Littleton Rotary Club
Littleton Rotary Club
The Littleton Rotary Club meets Wednesdays at noon at the Eastgate Motor Inn. Meetings allow members the opportunity to discuss their projects, enjoy each other’s fellowship and learn more about their community, state or world.
International Projects
The Littleton Rotary Club donated funds to help drill 2 water wells for a housing project in Bais City, Philippines.
History
The Littleton Rotary Club was founded in July 1927 (the first Rotary Club was founded in Chicago in 1905). Currently, our club has 60 members from throughout our service area. Membership is by invitation, and is offered to representatives of each business, profession, or institution through a classification system ensuring a wide cross section of the community is represented.
Rotary's early emblem was a simple wagon wheel (in motion with dust). It was designed in 1905 by Montague M. Bear, a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago who was an engraver. He designed the emblem to represent both civilization and movement. Most of the early Rotary clubs adopted the wheel in one form or another.
In 1922, the organization decided to create and preserve an emblem for the exclusive use of all Rotarians, and the following year, the present emblem, a gearwheel with 24 cogs and six spokes, was adopted. A keyway was added to signify the usefulness of the gearwheel.
Each year, the President of Rotary International adopts a theme for the focus of the new presidential year and has a logo designed to signify the annual initiative. The theme for 2007-08 is reversible: Rotary Shares and so we must all share Rotary.. The inspiring and colorful logo serves Rotary International and the Littleton Rotary Club through July, 2008.
About Rotary
Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs. Rotary membership represents men and women from the business and professional community, and it is open to all cultures, races, and creeds.
The main objective of Rotary is service in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and other professionals, and vocational and career development. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.
Community service is comprised of the effort Rotarians make to improve the quality of life within their service areas. Sometimes in conjunction with other organizations, or individuals, these efforts have many facets. International service is made up of all those things Rotarians do to advance world peace and understanding.
The Littleton Rotary Club is involved in various project and service activities including:
- A road clean-up project
- I Like Me book program
- Santa program (in partnership with the Littleton Lions club)
The Club has also been active in supporting the Grafton County Task Force in conjunction with Ammonoosuc Community Health Services, which is a program, which seeks to assist low-income adults with dental care in our community.
The Littleton Rotary Float in the Summerfest Parade
Rotarians at the Franconia Fourth of July Parade
Littleton Rotary Club
Chartered July 29, 1926
Club #6418--District #7850
Meets Every Wednesday at 12:15
Eastgate Motor Inn, Littleton, NH
Programs
The
Littleton Rotary Club’s scholarship program is a
prime example of community service with perhaps a tinge of vocational.
In over a quarter of a century, nearly a quarter of a million dollars
has been awarded to area young people to assist them with furthering
their education.
The
Santa Program, a joint Rotary-Lions effort, brings a visit
from Santa to area little ones each Christmas Eve, and a host of
other programs assist organizations throughout the area.
International
service efforts have included a matching grant project
with the Yoro, Honduras Club providing latrines in a rural area.
Presently another project is being developed with the Marcala, Honduras
Club to pipe surface runoff to reduce contagious waterborne disease.
These projects involve funds raised by the Littleton Club, matched
by District 7850 which is comprised of clubs in northern Vermont,
northern New Hampshire and portions of Canada. The amounts raised
by both the District and Littleton Club will be matched by the Rotary
Foundation thus quadrupling the amount available for the project.
Annual Events:
Lobster/Steak Festival:
The 35th Annual Lobster Festival was held on September 22, 2007 at Bretton Woods. The money raised is donated to approximately twenty area non-profit organizations. This event raises over $10,000 for area agencies.
Rotarians working as chefs at the Annual Lobster
Dinner
The Radio Auction
March 25, 2006
The Annual Radio Auction raises monies exclusively for high school scholarships awarded to deserving students in our service area.
Last year the auction netted approximately $15,000. Your generous
“bids” on the items goes directly to students pursuing
a post secondary education. Please bid “early and often”
and remember that all our efforts planning and conducting the auction
are dedicated to our students.
Club Members at work raising over $18,000 last year for scholarships
2007/2008 Officers:
Chrisara Smith
2007/08 Club President
President:
Chrisara Smith
Past President:
Barbara Ashley
President Elect:
Carmen Menard
Secretary:
Richard Bielefield
Treasurer:
Schuyler Sweet
Past President Barbara Ashley welcoming new President Chrisara Smith
Sergeant-at- Arms:
Rolf Zuk
Assistant Secretary:
Veronica Francis
Directors:
Frank Benham
Kim Butler
Veronica Francis
Mary Doherty
Kathleen Jablonski
Brian Petelle
District #7850 Governor:
John Morgan
Wolfboro, NH
www.rotary7850.org
Rotary International
President:
Wilfrid J. (Wilf) Wilkinson, Ontario, Canada
Service Supervisor District:
#7850: Francoise Garcia, Evanston, IL
The Rotary Foundation:
The Rotary Foundation began as the dream of the organization's sixth
International President, Ach Klumph, who proposed at an international
convention that there was the need for an "endowment designed
for doing good in the world." representing the funds left over
from the 1918 convention held in that city. In 1930, the first grant,
$500 was awarded to the International Society for Crippled Children.
In 1947, upon the death of the Rotary's founder, Paul Harris, Rotarians
worldwide flooded the Foundation with memorial gifts totaling $1,000,000.
The following year, the first graduate scholarships for study abroad
were awarded to eighteen scholars from seven countries. By 1965,
annual contributions exceeded $1 million dollars for the first time,
enabling the establishment of matching grants and group study exchange
program.
Dick Bielefield receiving his tenth Paul Harris Fellow Award from Paul McGoldrick at 2006 Annual Dinner
Foundation Programs
Ambassadorial Scholars:
Men and women spend a
year abroad continuing their studies, learning about that culture
and serving as an ambassador for their country and Rotary.
Group Study Exchange:
These annual awards are made
to paired Rotary Districts to provide travel expenses for a team
of non-Rotarians from a variety of vocations.
PolioPlus:
Approximately one half billion dollars will
have been directed toward the eradication effort by the time the
work is certified polio free. To date, 120 nations, have benefited
from the program and over two billion children have been immunized.
