| Come to any meeting at 12:15pm (sharp) at the Westfield YMCA - no reservation required. January 27 - the 2010 Rotary Scholarship Form has been uploaded for students who reside in Westfield, but do not attend Westfield HS. WHS students should obtain the form via the WHS Guidance Department. Use the tab "2010 Scholarships" in the left column for more information. DECEMBER
December 1 - Congressman Leonard Lance - State of the Union (NEW DATE) Congressman Leonard Lance was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2008 to represent New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties. He will speak to the Rotary club about the condition of the District, will discuss current legislation as well as his legislative agenda and priorities. He will also take questions from the audience. Note: Congressman Lance will be speaking from 12:30 to 1:00 pm rather than the normally scheduled time of 1:00 to 1:30 pm. December 8 - Author: Rich Habits, The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals (NEW DATE) Only about five percent of the population in the United States realizes true financial success. Why? What traits do they possess that make them so successful? Thomas C. Corley, CPA, Certified Financial Planner, President of Cerefice & Company, CPAs, spent five years researching the daily habits of the wealthy and the poor. What he discovered is now the subject of the new, groundbreaking, financial self help book, Rich Habits, due out early next year. He will share his findings in lively discussion.
December 15 - Broadway Singers Holiday Concert The Broadway Singers, directed by Kristine Smith-Morasso and Kenneth Horn, is an extra-curricular singing group made up of select seventh and eighth students from Edison Intermediate School in Westfield. Touring frequently both in and outside of the school district, the ensemble will sing a collection of seasonal favorites. A perfect way to get in the holiday spirit! December 22 – Health Care Q & A; A Doc’s perspective (NEW PROGRAM) As the debate rages across the country, the conversation on the issue continues at home as a question and answer session with Westfield Rotarian, Dr Edred Shen. Board certified in Internal Medicine, trained in Medical Accupuncture and with additional education in Medical Economics, Dr. Shen is a member of the medical staff and clinical faculty of Overlook Hospital. December 29 no meeting Welcome to Westfield Rotary 2009-2010 Each year, Westfield Rotary provides grants to local organizations that provide community service that moves forward Rotary's goals. Click on the link or the tab in the left column to download a copy of the 2009-2010 Rotary Grant Application. The Rotary Club of Westfield attended the 2008 District Rotary Conference in Mystic, Conn the weekend of May 2, 2008 Pictured left to right, front row: Joyce Miller, Nancy and Lyn Jackson, Sherry and John Cronin Back row: Byron Miller, Past District Governor Michael Hart, Ron and Dawn Hutchinson, Club President Darielle Walsh, Vice President Mark Elsasser
Westfeld Rotary - Philhower Fellowship Awarded Superintendent of Schools Margaret Dolan, Phillhower Award winner Catherine McGarry and McKinley School principal Claudia Andreski. Catherine McGarry, first grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School in Westfield, is the 2008 recipient of the Westfield Rotary Club's Philhower Fellowship in recognition of outstanding teaching at the elementary school level. She was presented with the award and was the guest of honor at the Rotary Club luncheon on April 29. She also will be honored at a reception at McKinley School on May 6 at 7:30 p.m. prior to the Board of Education meeting, which will be held in the school's auditorium.
Mrs. McGarry began her teaching career in the Westfield Public Schools in 1989 at McKinley School, following a year in a parochial school system. A graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications, she holds a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction with certification in elementary teaching from Kean University.
In addition to her position as a first grade teacher, she is the founder and creator of KID-TV at McKinley School, where she volunteers her time to help students write, act, direct and produce a show for the school's cable system. She contributes her experience as a veteran teacher as a member of the Westfield School District's Language Arts Leadership Team, which is reviewing and revising K-5 Language Arts curriculum.Catherine McGarry, first grade teacher at McKinley elementary school, received the Westfield Rotary Club’s Phillhower Fellowship on April 29, 2008 for her outstanding teaching.
Sister Pat's Camp On April 22, our program was dedicated to Sister Pat's Camp for Kids with cancer. Our Guest speaker on April 15 was Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, who represents Westfield and surrounding communities in the State Assembly. SUNDAY April 13 Westfield Rotary at FURNITURE ASSIST Rotarians helped out at Furniture Assist on Sunday April 13. Furniture Assist is located on Lafeyette St. at 14th St. in Kenilworth. Donations and volunteers are welcome every Sunday. From E. Broad St. take the Boulevard to 14th St., make a left, go through 1 light, left on Lafayette, warehouse is on right. Do not park in front of the warehouse. http://furnitureassist.com/ April 8 Youth in Business Day Each year, Westfield Rotary sponsors "Youth in Business Day" in which our members host Westfield HS students for a morning to enable the student to learn more about the Rotarian's profession.
Thank You  Westfield ! Thank you for your support of the 2008 Rotary Pancake Breakfast. Click on the photo above to see the entire album. Rotary Today GRANT APPLICATIONS ROTARY CLUB MAKES GRANT APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE TO NON-PROFITS
Darielle Walsh, President of the Rotary Club of Westfield, has announced that Rotary Grant Applications are now available to meet this year’s April 15th deadline.
Organizations requesting a 2008 Westfield Rotary Club Community grant must complete and submit the official application in order to be considered. The Rotary Club, in accordance with its goal of Community Service, is most interested in providing grants for programs and projects that directly serve people in the community. No applications for capital improvements or operating funds will be considered.
As part of the decision process the Grants Committee reviews the simple one page application form to receive a clear understanding of the way in which the funds are to be used.
Non-profit organizations may receive a copy of the official application directly from the Rotary website at www.westfieldrotary.com, e-mail at rotary@westfieldnj.com, or by contacting Darielle Walsh, Rotary Club President at 908-612-7374.
Click here for a pdf version THE GRAND RAFFLE Week 1 winner - 1/8/08 ***** Michael Hart ***** sold by Rotarian ... Michael Hart ! Next drawing -3/4/2008 Because of your support, 2008 will be the best year in Foundation history for scholarships and community grants ! Success is Our Only Option Historic Partnership Announced to Achieve Polio-Free World Dear Fellow Rotarians, This is a historic day for Rotary. It is our great pleasure to inform you of a new partnership between Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will provide a much needed US$200 million in support of our top goal of a polio-free world. The Gates Foundation has awarded The Rotary Foundation a challenge grant of $100 million, which Rotary will match, dollar for dollar, over three years. This is the largest single grant ever given to a volunteer service organization and represents a tremendous validation of the approach and success of our PolioPlus program. (Read the Announcement here). This partnership comes at a critical juncture for the polio eradication initiative, which needs an infusion of funds to reach the eradication goal. For this reason, the initial $100 million will be distributed by The Rotary Foundation through grants to the World Health Organization and UNICEF in direct support of polio immunization activities in 2008.
Your participation in this effort is crucial to making it a success. The Rotary International Board of Directors and the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation have unanimously agreed to accept this challenge grant to ensure the success of the PolioPlus program. We feel confident that this extraordinary commitment from the Gates Foundation and Rotary will serve as a catalyst for further donations from others to help us realize the dream of a polio-free world.
In 1985, we promised every child a world free from the threat of polio, and we are almost there. This funding agreement between Rotary and the Gates Foundation is a huge step forward, bringing us even closer to our goal. Success is our only option.
Wilfrid J. Wilkinson Rotary International, President 2007-08 Robert S. Scott The Rotary Foundation, Chairman 2007-08
Adopt- a Highway On Saturday, November 17th, Rotarians met in the North Avenue train station parking lot to spend an hour cleaning-up North Avenue. With the help of the Boy Scouts who joined us, not only did we clean North Avenue, we cleaned the entire North Avenue parking lot and area around the Town Christmas Tree - just in time for the tree lighting in early December!
-Congratulations to the recipients of the 2007 Vocational Service Awards - the Jimmy Coventry Award - Ruth Smith, Executive Director of Westfield Senior Citizen Housing Corp. - the H. Emerson Thomas Award - Rotarian Roger Love - The Volunteer Service Award - Rotarian David Foltz David Foltz, Roger Love and Ruth Smith for their awards Rotary and the UN Two of our Rotarians, Jim Hely and Veronique Cordier, attended UN Day on November 3rd.
Jim and Veronique said it was a great learning experience to hear what the UN and Rotary are doing to advance humanity around the world More than 1,300 Rotarians, UN officials, Interactors, and Rotaractors from 48 countries attended the day of panel discussions on water, literacy, health, and hunger on 3 November.
Rotary's relationship with the UN dates back to 1945, when 49 Rotarians acted as delegates, advisers, and consultants at the conference that founded the global association of governments. Today, Rotary holds the highest consultative status offered to any nongovernmental organization by the Economic and Social Council, which oversees many specialized UN agencies.
Welcome our Ambassadorial Scholar Ben Schellack, a Rotary Ambassadoral Scholar, will be our guest speaker on Tuesday October 9. Happy Birthday to us! The Rotary Club of Westfield was founded on October 1, 1921. Happy 86th to us! Welcome to District Governor Julianne !  Oct 2 - Today, we were honored to welcome our District Governor Julie Ann to our weekly meeting. We celebrated with Octoberfest ! To list all the things OUR District is accomplishing would take an entire website - great thing that we have one - http://rotarynj.org/ Venture Crew Our own Maggie Subhas will lead a discussion on the Venture Crew's adventure in the West this summer. As always, the meeting begins at 12:15pm Tues (Sept 25) Pedals for Progress Every year, Americans buy 22 million new bicycles and discard millions of old ones, abandoning many more unused in basements, sheds, and garages. Most of these end up in our already overburdened landfills. Meanwhile, poor people overseas need cheap, non-polluting transportation to get to jobs, markets, customers, and schools. Pedals for Progress has received, processed and donated over 100,000 bicycles, 793 used sewing machines and $10.8 million in new spare parts to partner charities in 28 countries. Over 1200 of these bicycles have come from Westfield Rotary's annual collection of bicycles. This year's collection will take place Saturday morning Sept 15 at the Elm St School (Bd of Ed building) Bring your usable bike between 9am and 12 noon. We are also collecting sewing machines.
The Blue Planet Run came through Westfield on Sunday Sept 2 The Blue Planet Run spanned over 15,000 miles, across 16 countries and 4 continents, 24 hours a day for 95 days to deliver an extremely urgent and important message: we can and must begin today to alleviate the catastrophic burden placed on over a billion people who, every day, must drink unsafe local water, or travel long distances on foot to search for safe water for themselves and their families.
Started in New York City on June 1, 2007, a team of "20 ordinary male and female athletes doing extraordinary things" have run around the clock along a route that includes the U.S., Ireland, the U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan and Canada. Each runner sprints 10 miles a day. Batons will be passed at over 1,500 exchange points. The Run ended back in New York City, on September 4, 2007
Our Westfield Club and our Rotary District is a leader in working towards Pure Water in Central America. Important work in Kathmandu Cat Stevens wrote a song titled "Katmandu" which appeared in his 1970 album, Mona Bone Jakon.
Rock musician Bob Seger wrote a song titled "Katmandu" which appeared on his 1975 album, Beautiful Loser.
A Russian rock band Krematorij had a song titled "Kathmandu" on their 2000 album Three Springs
None compare to the sound of the voices of children saved by the efforts of our Rotary District... On Tuesday, August 28, fellow rotarian Dr. Tulsi R. Maharjan will be speaking on the Rotary District 7510 Nepal Orphan Project in Kathmandu... or is it "Katmandu"?. Team Rotary Hogwild ! District 7510 is now a month into the “Hog Wild” Campaign to eradicate Polio. This is a reminder to please take a little piggy home (or to the office) and fill it over and over with spare change. The change can be brought into any weekly meeting and the piggy then refilled. The goal is to raise at least $15,000 through this campaign. The amount will be matched $.50 on the dollar by the Rotary Foundation (another great reason to support the Foundation!) The final amount is due by the District Conference in May so the results from all the clubs in District 7510 can be announced and the money sent to RI. Please put the “Polio Piggy” out where you will remember to stuff it with change. The eradication of Polio is a goal that can and will be achieved through our united efforts. Railroad Safety August 7, 12:15pm This Tuesday August 7th, we welcome Fred Girshick. Fred’s topic is RAILROAD SAFETY. Fred Girshick is a volunteer with Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI), a non-profit international continuing public education program first established in 1972 to end collisions, deaths, and injuries at places where roadways cross train tracks, and on railroad rights-of-way (think of Rahway Avenue near St. Helen’s). Part of his training is conducted at the local Police Academy. Fred works at the Linden, New Jersey facility of Infineum USA, L.P., a chemical company that manufactures additives for fuels and lubricants. His specialty is large engine lubricants, which includes engine oil for railroad locomotives and which led to the OLI connection. Fred is a member of the Westfield Community Band. Please join us for lunch and remember to BRING A FRIEND. Knock Your Socks Off On July 31, we welcomed Dr Sally Wright who provided us with rules for "Knock Your Socks Off" Customer Service in a talk filled with humorous anecdotes and solid lessons we can put to use today. What a great topic for Rotary - Service. All Rotary clubs share a key mission: to serve their community and those in need throughout the world. By participating in club service projects, members learn about their club’s involvement in local and international projects and can volunteer their time and talents where they are most needed. Empowerment Guest Speaker - Garth Sandiford On July 24, we welcomed Garth Sandiford. Garth spoke to the club about “What is empowerment/life coaching and how does it work”. Mr. Sandiford is a Certified Empowerment Coach and a member of the International Coaching Federation. He is a co-founder and managing partner of enspireU, LLC. “Achievement List” for Rotary members:
Wear your Rotary pin (at least on Tuesdays!) Aim for perfect attendance Attend weekly meetings Do a make-up meeting at another club Bring a guest to lunch (often!) Propose a new member Do a “Member Moment” Give a “Happy Buck” Participate in three club projects Attend a District function Package and deliver food to the Westfield Community Center Prepare a brief personal/professional introductory paragraph to print in SPOKES
Officers Installation Officers for the 2007-2008 year were installed June 26, 2006. Congratulations to our new president, Darielle Walsh and the rest of her Rotary Team. Scholarships | | | |