From fresh produce to frozen meats the people of Bound Brook's food indigent community that don't have transportation to the county food bank have a little "grocery store" they can walk to every Sunday. Thanks to our dedicated Branchburg Rotary Club Rotarians food is collected throughout the week. On Sunday morning, members of the Presbyterian Church (Main & Church St in Bound Brook) come together to sort all the food received and set up tables according to products. "Shoppers" enter and are handed two large cloth bags to fill. If there are children present, an extra bag is given to them. There's no payment necessary and the smiling faces leaving the store is priceless and more rewarding than any dollar amount you can put to something like this.
PISCATAWAY ROTARY CLUB VIRTUAL SILENT AUCTION NOW THRU MAY 26
Piscataway Rotary Club's second annual virtual silent auction is being held now thru May 26. The charity event enables the Rotary Club to hand out dictionaries to third graders, provide scholarships, support Little League, local food pantries and so much more. Visit
HERE to bid today.
BRANCHVILLE ROTARY CLUB PROMOTES ROTARY AT FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL
Branchville Rotary staffed a table at the Branchville Hose Company No. 1 first ever food truck and music festival. We were able to speak with many local residents about Rotary and what our Club does in the community. The hose company is one of our Club’s grantees for charitable donations. Ellie Benz, Dawn Hall, and Cindy Allen are pictured here. Also volunteering that day from our Club were newest member, Tricia Smith and Karen Johnson. Five hours well spent to be able to toot Rotary’s horn.
DENVILLE ROTARY CLUB STREET FESTIVAL IS BACK!
The iconic Denville Rotary Club Street Festival is back - Sunday, June 5th, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm (rain or shine) on Broadway in downtown Denville. The fun includes delicious food, carnival rides for kids, unique merchandise for sale, arts and crafts, 50/50 drawing, beer garden, and all-day live entertainment! For nearly 40 years, Denville Rotary Club has organized and managed the festival which attracts vendors, sponsors, and guests from all over Morris County and beyond. The annual festival boasts an attendance of over 20,000 and raises funds to support Rotary's local, national and international service and charity projects.
WHITEHOUSE ROTARY CLUB MEMBER MAHESH ADVANI TO RECEIVE US PRESIDENTIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Mr. Mahesh Advani has been an altruistic force in Central New Jersey through his involvement in a many non-profit organizations’ programs and activities from raising funds to dedicating his time and talent for the last 20 years.
He has been member of the Indian Health Camp of New Jersey for many years, an organization dedicated to providing health screening; medical consultation, diagnostic test services and need based financial support to uninsured or poorly insured individuals in the community. This organization has served more than 10,000 patients, saving more than $6 million dollars for the patients.
For the last ten years, he has been helping to organize NJ’s Peace Day Celebration to promote peace and understanding in our Central New Jersey communities. As a past Assistant Governor of the Rotary District 7475 and charter president of the Princeton Lions International, he has been helping many community organizations to work together with Rotary and Lions. He has also served on the boards of many community organizations including Sarva Dharma Center, Ved Mandir, Sadhu Vaswani Center and member of the Economic Development Committee of the South Brunswick Township, Community Emergency Response Team for the North Brunswick Township.
According to Past District Governor of the Rotary International, RID 7475 Dr. Tulsi R. Maharjan “Mahesh embodies the mission of the Rotary International’s commitment to unite, nurture and bring together community people to promote peace and understanding in our rapidly changing communities. He is a community connector and community builder and exemplifies not only as a great community leader but also someone who gives back”.
LAKE HOPATCONG ROTARY CLUB RAFFLE RAISES $17,000
The Rotary Club of Lake Hopatcong raised over $17,000 at its annual cash raffle, dinner, drawing, and open bar at the Elks Club in Mt. Arlington. Much thanks go out to our neighboring Rotary Clubs, local businesses, friends, family, and community charity minded people. Special mention is made to our culinary team of club Rotarians Tom Sellaro, Chris Chuck, Stan Banco, Stan Stronsky, and PDG Bob Button for planning, cooking and serving a delicious dinner.
HILLSBOROUGH ROTARY CLUB COLLECTED 2 TONS OF BOOKS; RAISES $2,000 FOR CHARITY
One year after launching the New Legacy Book Donation Program in Hillsborough, over 20 tons of books have been collected at two Township locations raising nearly $2,000 for the Rotary Club of Hillsborough Foundation.
Donated books are either resold through on-line shopping sites like Amazon, or if deemed unsalable, recycled. New Legacy Books, the non-profit organization that manages the operation, returns a percentage of the proceeds to The Rotary Club of Hillsborough Foundation each month.
“In addition to our various hands-on volunteer efforts, our Club raises thousands of dollars each year that allow us to provide needed philanthropic support,” commented Ben Rozenblat, president of the Rotary Club of Hillsborough. “With the generous support of Hillsborough community members, we have been able to fund a wide variety of organizations and charitable causes including post-secondary school scholarships for Hillsborough residents, essential goods for homeless veterans and veterans serving abroad, relief to victims of natural disasters, and, most recently, support for the families fleeing the invasion of Ukraine.”
The New Legacy Book Bins are located at the Township Municipal Building parking lot adjacent to soccer fields and at Iron Peak Sports and Events at 137 Mountain View Road in Hillsborough.
“New Legacy Books would like to thank the Rotary Club of Hillsborough for hosting and promoting our book bin fundraiser, which has been a great success in our first year in Hillsborough,” noted Matt Laiacona, from the New Legacy Books operation. “We also thank our fellow book readers in Hillsborough who support the fundraiser with ongoing book donations. We look forward to many years of fundraising for the Rotary Club and working with the Hillsborough community.”
PEQUANNOCK VALLEY ROTARY CLUB HOSTS SUCCESSFUL COMEDY NIGHT FOR CHARITY
Pequannock Valley Rotary earlier this month held its first Comedy Night fundraiser in over twenty years and it was a great success to the credit of the committee who put it all together in six weeks! Almost 170 guests enjoyed an evening of friendship, laughter and prizes at the event, held at the Elks Club in nearby Wayne.
NINE-YEAR OLD HILLSBOROUGH RESIDENT FINDS NATIONAL FOLLOWING FOR HER UKRAINE FUNDRAISER
The Rotary Club of Hillsborough members listened in awe as Hillsborough resident, nine-year-old Sofia Murtazin, shared her inspiring story of raising funds for the victims of the invasion of Ukraine. With her mother Marta by her side, Sofia spoke at a Rotary Club event held at Flounder’s Brewery Wednesday evening.
Sofia, who attends third grade at Hillsborough Elementary School, sprang into action the day after the invasion and began painting signs to raise money to purchase needed supplies for the people of Ukraine. Both of Sophia’s parents were born in Ukraine and have many family members and friends who continue to live under constant threat from Russia’s invasion. With her mother’s help with a social media campaign, Sofia’s efforts have gone viral and have touched the hearts of supporters across the nation.
“Sofia’s compassion and dedication are just so inspiring,” commented Rotary Club of Hillsborough member, Tricia Marciano, who invited her to speak at the Club’s Wednesday meeting. “It was an easy decision for our Club to donate money and invite her to speak to us. I can’t imagine a better example of the Rotary motto in action – Service Above Self.” To date, Sofia has raised over $11,000, which enabled her to purchase medical supplies and toiletries, and send them to Ukraine.
Jeremy Lees, Flounder’s owner, who also has family ties to Ukraine, not only hosted the Rotary event, but joined in the presentation sharing information about his own on-going efforts in support of Ukraine, including a $3,000 donation to Sofia.
Those interested in supporting Sofi’s efforts with monetary or in-kind donations can contact her at
martuneya@yahoo.com or by calling (908) 294-0755.
KIDS HELPING KIDS READ
School children in Westfield, NJ, USA collected books for the school children in Obike, Nigeria. This is the first year that Obike will have schools for children, and they need English language books to stock their new libraries.
The Rotary Club of Westfield sponsors six student service clubs in our public schools: “Interact” Clubs for the High School and Intermediate schools; and “Early Act” clubs for the Elementary schools. The goal of the service clubs is to teach the importance of giving back to those in need.
The Rotary Club of Westfield recently raised $30,000 to buy medical supplies for a new medical clinic in Obike, Nigeria. Father Kingsley, a priest formerly of St Helens Catholic Church in Westfield, grew up in Obike. He started DMIWOO (Divine Mercy International Widows and Orphans Organization) https://dmiwoo.org to give back to his community. Fr Kingsley has been working to build this medical clinic for over 2 decades. The Rotary Club of Westfield helped him accomplish that goal by providing a Global Grant of $30,000 to purchase medical supplies. Rotarian Clark Lagemann of the Westfield Area Y wrote the Rotary Global Grant application to support the Medical Clinic. Father Kingsley travels back to his hometown in Nigeria on a regular basis to check on the progress.
Father Kingsley’s latest project has been building three new (and only) schools in that town. The next closest school is in a town 5 miles away, so many of the local children have to travel several hours a day to get an education. The population of Obike is 20,000, a few thousand people smaller than Westfield. Just imagine if Westfield did not have any doctors’ offices or schools!
Hearing about this need for English language books, three of the school's Rotary clubs sprang into action and started collecting books.
Julie McGeough, PTO liaison for McKinley School, counted over 3000 books collected by the children. Cathy McGarry is the McKinley School Early Act club advisor. The Jefferson Early Act Club is estimated to have collected over two thousand books. Dr Susie Hung was instrumental in getting the book drive off the ground. Joanna Leach is the main contact for the Jefferson School Early Act Club. Due to the club’s large size, there are several other teachers who assist. The Roosevelt Intermediate School Interact Club kids collected 1,800 books. Their advisor is Mrs. Kimberly Bennett.
Westfield Rotarians loaded a cargo van, provided by Access Self-Storage of Garwood at a discounted rate, with over 5,000 books collected by the schools Early Act and Interact Clubs. Liz Ensslin, Past President of the club, and Rotarian Mark Wright drove the van with the books to Hartford, CT to go into a shipping container leaving for Obike, Nigeria. A neighbor Julie McGeough, Joe Ensslin, Past President Bill Bonsall and Rotarians Heidi Caponigro and JoAnn Araya helped load the van.
When Fr Kingsley realized how many books were collected, he said, "This is such amazing news. I am totally speechless to hear about the success of your efforts. It really warms my heart!”
Fr Kingsley is hoping to open the schools in August. The books are going over in a container ship with dozens of bicycles for the kids, fishing poles, gardening tools and two cartons of book marks made by the students at McKinley and Jefferson Early Act clubs. For more information on Father Kingsley's charity, DMIWOO (Divine Mercy International Widows and Orphans Organization) visit: https://dmiwoo.org
Rotary International includes 1.3 million business men and women in 166 countries around the world. It is a business networking and service organization. The Rotary Club of Westfield meets the first 3 Tuesdays of each month, twice in person, once by Zoom, and has a service project every month. Guests are always welcome. For information, contact Secretary Dr. Michael Hart drmhart@yahoo.com or go to our website www.westfieldrotary.com
----
Want your Club news to be featured? It's simple: Send your email to
Rotary7475News@Gmail.com. The weekly deadline is generally each Friday at 5 pm to be included in the following week's report.
Editor reserves the right to edit content as needed, including length.
