Newsletter - Current  October 14, 2008

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Dear fellow Rotarians

            With the end of the year looming near we thought we would write and let you know about what’s been going on here at the Manchester-Essex Rotary club. Now in our eighth year, we are not a large club, but we have plenty of spirit and are proud of our past achievements as well as our plans for the coming year.

 This past year has been a busy one. We are proud to say that our efforts to improve the surrounding communities have resulted in an annual $5,000.00 needs based scholarship for a graduating senior from the regional high school, an annual awards breakfast for retiring teachers from the school system, the annual Green and White Breakfast, honoring student leaders in our community, a bimonthly trip to the Cape Anne Food Pantry to serve dinner to those in the community who need our help, the sponsorship of 2 Little League teams, the implementation of a dictionary project which provided dictionaries to every child in the third grade of our elementary schools, and finally, a World Peace and Understanding book case and library in the high school.

We are continuing with our annual holiday toy drive, donating hundreds of dollars worth of toys to make the season special for needy children from our community, and look forward to assisting with the Red Cross Bell Ringing, which generates thousands of dollars to that organization..    We are regular contributors to the local Council on Aging Events, and are donating to the Food Pantry Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner drive, providing full holiday dinners to families in need.   The Board of Health has requested, and received our support for their Emergency Health Kits, providing shelter, clothing, and sundry items to help victims of Hurricane Ike.

 In addition to this, on the international front, we have been Rhotoplast mission sponsors for the clean water project, providing clean water for communities in third world countries.   We are also continuing our first, but not our last, clothing and medical supply drive for the town of Catarina in Nicaragua. It is our intention to place more of our energies toward efforts like these in the future.

Upcoming events include a cocktail mixer to attract Essex businesses to our club. This will be on October 23^rd  from 5-7:00 PM at the Windward Grill in Essex. In the making are plans for a Texas holdem night and a Comedy night with dates to be announced as we finalize our plans. Please feel welcome  to join our always interesting breakfast meeting at the Manchester VFW from 7:15 AM to 8:30AM every Wednesday morning.

                                    In the spirit of community, fellowship and service

                                     The Members of Manchester- Essex Rotary Club