Chorus Meeting" has been an annual event at our club for many years now.

Members of the Burlington High School Interact Club gathered to present over 2000 pairs of white athletic socks to US military veterans. The socks were collected through the efforts of the Interact students and members of our Club. Particular thanks go to to our club member Lisa Healey who collected an amazing 1549 pairs of socks through her requests to friends, coworkers and acquaintances.  Many of the students pictured above are holding pairs of socks   to be turned over to the veterans this day.

At this meeting we were pleased to welcome and induct two new members into our club. Pictured above (l-r) are Membership Chairman Roger Bell, new corporate member Nevada-Dawn Finnell from Flatbread Pizza, alternate corporate member Stephanie Jelloe, Club President Brad Bond and the second new member Dan Restivo.

Pictured above are Burlington Rotarians and helpers standing in front of boxes of frozen turkeys shortly before the turkeys and all the other foods for a lovely Thanksgiving Day meal were given to families in need of them. This is an ongoing annual activity of the Burlington Food Pantry and takes place at the UCC Church in Burlington. Our club has been participating in the program for over ten years and this year our activities included transporting the frozen turkeys from the Boston Food Bank and storing them in a freezer courtesy of Shaws Supermarket. The day of the event Rotarians moved the turkeys from Shaws Supermarket to the UCC Church where they stayed to assist families in gathering their turkeys and groceries for a Thanksgiving meal and helping move them to their vehicles.

This year's Halloween Spookathon combining efforts by the Burlington Recreation Department, our club and the Burlington High School Rotary Interact Club was a success despite intermittent rainy weather. The students from the Interact club manned numerous games and created and staffed a scary haunted house for the kids to walk through. Shown above are two of the many children attending this annual event.

This week our club continued its annual Rick Karwan Memorial Dictionary Program, by giving every third grade student in Burlington's four elementary schools a new dictionary.  Shown above are four club members at one of the schools and the stacks of dictionaries to be given out, and one of the school teachers preparing the students for a short program delivered by a Rotarian which included an introduction to words in the dictionary related to the principles of Rotary and its unselfish helping of people in need around the world.

SAVE THE DATE! MARCH 31, 2017

FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE FIGHTS

At the Billerica Elks Club

Delicious dinner at 7 PM
Followed by 18 rounds of boxing

Tickets - $80 each - Table for ten - $750

To purchase tickets email John Tuccinardi at jtuccinardi@fedheat.com

Club President Brad Bond receiving a contribution gift check from Dr. Kandyce Mutter, a chiropractor with an office in Burlington. Dr. Mutter is a member of The Wellness Champions, a worldwide group of physicians who donate their time to giving talks to small and large groups of people advising them on ways to stay healthier through proper life styles including diets, exercise, stress reduction, and  other techniques.                                                                           

Our Club sponsors a Burlington Recreation Department "Concert on The Common" every year. We provide plenty of cold drinks and snacks at no charge to attendees of this popular event. Shown here is Club member Jeff Wisnia at the giveaway table. Several other of our Club members showed up to help handing out the goodies. Behind him are members of the Jumpin' Jive music group who have provided the entertainment at this event for many years.

Our speaker at this meeting was Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian who spoke in depth about presentations he made at the White House in June on the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office Medication Assisted Treatment and Directed Opioid Recovery (MATADOR) program, as well as on mental health and incarceration at the July White House Forum on Disability and Criminal Justice.  In 2015, nearly 46 percent of all new admittances to the Middlesex Jail & House of Correction reported a history of mental illness.  Pictured with him (L-R) are Club President Brad Bond and Club members Lisa Healey and Donna Marciano.                                                                                                                                                                             

Six District Rotary Clubs' Special Olympics softball teams held a tournament at the Burlington recreation center field again this year. Pictured above are the members of the Burlington Pride team. Photos courtesy of Karlen Photography.

At this meeting we has the pleasure of inducting two new members. Shown here (l-r) are Club President Brad Bond, the new members Todd Bettinson and Joel Gianninoto, and membership Chairman Roger Bell.

At our annual installation dinner Past President John Tuccinardi presented the Rotary Paul Harris award to Christine McCarthy in recognition of her tireless service as the club's secretary.

At this meeting our club presented its 2016 college scholarship awards to the Burlington High School graduates shown in this photograph.  Also attending the meeting were many of the recipient's proud parents who enjoyed our luncheon meeting along with the students. The scholarship recipients announced which colleges they would be attending beginning the next school year.

Rotary District Governor David Manzi attended our meeting and presented two citations. The first one to our club for its performance this year and the second one to the Burlington High School Interact club which our club sponsors. The Interact club received the 2015-2016 Presidential Citation from Rotary International and was the sole Interact club in our district to receive this honor.  Pictured above (l-r) are District Governor Manzi, the Interact club's President Caroline Covino and Secretary Hannah Miksenas, and our club's President Elect Brad Bond.          

This year's golf tournament at Sky Meadows in New Hampshire was blessed with great weather. Our annual golf tournament is a major fund raiser for our club, allowing us to provide many services to our community and also to other Rotary projects and programs throughout the world.

Our Meeting on this day was held on the Burlington Common where we gathered on the benches at the fountain and resting area our club donated to the Town of Burlington in June 2008. We enjoyed boxed picnic lunches on a beautiful sunny day. We are shown here gathered around the marker placed here at the 2008 dedication.

Burlington Rotarian Garry Feldman (l) visited the Stockholm, Sweden Rotary Club and is shown above exchanging club banners with their club's president.

This year's fund raising event was another success for our club. There was a delicious meal enjoyed by the attendees followed by 18 three round boxing matches between pugilists from many boxing clubs in the area.

At this meeting Club President Cheryl Stanton presented a contribution check from our club to Courtney Robinson, a staff member of Friends Forever, an organization whose mission is to have young people from both sides of the fences in Northern Ireland and Israel get to know each other. They then spend a week visiting the United States to experience first hand how people from varied backgrounds get along with each other well in the USA.

At today's lunch meeting a new member, Joe Capua, was formally inducted into our club. He is shown above surrounded by club President Cheryl Stanton and Membership Chairman Roger Bell.

The Burlington High School Chorus led by choral director Johnathan Grainger (front left) continued their long standing tradition of entertaining us with holiday songs near the end of each year. After singing a number of entertaining songs they passed out song sheets to club members and guests and let us sing several more along with them.

The Burlington High School Interact Rotarians hold a "Sock Drive" each year for veterans at the Bedford Veterans Administration Hospital. Show above are Interact Club President Caroline Covino (2nd from left) with three members holding some of the white athletic socks donated by our club's members at today's meeting. Last year the Interact Club's Sock Drive collected over 500 pairs of socks for our veterans and they hope to do even better this year.

Rotarians and helpers picking up boxes of turkeys which were being stored in the freezers at Shaws Market in Burlington. The Turkeys came from the Boston Food Bank and had been picked up from there by club members earlier in the week and transported to Shaws for storage. The turkeys were taken to the UCC church in Burlington where the Burlington Food Pantry workers, Church staff and Rotarians held their annual Thanksgiving meal food distribution to over 150 needy Burlington families.

This year's joint meeting between the Burlington and Lexington Rotary clubs was held in Burlington. The meeting's motif is the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between the two towns' High School varsity teams. Attending this meeting were Rotarians, school administrators and teachers and members of both school's football teams.

The Burlington Pride Special Olympics softball team  has been sponsored and coached by members of our club for many years.  Our club organized and held an awards banquet at the Burlington Recreation Department with most of the players attending.  Each  player received a trophy from our club which they are proudly holding in this photo.

Our club's second annual Halloween Party was a resounding success with most of the club members and guests attending in costumes. Shone above are family members of club members Roy and Paul Swanfeldt who appeared as the Addams family. They walked away with the prize for the best costumed group.  At the conclusion of the party the winning tickets for our annual $10K raffle and numerous party raffles were drawn.  For those who may have difficulty remembering the character's names they are (l-r) Lurch, Uncle Fester,  Wednesday, Cousin Itt, Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley and Grandma.                                                                                                                                                             

Several of our club members took turns during the day managing the pumpkin sale fund raiser held at St. Marks church in Burlington.  Four of their faces are pictured above peering through the photo sign at the site.

Rotaplast International, Inc.  is a non-profit corporation founded in 1992 providing free reconstructive surgeries and treatment to under-privileged children with cleft lip and palate deformities in many places around the world. Rotary District 7930 is heading on its 10th Rotaplast mission, to Cebu City, Philippines on October 4-18, 2015. Our club President Cheryl Stanton (r) is shown presenting Lisa Bartlett-Collin, one of the Rotaplast Ambassadors, with an envelope containing a check sufficient to cover one child's surgery costs.

Long time club member Gary Feldman treated us to a classification talk in which he described his education and his entry into the world of dentistry.  He gave us useful information regarding how to stay healthy through proper personal dental care and visits to your dentist.

A team of Burlington Rotarians drives to Boston several times each year to pick up food from the Boston Food Bank and deliver it to the Burlington Food Pantry where it is distributed to needy folks in our community. Club members on this trip are pictured above standing on the Boston loading dock. (L-R) Brad Bond, Bob Hogan, Brian Kelly and Jorge Andrade.

Our club's annual golf tournament was held at the Sky Meadows Country Club in Salem, New Hampshire again this year.

Our Club held its annual Special Olympics Softball Tournament at the Burlington Recreation Department's Fields, inviting teams from seven other towns to participate.

Guests at today's meeting were folks who contribute their time and effort to the success of Burlington's Special Olympic softball and basketball teams. They were introduced to us by John Tuccinardi (far right) our club's Special Olympics coordinator. The group included citizens who give of their own time to help the Special Olympians as well as members of the Town's Recreation Department.  Our club President Cheryl Stanton is third from the left.

Several of our club's members contributed their time to helping build a sturdy fence for the Burlington Community Garden. The fence will keep hungry animals from making off with town resident's plantings.

Our Club held its annual fight night at the Billerica Elks Hall. A member of the Massachusetts Boxing Commission was present and fighters from Ramaltho's West End Gym in Lowell participated in nine rounds of boxing. The fights were preceeded by a multi-course dinner. This always popular event raises funds for local scholarships and charities. (KarwanPhotos.com)

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Welcome to our Rotary Club!