What's new with Rotary

Andy McGlinn of the Plastic Ocean Project briefs Rotarians and their families about Greenfield Park cleanup on Dec. 14. The volunteers picked up 60 pounds of trash.

Rotarians, friends, families pitch in, clean up Greenfield Park

December 14, 2024: The second in our series of “family friendly” service projects put Rotarians, spouses, friends, and children to work at Greenfield Park. The club’s Community Service and Environment Committees conducted the work day in partnership with the Plastic Ocean Project. Participating were eight Rotarians, three spouses and friends, and five children.
Together, they collected 60 pounds of trash in and near the Rotary Wheel Garden. In recognition of that amount, the Plastic Ocean Project will plant two trees at the New Hanover County landfill.

Student participants in the 2024 Wilmington RYLA conference at UNC-Wilmington pose with Rotarians from five sponsoring clubs. RYLA is an annual Rotary event.

High school students discuss goals with business leaders at Wilmington's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards conference

December 7, 2024: Thirty-nine juniors from all ten of New Hanover County's public and private high schools gathered at UNC-Wilmington on Dec. 7 for a morning of conversations about leadership, values, and education. The students, all nominated by their schools' guidance counselors, were participants in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program.

Rotarians from five clubs -- Wilmington, Wilmington East, Wilmington Central, Wilmingon West, and Cape Fear -- served as discussion leaders.

Of the 39 student participants in the Wilmington session, the Rotary sponsors selected thirteen to attend the District 7730 RYLA conference Jan. 24 through 26 at Pine Knoll Shores in Carteret County. Students selected by Rotary Clubs across seventeen Southeastern North Carolina counties will attend that weekend-long event at no cost.

Club foundation gives $5,000 for Hurricane Helene relief,

members and friends add another $7,000 for western N.C.

October 22, 2024: Since Oct. 1, members of the club have given more than $7,000 toward help for victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Those gifts are on top of a $5,000 contribution the club made from its non-profit charitable foundation. A wide swath of western North Carolina was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

These contribution have been directed either to Rotary District 7670, which covers western North Carolina, and is coordinating relief and recovery work in its 22 counties.

Since then, two other Wilmington-area Rotary Clubs have pitched in another $7,500. Rotary District 7730 has provided a $15,000 match, President Paul Lawler reported Oct. 8. Altogether, our district has sent $45,000 for Helene relief, according to District Governor C.J. Crooks.

In 2018, in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, which caused widespread flooding in and around Wilmington, Rotarians from all parts of the country sent aid here, some of it directly to this club. We remember that generosity in helping disaster victims elsewhere, such as to the Hawaiian island of Maui after wildfires there destroyed much of the city of Lahaina.

Club seeks nominations for Leaders in Service awards

October 1, 2024: The Wilmington Rotary Club is seeking nominations for its fourth annual Leaders in Service awards, which will honor top leaders in three categories of local enterprise: business, non-profit and government. The three honorees will be recognized at a banquet on May 13, 2025.

The awards program and banquet are a fund-raiser for the club, which since 1915 has been undertaking projects to improve our community, the nation, and the world. Corporate sponsorships and individual ticket sales will benefit the Rotary Club’s local, non-profit charitable arm, the RCDW Foundation. This year, the foundation will disburse $70,000 or more in grants to non-profit organizations and in support for the club’s own projects, primarily focused on basic education and literacy.

The club is asking for nominations from the public. Nominees should be leaders of organizations that have contributed to improving our community. Specifically, those proposed for the Leaders in Service award should 1) hold a responsible leadership position in their organization, or its local branch; 2) have made outstanding contributions to the community in one or more of Rotary’s seven Areas of Focus; 3) have led a life and managed their organization in accordance with the Rotary Four-Way Test; 4) have demonstrated a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and 5) have demonstrated leadership skills in personnel development and done collaborative work with others in the community.

More details and a nomination form can be found online at www.leadersinservice.org. Nominations are open until Jan. 17, 2025.

The Wilmington Rotary Club’s RCDW Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable institution. That means sponsorships will be largely tax-deductible for donors. In return for their support, sponsors will be recognized at the awards banquet and in public media advertising and will receive multiple tickets to the May 13, 2025 awards banquet.

Rotarians and families help Miracle League athletes.

September 21, 2024: The first in a series of "family friendly" service projects put Rotarians, spouses and children on the Miracle Field, acting as "buddies" for athletes with disabilities. The volunteers helped players with batting, base-running and fielding.

The Miracle Field and the Miracle League are projects of Access Wilmington, providing athletic opportunities on a wheelchair-friendly surface. The Wilmington Rotary Club has been one of the league's supporters since its beginning.

While the club has been doing service projects throughout its 109-year history, they are not always convenient for members with young families. That's why this and similar projects are scheduled for weekends and other times that Rotarians with nine-to-five jobs and/or young children can easily participate in. These projects also include tasks that children can safely perform under supervision.

Rotarians place Peace Pole in Rotary Garden at Greenfield

September 21, 2024: A Peace Pole, with the message "May peace prevail on earth" in four languages, was unveiled at the Rotary Wheel Garden in Wilmington's Greenfield Park. The event marked World Peace Day.

A project of Wilmington's six Rotary Clubs, this is one of hundreds of similar monuments worldwide. Rotary Clubs have sponsored many of them; one of the world-wide Rotary movement's seven area of focus is "Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution." The languages used depend on location. The Wilmington Peace Pole's message is in English, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Cherokee. Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the Wilmington area; Ukrainian represents the war-refugee families that area Rotarians have helped to relocate here; and Cherokee represents the Native American tribes, past and present, of North Carolina.

The Rotary Wheel Garden, in the shape of a giant Rotary gear wheel, was the Wilmington Rotary Club's gift to the City of Wilmington on the club's 50th anniversary in 1965.

Club awards six grants to non-profits

September 17, 2024: The Wilmington Rotary Club has made six grants totaling $14,500 to local non-profits, providing services in the health, nutrition, housing, literacy, and community development areas. Those grants include a 50 percent match from the international Rotary Foundation, distributed by Rotary’s District 7730.

The funds were formally disbursed at the club’s Sept. 10 meeting. The six grants are to:

• A dental screening clinic for low-income children, operated in cooperation with the St. Mary Clinic, Cape Fear Community College’s dental hygienist program, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina: $3,000.
• First Fruit Ministries, to buy equipment and supplies for its food pantry: $2,000.
• The Good Shepherd Center, to support feeding 3,000 people through its Soup Kitchen and Second Helpings programs: $2,000.
• The Good Shepherd Center, for rental fees and deposits and household goods to help around 60 people make the transition from homelessness to permanent housing: $3,000.
• Wilmington’s Parks and Recreation Department, funds for repairs to Greenfield Park’s Rotary Wheel Garden, whose 58-year-old brick walls need repairs: $2,000.
• St. Mary Catholic School, funds to rebuild the school library, which suffered major damage during Hurricane Florence in 2018: $2,500.

The grants were approved by the club’s Grants Committee and Board of Directors. The matching funds were allocated by District 7730, which includes 50 Rotary Clubs across Southeastern North Carolina. The Wilmington club’s grants were among a total of 65 District Grants, totaling almost $146,000, awarded this year. The District funds come from the world-wide Rotary Foundation. The club’s funds, raised largely through the annual Leaders in Service Awards, come from its local non-profit foundation.

Guest speakers to address challenges of our region's growth

August 21, 2024: Among 2024-25 President Paul Lawler’s initiatives is a monthly series of programs examining issues that will affect Wilmington and the region as its explosive growth continues. He wants both the club and our region's "thought leaders" to consider: “What will this growth mean for all of us? Will we still find what we love about the area in another ten, twenty, or more years? Or will this be a very different Wilmington?” The first two of those programs, in July and August, looked back at the region’s history, and at its current and future water supply. Future topics include demographic growth projections; economic outlook; education, transportation, recreation and health care; region-wide cooperation; and strategies for leaders to use in preparing for growth and change.

Lawler leads club in 2024-25, its 210th year

June 25, 2024: Paul Lawler, a former Wilmington city councilman and a retired accountant, will lead the Wilmington Rotary Club as its president for the 2024-2025 year. He took office at the club's annual presidential installation dinner on June 25. President-Elect Debby Gomulka, Secretary Elliot O'Neal, Jr., and Treasurer Larry Sackett are the club’s other officers for the coming year. Outgoing Rotary District Governor Allen Quigley presided over the induction ceremony, hosted by the Cameron Art Museum.

Also taking office were five new members of the club’s Board of Directors, who will serve through 2027. They are: Stacy Ankrum, past club president (2011-12), a banker with First Citizens; Ramona Farrell, a forensic accountant with Farrell Insights; Bob Kitchen, a retired engineer with Duke/Progress Energy; Peter Maloff, a retired lawyer; and Taft Martin, employed by Baker Roofing of Wilmington. They join ten other board members, whose terms expire in 2025 and 2026.

Rotarians also honored the outgoing president for 2023-24, Nancy Bullock, and retiring members of the Board of Directors.

 

Board of Directors and officers: Gabe Rich, Jack Clark, Cathy Barlow, David Grandey, Vicki Scott, Secretary Elliot O’Neal Jr., Treasurer Larry Sackett, President-elect Debby Gomulka, immediate Past President Nancy Bullock, Laura Lisle, Donna Shiro, Christina Ferris, Tiffany Kitchen, Chris Utesch, and President Paul Lawler.

Bertha Todd named as Rotary's first Legacy Award recipient

May 1, 2024: Bertha Boykin Todd, a retired educator who has devoted her life to bridging racial divisions in Wilmington, received the club's first-ever Legacy Award at the May 1 Leaders in Service banquet. Between 1952 and 1968, she was librarian at the all-Black Williston High School. When New Hanover County Schools were desegregated and Williston closed, she was assigned to the new Hoggard High School. There, she helped students navigate the turmoil and violence that followed between 1968 and 1971. She soon became an assistant principal and held that position until retiring in 1992. Member of local and state human relations boards, she advised mayors, superintendents, and governors. She was co-chair of the 1898 Centennial Foundation, which remembered the white-supremacist insurrection that overturned Wilmington's bi-racial city government, forcibly exiled leading Black citizens, and largely destroyed a thriving Black business community. She also was a major force behind the 1898 memorial on North Third Street.

2024 Leaders in Service honorees accept awards

 

From left: honorees Dr. Charles Hardy, Connie Parker, and Brian McMerty

May 1, 2024: The club's third annual Leaders in Service Awards honorees were recognized at the club's banquet on May 1. They are Dr. Charles Hardy, founding dean of UNCW's College of Health & Human Services, in the government category; Connie Parker of Wilmington Health Access for Teens, in the non-profit category; and Brian McMerty, who led the consolidation of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina, in the private-sector category. Leaders in Service recognizes executives and other leaders who have made outstanding contributions to their community. Through sponsorships and ticket sales, it is the Wilmington Rotary Club's chief fund-raiser.

Law officers, others, honored with 'Service Above Self' award

March 5, 2024: Police officers, a crime-lab specialist, a judge, and an alert restaurant employee were presented with the Rotary Club's 2024 "Service Above Self" awards. This annual program recognizes first responders and people in the justice system for actions beyond the call of duty. District Attorney Ben David, a Rotarian, presented the awards. Those honored were:

• Deputies Emily Watson and Stephen Sawyer of Pender County Sheriff's Department for providing life-saving first aid, including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, to a nine-year-old boy suffering a severe asthma attack.
• Detective Timothy Moon of Wilmington Police Department and the regional ATF Task Force, for his investigative work that enabled successful federal prosecutions for several serious firearms offenses.
• Jennifer Slish, a ballistics specialist with the North Carolina State Crime Lab, for resolving the murders of three people by linking bullets to the guns -- and the killers -- that fired them.
• Sgt. Craig Melville of Wilmington Police Department, for many years of service in the department's community outreach efforts, including a bike-patrol crime-prevention project, "Cop Camp," and now the Crime Scene Investigations unit.
• Officers Joseph Lachapelle and Daniel Huerta of Wilmington Police Department and deputies Danny Atkins, Jeremy Moncus, Aaron Naughton, and Eric Tello of New Hanover County Sheriff's Department, for stopping and fatally shooting a gunman who had attacked multiple people, while safeguarding innocent passers-by on busy Market Street.
• District Court Judge James Faison, for more than twenty years of overseeing the Community Recovery Court, which offers alternatives to prison, and a path to sobriety, for offenders struggling with drug or alcohol addictions.
• Meghan Gilbert, an employee of the Sawmill Restaurant on Castle Hayne Road, for administering life-saving CPR to a customer who went into medical distress while dining.

Each of those recognized received a hand-crafted plaque made by teenage volunteers at Kids Making It, and a $200 gift certificate to treat their family to dinner. David made a point of recognizing the vital support that spouses, children, and parents provide to public-safety professionals.

Rotarians host Boys & Girls Home residents at UNCW game

March 2, 2024: Six boys from the Rotary Cottage at the Boys & Girls Home of North Carolina enjoyed a UNC-Wilmington basketball game. The guests, along with three Rotarians, watched the Seahawks defeat the Towson Tigers, 75-64. Each of the boys was treated to food and drink, as well as a Seahawks T-shirt and souvenir cup. David Grandey, Matt Hilliard and Allan Lusk represented the club. Rotarians' next opportunity to support the Boys & Girls Home will be the Rotary Day open house on the Lake Waccamaw campus, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 23.

Rotary sponsors free dental-screening clinic for children

February 17, 2024: Twenty-five low-income children got dental screenings and cleanings at the first of four planned free clinics sponsored by the club. This took place on Feb. 17 at the St. Mary Health Center, housed in the Tileston Building below St. Mary School. The Rotary club supplied money for supplies, as well as seven volunteers, including dentists Dr. Gabe Rich and Dr. Coleman Burgess. All the patients received exams, cleanings, fluoride treatments, and X-rays and dental sealants as needed. Any dental disease, such as cavities, was documented and the children’s families given referrals for follow-up treatment. All were also given a take-home dental care kit. Additional clinics were scheduled for Feb. 24, March 9, and March 16.

Beginning teachers honored with cash awards

February 13, 2024: Five second-year teachers in New Hanover County Schools were honored as the 2024 "Rookie Teachers of the Year" on Feb. 13. These Rotary Club awards, issued annually since 2017, are meant to encourage beginning educators to continue in their profession. The top winner received $1,000; the other four got $500 each.

 

Rookie Teachers of the Year for 2024 are Maggie Sellers, Devin Pierce (top winner), Breylin Young, Sarah Wood, and Melissa Lawrence. Each got cash awards.

Rotary funds and volunteer ushers help Theatre for All

December 7 and 8, 2023: Volunteers from our club helped set up the Second Street Stage auditorium and lobby, and hand out programs, at Theatre for All's production of "A Night's Tale." Theatre for All provides performing-arts opportunities for people with disabilities. The Rotarians helped as part of a $2,500 District Grant project.

International grant to combat teen pregnancy in West Africa

November 21, 2023: the club presented a $2,000 grant to Missions of Hope, a faith-based group working in the West African nation of Sierra Leone. This will support the group's "Let Girls be Girls" project, which provides education about pregnancy and sexual health to teenage girls.

Community dinner feeds hundreds, with help from Rotary

November 17, 2023: Rotarians helped Wilmington's Northside Food Cooperative feed members of more than 150 families at a "community dinner." The Wilmington Rotary Club has supplied money and volunteer work to support two such group meals. Of the club's $2,720 contribution, half came from the club's charitable foundation and half from a Rotary District Grant."

Global Grant buys equipment for Honduras health clinic

November 7, 2023: The Clinica Santa Maria in Reitoca, Honduras, unveiled new diagnostic and treatment equipment bought with a Rotary Global Grant in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. This $47,000 project, led by Wilmington Rotary Club, is a collaboration among multiple clubs in North Carolina, Honduras, and elsewhere. The international Rotary Foundation contributed $30,000; this club gave $6,000, and other local Rotary Clubs $7,000. Other funds came from Rotary District 7730 (Southeastern North Carolina), clubs in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and the Tegucigalpa Sur Rotary Club, which is the project's local sponsor. The clinic, in a remote and impoverished part of the Central America nation, serves a population of 50,000. It was founded by Laura Vinson, who runs the St. Mary Clinic in Wilmington, and strongly supported by Rev. Robert Kus, a former member of this club and retired pastor of Wilmington's St. Mary Catholic Church. "Father Bob" now lives in Honduras. Rotarians Tolis Vardakis and Tom Hoggard of the Wilmington club, along with Nancy Boston and her husband Jim of the Shallotte Rotary Club, attended the Nov. 7 event in Reitoca.

Rotarians help raise walls at Habitat house

October 28, 2023: The first on-site work day for the Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity "Rotary Build" house took place Oct. 28. Six members of this club, along with Rotarians from other area clubs, Habitat volunteers, and the future homeowner and members of her family raised prefabricated wall sections and installed sheathing. Next for volunteers was installing roof sheathing and vinyl siding during work days Nov. 4 and Nov. 18 work days.

Grant will help support youthful artisans

October 17, 2023: Kids Making It, which gives young people training in woodworking and entrepreneurship, will benefit from $2,000 from the Wilmington Rotary Club. Half of that is a direct grant, which will help the non-profit buy supplies. The other $1,000 is the club's commitment to buy hand-crafted pens, to be used as gifts for guest speakers. The club presented the $1,000 grant on Oct. 17.

District grants approved for three projects

October 2023: Three Wilmington non-profits will receive support from our club, with the help of 50-50 matching grants from Rotary District 7730. Half of the funds will come from this club's charitable foundation. The three projects will take place during the 2023-24 Rotary year. Recipients are: Northside Food Cooperative, to support bimonthly community dinners, feeding 150 people each time, $2,720; 2Share, Inc., supplying beds for children in need, $3,500; and Theater for All, staging performances by 100 people with disabilities, $2,500.

Ukrainian refugee family finds new home in Wilmington

Thanks to local Rotarians, Ivan and Anastasiia Sliepov, a young couple with infant twin sons, arrived here August 22, 2023.  They are living in an apartment rented and furnished by volunteers from the East Wilmington Rotary Club and Wilmington Rotary Club. In addition to contributions from individual Rotarians, both clubs have made financial commitments to help resettle refugees from the Ukraine war. The Sliepov family is the third that the Rotary coalition has helped bring to Wilmington. Meanwhile, Ivan Sliepov, a qualified marine engineer, has found a job with an HVAC contractor, and Anastasiia Sliepov is taking English lessons.

Club gives gift cards to all beginning public school teachers

Each first-year teacher in New Hanover County Schools got a $25 Staples gift card on August 15, 2023, a gift from our club. Rotarians wearing “Wilmington Rotary Works” T-shirts joined the new teachers at Hoggard High School and spoke about our various projects to help teachers and schools.

Club creates scholarships to Cape Fear Community College

On August 21, 2023, our Board of Directors approved two scholarship funds. One will grant a $2,000 academic scholarship to CFCC each year, with preference to students who formerly attended Williston Middle School. Application for the second scholarship, for $1,500, is open to students in the college's film program.

$5,700 to help Maui fire disaster relief

Also on August 21, 2023, the club allocated $5,000 to help in the aftermath of the wildfire that destroyed most of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Individual Rotarians added another $700. The funds have been directed to the Maui Fire Relief Fund, established by Hawaiian Rotary Clubs. These contributions echo the many generous donations our club received in 2018 from Rotarians around the nation to help Wilmington's recovery from Hurricane Florence. Follow this link to the Maui Fire Relief Fund, or scan the QR code.

Club helps New Hanover's new teachers with expenses

August 15, 2023: Tight budgets and low salaries are a chronic challenge for public school teachers, who often pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. Wilmington Rotary Club offered some help to the newest teachers in the New Hanover County Schools, offering every beginning faculty member a $25 gift card to Staples. Members of the club, wearing "Rotarian at Work" T-shirts, distributed the cards at an August 15 meeting. The club spent $2,000, enough to help 80 teachers.