September 3, 2008

Our club was lucky enough to be visited by our District Governor at each of the last two lunch meetings!  Lana Rouff, as District Governor, is responsible for overseeing all 44 Rotary clubs that comprise District 7170, which includes most of the Southern Tier of New York, from Deposit to Ithaca.  Since a new District Governor takes office each year, Lana has been spending the summer meeting with all of the clubs she is responsible for to discuss their goals, projects, and visions for the future.

 

On August 20, she met with our club's Board of Directors before lunch, going over our club's plans and strategies for bringing in new members.  She made us very happy when she announced that our club was exemplary.  During lunch, President Nancy Zacharias introduced Lana to our general membership and listed her many accomplishments.  Just to name a select few, Lana Rouff has served as President of the Binghamton University Foundation, Executive Director of the Binghamton Philharmonic, and worked to organize the Empire State Games held in Binghamton.  She is truly a well-respected leader in the Southern Tier and Rotary is thrilled to have her as our District Governor.  Our club was also quite pleased that she joined us for lunch.  I love her, in particular, because of her commitment to the arts and the fact that she studies ballet!

 

During her speech to our club, Lana listed the many projects, both local and international, in which our club could choose to take part.  She spoke about Rotary's Polio Plus program and proudly announced that polio has been eradicated except for in four countries.  She quoted someone from India who had said "When the Rotarians came, our children stopped dying," in reference to Rotary's efforts to bring the very simple polio vaccine to the children of the most remote parts of the globe.  I think we all felt very proud to be Rotarians and Lana's address inspired us to work even harder on behalf of all of Rotary's charitable goals.  Feel free to come have lunch with us any Wednesday at noon at the Methodist Church on Second Street!

Rotary Sponsors Annual Tommy Tucker Golf Tournament

*Click here for the Ironman Registration Form!*


Saturday, September 6, 2008 (or rain date September 13th) will mark the Third Annual W.R. “Tommy” Tucker Ironman Golf Tournament at Scott’s Golf Course at Oquaga Lake. Sponsored by the Deposit Rotary Club and organized by Mark Tucker each year in memory of his father, Tommy Tucker, the Ironman Tournament is a fun and challenging way to enjoy a great day of golf and fellowship, all the while supporting the Deposit Rotary Club’s charitable projects.

The Captain and Crew tournament will begin with registration at 7:00 am with a shotgun start at 8:00 am. Golfers will be able to ride carts for the “Big 9” course and walk the smaller Executive Course. Teams will be comprised of four players and the registration fee includes not only your participation in the tournament, but also the awards luncheon that will follow the tournament at Scott’s Cookout Lookout, featuring a cash beer and wine bar. Team prizes will be given out, along with the Men’s and Ladies’ Closest to the Pin Awards, the Men’s and Ladies’ Longest Drive Awards, and over 100 possible raffle prizes. The First Prize is a $200 gift card from Visa. Rotary tickets can be purchased in advance from any Rotarian.

The tournament also offers local businesses a great way to advertise and promote your business by either furnishing a door prize or displaying your company name on a designated tee area. Sponsoring the tournament will not only make sure your business is noticed, but also helps promotes Rotary’s charities.

For more information about participation or sponsorship, contact Mark Tucker at 467-2866 x221 or visit depositrotary.blogspot.com to download the registration or sponsorship forms. Fees must be received by September 1 to hold your spot, so sign up now! “Tommy played it once a week. . . can you step up to the challenge?”

July 30, 2008

After the many long hours put in at a rainy but successful Lumberjack Festival, I feel that I've had the chance to really bond with my fellow Rotarians.  Many members of the Deposit Rotary Club put in hours at the festival under the tent selling clams, shrimp, beer, and duck tickets for the Fifteenth Annual Duck Race in Oquaga Creek.  With 724 ducks sold this year, this was our bestselling race.  Rotary was able to earn about $2,100 for our community projects from the duck sales!  Special thanks must go out to the Village of Deposit workers who very generously cleared fallen trees from the creek just so that we could have the race.  All the Rotarians really appreciated your help!

 

Also, treasurer Nancy Zacharias' preliminary figures from the shrimp, clam, and beer sales suggest that Rotary earned something in the neighborhood of $4,567, which is a really great chunk of change to make sure our club can continue to contribute to Deposit through our various projects.  Thanks to the festival committee and to everyone who helped and everyone who made a purchase under the beer tent at the Lumberjack Festival—you helped support some great services to the community!

 

In other exciting news, Sue Elinsky was happy to report that as a result of the Feinstein challenge,—you might remember our local Food Pantry working hard to collect donations in March and April in order to win a portion of the million dollars given to hunger organizations by the Feinstein Foundation—the Deposit Food Pantry received $302 for its share of the nationwide challenge.  Again, thank you to everyone who donated food or cash during the challenge!  More Rotary news next time!

July 2, 2008

Sunday, June 22 was a big day for the Deposit Rotary Club.  It was the day of the annual Paul Harris Dinner held at Scott's Oquaga Lake House.  Named for the founder of Rotary International, the Paul Harris Dinner is the occasion when our club bestows its two most important awards: the Service Above Self Award and the Paul Harris Fellowship.  After an enjoyable social hour, a ride around the lake on Scott's Showboat and a delicious dinner, the two award recipients were honored. 

 

The Service Above Self Award is given to any community member, Rotarian or not, who exemplifies Rotary's motto of "Service Above Self."  This year, the award was given to Ellen Jogo for her years of incredible service in the community, but especially for her work for the Deposit Historical Society.  Friend Kay Hoban from the Board of Directors of the Historical Society gave the speech detailing Ellen's accomplishments.  Seeing Ellen happily surrounded by family as well as guests from the Historical Society Board, I'm sure every Rotarian felt that we had found a truly deserving recipient for this prestigious award.

 

 Following the Service Above Self Award, the Paul Harris Fellowship was award to club president Harry Dilello to recognize and thank him for all his work for the Deposit Rotary Club and for serving as such a fine president.  Rick Zacharias gave the speech offering a biography of Harry and a list of all the qualities that make him a deserving candidate for the highest honor that can be given to a Rotarian.  I'm so happy to congratulate Ellen and Harry for their achievements and awards.

 

The Paul Harris Dinner was really a special and inspiring event and once again reminded me that Rotary is not only an organization that contributes so much to our community and the world, but is also a group of truly extraordinary people, all of whom are friends who respect and value each other and it's always striking how warm, friendly, and high-spirited Rotary events are—not just the special ones like the Paul Harris Dinner, but each and every meeting.

June 4, 2008

The beginning of summer means one very important thing for the Deposit Rotary Club: preparations for the Lumberjack Festival.  At our weekly meeting on May 28, our resident amazing Rotarian, Nancy Zacharias, distributed the tickets for the annual duck race.  Most people in town are familiar with the Lumberjack Festival tradition of launching hundreds of fake ducks in a race down Oquaga Creek, giving cash prizes to the "owner" of the ducks that come in first.  Our goal this year is to sell all one thousand possible ducks.  The annual race proves to be a very profitable fundraiser for Rotary and its charitable programs, so please take part in the fun and buy your duck now from any Rotarian!

 

At our previous meeting on May 21, we were visited by guests from the Hancock Rotary Club, sharing their new international project.  As you may know from reading my columns, Rotary clubs are committed to making considerable contributions to the local community, but simultaneously to the world as a whole through the entire Rotary International organization.  The Hancock Rotary Club has realized that, with Rotary's recent near total success of the Polio Eradication Initiative, it's time to turn to the next huge global health crisis: HIV and AIDS.  In particular, since nearly 85% of all AIDS cases can be found on the African continent, many in the Rotary organization are looking at ways to produce HIV and AIDS medications locally at small factories in Africa in order to significantly cut down on the cost of these immensely expensive medications, which currently must be shipped from abroad.  Perhaps we will see these programs grow into the next big Rotary commitment.

 

On June 4^th, I will be bringing some of my dancers to the weekly Rotary meeting to dance and show off some pieces from our upcoming Fourth Annual Summer Recital on June 13 and 14.  If you've been meaning to check out Rotary, you are always welcome to attend any meeting, but this one will also offer you the opportunity to check out some of Deposit's finest and most enthusiastic dancers: my adult class and also members of the Jesse Katen Dance Company!  Stop by the Methodist Church at noon to join us for lunch and a great meeting!