As we welcome October, our club calendar is already filling with activities for the months ahead.

Under Larry Kearney’s leadership, planning for our Salvation Army Bell Ringing weekend will soon be in full swing. This year’s dates are Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5.

The Spring Break Fundraising Committee held its first meeting last week as preparations begin for the event on Saturday, March 6. Special thanks to our co-chairs, Ronnie Ruelle and Jean Wloszek, for once again stepping up to lead this important fundraiser.

Between those events, we’ll also gather for our Christmas Party on Friday, Dec. 4, and the third annual “Boujee Banquet,” tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 11.

Each of these activities depends on the support and participation of all our members. There are many ways to contribute: volunteering for a bell-ringing shift, attending an event, helping with planning and setup, donating needed items, promoting an activity, or inviting family, friends, and prospective members to join us.

No contribution of time or talent is too small. When each of us takes on a role, we share the workload, create more welcoming and successful events, and demonstrate the spirit of fellowship that makes our club the gold standard!

These efforts are vital to the Trenton Rotary Club because they do far more than fill our calendar. They strengthen friendships and the shared sense of purpose within our club, increase our visibility throughout our community, and provide opportunities to build relationships with neighbors and local partnering organizations.

Most importantly, the time and resources generated through these activities help us continue supporting worthwhile causes and putting “service above self” into action!

Thank you in advance for the time, energy, generosity, and enthusiasm you bring to making each event a success and extending the positive impact of Rotary throughout Trenton.

Yours in Service,

Peter

Celebrating Dale Malzahn's 60th birthday with 34 Rotarians!  Another wonderful evening celebrating fellowship, friendship, and the special connections we share as Trenton Rotarians! 💙💛

Great friends, great conversations, and lots of laughter—this is what Rotary is all about! Better together! 💙💛

On behalf of my family — Mary, Carly, Eric and Scot — special thanks to our Rotarian friends for helping to support the second annual fall fundraiser for the foundation we have set up in honor of my son Ryan.

All in all, it was an awesome night at Le Lieu and in the process we raised about $6,500 to support our charitable giving efforts, which are focusing in on assisting the personal needs of cancer patients and supporting genetic cancer research.

For me it is especially gratifying to see Ryan’s wife, brother and numerous friends getting involved and taking ownership in what for many of them is their first experience with organized fundraising. They did a great job, managing most aspects of the event. It was pretty evident that they were finding it both meaningful and enjoyable, which, as we know, is when fundraising efforts are the most successful. And it was a huge benefit to have support from my Rotarian family. It makes it even more meaningful for me personally.

A few days after the event our board convened to deal with a priority donation we had discussed leading up the event. One of Ryan’s 2012 high school classmates, Zac Cunningham, is currently fighting metastatic cancer, and his friends and family were staging a fundraiser for him and his family that same weekend at the Westfield Center. Our board voted to contribute $1,000 of our proceeds to that effort and sent them a check last week.

That brings RPH Memorial Foundation giving total to $5,500 since inception, and we will be designating a few more donations in coming months and working on future fundraising plans as well. Creating this foundation has been both a cathartic experience for those closest to Ryan, as well as a great lesson in the value of coming together for a cause for the youngsters. That’s definitely a win-win in my book. Thank you again!!

RPH Memorial Foundation is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization. To find out more about RPH or donate visit www.rphmemorial.org.