Welcome to our Club!
Who says Rotarians can't have fun---Mid Island Rotary hosted a Cinco de Mayo celebration! A good time was had by all that attended including some fellow Rotarians from both South Shore and North Shore Rotary. We all celebrated the day with good food, good company, and good music from an authentic Mariachi Band!
While the work we do is super important, it is also important to build camaraderie between Rotarians to invite a feeling of community. We were also able to honor (and surprise) our former President Bob Moore with the prestigious Paul Harris Fellow Award. We could not think of a better way to celebrate all Bob has done for not only our club but all of Staten Island as a whole.
Interested in joining our club? Send us an email or direct message on Facebook and a fellow Rotarian will reach out about meeting dates/times!
Earlier this month—Mid Island Rotary hosted their annual (first since COVID) “Spring Meltdown 5K” spearheaded by our own Bob Moore. The event was very successful despite Mother Nature working against us on Mother’s Day! The event was in honor of Mimi Cusick, mother of Assembly Member Michael Cusick—who brought out his own family in support! A fun time was had by all including our winners Jose Davila and Melissa Kraker!
Thanksgiving is a perfect time to give back to your community. As the unofficial start to the Holiday season it is important to think of others; especially those less fortunate than yourself. “Be consistent in your dedication to showing your gratitude to others. Gratitude is a fuel, a medicine, and spiritual and emotional nourishment,” -Steve Maraboli. Pictured are members of various Rotary Clubs on Staten Island including our very own Bob Moore and Gary Applebaum of Mid Island Rotary setting up Thanksgiving baskets and helping delivery of the baskets. Great job to all involved!
Last week, Mid Island Rotary delivered 40 cases of peanut butter, tuna fish, vegetables, cereal, milk and pasta delivered to the Stapleton UAME food pantry. Included in the pictures are Mid Island Rotary’s Ambassador to food pantries Katie Dougherty with her dad Rotarian George Dougherty at UAME food pantry, and our President Bob Moore!
Food delivery was done this past week by our very own George Dougherty and his daughter Katie!
The delivery was to the CYO center in Port Richmond......during COVID, the gym (not being used for basketball) is now a storage place for food. Once a week people can get food there, but the rest of the week - they had a large van (see picture), that they deliver to different places on Staten Island, essentially setting up temporary “pop up” food pantries. The entire process was quite impressive.
We donated cases of food today - they then create individual bags, pack the truck and deliver to where they feel the greatest needs are.
They said it has really helped to take sone Of the stress off the permanent food banks in each area- as many of them can’t handle the demand.....so the “pop up” fills that void.
Thanks again to our Allstar George!
If you feel like you would like to help our community through Mid-Island Rotary please message us and we will give you information on our meetings!
If you would like to donate to Mid Island Rotary and support our efforts in helping #OurIsland here is our PayPal link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick...
Pictured: Mid Island Rotary delivers food and masks to C.A.L.M. food pantry at 121 Grandview Ave, Staten Island, NY 10303!
Pictured in the 3rd photo is Pastor Lara Director of the food pantry.
Thanks to all those involved!!
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ROTARY IN THE NEWS!!
Please take a few minutes to read an awesome article in the Staten Island Advance about all the good work that our Mid Island Rotary has been doing for our community lately!
MIR pres Bob Moore and President elect Linda Aubrey received 6000 masks from the Rotary million mask challenge funded by the Rossi Family Foundation and distributed out this past week. GREAT JOB TO ALL INVOLVED!!!
Pictured at million mask challenge are Mid Island Rotary pres. Bob Moore, South Shore Rotary club pres. James young, Staten Island Rotary pres. Patrick McGrade and Gateway rotary pres Steven Cisternas
WHAT A WAY TO END 2020
In a year that seems to only get worse and worse please check out this post and see how our club, Mid Island Rotary, has brought some good into the world in the final week of 2020. Yesterday, Mid Island Rotary had a great day. We gave out literally a ton of food. We weren't sure if we were going to fit it all in the truck but we managed. Everyone greatly appreciated all the food they received. We gave out 800 bags of groceries, each bag contained 8 different food products. We gave out 800 masks as well.
All this was possible because of the generous donations of the Barnard Del Rey Foundation. Bernard was a loyal Rotarian and a great leader in the community and his foundation continues to do great work for the less fortunate in the community. If you wish to donate to this great foundation so we can continue to help our community please follow this link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick...
If you want to join our merry band of Rotarians please reach out to us! midislandrotary@gmail.com
Pictured in the post include:
Larry Vann and his sons Nicholas, Ryan and Christian
Carol Crocitto from Oakwood Community Center food pantry
Bob, George and Mike Harrington from St. Joseph St. Mary
Volunteer's at Vanderbilt Moravian Church food pantry
George, Bob and Rev. Terri Troia at El Centro food pantry
George Dougherty and Jimmy Moore loading the truck
Mid Island Rotary Club members Carmine DeSantis, Bob Moore (president) and George Dougherty
Thank you to everyone involved!!
A Mid Island Rotarian in the News!
Our very own Rotarian Dr. Charley Ferrer was featured in cityandstateny.com's article titled, "7 Staten Islanders who stepped up to fight COVID19"
The article states, "Medically compromised individuals face many challenges due to their heightened vulnerability in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Charley Ferrer, founder and CEO of the Cancer Tamer Foundation, a nonprofit that aids women with breast cancer, organized her community to help women economically, physically and mentally during the pandemic. Ferrer and others purchased groceries to deliver to individuals with cancer who either could not afford them or couldn’t physically go to a supermarket. They were also able to provide $2,000 to help women purchase necessary medicine, and, when buses were not operating regularly, Ferrer and her team would transport individuals to and from their doctors’ appointments. To combat the mental toll of the pandemic, Ferrer organized a Zoom support group, and she started a crochet group to get people excited about doing something other than watching television or going into a negative mindset.
Due to the pandemic, Cancer Tamer lost 90% of its funding – made up mostly of donations – as donors pulled out to cover their own expenses. Because of this, Ferrer donated her own savings to help individuals with cancer facing financial difficulties. Ferrer and other volunteers also worked hard to gear up community support for not just women with breast cancer, but for all individuals. They were able to obtain aid from the Mid-Island Rotary Club, which donated almost $20,000 in scholarship money to individuals on Staten Island.
Ferrer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. Prior to that diagnosis, she struggled with thyroid cancer. Now cancer-free, she says her passion to help cancer patients emerged through her experience. She wanted to help individuals through education and hoped for a large community to do that.
“I know the fear,” Ferrer says. “I know the vulnerability and the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness that comes with this disease, and I want to make sure other women don’t feel that.”
Great job, Dr. Charley! Keep living with ROARING passion and making us proud!
BUSY WEEK AGAIN FOR MID-ISLAND ROTARY
Picture 1: We gave 500 masks to the Staten Island Museum. Museum president / CEO Janice Monger is accepting the masks from our very own Bob Moore.
Picture 2: Linda Salmon, member Henry Salmon's wife and Jenny Diaz from Children at play early intervention center receiving 400 masks from Mid Island Rotary.
Pictured is Mid Island Rotary members Bob Moore and Curtis Aubrey giving masks and industrial disinfectant to Rev. Terri Troia of Project Hospiality
Here is a special thanks from Our Lady of Good Counsel's Food Pantry!! Special shoutout again to our very own George Dougherty for helping with the delivery of goods to Our Lady of Good Counsel but Food Pantries all over #OurIsland
https://www.facebook.com/kevin.brown.96387/videos/5225145094178006/
MID-ISLAND ROTARY CLUB
of Staten Island, New York
CHARTERED IN 1990
LOCAL COMMUNITY SERVICE – DONATED IN EXCESS OF $500,000 TO LOCAL CHARITIES
Kathleen Kiernan Memorial Scholarships totaling $45,000:
Annual $5,000 Scholarship for College
Annual $1,000 Service Award Scholarship for College
Fred Fiore Memorial Scholarship to high school Interact students $3,000 per year
Sponsored poster contests for grade schools
Host annual Holiday Party for children of women residing in Amethyst House
Participated in S.I.S.O.S. donating funds and time purchasing and packaging items needed for soldiers in Iraq
Miracle of Music - donated funds to purchase instruments for music under-funded music programs
Hosted annual barbecue for Boy Scouts-Learning for Life at Pouch Camp/Alpine for handicapped children
Gift of Limbs- raised money for injured children of Sierra Leone
Beach and park cleanups – members donate time to clean a beach and/or a park and host a barbecue afterwards for all volunteers
Habitat for Humanity – members donated time to work on a home renovation
Sponsored a youth forum titled “Project Connect”
Participate in Annual SIEDC conference
Donate $2,500 per year to annual turkey basket drive
Participate in Annual turkey basket drive- members deliver turkey and all trimmings to over 1,000 needy families
Acted as a conduit to sponsor artist, Anita Cimino, and jazz performer, Ray Scro, for grants to support the arts on SI
Run Raffles, Bowl-a-thons and Golf Outings to raise funds to distribute to local charities including, Amethyst House, Cooley’s Anemia, Autism Foundation, Eden II, Staten Island Mental Health Society, Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, Boy Scouts of America, Project Hospitality, Meals on Wheels, Seamen’s Society for Children, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Learning for Life, SI Blind Society, Miss Staten Island Scholarship, Grace Foundation, Children at Play, Community Health Action, Joe Mandarino Foundation, SI Center for Independent Living
Annual Evening of Culinary Delights- host food and wine tasting with participation from 20 SI restaurants to raise funds for local charities
Establish and mentor Interact Clubs at three SI high schools
Participate in annual JDRF walk-a-thon
Donate funds to food banks in NYC and food pantries on Staten Island
Sponsored “March to the Beat of Life” Concert with participation from St. Peter’s Boys High School at the St. George Theatre and raised $17,000 for March of Dimes
Midnight Run- distribute food to homeless in NYC with high school students from Notre Dame Academy
Raised funds to help a family with disabled children purchase a handicapped accessible home
Hands on Assistance to those affected by Hurricane Sandy
Together with the other SI Rotary clubs of Staten Island worked together and raised $500,000 for the victims of Hurricane Sandy
Together with Rolling Thunder and other SI Rotary Clubs hosted annual Oktoberfest events to benefit veterans in need
DISTRICT SERVICE
Support Gift of Life Foundation –a program that transports children who have had major heart operations
MIR Member was District Treasurer for many years
9/11 Fund established and funds distributed to families in need
NATIONAL SERVICE
Raised funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina
Awarded 11 Paul Harris Fellows
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
Donated $10,000+ to Polio Plus Program
Raised funds for victims of the tsunami
MID-ISLAND ROTARY
Rotary is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a secular organization open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference. Through Rotary Clubs, people from all continents and cultures come together to exchange ideas, and form friendships and professional connections while making a difference in their backyards and around the world.
Grassroots at the core, Rotary links 1.2 million members to form an organization of international scope. It started with the vision of one man — Paul Harris. The Chicago attorney formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on February 23, 1905, so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas, form meaningful, lifelong friendships, and give back to their communities.
Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of its members, although within a year, the Chicago club became so large it was necessary to adopt the now common practice of a regular meeting place. Today there are over 35,000 member clubs worldwide.
The Rotary Foundation is changing the world by providing grants for projects around the globe and in our local communities. One such international project is the Rotary PolioPlus program which was launched in 1985 to immunize all of the world's children against polio. As a result, nearly two billion children worldwide have been immunized and there has been a 99.9% reduction in polio cases.
Rotarians usually gather weekly for breakfast, lunch, or dinner to fulfill their first guiding principle to develop friendships as an opportunity for service. The Rotarian's primary motto is "service above self"; its secondary motto is "one profits most who serves best."
The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
- The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service
- High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
- The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;
- The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
This objective is set against the "Rotary 4-Way Test," used to see if a planned action is compatible with the Rotarian spirit. The test was developed by Rotarian and entrepreneur Herbert J. Taylor during the Great Depression as a set of guidelines for restoring faltering businesses and was adopted as the standard of ethics by Rotary in 1942. It is still seen as a standard for ethics in business management. The 4-Way Test considers the following questions with regard to what they think, say or do:
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
The Mid-Island Rotary Club received its Rotary International Charter on July 23, 1990, becoming the fourth Rotary Club on Staten Island. There are currently five Rotary Clubs on Staten Island, meeting on different days of the week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Mid-Island Rotary Club is the only club that meets for breakfast and presently meets on Thursday mornings at 8 a.m. at the New Dakota Diner on Forest Avenue, but during the current COVID-19 pandemic the club has been meeting Thursday mornings on ZOOM to uphold social distancing.
To date, Mid-Island Rotary has donated close to $1 million through annual grants to charities and annual college scholarships. The five Rotary clubs of Staten Island work together and raised $500,000 for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Every Thanksgiving, Rotarians on Staten Island distribute a full turkey dinner and all the trimmings to over 1,000 needy families and host an Oktoberfest event to benefit veterans in need.
Rotary is always looking for new members. If you are interested in joining Rotary, please contact Marguerite A. Fiore at (718) 351-3000.
Hello All! Please read the following letter regarding the Bernard Del Ray Foundation. Please forward this to friends you are in contact with that knew Bernard. I'm sure people that knew Bernard knew how important this was to him. Thank you to Linda Aubrey on writing this beautiful letter!
SCHOLARSHIP ALERT: This is Grace DiGicomo our NDA Fred Fiore Scholarship winner! Congrats Grace!
Last week Mid-Island Rotary Club’s President Robert Moore presented a grant to Matthew Levy and Liza Molinari of Seaveiw Auxiliary!
https://www.silive.com/…/inside-out-mid-island-rotary-helpi…
Check out this write up from the Staten Island Advance about members of our club! Always proud to represent Mid Island Rotary and help the community in everything we do!
Our Club has began a great new initiative by getting the youth to get involved in our service adventures. We have begun to deliver food to those in need around our Island thanks to the help of George Dougherty, his daughter Katie, her merry band of good-doers and friends. Great job guys!
The Mid-Island Rotary Club of Staten Island, a 501c3 non profit that has been fundraising for the Staten Island community for almost 30 years, is asking for donations to support our local community during this time of need during the pandemic.
We are collecting funds to support all of our local food pantries due to the growing need with many people out of work now and for the foreseeable future. Your donation supports us in:
- stocking food pantries
- purchasing and delivering of gloves to families
- purchasing and delivering of facemasks to families
100% of the proceeds collected are given to those most in need.
Below is a link to donate, and Thank you!!!
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Service Above Self
Staten Island, NY 10314-1501
United States of America