Home Page | Rotary Club of Tunkhannock

On Jun 30, Michael Markovitz was installed by District Governor Mary Ellen Bentler as President of the Tunkhannock Rotary for 2022-2023. The Officer Installation Dinner took place at Shadowbrook. Pres. Mike provided an overview of his goals for his Presidency.

2022-2023 Rotary Theme

Rotary International President Jennifer Jones (who is also our first female president) has announced the 2022-23 theme Imagine Rotary. “Imagine, a world that deserves our best, where we get up each day knowing that we can make a difference.”

The theme is a special one: the theme graphic was designed by an Australian Indigenous artist to link with the Melbourne Convention in 2023.

Some of the symbolism includes:
Circle connections to one another
Dots around it - our people
There are 7 Dots for Rotary's 7 areas of focus
Circle + dots around it - a navigation star, our guiding light
Green solid line - digging stick (used when doing hard work); for us it's People of Action, represents the tools for getting things done
The colours purple, green & white - celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion
Freedom to express ourselves differently but still with a special connection
Purple is also the colour of Rotary's Polio campaign
Green represents the Environment
White stands for peace; it also represents Empowerment and Newness and also the colours were utilised for the women's movement, highlighting the opportunity to grow our female membership.

Welcome to our Website!

Service Above Self

We meet In Person

Thursdays at 12:15 PM

Shadowbrook Inn and Resort & Zoom

201 Resort Lane
Tunkhannock, PA 18657
United States of America

District Site

Bulletins

On the first and third Thursdays of every month, the Tunkhannock Rotary has a flash club meeting at 5:30 PM via Zoom. This is a 15-30 minute meeting for those members or prospective members who cannot make our regular 12:15 PM meeting.

A big thank you to our perennial favorite band, Popstar Drive, for entertaining everyone before Sunday's Fireworks.

A special thank you to the members of the Dennis Strong American Legion Post who provided the colors and honor guard at our Fireworks.

L to R: Murray Thompson, John Shaffer, George Gay and Jerry Beaucheane

We hope that everyone enjoyed the annual July 3rd Fireworks Display at Memorial Stadium.

Thank you for your donations to help support next year's Fireworks.

Rotary at Founder's Day

Saturday, Jun 25 was Founder's Day in downtown Tunkhannock. As usual, Rotary had a booth at the event to promote our upcoming July 3rd Fireworks, the Oct Harvest & Wine Festival and to provide information about our Club and Rotary.

L to R: Frank Oliver, Pres. Mary Tempest and Dave Wilson

Fishing Outing at Ron's Pond

On Sat June 18, Ron Furman hosted a fishing party for Rotarians, their family and friends at his pond in Mehoopany. A fun time was had by all and several fish were caught including by the youngest fisherperson.

Rotary Meets at Patriot's Cove

On Thursday June 16, the Tunkhannock Rotary held their weekly meeting and went on a tour at Patriot's Cove in Noxen. Patriots Cove is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded by a military veteran and his spouse to empower other veterans, first responders, and their caregivers to heal and adapt to life after service. Through events on their eighteen-acre refuge, they provide restorative outdoor activities, environmental service projects, and educational events and retreats for caregivers.

Mary Tempest Shares Hawaiin Adventure

At the Jun 2 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook, President Mary Tempest provided a photo journal of her recent trip to Hawaii with fellow Rotarian Jeannie Brady. They had a great time and a few challenges. The photo journal was great to see.

President Mary Tempest

Rotary Scholarships Awarded

Rotarian Jodi Crimmel (center) with 2022 Rotary Academic Scholarship winners, Brady Lukasavage (left) and Michael Sickler (right). Our club is looking forward to great things from these outstanding gentlemen!

Gwen Buchanan Spoke at May 19 Luncheon

Gwen Buchanan was the guest speaker at the May 19 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook. Gwen talked about her solo traverse of the complete Appalachian Trail. It took her 5 months and 5 days to walk the trail from Georgia to Maine. She showed absolutely fabulous photos from her adventure and the highlights of her trip.

Rotary Spring Roadside Cleanup

Since 1997, the Tunkhannock Club has participated in the Adopt a Highway Program, adopting a 2 mile stretch of Route 6 in Tunkhannock. Twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, Tunkhannock Rotarians clean-up both sides of the roadside along Route 6 from the Fireplace Restaurant to beyond Route 87 towards Meshoppen.

On Sat May 14, Rotarians and family members gathered at the Fireplace Restaurant parking lot to begin the Spring cleanup. Rotarians are "People of Action" and were determined to get the cleanup done to help “Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful”. Although much of the material found is garbage and debris, other more interesting things have also been found such as money, shoes, pants, tires and miscellaneous items. All money found is donated to the Club.

2022 Rotary Relays Invitational

Congratulations to all the track and field participants who participated in the Wed, May 4 Rotary Relays Invitational in Tunkhannock. Thank you to all the Rotarians, volunteers, timers, helpers, students and athletic staff who helped to make this event possible. Thank you also to our generous sponsors.

Photos from this event can be found on the home page of our website in the 2022 Rotary Relays Invitational Photo Album (https://tunkhannockrotary.org/PhotoAlbums/2022-rotary-relays-invitational)

Tim Owen, "the Mushroom Man", Spoke at the Apr 21 Luncheon

Tim Owen, the Mushroom Man, gave a presentation at the April 21 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook. Tim talked about his mushroom farm and the growth, care and feeding of mushrooms. He also showed photos of various kinds of edible mushrooms and some of their more toxic look alikes.

Pres. Mary Tempest with Tim Owen

Sherri Kukuchka Provided Primer on Houseplants

The April 7 Rotary meeting was held offsite at Creekside Gardens, where Sherri Kukuchka provided a 101 Tutorial on growing different types of house plants. She showed examples of some of the most common house plants and their care, feeding and watering. She then took questions from the membership.

Sherri Kukuchka

Rotary Supports Dietrich Theater

At the Mar 31 Rotary Meeting at Shadowbrook, Erica Rogler (left), Executive Director of the Dietrich Theater, accepted a $3,000 donation from Tunkhannock President Mary Tempest. This donation was made from the proceeds of the 2021 Harvest & Wine Festival.

Erica Rogler, Pres. Mary Tempest & Treasurer Elaine Walker

Rotary Supports KY Tornado Relief

Every year, one of the fun activities at Tunkhannock Rotary is the attempt by members to “steal” the current President’s gavel, whenever they leave their personalized gavel unattended. Each President does everything they can to safeguard their gavels including wearing them on their person. To reacquire the gavel, around which a story is concocted as to its whereabouts, the President must raise money from the membership to be donated to either Rotary’s own 5-star charity, the Rotary Foundation, or another designated fund.

Some of the fairy tale stories around where their gavel has gone include gambling in Monaco, learning at an EMT course, stolen by the Wicked Witch, and camping at Cozy Creek Campgrounds. Once the “ransom” has been collected from the membership, the gavel is returned in a variety of different ways, such as: hanging from a ceiling fan, nestled in an hors d’oeuvre platter, raced in on a remote-controlled vehicle, brought in on a gurney and hiding in a bouquet of flowers.

This year, Club President Mary Tempest’s gavel disappeared in Dec. Mary asked members to dig deep to raise money to ransom her gavel, with the money to be donated to Western Kentucky relief efforts after the devastating Dec 10, 2021 tornado. The Club raised $1,735 and at the Mar 17 Rotary meeting at Shadowbrook, President Mary reacquired her gavel.

President Mary selected the Rotary Club of Mayfield Kentucky Tornado Disaster Relief Fund to be the recipient of the money. Mayfield is the county seat of Graves County, KY.

At the Mar 17 meeting, John Carrico, who is Past President, Chair of Public Relations, and Grant Writer for the Mayfield Rotary Club, provided an update via Zoom on the recovery progress made after the tornado in Mayfield and thanked the Club for its donation to their Tornado Disaster Relief Fund.

Although John’s house was not in the path of the tornado, he was speaking on the phone to his sister, when her home was destroyed by the tornado. It was a high-end EF4 rated tornado that traveled over 228 miles on the ground. She was one of the lucky survivors, although 22 people in their county lost their lives with hundreds more injured, many severely. Over 1,700 structures were damaged or destroyed in Mayfield.

Recovery will take years, but the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers are finishing up the removal of debris from areas of the town this month. Rotary Clubs from all over the country have been providing food, water, clothes, money and volunteers to help with the immediate recovery process.

Several churches were destroyed, but some will not rebuild while others will rebuild smaller buildings. The Mayfield Rotary Club Foundation has not only the Tornado Disaster Relief Fund, but a Homes and Hope for Kentucky Fund with a goal to build 100 new homes in the affected area.

John Carrico

Rotary Supports Victims Resource Center

At the Mar 10 Rotary meeting at Shadowbrook, President Mary Tempest (left) presented a check for $500 to the Victims Resource Center (VRC). The check was accepted by Tammi Burke, who gave an overview of the resources/services provided by the VRC. This donation was made possible from the proceeds of the 2021 Harvest & Wine Festival.

Rotary Supports Tunkhannock Public Library

At the Mar 3 luncheon at Shadowbrook, Rotary Past Pres. Terri Detrick presented a check to support the Tunkhannock Public Library. This donation was made possible by the success of the Oct Harvest & Wine Festival.

Library Executive Director Dellana Diovisalvo presented an update on the Tunkhannock Public Library, where they are starting to see more people and programs. She described a variety of new Library programs that are commencing in March, such as the new Book Club, the programs for National Craft Month (March) and the virtual Creative Writing Sessions.

Past President Terri Detrick presented a $4,000 Rotary check for the Library to Executive Director Dellana Diovisalvo (left).

Tunkhannock Rotary Announces Essay Contest Winners

At the Mar 3 Rotary Meeting at Shadowbrook, Don Davis, chair of the Essay Contest Committee, announced the 3 top essayists in the 2022 Tunkhannock Rotary Essay Contest. The contest was open to all junior and senior high school students in Rotary District 7410. Each participating Rotary club selected a local winning essay from their school District(s), which was then submitted for judging at the Rotary District level.

Students from the Tunkhannock Area and the Elk Lake School Districts participated in this year’s contest. This is the first year that Elk Lake was included in the Tunkhannock Essay Contest and in future, they will continue to be included in most of the Youth Programs sponsored by the Tunkhannock Rotary. Rotary thanks Eliza Comly, the Tunkhannock Area guidance counselor, and Emma Keyes, the Elk Lake counselor, for their help with this contest.

The Contest is an incentive for young people to develop their skills of self-expression, and as evidence of a sincere desire to demonstrate service above self, which is Rotary’s consistent motto. This year’s theme was “How can you serve others to change lives?”

At the club level, 3 essays were selected with the winners receiving checks for $100 and $75.

The top 3 essayists (2 from Elk Lake and 1 from Tunkhannock) were invited to tell the club a little about themselves and to read their winning essays via Zoom at a Rotary meeting.

First-place in Tunkhannock went to Anaistan Jerome, who is a Junior, in the National Honor Society, the student council and is active in her church.

Second place at Elk Lake went to Mackenzie Conboy, who is a Junior, a class officer, a student council member and involved in Key Club.

First place at Elk Lake was awarded to Alex Long, who is a Junior, in the National Honor Society, the student council and Key Club, and active in his church.

The essay from Alex Long was declared the overall winner at the club level and was then submitted to Rotary District 7410 for the next phase of the Essay Contest, where the top prize is $1,000.

l to r: Alex Long, Mackenzie Conboy and Anaistan Jerome

Erica Rogler Inducted into Rotary

At the Dec 16 Rotary luncheon at Shadowbrook, Membership Chair Ron Furman inducted Erica Rogler into the Tunkhannock Rotary. Erica was sponsored and pinned by Ann Way.

Erica is the Executive Director of the Dietrich Theater, the premier venue for movies, film festivals, workshops and live events in Wyoming County. Please join us in welcoming Erica into Rotary.

L to R: Ann Way, Erica Rogler, Membership Chair Ron Furman and Pres. Mary Tempest

Welcome to New Member Alisha Myers

At the Dec 9 Luncheon at Shadowbrook, President Mary Tempest inducted Alisha Myers into Rotary. She was sponsored and pinned by Mary Linden. Alisha is a Financial Officer and Administrative Assistant at HANDS of Wyoming County.

Please join us in welcoming Alisha into Rotary.

L to R: Mary Linden, Alisha Myers and Pres. Mary Tempest

Election of Officers and Directors for 2022-2023

Although President Elect Michael Markovitz is preparing for his second term as President of Tunkhannock Rotary, at the Dec. 2 Annual Meeting the rest of his officers and directors were elected.

The slate of Officers and Directors for 2022-2023 are:

Officers

President (2022-2023) - Michael Markovitz
Immediate Past President - Mary Tempest
President Elect (Pres for 2023-2024) - Elaine Walker
Vice President - Samantha Maruzzelli
Treasurer - Laura Charles
Co-Secretary - Sandy Lane and Ann Way

Directors

Terri Detrick

Ron Furman

Francine Kanyok

Norm Kelly

Tom Kukuchka

Matt Pompey

John Proctor

Congratulations to everyone and thank you in advance for your service to our Rotary Club.

It is with great sadness that we report that Lol-Enrique (Kike) Caro Paredes, a 2019 Tunkhannock Rotary Exchange Student from Peru, was killed on Easter Morning. Kike was a pedestrian hit by a truck.

Kike was in Tunkhannock from Feb 2019 to Dec 2019. At the weekly Rotary meetings, he talked about his classes at Tunkhannock Area High School, sports and activities with other students and his host families.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Kike Caro Paredes

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Service Above Self

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