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New Officers for 2017-2018

Posted on Jul 26, 2017

July 21, 2017

For Immediate Release

ROTARY CLUB OF WORCESTER RECENTLY ELECTS OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

The Rotary Club of Worcester has elected officers and directors for the 2017-2018 Rotary year.

Elected by the membership were President Christopher Gates, First Sargent Retired from the MA Army National Guard of Worcester; President Elect, Matteo Gentile of Auburn; Vice President, Ron Fraser of Worcester; Treasurer, Robert Mangan of Sturbridge; Secretary, Krista Piazza of Fitchburg and Immediate Past President, Barbara Guthrie of Princeton.

Directors elected included Dr. Kenneth Harling, Dr. Satya Mitra and Clarence Plant, all of Worcester; Dr. Don Deprez , of Paxton; and David Frazier of Franklin.

Founded in 1912, the Rotary Club of Worcester is the 6^th oldest Rotary Club in the world. The Club celebrates its 105^th anniversary this year. Its membership includes approximately 80 men and women from public and private sectors of the community. The Club meets every Thursday noon at the Grill on the Hill located at the Green Hill Golf Course in Green Hill Park. The public is welcome.

For further information contact: Barbara Guthrie

Immediate Past President

bguthrie1@verizon.net

Rotary (Worcester/Shrewsbury) Young Authors

April 21, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Rotary Clubs of Shrewsbury and Worcester announce their collaboration to provide high school students the opportunity to become published authors. Students from the Shrewsbury High School and the Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School in Worcester have submitted creative writing works which have been assembled into a book entitled “From My Heart.” The project gives students the opportunity to be creative beyond their normal classroom work, to be published which may provide an advantage for college applicants, to meet and socialize with other students who have participated and to build their self- esteem.

The project culminates with a book launch party scheduled for Tuesday, May 2^nd, at the Shrewsbury High School. Students, their families, teachers, local dignitaries and Rotarians will gather for dinner and a program. The books will be distributed and several students will be asked to read their works to the program attendees. Local authors, Tom Ingrassia and Jared Chrudimsky, who have collaborated in the writing of an award winning book, “One Door Closes: Overcoming Adversity By Following Your Dreams,” have written the “From My Heart” book’s introduction and will be key note speakers at the book launch party.

Southbridge Savings Bank and the Odd Fellows Home of Massachusetts Inc. are co-sponsoring the event along with the Shrewsbury and Worcester Rotary Clubs.

This book project will be an annual event of the Shrewsbury and Worcester Rotary Clubs and will be expanded to include other schools in the coming years.

For Further Information, please contact:

Barbara Guthrie, President, Rotary Club of Worcester

Phone: 978-464-2929

Email: bguthrie1@verizon.net

WorcesterRotaryDonation

Click HERE for the press release about Worcester Rotary Club's donation to the City of Worcester to help the opioid crisis.

Save the Date - May 6th, 2017 Celebrate Community event!!!

Our 4th annual celebrate community event will be held on May 6th at the Tatnuck Country Club. The event will be a "casino" night, silent auction and recognition of 4 individuals/organizations who will receive this year's community service awards. Please click here or on the image below to purchase tickets on EventBrite or click here for a poster to print and share.

Scroll past the image to learn who will be honored this year!

The Rotary Club of Worcester announces the recipients of the Club’s 2017 “Service Above Self” community service awards. The awards recognize outstanding individuals in our community who have made a difference through volunteerism and professional services.

This year’s recipients are;

George Bernardin (Posthumously), an active member of the Rotary Club of Worcester. George was a lawyer by profession but he gave countless hours of his time and expertise to a wide variety of organizations including, but not limited to, the Worcester Art Museum, YOU, Inc., Tower Hill Botanic Gardens, the Greater Worcester Land Trust, Town Planning Board of West Boylston, Preservation Worcester to name a few.

Molly McCullough, who besides being a member of the Worcester School Committee, gives her time to a variety of organizations including the Worcester Library Board Foundation, Worcester Educational Development Foundation, the AVID Initiative, Worcester Hibernian Cultural Foundation, UMASS Amherst Alumni Board of Directors and the Plant the Seed organization.

Meredith Walsh who is the founder and executive director of the Worcester Refugee Assistance Project which assists the large number of Burmese immigrants who have settled in Worcester. She leads a large group of volunteers who provide services such as ESL classes, youth support, family mentorship, economic sustainability, citizen classes and community building to this vulnerable population. Meredith is also a nurse practitioner at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center.

Forest Grove Field Hockey Group, founded by 3 women who started the organization so that middle school girls could participate in an organized field hockey team. Thirty-three girls were able to participate thanks to these women who raised money, secured insurance, acquired uniforms, organized a home and away playing schedule, coordinated transportation, secured referees and developed a practice schedule.

The awards will be given out at the Club’s 4^th annual fund raising “Celebrate Community” event to be held on Saturday, May 6^th at the Tatnuck Country Club. The event will feature a Casino night, silent auction, and dancing. Tickets may be purchased by going to the Club’s website (www.worcrotaryusa.org) or by mailing a check to Rotary Club of Worcester, P.O. Box 3413, Worcester, MA 01613. Tickets are $50/each.

Please click here or on the image below to purchase tickets on EventBrite

For further information contact: Barbara Guthrie. Email: bguthrie1@verizon.net Phone: 978-464-2929

Looking for Sponsors too!

Worcester Rotary and WCCA TV's Gala - Nov 17th

From Worcester Rotary Club President Barbara Guthrie,

I am thrilled to announce that the Rotary Club will receive the Father Michael Bafaro Humanitarian Award ath WCCA TV's Gala to be held on Thursday, November 17th, 6:00-10:00 p.m. at the Beechwood Hotel.

I hope that many of you will attend to support WCCA TV's programs as well as to honor the Rotary Club of Worcester and the other award recipients.

Rotary Rocket - Oct 20th

A big thank you goes out to all the members who attended our very busy meeting today. Assistant District Governor, John Sbrogna, brought greetings from the District. John talked about the changes Rotary International has made in reducing meeting requirements to hopefully better accommodate people's schedules today. He noted that many clubs are changing their previous meeting schedules. He noted that while millennials want to serve, weekly meetings may not meet their time availability.

Bill Wallace, Director of the Worcester Historical Museum, gave a fascinating and somewhat humorous talk on Worcester's history with an emphasis on Elm Park and its bridges. Bill had some wonderful slides of Worcester's history and ended his talk with slides of some of the "firsts" that Worcester is known for.

Click HERE for more pictures from our meeting

A thank you goes out to Frank Doherty whose press release about our more recent service fund grants was published in last Sunday's Worcester Telegram.

Val Callahan awarded Dr. Don Deprez a Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations Don!

Gretchen Antonelli announced the Club's Fall fund raiser will be a raffle for a $1,000 basket of lottery tickets. Tickets were available at the meeting for people to start selling. Tickets are $10 each. The club hopes to sell 1,000 tickets. Gretchen and Tom will be at next week's meeting to distribute tickets again. If you can't attend a meeting and wish to buy/sell tickets please contact Gretchen (Gretchen@forwardfinancialsrv.com) or Tom at (tom@forwardfinancialsrv.com). Thank you for your support.

Marlborough Rotary Club is looking for Rotarians to help at their Reality Fair on November 1, 7:15-11:30 a.m., Marlborough High School. If you are interested contact Peggie Thorsen at mathorsen@verizon.net

Nashoba Valley Rotary Club is sponsoring a documentary on Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation on October 27th, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Fenn School, Ward Hall in Concord. Tickets ($25) can be purchased at bit.ly/500_Concord_MA

Bob Johnson announced that the Salvation Army is looking for Rotary volunteers to ring the bell outside the Brew City Restaurant at the corner of Franklin and Portland Streets at noontime, Monday-Friday, for the three weeks following Thanksgiving. If you can help, please let Bob Johnson know (508-853-1402)

NEXT WEEK: Peter St. Pierre, St. Pierre Manufacturing, will be our guest speaker. The Service Projects Committee and the Fund Raising Committee will both meet at 1:30 following our club meeting.

Speakers Committee Seeks suggestions

Speaker's Committee Seeks Your Suggestions!

At the Club meeting this week the Aaron Payson handed out a short Speaker's Committee Survey seeking input from members about possible future speakers, topics and areas of interest and expertise of our membership. If you didn't get a chance to fill out your survey at the meeting, please find an online version HERE. Thank you for your assistance in helping us bring you exciting, informative and interesting speakers and presentations in the coming months!

Your Speaker's Committee:

Chet Caswell

Rotary Rocket - Sept 22nd, 2016

Good Afternoon! We had a wonderful, stimulating meeting of the Rotary Club of Worcester on Thursday. Great attendance, good food, good flow of information and activity, and an exciting and stimulating presentation by Superintendent of Schools, Maureen Binienda.

The club held a moment of silence for Barbara Andersen who recently passed away. Barbara was the 85th President of the Rotary Club of Worcester and the first woman president.

Dave Frazier announced he is looking for members to serve on a committee to help select the first senior high school student to receive a $2,500 scholarship from our Club next spring. Anyone interested in serving on the committee should contact Dave.

Gary MacConnell, chair of the Education Committee, read two thank you letters from students at Worcester State University who were this year's recipients of Rotary Scholarships at that institution.

Frank Doherty presented a $500 check to the Columbus Day Parade Committee to provide support for one of Worcester's high school marching bands to appear in the parade.

Maureen Binienda, who after holding many positions at South High School for the past 38 years, is now the new WPS Superintendent. Maureen spoke about the many programs that she instituted at South High School to support young people and families, who due to economic conditions, need additional assistance beyond the classroom learning to succeed such as establishing a food pantry and clothing drives. Some of these efforts have now been instituted in other public schools in Worcester. Some of her highlights in her update on what is happening in our schools, included all seniors will apply to at least one college, all 9th graders will be required to take the PSAT's and literacy is a focus in all WPS. The WPS's are in good hands with Maureen Binienda at the helm.

Barbara announced that the club is looking for a third member to serve as an advisor to the WPI Rotaract Club. Duties include attending some of the Rotaract meetings during the school year. Anyone interested, please contact me.

The Service Projects Committee met. Some possible projects for the year include holding a Reality Fair at one of the Public High Schools and Seven Hills Public Charter School, a food drive, a beautification project and a clean up project. More to follow. Anyone interested in joining the committee which meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 1:30 should contact Amy Mosher Berry.

Next week's meeting will be at noontime at Grill on the Hill. Information on the speaker will follow. There will be no club meeting on October 13th. Instead, club members are welcome to join the Rotary Club table at the Business Expo on October 14th at Noon at Mechanics Hall. Cost is $55. Checks should be made out to Rotary Club of Worcester. Please let Bob Mangan know if you are interested in attending.

Enjoy this crisp Fall air!

Barbara

Rotary Rocket - Sept 15th, 2016

Message from Worcester Rotary Club President, Barbara Guthrie,

Click HERE for pictures!

Good Afternoon! Yesterday's Club Meeting was informative and exciting. Our new member to be, Eben Afarikumah was in attendance. Val Callahan led happy dollars. Her goal was to collect $50 in honor of Bengt Hansson's 50th anniversary in the Rotary Club of Worcester. Everyone was so happy for Bengt that we collected $80! Skip Hall reported that his wife is home from the hospital after a four week stay.

Mark Fuller announced that he has raised another $5,000 for the Haiti Project so the project can now move forward to completion. Congratulations, Mark.

Bob Mangan announced that he has reserved two tables at the Business Expo luncheon to be held on October 14th. Anyone interested in attending should let Bob know. The cost is $55. Checks should be made out to the Rotary Club of Worcester. Deadline for reservations is October 5th. There will be no club meeting on October 13th.

Dave Frazier announced that Matthew Johnson, speaker at our meeting on August 25th, may be a candidate for a Rotary peace scholarship.

Aaron Payson distributed a survey asking members for their input into possible speakers for the year. The survey will be posted on club runner as well.

Frank Doherty gave a service fund report. After our current obligations are paid, there will be a remaining fund balance of $17,000. The club voted to appoint Krishna DasGupta to a three year term on the service fund committee. Past Presidents Ken Harling, Satya Mitra, Tim Mc Gee, Brad Wyatt, Ed Hall, Robert Mangan and Chair, Frank Doherty were given a vote of support to serve on the committee this year as well.

Gretchen Antonelli gave a report on the recent fund raising committee meeting. Many ideas were discussed. Gretchen distributed a survey to get ideas from the membership on the types of fund raising events they would be most interested in. The survey will be posted on club runner as well. Barbara noted that it is important that we continue our community service awards as part of our fund raising activities. Gretchen stressed to the membership that it was critical that our fund raising efforts are supported by the full membership.

Other announcements:

Meeting with Governor Baker on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at the Bedford Double Tree Hotel. Please register soon as they anticipate the event will be sold out. Cost is $37. The Governor will discuss Partnering on Humanitarian Projects effecting our local communities.

Next Week's Meetings (September 22, 2016)

Education Fund Committee at 11:00 a.m.

Club Meeting at 12:00 Noon. Superintendent of Worcester Public Schools, Maureen Binienda, will be our speaker

Service Projects Committee Meeting at 1:30 p.m.

Rotary Rocket Sept 8th, 2016

At yesterday's meeting, Bengt Hannson celebrated his 50th anniversary as a member of the Rotary Club of Worcester. He joined on 9/8/1966! Congratulations, Bengt!

Eric Torkornoo, Vice President at TD Bank and a former member was a guest. We anticipate Eric will join the club again.

Our speaker was Michael Feltz who is a volunteer representative of the Falun Dafa Association of New England. They are the local host and organizer of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra and Dancers. Michael discussed the history of the Shen Yun dancers and orchestra who perform around the world except in China. Communist China rejects the culture behind the Shen Yun movement. The audiences was lulled by the beautiful music played by the orchestra. We were also treated to the lovely sounds of several of the Chinese musical instruments. Michael is a graduate of Clark University where he majored in psychology and art. He has been a volunteer helping Shen Yun with community outreach since their debut in 2006. The orchestra will be performing in Boston in October at Symphony Hall.

Upcoming events:

The District is holding an interact training on Saturday, September 17th from 8:00 - 2:30 p.m. If anyone is interested, the registration link is:

http://rotary7910.org/event/interact---rotaract-training-seminar/

September 27, 2016: Rotary Clubs of Bedford, Billerica, Lowell and Shrewsbury are hosting an event at the Double Tree Hotel in Bedford, MA from 5:00-9:00 p.m. Governor Charlie Baker will speak on "Partnering on Humanitarian Projects effecting our local communities." If you are interested in attending, car pooling can be arranged. Cost is $37.

The Chamber of Commerce Business Expo Luncheon will be held on Friday, October 14th. Thee Rotary Club of Worcester will sponsor a table. Cost is $55. Please let Bob Mangan know if you are interested in attending.

Worcester Rotary is sponsoring Kids Café on Tuesday, October 25th and Tuesday, November 29th, from 4-6 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club. Please let Amy Mosher Berry know if you can help out on either of these 2 dates.

Committee Meetings:

Education Fund Committee will meet on Thursday, September 22nd, 11:00 a.m., Grill on the Hill

Community Service Projects Committee will meet on Thursday, September 22nd, 1:30 p.m. at Grill on the Hill

Club Meeting next Thursday, September 15th.

Rotary Rocket September 2016

Today was "shorts" day at the Rotary Club of Worcester's meeting. Twenty-seven members came in their shorts which earned over $1,000 for the club! Matt Erskine was especially charming in his Scottish Kilt and Dick Nevers took the prize for the most "colorful" pair of shorts. Thanks to everyone who participated in the fun. Click HERE for more pictures

We had a very productive club meeting today. The operating budget for 2017 and the financial statement for the June 4th fund raising event were both reviewed. The net amount made on the fund raiser was $45,182.

Membership Chair, Bob Mangan, reviewed his plans for the membership committee this year. We will participate in the Business Expo again. Bob also plans to hold a breakfast meeting for business leaders in the community,

Gary MacConnell reviewed the history of the Education Fund from when it ceased to be a loan fund to becoming a scholarship fund.

The Club meeting was so well received, that another one will be scheduled for either September 8th or September 15th. More to come.

The Club is seeking nominations to fill a three year term on the Service Fund Committee. The Service Fund Committee is the group that reviews grant requests. The funds the Club distributes are the funds the club earns through its fund raising efforts. If anyone is interested in this position, please let me know.

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

Rotary Rocket - August 2016

We had a terrific meeting this week. It was a beautiful day at "Grill on the Hill." Membership Chair, Bob Mangan announced that August is "membership month." Bob is putting together a membership committee so please contact Bob to help out on this very important committee..

Satya Mitra, Foundation Chair, is also looking for committee members. Satya reviewed the various incentives to giving to the Foundation from becoming a Paul Harris Fellow (a $1,000 donation) to making a bequest to the Foundation. To give to the Foundation, checks should be made out to the "Rotary Foundation" and given to Satya for club credit. Satya noted that this is the 100th year anniversary of the Foundation. Satya's goal is to raise one million dollars in honor of the 100th year anniversary.

Rosemary Ford, a founder of the 365Z Foundation gave an inspirational talk about the Foundation's work in the schools to make children aware of the need to have empathy for others and to carry out kind deeds as part of every day living.

If you are interested in participating in the Service Projects Committee mini retreat on Friday, August 19th, please contact Amy Mosher Berry or myself. The meeting will be from 4:00-7:00 p.m. and will include a cookout.

Meeting speakers for the rest of August are:

August 11, 2016: District Governors, Pat and Skip Doyle

August 18, 2016: Worcester Police Chief, Steven Sargent

August 25, 2016: Matthew Johnson, Director of Social Innovation at Worcester State University

September 1, 2016: Shorts Day!!

Rotary Rocket - July 2016 Part 3

We had a terrific Rotary meeting this week. Great comraderie, good food and an interesting speaker! Next year's Nashoba Valley Club President, Mary Garcia, was a visitor. Bob gave out Certificates of Appreciation to 2015-2016 board members, Krista Piazza and Don Deprez. Bob also alerted club members that he will be looking for people to serve on the membership committee. Dick Nevers volunteered. Skip Hall indicated he was interested in serving on the public relations committee. Barbara noted that Amy Mosher Berry will lead a mini retreat on Friday, August 19th for anyone interested in serving on the Community Service Projects committee. More to come on that event.

Click HERE for pictures from Rotary meetings

Satya turned in $3,100 in additional donations/sponsorships for our June 4th gala. Steve Tankanow is another $1,000 member sponsorship donor for which Satya us donating an additional $100.

Save the date: Thursday, August 25th is shorts day at the Rotary Club of Worcester. Last year, thanks to Satya and Ken Harling, the club raised around $1,000 on "shorts" day. Please come prepared!

Our speaker this week was Michele Miller, founder of the Central Mass Lyme Foundation. Michele lost her mother to Lyme disease because she had been misdiagnosed as having ALS. Michele discussed the difficulty of detecting the disease, how easy it is to get the disease and ways you can protect yourself from getting the disease. Her discussion of how little the medical community knows about the disease and that testing for the disease is not always accurate was somewhat disturbing. To learn more, visit their web site: CentralMassLyme.com

Enjoy the weekend. Barbara

Rotary Rocket - July 2016 Part 2

A message from new club president Barbara Guthrie,

I want to thank everyone who attended Thursday's meeting. We have 45 people in attendance, gained one new member who is transferring from Arizona and had another potential new member in attendance. Aaron Payson gave a powerful invocation followed by a robust patriotic song led by Val Callahan. Bob honored 2015-2016 board and committee members with certificates of appreciation. Chris Gates, Dave Frazier and Mark Fuller received "Service Above Self" recognitions and Satya Mitra received the President's award for his generous support of the Rotary Foundation. I was humbled to receive the Rotarian of the Year Award.

Click HERE for pictures from the meeting

John Sbrogna, our Assistant District Governor, installed our 2016-2017 officers and directors. It was an honor to receive my president's pin from my daughters. Rich Prager did his usual terrific job capturing the moments with his photography. Please take a moment to look at the pictures on our web site.

As your new president, I plan to carry on with Bob's theme of teamwork. We need all members to get involved to help our club successfully carry out our club visions. Please volunteer for a committee that interests you. Committee chairs are: Bob Mangan, Membership; Amy Mosher Berry, Service Projects; Brad White and Frank Doherty, Co-Chairs, Public Relations; Tom Valentine and Gretchen Antonelli, Co-Chairs, Fund Raising; Chet Caswell & Aaron Payson, Co-Chairs, Speakers; Dave Frazier, RYLA; Satya Mitra, Foundation; Gary MacConnell, Education Fund; and Frank Doherty, Service Fund.

Satya Mitra reported that our net profit from our June fundraiser is approximately $20,000. Our fund raising goal to the City alone was $41,000. Sayta is in the process of continuing to collect sponsorship funds for the event. He presented Bob with checks totaling around $16,000. Satya also recognized Steve Loring, Bob Johnson, Al Biscelgia,Tim McGee, Ken Harling, Rod White and Dave Frazier for donating $1,000 or more in sponsorships. Satya will add an additional $100 for each of these donations. Satya encouraged other club members/friends to provide additional sponsorships so that we might reach and surpass our goal.

Thank you for a memorable installation!

Barbara Guthrie

Rotary Rocket - July 2016

Good morning,

I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July! I want to thank everyone for a fantastic 2015 - 2016 Rotary year! We have had the privilege of helping many people in need in our community this year through our community service and our Service Fund. We have raised funds, increased membership, and worked on some great projects.

Our club is continuing to finalize the Haiti project as well as the Opioid Addiction project (as soon as the fund raising efforts are tallied).

Click HERE for pictures from our O'Connor's member appreciation meeting last month

This year we have made a few changes, our meeting location for one, the 50/50 raffle was changed to a more challenging method. We finally got the club laptop working and a new banner is on the way. We participated in many district activities such as the annual district convention where we had a hospitality suite. Our club was recognized at the district convention for our outstanding community service. Our club hosted 6 students for RYLA and many members participated at RYLA. This year, as we have for the past few years we have participated in the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo where we were able to showcase our club, what we do and advertise our fundraisers. We had some fantastic guests and guest speakers throughout the year as well as some challenges. When we were faced with challenges we came through. The theme was TEAMWORK. We are a team of club members. When something needs to be done we ask how can I help? What can I do?

I hope I covered everything....

I am proud to be a member of the Rotary Club of Worcester and proud to have served as president last year.

Thank you all for making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate here in Worcester and around the world. We are blessed and You are truly a Gift to the World!

Our next meeting will be July 14th at The Grill on the Hill, Green Hill Golf Course, 12:00 - 1:30. This will be the induction of officers for the 2016 - 2017 Rotary Year. I can't stress enough that all members should attend. Assistant Governor John Sbrogna will induct Barbara Guthrie as the Club President and her Board of Directors.

Thank you!

Bob Mangan, Immediate Past President, Membership Chair

Rotary Club of Worcester 2016 - 2017