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District 7610
Connections
September 2019
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People of Action,
We have embarked on a new Rotary year filled with endless possibilities. The chance to transform both within ourselves and the communities and world we serve. We have the opportunity to shine a powerful light onto the surface of humanity’s greatest problems and show how Rotarians in 7610 are finding and implementing solutions.
In this issue of the newsletter and in subsequent issues, you will be inspired by how clubs and Rotarians in our district are using the
5 Points of Enduring Light
(Engagement, Consistency & Transparency, Diversity, Visibility, and Innovation) to create meaningful impact in the lives of others.
I look forward to reading each month how each of you are
Connecting Community!
P.S.
We are starting the third month of my term as your District Governor with a new look and feel for our District Newsletter. The proliferation of mobile devices, (Smart Phones, Tablets, etc.) have prompted us to provide a convenient way for Rotarians to view the newsletter on those devices. I anticipate a learning curve as we shift to this new methodology, so we welcome your feedback as we take advantage of this new technology.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Jonathan
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In This Issue
- Rotary Night at "Sounds of Summer"
- Rotary International Headquarters Pilgrimage
- Justice Pyramid
- Leesburg Honors Rotarian Stanley Caulkins
- Rotarians Provide Back-To-School Supplies
- Fairfax Adds New Members and a Literary Project
- Great Falls Connects
- B'Gosh, It's Oshkosh
- Tyson's Turkey Trot
- Rapppahannock-Fredericksburg Satellite Club
- New Members Added in August 2019
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Rotary Night at "Sounds of Summer"
The five Rotary Clubs in the Twin Rivers Area of District 7610 joined forces and sponsored a Friday evening concert at the Fredericksburg Area Museum's "Sounds of Summer Series."
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Zach Smith, Master Trumpeteer and Leader of the"Dixie Power Trio"
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Don Mohr Explains Things to Scott Lyons and Dennis Parsons
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Past District Governor Glenn Yarborough with Presidents Tom Carlson (Rappahannock), Nathan Miller (Fredericksburg), and Leigh Ann Poland (Stafford)
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Past District Governor, Glenn Yarborough and
District Governor Jonathan Lucus
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DG Jonathan Addresses the Crowd
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Rotary International Headquarters Pilgrimage
By Dave Borowski,
District Public Image Chair
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On Aug 12, a contingent of District 7610 Rotarians visited Rotary International’s headquarters in Evanston, Il. The group, led by DG Jonathan Lucus, included PDGs Glenn Yarborough and Chuck Davidson, PDG and current Foundation Chair Ronnie Chantker, DGN Patricia Borowski, Membership Chair Ralph Menzel, Vance Zavela and Public Image Chair Dave Borowski.
The group received updates on Rotary’s Foundation, membership and public image initiatives. Thanks to RI for providing this informative day at One Rotary Center.
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Ralph, Glenn, Pat, Jonathan, Dave, Ronnie, Chuck
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Chicago Skyline From
RI President's Office
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Justice Pyramid
By Dave Borowski, Bailey's Crossroads
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On A
ugust 8, Bailey’s Crossroads Rotarians and other community volunteers helped support the fifth-annual Justice Pyramid Resource Fair at Justice High School.
The Justice Pyramid serves about 8,600 students at Justice HS, Glasgow MS, Bailey's ES, Bailey's Upper School, Beech Tree ES, Belvedere ES, Glen Forest ES, Parklawn ES, and Sleepy Hollow ES. More than 67 percent of these children qualify for free or reduced special price school meals. Many Justice Pyramid families are struggling to make ends meet and often do not have the additional funds to purchase school supplies.
There were about 3,100 participants and 2,600 supply kits were distributed directly to students and recipient schools.
O
ur club is a major financial and resource donor to this worthwhile effort. Many thanks to Rotarians
Kate Walter
and
Sarah M. Shannon
for their hard work in making this a continued success.
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Rotarians and Other Community Volunteers Preparing Meals
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Leesburg Honors Rotarian Stanley Caulkins
By Valerie Beaudoin, Leesburg
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“Working in the community is not enough – you have to get involved.” That was the viewpoint Stanley Caulkins, the longest-serving member of the Rotary Club of Leesburg, lived by and advocated to others.
Though Rotary and the Leesburg community lost Stanley at the age of 92 in January 2018, a recently dedicated memorial to his memory serves as a reminder of the Service Above Self motto that we as Rotarians strive to achieve.
On July 13, 2019, the Town of Leesburg unveiled a bronze statue of Stanley sitting on a bench at 11 S. King Street, which had been his place of business, Caulkins Jewelers, for 60 years. Situated in the heart of the historic downtown, the statue reflects the experiences of Stanley’s life that were most important to him: his jeweler’s magnifier attached to his glasses; a B-17 bomber tie clasp affixed to his shirt; his VFW hat folded in his lap; and a Rotary pin firmly attached to his lapel . Sitting on a bench, Stanley’s likeness invites passersby to sit and have a chat with him, just like he did all his life.
Stanley had been a member of the Rotary Club of Leesburg since 1957 and served as its president in 1963. A past Town Council Member, Co-founder of the Leesburg Executive Airport (the terminal today bears his name) and WWII radio operator on a B-17, Stanley was a legend in the community. Having passed away in his Leesburg home, surrounded by loved ones, he is remembered as a friend and advisor to many.
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The sculpture honoring Stanley was unveiled to a crowd of more than 100, including VFW members, Rotarians, the entire Leesburg Town Council and many other dignitaries. The ceremony included a performance by the West Point Alumni Glee Club of classic World War II tune “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover,” followed by a color guard presentation by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1177.
If you find yourself in Loudoun County, the Rotary Club of Leesburg invites you to take a seat at 11 S. King Street and think about Service Above Self with a man who truly lived it.
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Rotarian Ernie Carnevale, sitting with Stanley
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The memorial’s placard reads,
“Stanley Caulkins Co-Founder of the Leesburg Airport, WWII Veteran and role model for acts of kindness, charity, and the greater good”
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Rotarians Provide Back-To-School Supplies
Susan Mullen , Sterling
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Multiple Rotary clubs and community partners participated in an event to supply children with much needed school supplies. The community partners helping with the drive were Giant Food District 105 which runs across all of Loudoun County & the northwestern part of Fairfax County, Costco of Leesburg, My Guys Moving & Storage in Sterling, VA & DC Connections who donated funds to purchase thumb drives, ear buds, chromebook cases as well as other much needed supplies for the title one elementary schools in Loudoun County. By working together, approximately $35K of supplies were provided for children in need.
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Rotary Club of Fairfax adds Members
and a New Literacy Project
By Paula Kelly, Fairfax
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During the past twelve months, the Rotary Club of Fairfax enthusiastically welcomed new members, stayed involved in service projects, successfully held a rescheduled golf tournament and approved a new literacy project.
Our club has a true interest in literacy. Our Rotarian, Rick Schroeder, travels to Guatemala usually twice a year to check on a student we sponsor through the Guatemala Literacy Project and stays involved in our efforts there. This Guatemala project is made possible through a Rotary Global grant. It is one of the largest grants that RI gives, totaling $628,518. Over 175 clubs, including Fairfax and Tysons Corner, and 25 districts contribute to the matching grant, as well as the government of Canada.
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Rotarian Rick Schroeder with the Current Student our Club
Sponsors from Guatemala.
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This is our second year participating in the District’s speech and essay contests. Our club sponsored a student in each contest this year. Our speech contest contestant was a Fairfax High School student who, as a sophomore, achieved third place in the District speech contest. Our essay contest contestant was from Lanier Middle school. Both students received a cash award from our Rotary club. Barry Gordon, our PE, leads this activity. How great it is to hear our youth promote Rotary!
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Rotarian Billy
Freesmeier leads our Dictionary project. Every spring, our club members deliver Webster dictionaries to third graders in the elementary schools which feed into the middle and high school in the City of Fairfax. Our members always look forward to this service activity. Handwritten thank you notes from the children show us how much they appreciate this gift. The Dictionary project also gives us a chance to talk to the students and teachers about the great Rotary projects around the world.
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Our newest literacy program includes the introduction of U.S. Constitution booklets to seventh graders in our city. One of our Rotarians, Tom Palmer, often visits a club in Florida. It was there that he learned about the constitution booklets, specifically designed for middle school students. Tom shared, “ The U.S. Constitution is the cornerstone for all of our daily discussions and rules in our country. Our students must really understand this baseline document in order to understand our nation, our values and to help guide all Americans into the future. This is a very teachable booklet which becomes a teaching tool and a reference tool that our students can use for the rest of their lives.” Over the summer, our foundation board voted to order over five hundred of these booklets for the students. These will be presented this fall to seventh grade students at Lanier Middle school.
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And finally, our golf tournament, our biggest fundraiser of the year, was rescheduled due to bad weather. As many in our area know, the spring brought many inches of rain to our area. Always held on the Monday after Mother’s Day, the tournament was moved to a new date of July 15
th
. The day was beautiful and the tournament, a great success. Our golf committee was instrumental in seamlessly shifting the tournament to the new date. Our tournament provides much of our needed funds for college scholarships, teacher of the year awards, scouting programs, and other charities we support. We welcome all Rotarians and their guests to golf with us next year!
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Club President, Dave Roll, with the Golf Tournament Winners
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Great Falls Connects
By Ellen Curtis, Great Falls
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The community of Great Falls lacks a chamber of commerce, although it has over 150 businesses operating there. Our club, recognizing our charter as a community connector, has decided to take on the role of a
de facto
chamber. Rotary president Eileen Curtis served 23 years as president of one of the region's largest chambers of commerce and realized that Rotary's infrastructure easily accommodates the principal offerings requested by small business. Networking is the #1 reason businesses join chambers; we already have a monthly mixer to meet that need. Businesses find an extra level of credibility with a chamber membership; Rotary carries even higher evidence of ethical behavior.
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Businesses want to be seen as supportive of their communities; we offer a wide array of service projects that meet that wish. And finally, businesses welcome the opportunity to be further educated in matters pertaining to business. Our speakers series continues to present experts in fields conducive to business development.
We'll kick off our program with an evening reception for our local business owners and managers at L'Auberge Chez Francois. We have some local VIPs making brief remarks and we'll introduce our new corporate membership plan, along with debuting our Flags for Heroes--an easy community project that should appeal to them.
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B'gosh it's Oshkosh!
By Earl Baughman, Rappahannock-Fredericksburg
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Recently, four intrepid Rotarians from the Rappahannock-Fredericksburg Club made the pilgrimage to Airplane-Mecca, the International Experimental Aircraft Association's annual Fly-in in Oshkosh Wisconsin. With hundreds of civilian and military aircraft of every shape and size, 6000,000 aviation enthusiasts, daily airshows, two nighttime airshows, and vendors selling anything you could conceivably use on an airplane, it was a sight to behold. Here are some selected photos taken by Earl.
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Rappahannock-Fredericksburg Rotarians Chip Willis, Charlie Russell, Jim Lewis, and Earl Baughman
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USAF Thunderbirds Drop by on Their Way to Another Gig
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de Havilland Mosquito - One of Three Flyable in the World
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F-22 Raptor and P-51 Mustang
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Airshow Finale! (Not a Crash)
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Tyson's Turkey Trot
By Tyra Garlington, Tyson's Corner
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Rappahannock-Fredericksburg Satellite Club
By Lynne Richardson, Rappahannock-Fredericksburg
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Rotarian David Pierce (Second from Right) and President Tom Carlson (Left) Hosted a Meeting with Other Current Rotarians and
Potential Satellite Club Members
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About eight months ago a member of the Rappahannock Rotary Club spoke with several people about visiting the Club’s Wednesday morning meetings. Many could not attend due to commutes, having young children, or being required to be at a job prior to 9 a.m. Others indicated they could not afford the cost of Rotary. In search of alternatives for these people, each with a heart for service, the member sought information from Rotary International (RI).
What she learned was that RI had launched a new concept a couple of years ago. Rotary clubs could create a Satellite Club. The Satellite Club would be a subset of the established Rotary club. Not only was this an option, RI encourages established clubs to create Satellite Clubs as they help bring Rotary to more people.
With that, this member approached the (then) President of the Rappahannock Rotary Club, Ken Tomayko, with a request to pursue this as an option. President Ken asked several people in the club to work on a proposal to bring to the Rappahannock Rotary Board. After several concept meetings, the proposal was shared with the Board. The Board agreed that the idea of a Satellite Club should be pursued, so at a club meeting in the spring, a vote was taken. The Satellite Club proposal was approved.
The Rappahannock Satellite Club will meet at least two times a month, with the days and times to be determined by Satellite Club members.
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At least one meeting per month should be service-related. Dues will be less than half of what Rappahannock Rotary Club members pay. The target date to launch is October 1
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Members of the Rappahannock Rotary Club have been identifying potential Satellite Club members. David Pierce, a long-time Rotarian, will serve as Chair of the Satellite Club for the first year. Several other Rotarians have committed to working with the group during its launch. Three interest meetings have been held thus far; 14 individuals have attended these meetings. Any member proposed for the Satellite Club will go through the same process as a member of the established club. After the application is received, it must be approved by the Membership Committee and will then go the general membership of the Rappahannock Rotary for review. The next step is Board approval.
We are excited to bring this opportunity for service to the Fredericksburg area. Those who have attended the interest meetings range from recent college graduates just getting started in their careers to older people who are more established in Fredericksburg. Each of them expressed great enthusiasm about giving back to their community. And isn’t that what Rotary is all about… Service Above Self?
For more information on the formation of the Satellite Club and to learn about its next interest meeting, contact David Pierce at dpierce@investdavenport.com.
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New Members
These are the new members add in August 2019
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