Stories

At our Sept 30th meeting we hosted three of our six 2015 RYLA students (unfortunately, the others had schedule conflicts) - Faith Antonek, Hannah Staples, and Sarah Stover - as well as Mendham H.S. guidance counselor Lauren Buhowski. (click read more.... to continue)

 

On Sept 16th we hosted dinner and a speaker at the Mendham Area Senior Housing (MASH). We provided baked chicken, caesar salad, and dessert. The speaker was Jake Whalen, who spoke about Medicare. (Click Read More.... to continue)

Our new DG, Frank Geraghty, visited our club at our July 8th meeting. (Click on "read more..." to continue) 

June 24th was our last meeting of the 2014-2015 Rotary Year. The main event at the meeting was to install our officers for the 2015-2016 year. However, before the installation, outgoing President June Cioppettini gave a brief summary of all we did in the past year.  (Click read more to continue)

At our Oct 8th meeting we hosted Skyler Mattioli and Matthew Hanks, two of our RYLA Students, each accompanied by a parent. Skyler and Matt spoke to us about their experiences at RYLA in June.

Imagine the hole there would be in the world without Rotary......

That was the theme of DG Larry Ripley's presentation to our club at last week's meeting. After an introduction as an "Itinerant Saloon Singer and Part Time Bartender" by AG Rod Seifert, Larry asked "Why are we here, and why do we keep coming back?" Yes, we enjoy the company, we like to hang out with our new friends, etc., but it's much more than that - Rotary is one of the strongest forces for good on the planet and we like being part of it.

        

Wed., Sept 17th
DG Larry Ripley Visit
Part II
 

At our July 30th meeting we had the pleasure of hosting Katie Haagensen. Katie was one of the High School Students that went to Japan for three weeks via the Ross Redman Short Term Exchange Program. Katie was sponsored by our club and she (along with her mom Dawn) joined us last week to tell us about her trip. It was primarily on the island of Shikoku (mainly the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Naru), although it ended with a trip to Hiroshima.

Happy 4th (5th?) of July!

Ok, so we had the threat of a Hurricane (which fortunately stayed offshore), and a storm front with potentially severe thunderstorms, which all let to a postponement of the Brookside parade from Friday the 4th to Saturday the 5th. This turned out to be a great decision. Saturday dawned sunny and dry (and not too hot), with a nice breeze all day. A perfect day for a parade and cookout. As usual, we had our food booth serving Hamburgers/Cheesburgers, Veggie Burgers, Hot Dogs, Brats, and drinks (soda, water, ice tea). There was a good turnout and our booth was successful. This year we added a "Dog Bar" (water bowl and dog biscuits), which seemed to be very popular with the 4-legged crowd.

At our June 11th meeting we hosted the recipients of our High School Scholarships. Last week we hosted the recipients of our High School Scholarships.

At our meeting on Oct. 16th we hosted our RYLA Students and their moms. In June, we sponsored three Mendham High School Students to attend the RYLA weekend. On Wed. Oct. 16th they were our guests and spoke briefly about their experiences at RYLA. All three students were enthusiastic about the program and really enjoyed it. They were honored to have been chosen, and their moms were so proud of them. (Click on "more..." to see pictures)

On Oct 2nd, DG Barry Kroll, accompanied by AG Ron Kelly visited our club. We enjoyed meeting Barry and Ron.

On Thursday July 4th we had our Food Booth at the Brookside (Mendham Township) 4th of July Parade. Each year we set up on the field behind the Brookside Community Club (where the parade ends) and sell Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, and Bratwurst. Thank You Everyone who worked so hard at our Food Booth at the Brookside Fourth of July Parade. It's a long day with set-up beginning at 7:30am and food service/cleanup after the parade ending about 2pm. Thanks to all your efforts, we had the best 4th of July ever!

At our June 26th meeting, we installed the officers and board for the 2013-2014 Rotary year.

At our Jan 9th meeting, we honored the Sisters of Christian Charity (SCC), Mallinkrodt Convent, Mendham, for their service to the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Sisters opened up their home as a shelter in the aftermath of the storm, where they housed and fed many people form the Mendhams and the surrounding communities.

Our Club Holiday Party was on Saturday, Dec. 15th at the Cioppettini's house. Frank and June provided the food (and cooked!). The party doubled as a fund raiser for the Kopila Valley High School that Maggie Doyne is raising money to build. Instead of paying a restaurant, we gave the money to Blinknow.org towards building the school. Between our holiday party, and a speech that June gave to the Newark Rotary Club (Frank's former club), $1550 was raised. That is approximately 1/3 of a classroom. (The 4 classroom school will cost $20K) A big THANK YOU to June and Frank for organizing, hosting and cooking!!!

On Monday, Nov. 10, 2012 the Mendham Rotary Club presented Evan "Buzzy" Thomas with a Paul Harris Award. Buzzy is the OEM for Mendham Borough and Mendham Township. The award was for his outstanding service to the community during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The award was presented at the Mendham Township Committee Meeting.

On Oct. 12th we hosted our DG Jim Allison, and inducted two new members.

At our meeting on Sept. 28, 2011, we awarded four Paul Harris Awards. Three of these went to club members Betty Kiser, Georgine Meyer, and Jim Laughlin. One went Bob Diffin, a Mendham business owner who has done a lot for the community. While Bob's award was known, the three club members were surprised with their awards.

 On June 2th we installed the officers for the 2011-2012 Rotary Year. We were joined by our guests, (then current) DG Maurie Mader accompanied by his wife "District Saint" Peggy, our AG Carol Pellet, and our former Exchange Student Dwayne Dottin.

Mendham Rotary Club is collecting used cell phones to support the environment and help fund a water project. Follow this link for more information.

Check this report from Rotary International about water projects

This year's Antique Show and Sale went off without a hitch. The weather was not so good and the economy not so go but Mendham Rotary did well enough to fund most of their annual charity commitments. We look forward to another year of service with confidence and continue to look for new challenges.

We are looking for help in running next year's Antique Show and Sale and would like to talk to persons who may wish to participate in it's management.

We would like to do a water project this year with Seeds of Light in Africa but the way is still unclear as to how to do so through the new Rotary Foundation International Grant program. We will find a way.

Last year's water project in Guatemala should be coming to an end shortly as the funds have arrived in Guatemala and the filter will be distributed shortly.

Mendham Rotary has joined Twitter. Check us out for up to the moment information about the club:

http://twitter.com/MendhamRotary

We are happy to report that the Great Swamp Watershed Association (GSWA) has made contact with the Environmental Club at the High School. Hopefully, the GSWA will be able to get a date to train the Environmental Club regarding the Passaic River water monitoring project that they want to participate in. The GSWA project which is coordinating participation of High School students through Rotary District 7470 is just right for Mendham as one of the headwaters of the Passaic River is right behind the High School.

Mendham Rotary Club's participation in the Seeds Of Light project is another effort in the Water and Sanitation efforts of Rotary International.  Seeds of Light has dug a water well in Northeaster South Africa to supply water to a school which not only provides water for the children but also water to irrigate a vegetable garden at the school which grows food for the children to take home.

Again this year, Mendham Rotary has donated money to this project and they are in the process of digging another well.  This time it is in a small village called Rooiboklagte in the Acornhoek area in Mpumalanga Province.  For more information, you should look at their website at www.seedsoflight.org.

We have happy to know that the Seeds of Light group has located a Rotary Club that might be interested in hosting a Well Drilling project in the future.

See Seeds of Light thank you letter in Download files on right.

Mendham Rotary has now completed the Matching Grant process for the Guatemala Water Filter Project. Although no matching funds were available at the Rotary Foundations, enough funds were collected from other club, the High School International Club's efforts and our District 7470 funding to make the project valuable.  The money for the filters should now be in the hands of the Huehuetenango Rotarians to acquire the filters and distribute them.

Rotary in conjunction with Heart to Heart International ran a Rotary Volunteer trip to Guatemala in November.  Five Rotarians from New Jersey including one from the Mendham club make up a third of the Rotarians nationwide who are participating in this humanitarian trip.

Some pictures are in the Photo Journal on the right.

Also,

Check out this Blog from the Olathe Kansas club for a narrative of the trip:

http://org2009.blogspot.com/




Take a look at this website:

http://guatemalawaterproject.wordpress.com/

http://mayanfamilies-sharon.blogspot.com/2009/10/water-filters-being-distributed-in-pena.html

October 17,
Guatemala Water project Matching Grant Application to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) was approved in August by the District 7470 Foundation Committee.  This was to  give the project matching funds from the TRF for the moneys being donated by Mendham, Bernardsville and Florence OR Rotary Clubs. Unfortunately, The Foundation ran out of funds again this year before being able to support our project.

WMMHS students Ann Prybylowski and Robert Rafferty visited the Mendham Rotary Club last week to talk about their experience at the RYLA weekend at Drew University. They are pictured here with their guidance counsilors from shcool, Joe Trainor and Abby Stead  and Assistant District Governor, Jim Laughlin and Club President, Denise Goetting. Also in the picture is Gauthier Stainier, Mendham Rotary's exchange student from Belgium.

Our new Rotary Road Sign has been installed at the corner of Route 24 and Tingley Road. The new sign is now complete with the addition of the MENDHAM sign on Friday. The picture has not been updated yet.

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Mendham Rotary is participating in the Worldwide Rotary efforts to bring water and sanitation to everyone in the world who does not have it.

In Aprill of 2011, Mendham Rotary Club completed a Rotary District 7470 grant to help a school in Northeast  South Africa replace their failed well pump. This will allow the school of 531 students to have water to drink as well as irrigation for their garden which is a community resource.

 Mendham Rotary also completed their Guatemala Water Filter Project. This project supplied water filters to Mayan families around Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.

Short Term Exchange Student, Rebecca Tishman came to our Club's meeting, accompanied by her mother Pam, to tell Club members about her experience on the short term exchange in Japan.  It seems that she had a great trip which gave her insight into the cultural differences between Americans and other peoples of the world.  Just what the program is intended to accomplish. Rebecca and Pam are shown with Rotarian Sandi Laughlin.

             

                 

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The Mendham Rotary Club is a local service club which serves both the local community as well as the world community. Click on the above moto for more information