Stories

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.