Rotary Club of Lynn, MA

Welcome to our Club!

We meet In Person & Online
Thursdays at 5:30 p.m.
Old Tyme Restaurant
612 Boston St
Lynn, MA 01905
United States of America
Note: For the meeting schedule, please look at the upcoming events listing/calendar on this site. Satellite meetings are at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, 61 Munroe St. Lynn For Club information, or for Zoom links, email: lynn.rotary@gmail.com
Home Page Stories
Consider A Shift to "Ring the Bell" for Salvation Army
 
Market Basket 
Western Avenue, Lynn
 
Click the link to sign up:
 
https://portal.clubrunner.ca/6213/Event/kettle-bell-ringing-for-salvation-army-1
 
The Spirit of the Season 
 What is a Coula Christmas?
 
Coula was the secretary at Classical High School in Lynn for many years.  She is now retired. 
One of the best things she did here was to work with the Social Workers in the elementary schools in the city to help provide the people in the most need with a little holiday relief. 
Lauren Jenkins and Mike Curley (both current teachers at Classical High) are making sure Coula's program of providing Christmas to Lynn families will continue. 
Our Lynn Rotary Club
Thank you for sharing a busy November together!
Please know that our club is mindful of your time.
We have accomplished so many service projects and meetings
this fall. We could not do it without your support.
What does is means to be a Rotarian? Our Dictionary Volunteers know.
 
On the morning of November 27, 2024, "Thanksgiving Eve", at Eastern Bank our
"ROTARIANS CONTINUE TO SERVE"
by labeling 1,296 dictionaries (54 cases of books)
in readiness of our January Dictionary Give-Away.
Want to learn more, see the Lynn Rotary page to find out more about this project.
 
Thank you Volunteers!
Success requires Special Attention
 
 Since "1920", the Lynn Rotary club has hosted
all the local high school football teams and cheerleaders
to share lunch together before their Thanksgiving Day Games.
 
On Tuesday, November 26, 2024 at 12 pm, at the Knights of Columbus,
we were happy to welcome the Mayor, Senator Creighton,
Superintendent of Schools, newly elected Representative Reid
and other local Lynn Leaders, to join our 
"Thanksgiving Football Luncheon" and support the athletes.
 
Thank you to our Lynn Rotarians that were able to attend.
All in all 20 Lynn Rotarians were able to clear their schedules and celebrate our students.
 
Our guest speaker was Lynn Police Department’s, Chief Chris Reddy.
Thank you Chief for all your hard work and dedication to our city. Your update on the community and the Police department was informative and inspirational. We appreciate your creativity and kindness as a driver for your leadership. You are a Rotarian through and through: "Service before Self"
2024 Festival of Trees
 
Kick off the Holiday Season and consider visiting the Hall of Trees
 
Meet our
"Rotary Scholar and his Family"
 
Saturday, November  23, at 1 pm
 
Lynn Tech Annex Building, 90 Commercial Street, Lynn, MA
 
The Lynn Rotary Tree theme was "Bells of Christmas Inspiration"
Our Bells represent
PERSERVERENCE * HOPE * GOODWILL * JUSTICE * PEACE
 
Our Tree included notes of inspiration like:
"Let Us Always Meet Each with a Smile."
 
From the generous donations of our Rotarians our Tree will gift $415 in gift card spending to the winner of our tree.

 
 
 
 
 
 
​​​​​​
 
 
It was an honor to be at Danversport on November 14, 2024  honor Ray Bastarache as a
“Robert C. Wood Hero”
Ray is a genuine inspiration within the Rotary Club of Lynn, MA, and across Rotary as a whole. His passion and relentless "get it done" attitude have made him a cornerstone of the club and a respected figure in the city.
 

 
 
 
 
Girls Inc. Site Visit
 
Members of Rotary Club of Lynn toured the Lynn Branch of Girl's Inc. The members gained a better understanding of the mission of Girl's Inc.
The members were able to visit classrooms where the girls were either learning or conducting a session. In some of the classes the girls rotate the leader of the class to give them experience in leadership.
 
Thank you to our Rotarians that were able to meet at Girls, Inc.
Getting to know the facility and meet the students is inspirational to our service mission. Thank you for your support.
 
 

Wishing our Rotarian Community Hero a

 Happy 100th!

 Reverend Bill Simpson, will soon be 100 years old. He was a Pastor of Bethany United Church of Christ of Lynn for 40 years.  After officially retiring from active ministering, he was a volunteer pastor at the First Church Congregational in Swampscott. He was an ordained minister for over 60 years.  He has been married for 41years to Margaret, better known as Peg. He was born in Maryland in the mid 1920’s and raised on a farm.  He has a son Timothy as well as three grandchildren. In 1995, the Rotary Club of Lynn honored one of their own members, the Reverend William Simpson, for his contributions to the community and for his support for Rotary causes over many years. 

Reverend Simpson was also an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1952-53, and joined the Lynn Rotary Club in 1983. In his nearly 40 years of membership, Reverend Simpson was known as a true Rotarian who lived the principal of “Service Above Self”.  He was the Program Committee Chairman, and participated in many Rotary activities over the years.  He has been a strong supporter of Camp Rotary, a member of its Board, and helped each year in helping to identify local youths as camp participants in need of scholarship help. He was a youth counsellor in public schools in Lynn and Lynnfield for several years. 

Reverend Bill consistently volunteered to serve at My Brother’s Table well into his 90’s. He worked shoulder to shoulder with members 30 and 40 years younger than him. Bill was a regular volunteer at the monthly Catholic Charities food distribution. Unfortunately, Covid put a temporary stop to both of those activities. During the period when My Brother’s Table could not have volunteers inside, Bill and Peg made hundreds of PB&J’s at home for delivery to the “Table” numerous times. 

In the summer of 2021 he provided personal funds to a woman so she could have an old RV towed from NH to Lynn for a place to call home for several months.

In September 2022, he reached out to a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society to assist a woman with an urgent food need and in need of emergency funds for a dental procedure. 

Those are only a couple examples of people reaching out to the “Reverend” for assistance.  They knew that he was a person one could reach out to for help.

A blessing to our Lynn Community and rotary club.

With a Joyful Heart, it is a delight to invite you to join our
Rotary Club with the District to honor our own
"Dr. Raymond Bastarache"
with the Robert C. Wood Memorial Award!
 
Let's show our support with our participation. Please consider making time in your schedule to celebrate with Ray.
 
Thank You to all our Corn Hole Participants and Donors!
 
 
Corn Hole By the Numbers:
48 Cookies
28 Participants
21 Points
12 Teams
9 Corn Hole Stations
7 Raffle Baskets
5 Special Donors
1 Beautiful Day!
Thank you to all our club members who made this event a success.
 
 

Ted Dillard has a reputation for getting a whole lot of people together in a very small room, supplying them with all manner of interesting devices, and watching what happens. He can most generously be called an “enabler”.

The Founder and now Co-Director of The Brickyard Collaborative, he credits The Brickyard Collaborative as an idea that was perfect for a city that was ripe for opportunity a makerspace could afford, and didn’t know enough about him to run him out of town at the outset.

Maker Nick use the tools at the Brick Yard to make his own Guitars.
Celebrate Our Veterans
 
Service Above Self
 
Always Thankful and Always in our Hearts!
Coming Together: Service Above Self
Thank you Volunteers! 
 
Twenty Minutes that's all it took!
Our Many Hands made Quick Work.
 
Thank you to St. Pius Church for allowing our team to take action in our Rotary Mission.
Please consider a Donation to Our "Polio Pig"
October 24, 2024
 
Rotary International has made stamping out Polio across the world its priority. Let's be part of this international Global Good.

         

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your Club President for this second year.

We decided to bring back the Lynn Rotary newsletter to highlight all the good work done every month by our Lynn Rotarians.

As of October 1, we have 61 active members and 8 honorary members. Other clubs want to know our secret sauce. We tell them folks join Lynn Rotary because “we do stuff.” While we surely love to get together over a meal at Old Tyme on the third Thursdays or at The Tiger’s Den in Lynn Tech on any Friday during the school year, truth be told, we’d rather fill a need than fill our belly. Every month our members show up at Greater Lynn Senior Services, Salvation Army and My Brother’s Table to help distribute groceries and meals. At other times we’re making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for MTB in the church basement at St. Pius V.

For more than 100 years Lynn Rotary has organized the Lynn All City Thanksgiving Luncheon for the high school football teams, cheerleaders and band. In January we distribute dictionaries to the 3rd graders in all the Lynn public schools. Three times a year we celebrate students who have overcome great challenges at our 8th Grade Recognition Luncheons. In May we co-sponsor the Special Games at Manning Field.

The list goes on! Who do you know who would love to be part of this? Who do you know who understands “Service Above Self?” Bring them to one of our events or a service project. And thank you for all you do for Lynn Rotary and in turn for Lynn.


 
Thank You!
Together we can make Difference
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the speaker for our in-person Rotary Club meeting on October 17 was Julie Gerraughty from HAWC (Healing Abuse, Working for Change), a nonprofit organization providing services to survivors of domestic abuse throughout the North Shore.  During our meeting, we collected new sheets (twin and queen sizes) and towels for donation to those survivors living in HAWC's shelter. HAWC lets clients take their sheets and towels with them when they move out of the shelter, so they are always in need of replacements.
Thank you for your generosity, it was greatly appreciated! 
In Person Meeting
 
We collected feminine hygiene products in support of Girl's Inc.'s Period Products Drive.
 
If you missed the chance to help, you can send and order products from Girls Inc.'s Amazon Wishlist (https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1EJKC209W52RC)
 
These products can be sent directly to Girls Inc. of Lynn. 
 
On behalf of Girls Inc., thank you for your support of this important project!
 
 
 
Please join us for the 3rd Annual Corn Hole Scholarship Fundraiser
 
Bring our family and friends to enjoy some friendly competition.
 
Saturday, October 26, 2024
 
12-3 pm
 
Click here to register.
 
https://portal.clubrunner.ca/6213/Event/3rd-annual-corn-hole-tournament
 
 
Helping Lynn, One Paddle at a Time!
 
Despite living minutes from the water, a vast majority of Lynners have never been "on the water." We are working hard to change that! KASL's objective is to make water activities (e.g. kayaking, paddle boarding and sailing) more available through our work. Lynn students and all of our Veterans always use our kayaks and rowboats free of charge.

Meet us at the Blossom Street Ext: The Ferry Launch
 
Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 2:00 pm
 
Joining us, please register below:

https://link.edgepilot.com/s/5ca436ca/pbCTWZXhBk6PqE7LY-A_aQ?u=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjpolqo7RSpNvEjfWkKfwdbbhCkEy6hRWOFTxhZ0cB5-pHBA/viewform
 

 
 
 
 
 
Blue Skies Welcomed our Rotarians
 
while they Volunteered to help clean up and ready the Food Project's Lynn Farm at the Ingalls School. 
 
If you didn't have time to join them, stop by and watch the garden grow this summer.
 
1 Collins Street Terrace, Lynn
 

 

 

 
My Brother's Table Sandwich Project
 
Great success and lots of laughs!
 
Our Lynn Rotarians completed our Sandwich-making Project in record time.
 
On Wednesday, June 12 at 5:30 at St. Pius Church our volunteers built
170 lunch bags for My Brother's Table
 
These bags included 340 Sandwiches, snacks, drinks utensils and napkins.
 

If you missed our event, stay tuned for future Sandwich-Making Dates or you can click here and make a donation for supplies.

https://portal.clubrunner.ca/6213/donate/support-my-brother-s-table-sandwich-making-night

Thank you for all you do to enrich and support our Lynn community.

Sincerely,

Lynn Rotary

 

Upcoming Events
Club Executives & Directors
President
President Elect
Treasurer
Secretary
Immediate Past President
Vice President
Foundation Chair
Membership/Director
Public Relations
Chairperson of Lynn Rotary Charitable Corporation
Chairperson of Camp Rotary Inc
Treasurer of Charitable Corporation
Director
Director
Chairperson of Satellite Club
Treasurer of Camp Rotary Inc
Sergeant-at-Arms
Speakers
Linda Saris, LEAP for Education
Feb 20, 2025 5:30 PM
LEAP for Education