Rotary News

 

As many of you know, the Tunkhannock Rotary Club was sponsored in 1925 by the Pittston Rotary Club. When we celebrated our 90^th Anniversary in 2015, I assumed the role of Club Historian and wrote an extensive history of our Club based on newspaper articles from the Wyo Cty Historical Society, from 25 years of Fran Turner’s secretary notes and from materials provided by some of our senior Rotarians.  While writing this history, I learned a little about the origins of some of the activities that the Club still does today. So, since we have inducted many new members since 2015, I plan to introduce/reintroduce many of you to the history of some of the activities of the Rotary Club of Tunkhannock.

 

Most appropriately, I will begin with the History of our Club Bulletin.

 

Since the 1920s, the Club has published a weekly bulletin to report on the happenings at the Club meetings. Some of the editors of the bulletins have had a great sense of humor as reflected in the bulletin write-ups, some of which appear to be written to get a chuckle out of the reader. For example, the May 29, 1980 bulletin summarized the formal program for that day’s meeting.

 

 

 

At the Mar 11 Rotary Zoom Meeting, Don Davis, chair of the Club Essay Contest Committee, announced the 3 top essayists in the 2021 Tunkhannock Rotary Club Essay Contest. The essay contest was open to all junior and senior high school students in Rotary District 7410. Each participating Rotary club selected a local winning essay, which was then submitted for judging at the District level.

 

Protecting the environment has recently been added as an official cause of Rotary.  As a worldwide organization, Rotarians are looking at projects that can make a positive, measurable, sustainable impact on the earth.  Therefore, the theme for this year’s essay contest was “How can you personally take the opportunity to protect the environment?”. The students were instructed that each essay should address how they personally can be a person of action to protect the environment, working as an individual, or as the prime mover and leader of a group project.

 

Essays were solicited from Tunkhannock Area High School juniors and seniors and a local committee chaired by Don Davis judged the essays.  Don indicated that these were some of the best student essays that the committee has had the opportunity to review. At the club level, first, second and third place essays were selected with the winners receiving checks for $100, $75 and $50, respectively.

 

The 3 winning essayists, all of whom are TAHS seniors, were invited to attend the Mar 11 Tunkhannock Rotary Zoom meeting, where they had the opportunity to tell the club a little about themselves and their future plans and to read their winning essays. 

 

Third place went to Emma Moran, who is the editor of the high school newspaper, the Prowler, and plans to study astronomy in college.

 

Second place was awarded to Braiden Jerome, who also placed second in the 2020 essay competition.  Braiden plays soccer, track and field and is interested in animal sciences.

 

First-place went to Jack Chilson, who is president of the senior class, plays a lot of sports including football quarterback and plans to study political science or public policy with an emphasis on environmental and technical policies in his college future. 

 

The essays are published below in the Highlights of the Mar 11 Zoom Rotary Meeting.

 

The first-place essay by Jack has been submitted to the District 7410 Essay Committee for the next level of the essay competition.  Tunkhannock Rotary wishes Jack good luck at the District level, where the District winner will receive $1,000.00 at the time of the District 7410 Conference on June 12 in Wellsboro.  There will be a second-place prize of $500.00 and a third-place prize of $250.00. 

 

Note!  Some of the information above was published in the Mar 17 edition of the Wyo Cty Press Examiner.

 

 

 

Every year, Tunkhannock Rotarians have supported the Victim Resource Center’s Annual Geranium Day Sale.  This year the 36^th annual sale has been transformed into a Drive-Thru Event. The sale will take place in the parking lots of their 3 offices–May 4th in Tunkhannock, May 5th in Wilkes-Barre and May 6th in Lehighton.

 

Orders for the beautiful pink or red flowers are being taken now until April 23^rd with proceeds benefiting programs and services in Carbon, Luzerne and Wyoming Counties. The donation per plant is $3.75. 

 

“Victims Resource Center has been selling Geraniums just before Mother’s Day for the past 36 years.  The proceeds from this annual event are used to ensure that victims of crime here in our community continue to have critical programs and services.  We hope you will join us by purchasing flowers for Mother’s Day or for your own garden.  Even a small contribution can make a big difference, especially during these challenging times,” stated Suzanne Beck, Chief Executive Officer of the agency.