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HEATHER HILL
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
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| Northeast Rotary members spanning five decades unite at the Refectory Restaurant anniversary luncheon. Here, Shirley Wiltshire collects fines and donations from members, from left, Jim Aspros and Ralph Smith. |
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| The Charter Award was presented to founding member Keith R. Manning, right, by incoming president Steve Wiley. The Charter Award also conveyed special thanks for dedicated service, leadership and steadfast support to the principles of Rotary. |
| SUBMITTED PHOTO: OLLIE LUND |
Past and present members reminisced around banquet tables facing a podium, behind which flags of Rotary Clubs from around the world hung in solidarity. As the world’s first club committed to charity, the Rotary Club is the second largest nongovernmental nonreligious service organization in the world with over a million Rotarians in more than 30,000 clubs in almost 200 countries all devoted to the Rotary’s dictum of collaboration by business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and foster goodwill throughout the world.
Though with a wide purview, the Rotarians know charity begins at home, and each meeting commences with a flag salute followed by a thought to ponder. The celebrating Rotarians thanked all those attending the anniversary and remembered those who could not.
To embrace the visitors present, both familiar faces and new were welcomed to introduce him or herself. Rotarians from other District 5100 clubs offered their support, and retired former members stood to recount their days in the club. Some mumbled or fudged the years and dates, inciting some good-hearted jabs by their compatriots, highlighting the importance of a strong fellowship that bonds members to act as a whole in their service to others.
Current club members welcomed their guests from their seats, with the exception of Keith Manning, the only present charter member of the club (and notable for a remarkable 40 years of perfect attendance), who stood to accept a plaque awarding his 50 years of commitment to the club he founded. Memorably absent was Aldo Rossi, the other remaining charter member, who is struggling with illness and whose plaque was transferred to son Nick, also a club member, with the club’s approbation.
After introductions and commendations, District Governor Tom Jenkins ascended the podium to reflect on the club’s progress, reviewing Rotary’s objective, “service above self,” as practiced on the club, vocational and community levels. He praised the structure of the Rotary Club that allows for diversity through a classification system, which initiates members according to vocation to ensure no single industry dominates the club. In this way it more closely resembles the variety that comprises the community and its concerns. In continuing the initiative of inclusion, Rotary has included women since 1987, and women now comprise 25 percent of Rotary members, whom Jenkins praised for further expanding the scope of the club for the better. “I wish I could clone all of you,” he joked.
After Jenkins summed up the club’s mission, two new members stepped up to undertake Rotary’s high standards for public performance, committing to the established codes of conduct that delineate the club’s ideals of truth, fairness, goodwill, camaraderie and service with benefit to all. The new members were introduced by their names and occupations, but both they and the club focused more on their desired contribution to the group than on individual character. In fact, when asked to point out the most notable Rotarians, members generally nodded toward the charter members or Ollie Lund, the genial veteran member who greeted everyone with a flash of his camera. Lund also celebrated his 58th wedding anniversary that day. (Though when his wife asked him if he knew the significance of the day that morning, he reportedly answered, “Of course, it’s the 50-year anniversary of Rotary!”) Rotary members generally shied from naming individual achievements, stressing the importance of the composite instead, truly adhering to their motto. Conversely, when asked to touch on their programs and initiatives, Rotarians became very animated, spouting forth a list of services that grow with each member and trail back to the first. On the community level, they provide dictionaries to fifth- and sixth-graders and wheelchairs for the elderly; they supply defribulators to schools, offer scholarships to high school students, and are busy rebuilding the Rotary Village youth camp. Tackling the big issues worldwide, Rotary is heavily involved with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Our Rotarians aid single mothers in Thailand and buy livestock to help sustain rural African Villages. Most famous for their polio eradication program, Rotarians started raising money for polio vaccines in 1985 and now collaborate with the WHO (World Health Organization) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to immunize the last four countries in need. They believe this can be accomplished in the next three years.
Rotarians join in order to give, and give they do eagerly. Following cake and coffee, a round of trivia miscellany induced contributions. Happy anniversary, Northeast Rotary!
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