Stories

On Saturday, May 25th, our club purchased school materials and packed 45 backpacks for the "Backpack Give Back" program being run by The Small Business Council and Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. The program aims to provide school supplies for 1,100 students this year.

 

See all pictures...CLICK HERE

 

 

The first ever virtual "passing of the gavel" occurred June 24, 2020 as Out-Going President Bob Scheidt "threw" the gavel through Zoom to In-Coming President Tom Kosanke's outstretched arms.  Quite a feat!  The two and their families met earlier in the day to exchange the gavel in a more "normal yet social distancing" way.  Congratulations to Bob Scheidt for his leadership during this very trying year and best wishes to Tom Kosanke as he navigates us through the continued stormy waters ahead.  We are lucky to have such exceptional leaders in our club at this time!

Irondequoit Rotary's latest Literacy Project in the town of Irondequoit was a donation of 41 books to a class of Brookview Elementary School students.  This project was in memory of Pat Torre, a past member who loved children and always promoted literacy.  Thanks goes to B.J. Cunningham who led the project and Patty Sheridan who donated her talents of calligraphy for the inside book cover.  The children were presented their books as the school conducted a drive-by moving up ceremony and obviously enjoyed receiving a new book for summer reading!

Chris & Evie's Place Playhouse was delivered to Camp Haccamo at the Rotary Sunshine Campus on May 14th. This club project is dedicated in memory to long-time Irondequoit Rotarian and Camp Haccamo Past-President Chris Franco and his beloved wife Evie who passed together in 2015. Many thanks to the so many people and organizations who made this possible. A fitting ribbon-cutting will be scheduled in better times ahead.  The playhouse will be used by the camp so that young campers with disabilities will have a place to socialize and be creative in a safe setting.  Thanks to President Bob Scheidt for his leadership to make this all happen.  

 

See related story from the Monroe Post.

 

 

Irondequoit Rotarians Bob Scheidt, Kenn Van Dieren, and Dave Long demonstrating "Service Above Self" May 9th at Irondequoit's mask distribution.

On Feb 12th, our club held our annual Valentine's Party at the Legacy at Cranberry Landing. Thanks to our program chair B.J. Cunningham, the residents were entertained with music by Bob Scheidt, Jason Miller, and Dave Shaheen and MC Les Kaszuba. Ice Cream and cookies were served and everyone joined in for a fun night of sing alongs. What a fun event!!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU to all who supported and volunteered at our 35th Annual Pasta Dinner!!!! It was another great community event and our largest fundraiser of the year! All proceeds go to Irondequoit Rotary charities and activities for the local community

 

This is our largest fundraiser for the year and we would really appreciate your support.  Call 585-410-3334 or send us an email if you'd like tickets.

Each year we distribute dictionaries to every 3rd grader in Irondequoit as part of our Literacy program.  After our meeting on September 26th, several members from the club got together to place labels inside the dictionaries before we start delivering them to the schools shortly.  As in all events, we mixed service with fun and had a great time doing so.  Kudos to B.J. Cunningham and Kenn Van Dieren for their leadership of the Dictionary Project.

Irondequoit Rotary held our annual Installation Dinner June 26th where we celebrate the past year of service to our community and look forward to the next year. Outgoing President Dave Shaheen handed over the gavel to incoming President Bob Scheidt. Dominick and Marilyn Fantauzzo received a Lifetime Achievement award for their leadership with our annual Pasta Dinner which has generated over $500,000 over 35 years. Irondequoit Police Chief Richard Tantalo was awarded the prestigious Paul Harris Award for his continuous display of "Service Above Self". Congratulations to all those honored this evening!!

 

See all the pictures, click HERE

 

Student Scholarship award winners and their parents joined us at our June 19th meeting and told us a little about their service to the community and their future college plans before being presented with a check for their college expenses by President Dave.  Three very deserving scholarship award winners.  

 

James Clement (Irondequoit High School) did many projects in community service with his connection to the Boy Scouts as an Eagle Scout.  He worked at House of Mercy Shelter to create wooden storage units for storing supplies outdoors and other projects to beautify the campus.  He served on Student Council, played football, track & field and was a member of the Mastermind Club.  He is on his way to Syracuse University to study Nutrition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garrett Silva (Eastridge) cleaned up area beaches and worked at Open Door Missions serving the homeless and others less fortunate.  He is a member of the National Honor Society, played soccer and tennis and will be attending RIT for an engineering degree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alicia Opett (Bishop Kearney) worked in Campus Ministry managing 3 overnight retreats helping fellow students grow their spirituality.  She had over 100 hours of service projects during her time at Kearney including leading a Track Team Compeer project with Veterans.  Alicia is attending St. John Fisher studying Psychology in the fall.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Salluzo and Tom O'Neil from Bishop Kearney were presented with a check in thanks for letting our club have our annual Pasta Dinner there raising money over the years.  Last year was another 100% college acceptance for seniors leaving BK.  Tom and Steve recognized Irondequoit Rotary for our leadership in community service.

 

 

Wonderful night at St. Ann’s Home celebrating our annual St. Patrick’s Day Party with the residents. Entertainment by the Drumcliffe School of Irish Dance students.

[February 27, 2019]  Beautiful evening at the Legacy at Cranberry Landing as we celebrated our sing along Winter Party! Residents were treated to cookies and ice cream and Rotarians never sounded better!! We are so happy to provide this fun event every winter.

Last week Irondequoit Rotary held our annual Christmas Basket party where we stuff 100 grocery bags for those in need at the Irondequoit Community Cupboard.  A wonderful fun event that will help share the happiness of this holiday season!

June 20th's program was our annual High School Scholarship Award night.  Always one of our favorites as we are amazed by these bright, young, energetic students.  This year's scholarship award winners were Christina Aldridge (Bishop Kearney; Parents Theresa and Mark), Jessica Michels (Eastridge; Parents Laurel and David), and Ella Iglewski (West Irondequoit; Parents Connie and Eric). 

 

Christina Aldridge will be attending Damon College for Physical Therapy.  At BK, she starred in Volleyball, Bowling and Softball.  She is on a bowling scholarship at Damon.  Volunteering at a campus ministry program changed her life as she learned the value of helping others. 

 

Jessica Michels will be attending Nazareth and then Syracuse in the medical field.  She was a volunteer at Rochester General Hospital and helped send care packages to 3rd world nations.

 

Ella Iglewski is heading to the University of New Hampshire for Biomedical Science.  She volunteered at Rochester General in patient care and in the country of Belize where she taught high school students about health technology.

 

Our future is very bright with these young students as upcoming leaders!

Irondequoit Rotary is proud to donate scoreboards for the new baseball fields near town hall. Saturday, April 28th was the ribbon cutting event for new concession stands and the scoreboards. The scoreboards were donated to commemorate our club's 50th Anniversary.  General Norb Rappl had the honor of raising the flag and lighting the scoreboards for the first time.

 

PLAY BALL!!!!

Irondequoit Rotary celebrated our annual St. Patrick's Day Party at St. Ann's Home. The Boland School of Irish Dance performed and all the residents and Rotary Members had a great time!  Thanks to B.J. Cunningham for making all the arrangements for another successful event.

 

See more pictures of the event by clicking HERE.

Our annual Valentine's Day Party at the Legacy at Cranberry Landing was another successful event thanks to BJ Cunningham who pulled it all together.  Our scheduled entertainment cancelled at the last moment, but, as usual, Rotarians stepped up and held a sing along that all the residents enjoyed (along with all the Rotarians present).  Lee Steinfeldt and Jim Kozlowski scooped the ice cream while Lou DiPrima, Louis DiPrima, Dave Shaheen, Peter Mendick, Dick & Linda Butler, Bob Scheidt, Guy Kittelsen, Lynn Wozniak, Rich and Ryan Tantalo, and Jeff Garcia served it with cookies and pop.  The residents had so many requests and seemed to enjoy singing so much, we may need to keep doing this for at least a part of any future Valentine's Day party.  

Each year, our club gets together just before Christmas to have a Holiday Basket party where we pack up holiday meals for those in need in the town of Irondequoit.   This year we had plenty of volunteers and another successful event.

 

To see all the pictures taken by BJ Cunningham, please click here.

Irondequoit Rotarians Josh Zamiara and Ray Holla tend bar at I-Square in Irondequoit.  One dollar for each drink and all tips were donated to Camp Haccamo.  It was another great evening in Irondequoit where everyone had fun all while raising needed monies to send disabled children and young adults to camp each summer.

Irondequoit Rotarians Lynn Wozniak, Kenn Van Dieren, Lori Spatola, Bob Spatola and BJ Cunningham helped out celebrating Halloween 2017 at the Irondequoit Senior Center.

Irondequoit Rotary is a long-time sponsor of Honor Flight Rochester who fly veterans to Washington, DC to visit and reflect together at their memorials.    Rochester is one of 130 established hubs in the National Honor Flight Network.  At the most recent "Welcome Home" to the Rochester airport, the daughters of one of our members, Rocco Leone, had the privilege of carrying the welcome sign.

Our club distributes a Dictionary to each 3rd grader in the town of Irondequoit as part of our Literacy program.  It is a pleasure to see the smiling faces of 3rd graders as they receive their very own dictionary.  Teachers say it is one of the highlights of the school year and it certainly is one of the highlights of our Rotary year in Irondequoit.

On Saturday, September 16, 2017, we had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon on 10 new Little Free Libraries that our club donated to the community of Irondequoit.  In addition to a Rotary District Grant, we received a significant donation to build the Little Free Libraries in memory of Vincent J. Stanley.  Each book house is registered with Little Free Library Organization. 

For years, Angalia Bianca had slept in abandoned buildings throughout Chicago. She stole. She did drugs. She spent time in and out of jail for forgery, theft, trespassing, and possession of narcotics. But after she landed in prison for the seventh time, something changed -- Bianca knew she wanted a better life. She just didn’t know how to make it happen.

 

After serving her time, Bianca sought help from a local homeless organization, A Safe Haven, and moved to its shelter in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Bianca followed the program closely -- she attended all the required meetings, passed drug tests, and volunteered at every opportunity.

What is it like taking a large team to Africa?  It has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. In mid February, I began leading Rotary members from all over the East Coast of the United States through Ghana. I’ve tried to give the team a warm Ghanaian welcome like I’ve received on my earlier trips. A large trip is a real blessing because each person sees Ghana and our work in a different way.

A highlight for the team was greeting the chief of Sagadugu. The team got excited about buying goats and food for children in the villages where I support eight churches. It was good to see the pastors of most of the eight churches, and I had to explain that we were just passing through on our way to Bolgatanga.

Throughout India and around the world, Rotary clubs are celebrating a major milestone: India has gone three years without a new case of polio. The last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on 13 January 2011. To mark this historic triumph, Rotary clubs illuminated landmarks and iconic structures throughout the country with four simple but powerful words, "India is polio free."

 

The three-year achievement sets the stage for polio-free certification of the entire Southeast Asia region by the World Health Organization. The Indian government also plans to convene a polio summit in February to commemorate this victory in the global effort to eradicate polio.