Now is the time. If not now, then when? Let' REBOOT ROTARY!
REBOOTING ROTARY
I am Dennis Borden, proud President of the South Orange Rotary Club. Our club has been in existence since 1926. It will soon be 100! Membership has fluctuated from 5 to 30 which has included residents, business people, and professionals.
When I joined in 1989, I was #7 and saw the membership grow to 26. Since then, recessions, the passing of members, and others leaving the area for various reasons have affected membership. Rotary has become one of the best-kept secrets in South Orange, as we currently number five.
It is now time to “REBOOT ROTARY’. It is time to let the secret out and make known what Rotary is and what we have accomplished through the recent years.
Our projects international projects:
Shipping of a massive collection of baseball equipment to the Dominican Republic, an impoverished baseball-loving population. The game was being played by youths with leaves for mitts and tree branches for bats. Many teams shoeless.
Collecting bicycles in cooperation with other organizations and sending them to Columbia to be distributed to people that required affordable transportation, enabling them to work, and support their families.
Local projects:
- Working with a club in India to help build an outdoor learning center at the Seth Boyden school;
- Installing benches at the S.O. library
- Supporting the cost of a van for the DARE program of the S.O. police,
- Donating crosswalk warning signs, and
- ‘KEEP KIDS ALIVE, DRIVE 25’ signs;
- Donating Resusci Annes to the Rescue Squad and
- Donating dictionaries to all third graders in both South Orange Maplewood school district and the Orange school district.
These are just some of the many contributions the local Rotary Club has been making along with numerous hands-on volunteer service projects.
Our numbers may be few, but our impact is sizable. With more members, our impact would greatly expand. We are now seeking members and ‘Rebooting Rotary’. We plan to partner with other organizations to have “virtual cocktail hours” to introduce Rotary and the guest organizations to people that we can reach via Zoom and our mutual contact lists.
Join us. Our email address is: RotaryClubSOnj@gmail.com or call Dennis via cell phone: 973-445-5401.
Thank you for your anticipated interest!