Home Page | Rotary Club of Skaneateles

Welcome to our Club!

Service Above Self

We meet Thursdays at 6:30 PM
The Sherwood Inn

26 W. Genesee St
Skaneateles, NY 13152
United States of America

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Just One of the Many Skaneateles Rotarian's

Commitments to our Community & our World .... by Ward Vuillemot

When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative more than three decades ago, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent, from 350,000 cases in 1988 in 125 countries to 33 cases of wild poliovirus in 2018 in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.

Visit https://www.endpolio.org to learn more these efforts and progress and consider becoming a part of this humanitarian effort to rid the world of this terrible crippling disease.

Youth exchange Experiences change lives .... by Lori Ruhlman

They went to three different parts of the world and had very different experiences, but the three Skaneateles youth exchange students who returned to share their stories with the Rotary Club Thursday, Aug. 1st, had very much in common.
Sarah Euto, Gianna Eidel and Cole Goodchild each exuded confidence, joy and wisdom when talking about their new “second homes” of Austria, Japan and Taiwan.
The enthusiasm and joy they expressed seemed to come from the friendships they made that will last a lifetime. They were filled with love for people in their host countries and for the other exchange students they met from around the world.
The wisdom and confidence came from facing some of the most difficult challenges of their young lives, and surviving – even thriving.

Pictured from left, Sarah Euto, Gianna Eidel, Cole Goodchild & Eva Lombardi

Father's Day Pancake Breakfast - 2019

The Skaneateles Rotary Club’s annual Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast required all hands on deck from the Rotary Club and from many others in town. “Without volunteers, we would not make it,” Rotarian Dana Coye said. (He knows. He has been helping to make it happen for 51 years). Rotary Youth Exchange students and families help serve. Other volunteers help cook. High School athletic teams provide the muscle for heavy duty set up; Boy Scouts work all day collecting trash from the thousands who go through. (There is less and less "trash," as Rotary moves each year to a "greener" breakfast). And the community makes it work just by showing up to see everyone in town while sharing a table for the biggest and best Father’s Day breakfast in town.

To view and enjoy the many photos of the event, CLICK Here.

Skaneateles Rotary Club Welcomes

Terry McCormick as a Member

Pledging to “go forth to promote positive change in the world, Terry McCormick was inducted into the Skaneateles Rotary Club on Thursday, August 29. He was inducted by Amy Tormey, membership chairperson, assisted by club president, Doug Powell and sponsored by Ward Vuillemot. McCormick originally joined Rotary 2016 and is a past member of good standing of the University Rotary Club on Minneapolis and the Alexandria Va. Rotary Club.

We look forward to sharing Terry's Rotary experiences as vital addition to our club.

Pictured L-R: Ward Vuillemot, Amy Tormey, Membership Chair, Terry McCormick & Doug Powell, Club President.

And There Goes Another Pallet of Books

The Skaneateles Rotary Club sponsored, collected, packed and shipped another pallet of books for the CNY Books for the World project. The books for this pallet were primary gleaned from the State Street & Middle School libraries and from Smiles of Skaneateles dental office, collection box.
This brings the total of 40 pallets of books sponsored and/or shipped from Skaneateles rotarians in the past 10 years. That's a lot of books going to the children of the world.
To learn more of the life changing international project, visit: https://cnybooksfortheworld.org

Rotary Youth Exchange Student's Shares her Insights

Rotary Exchange Student, Gahyeon was featured speaker at the Skaneateles Rotary Club this week. Gahyeon spoke about her experiences in Skaneateles with her host families who were so nice and friendly. Gahyeon said she had a great Christmas and received more gifts than ever. She picked apples at Beak & Skiff, went to the Bluewater Grill for her birthday, visited New York City and Chicago with her host families, and enjoyed some favorite food – especially Johnny Angel’s. Gahyeon also visited New York City with other exchange students. She spoke about how she joined basketball and track to make friends. She also participated in homecoming and haunted hallways. Gahyeon thanked our Rotary Club and her host families, and said she’ll never forget her experiences in Skaneateles.
Pictured L-R: Host Families; Helen Glowacki, Connie Bohrer, Gahyeon (YE- South Korea), Caroline Lombardi and host sister, Eva Lombard

Interact Club and Skaneateles Rotary unite to make a global difference

Skaneateles High School Senior Noah Smith presented a $1,000 check to Tom Deuson, ambassador for ShelterBox USA on behalf of the Skaneateles High School Interact Club. The students were inspired to raise money for the disaster relief program after Deuson brought a display to the high school. They learned how ShelterBox provides vulnerable people around the world with emergency shelter and supplies. Since 2000, ShelterBox staff and volunteers have helped give shelter to more than 1.4 million people affected by disasters and humanitarian crises.

Lessons in stewardship

Environmental steward Peter Clark speaks to Rotary and SLA

Nationally recognized hero of a decades-long successful effort to restore Tampa Bay returns home to share his story
The beautiful clean waters of Skaneateles Lake and the stewardship of local people inspired Peter A. Clark to grow up to become a hero of the decades-long effort to restore Tampa Bay.

He returned home to see his mother, Phyllis Clark of Skaneateles, and to share the remarkable story of how he started and led a successful environmental stewardship program that has used thousands of volunteers to bring Tampa Bay back to life

As a guest of the Skaneateles Rotary Club Thursday, 3/14/19, Clark spoke to an audience that also included fans of Skaneateles Lake. Significantly, the audience included young Rachael DeWitt, the director of the Skaneateles Lake Association which is leading the charge to protect Skaneateles Lake.

5th Annual International Women's Day Celebration, a Resounding Success!

Linda Larsen had the audience in stitches as she gave tips on the power of positive thinking in a comedic performance at the Lodge for the Skaneateles Rotary Club’s fifth annual International Women’s Day celebration Thursday.

She titled her talk “Staying right side up when everything is upside down,” but said it’s really about knowing how to “recover more quickly” when things are upside down.

“What I’ve learned in life is that there is What I Planned … and What Actually Happens,” she said.

“We’re wired to look for what’s wrong,” she said, noting that people have 40,000 thoughts a day “and 90 percent are negative.” She talked about how make change with positive thoughts. “You are in charge of your thoughts,” she said. “What you name that thing, it tends to become.”

Cider & Donuts for Trick or Treaters

Skaneateles Rotary Club had a great event at the Skaneateles High School last Halloween night during their annual Haunted Hallways. Our club provided and served 12 dozen doughnuts (576 doughnut quarters) and 12 gallons of apple cider donated by Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards.
The decorations looked great as Karen Price’s Interact kids did a super job. We had 11 volunteers from our club for setup, serving, and cleanup. A good time was had by all. Fun, treats and goblins aplenty for young and young at heart.
A big thank-you to all participants. .... Brad

Youth Exchange Students Welcomed at Annual Picnic

Gard Lorey SRC YE chair, extended a huge welcome to our 2018-19 exchange students and host families during our Annual Club picnic. Tymon is from Poland and Han is from South Korea. Both Tymon and Han expressed their gratitude and happiness as exchange students. Gard talked about the exchange program and how it hinges on the availability of host families. Current host families were thanked and Gard asked that people spread the word about the need for host families.

Prosthetic Hands - Dr. Dayaprusad Kulkarni, center, told the Skaneateles Rotary Club members how their donations have helped give prosthetic hands to young people. “It costs $250 to change a life,” said Kulkami, who creates and prints 3D prosthetic hands. Skaneateles Rotarian Umesh Patil knew of Kulkami’s work (he had spoken before at Rotary and Rotarians had funded him) and so when he met a young girl without a hand, he immediately knew to connect her family to Kulkami.

Dr. Dayaprasad kulkarni, center, with the Rotary club president Bill Conole, left, and board member Umesh Patil who donated $250 for a prosthetic hand.
by... Lori Ruhlman

Skantarian Bookleggers at Work ... by Ward

For the 9th straight year, Skaneteles Rotarians (BookLeggers) completed a very successful book staging, gleaning & packing Sunday afternoon at the Skaneateles Library book sale. WHAT A TEAM!

Three full pallets of excellent; children, reference, history and fiction books were packed and staged for pickup. That's 72 cartons or about 3 ton of books to be sent to developing countries. A banner year and a great to kick off a new Rotary year.

A special thanks go to the Skaneateles Friends of the Skaneateles Library who help make this all possible.

IT'S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN PANCAKES!

The Skaneateles Rotary Club’s Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast shines a spotlight on our community. Stars of the show are often our Rotary Youth Exchange Students: those who are here from other countries and those who are going abroad from Skaneateles. This year’s inbound students, Kashyap Lalwala and Eduarda (Duda) H. de Freitas, will be serving coffee and juice this year and helping the Interact Club give away free balloons in honor of the 50th anniversary. Here they are in their Rotary jackets. Rotary students all over the world have jackets that they decorate with mementos from their year abroad. These two have had a wonderful year and wish to thank their great host families!

PICNIC TABLES FOR CLEAR PATH VETERANS

On Tues, June 5th, seven Skaneateles Rotarians made their way to Clear Path for Veterans, in Chittenango, NY to cut and assemble two 8 foot picnic tables to be used on the Clear Path grounds. They were met by Matt Foster, CP grounds maintenance manager and a volunteer, who supplied the equipment and direction for the project. The materials and labor were supplied by Skaneateles Rotarians; Mary, Robin, Roy, David, Danny, Marv & Ward. The day was successful, enjoyable and an eye opener of the Clear Path has, and is, accomplishing for our veterans. CLICK HERE to view Photo Album of the event. To learn more of the Clear Path for Veterans project, facility and their mission, visit their website at: http://www.clearpath4vets.com

IWD EVENT PROCEEDS PRESENTED:

4/5/18 - Amy Tormey presented generous check to Me Melina Carncicelli of the 1st Amendment 1st Vote Organization. The check Amy presented represented a portion of the proceeds from our very successful Women’s Day Dinner. Melina will be making a presentation on the 1st Amendment, 1st Vote program on May 24th. Pictured are Melina Carncicelli (2nd from left) and with Amy are some of her IWD committee members; Mary Giroux, Cathy Powell & Suzanne Hutchinson.

Skaneateles Rotary Club Celebrating International Women's Day

Rotary members, friends, guests and students were all at the Lodge on Thursday evening to celebrate International Women's Day. Dr Sally Roesch Wagner gave an inspirational talk followed by two of the Ambassadors from the Matilda Joselyn Gage Foundation's program which focuses on empowering and inspiring young women to become agents of change. Many thanks to Amy Tormey and everyone else that worked on the fourth annual IWD Celebration making this event a great success.

Pictured with Rotarian Kathy Crelot (center) are key note speakers; Vanessa Johnson (left) and at right is Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner (right)

Lean more about the event by CLICKING HERE to following the story on Spectrum News Central NY, and CLICK HERE to read Lori Ruhlman's news release of the event.

SHELTER BOXES - Oct 23, 2017

The two Skaneateles Rotary Club's funded two Shelter Boxes through a District 7150 Grant this year. These Shelter Boxes contain shelters and other necessary materials to house a family in regions of our world who have lost everything due to natural disasters and conflicts. As a part of the project, the clubs arranged with the SSD and a ShelterBox USA Rotarian representative, Tom Deuson, to set up and display a Shelter Box in the High School commons. The Interact club supplied much of the setup labor, and are planning to raise funds during the school to donate to ShelterBox USA. Rotarians and Interactors working together to meet a great need in our world. To learn more about the ShelterBox organization, visit www.sheterboxusa.org

Skaneateles Bookleggers - Five Skaneateles Rotarian Bookleggers and a community volunteer sorted and packed 24 cartons of books at the Skaneateles Middle School Library Thursday, Dec. 21st. Those included were: David Piper, Bill Conole, Chuck Williams, Cathy Powell, Carolyn Widas & Ward Vuillemot. Good books, good volunteers and a good time for a good cause.

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS TRANSPORT NEWORK

Disabled Dewitt Rotary donated $1444 and Skaneateles Rotary donated $ 500 to purchase magnetic signs for the vans to generate awareness to veterans and to solicit volunteers.The DAV transport vans cover all of Central New York, Mohawk Valley and up north. Volunteer drivers are very much needed by DAV ! BTW. kudos to our own John Moran is one of the many volunteer that drive these vehicle.
Pictured l-r are: Debb Parker, Dewitt Rotarian and volunteer DAV driver; Sue Reisman, Dewitt Rotarian; Bill Conole, Skaneateles Rotarian; and Dewitt Rotarians Mark Matt and Ken Souser