As is our custom, there will be no meeting this week in honor of Independence Day
Our next meeting in July 14.
Look below for the program schedule for July
July 14 - New Community Online Paper - Westfield Patch
John Celock, the Editor of Westfield Patch, will be speaking ab site for Westfield. An online daily newspaper covering all things Westfield, Patch has a rich directory of local businesses and key spots throughout town including schools, parks, houses of worship and community groups. Patch has a comprehensive calendar of events and features the ability for users to upload their own events. Mr. Celock, an award winning journalist, looks forward to being able to engage the Rotary in an informative dialogue about Westfield Patch and to being a part of the Westfield community.
July 21 - Service Stars - Young Dancers with a Mission
Sponsored by American Dance Studios, this group is dedicated to serving their Central Jersey community through Dance. Comprised of students ages 5 through 13, they have entertained among many, VA hospital patients and senior invalids. A non profit Arts Education Organization that is also affiliated with the Miss America Scholarship Foundation, they are led by Director Sherri McLaughlin-Ryan. They will be auditioning for Walt Disney World for a 2010 Summer Performance and plan at least 20 community performances this upcoming season.
July 28 - Local 6th grader joins Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Youth Crew
At just 11 years old, Amanda Canavan has seen what breast cancer can do to a family. It took away her maternal grandmother and her paternal grandmother was sick for almost 2 years to combat the deadly disease. This fall, Amanda will contribute her own efforts in the fight against Breast Cancer as a member of the Youth Crew at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. She will be among 20 youths, ages 10-17, chosen from approximately 250 applicants, to support the 8,000 walkers who walk for 2 days and 39.3 miles, raising more than $10 million to help find a cure.
For more information on the Avon Walk, visit http://walk.avonfoundation.org
Rotary Spring
Just as spring brings new growth and renewal in nature, spring is a time that Rotary provides encouragement and recognition to individuals and groups within our community.
In the span of just a few weeks, the Westfield Rotary Club recognizes an outstanding elementary teacher with the naming of the 2009 Rotary Philhower Fellow, makes key grants to facilitate important projects in our community, and awards college scholarships to some of the outstanding young men and women in our community.
Coming soon.... 2009 Community Grants May 2009
2009 Scholarships - June 9, 2009
Karen Geddis Awarded Philhower Fellowship
Karen Geddis, first grade teacher at Washington Elementary School in Westfield, is the 2009 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 May 5. Later that evening she was honored at a reception at Washington School at 7:30 p.m. prior to the Board of Education meeting, both held in the school’s auditorium.
click here to read the full story
The Philhower Fellowship was established in 1993 by the Rotary Club to honor former Westfield Educator and Rotarian Charles Philhower and to recognize the importance of teaching in the elementary grades.
Youth in Business Day
April 28, 2009
Join Dr. James Moriarity and our student guests that spent the morning shadowing their Rotary sponsors as they learn what it is like in "the real world".
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
NO ROTARY TODAY
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Due to power outages in Westfield and a small fire in the basement of the YMCA, there will be no Rotary today.
Welcome to Westfield Rotary 2008-2009
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 2008-2009 Rotary Grant Application.
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August is Rotary Membership Month. We all need to take membership seriously ~ not just in August but throughout the year. Since new members are essential to the continued success of any organization, it becomes the responsibility of every current member to work on increasing our membership. We encourage every member to make the effort to invite friends and colleagues to join us for lunch at any of our weekly meetings. Reach out to people you know and tell them about Rotary. And remember to bring a friend to Rotary!
Back to School
Dr Margaret Dolan, Superintendent, Westfield Public Schools, our scheduled featured speaker at the July 29, 2008 meeting needed to postpone her visit until later this year. This fall, the Lincoln School will reopen as an Early Childhood Learning Center and our HIgh School welcomes a new principal. Keep your eyes on our calendar to make sure you don't miss this featured talk.
African Adventure
Under the leadership of President Mark, the new year began on July 8 with a presentation by our member Veronique Cordier, who described her "African Adventure". Veronique spent a month in Ghana and brought back amazing photos and stories of the daily lives of Africans as they struggle with hunger, disease and other challenges.
Scholarship Lunch
Tuesday May 27, 2008
Over $92,000 in scholarships will be awarded at one of the most anticipated meetings of the year. Students and their parents know that they have been chosen for an award - but none of them know the amount...
Interact and EarlyAct
The members of the Westfield Rotary Club are not the only Rotarians in Town. Groups of active youths at Westfield HS, McKinley Elementary School and Jefferson Elementary School provide leadership in their schools for projects that make a difference - both here at home - and around the world.
At our May 27 meeting, the WHS and McKinley students told the Rotary Club of their work this part year.
Westfield HS Interact
Not only do members of this club provide essential volunteer help to the guidance office and tutoring elementary school students, they raise school spirit and raise funds through Sweatshirt and Sweatpant sales. Their donation of over $2,000 will provide the funds needed for both the education and the materials to provide clean water for the students in a large school - and their families.
McKinley
The circus is coming! The circus is coming! The Zerbini Family Circus will visit Westfield on Friday, June 13. The show begins at 7:00 p.m. on the Edison Intermediate School field. Tickets are $10 for children and $15 for adults. Call McKinley School at 908-789-4555 for tickets!
The circus's first show during school hours will be an opportunity for the students to share their reward for reading over 16,000 books with students from Harlem who otherwise would not see a performance.
McKinley's EarlyAct fundraising will help pay for the transportation and tickets for the NYC students,
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Group Study Exchange
Westfield Rotarians attended the InterCity meeting hosted by the Elizabeth Club to meet with the Group Study Exchange Team from Italy (see picture below)
Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.
In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.
This Tuesday May 13
Rotary Foundation Annual Report
Rotarian Byron Miller wins "Service Above Self" Award
Byron Miller won the prestigious "Service Above Self" Award. Only 150 of these are awarded worldwide, out of 530 districts. Rotary District 7510 has only previously received 2 of these awards in it's history, so Byron is the third. This award is partially for his outstanding work with the "Pure Water For the World" where he is arranging water filters to be installed in poverty stricken areas of Central America. But the hard part of winning this award is that the recipient must demonstrate leadership in his profession, and volunteer work in his community in addition to Rotary. Byron has been Rotarian of the year for the Westfield Rotary Club, and has the respect of his peers and colleagues.
Westfield Rotary Recognized for Outstanding Work
The Westfield Rotary Club won First Place for the District Public Relations Award. Past District Governor Michael Hart is the club publicity chair.
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