On Monday, the Hershey Rotary Club hosted 80 international students, from 77 nations, assigned to the Army War College for a year to study strategy and the instruments of statecraft. Over lunch the students learned about Rotarians’ historic role in conflict resolution and peace initiatives from the 1930’s onward.  That engagement has manifested itself for close to a century through such actions as creating Institutes of International Understanding, sponsoring the London Conference at which UNESCO was conceived, sending the largest non-governmental delegation of 49 Rotarians to the UN Charter Conference in San Francisco, arranging with WHO and UNICEF to conduct a world-wide polio eradication campaign, and funding Peace Scholarships and most recently Peace Universities.  It is a remarkable story about Rotarians showing relentless efforts to learn about, talk about, and achieve Peace, a torch our District must now carry forward.

 

         

Six past District Governors attended the lunch and assisting in explaining Rotary’s mission to the students.

Pictured L-R: PDG John Anthony (Mechanicsburg-North), PDG Fred Gellert (Carlisle-Sunrise), PDG Alden Cunningham (Carlisle), DG Paul Thompson (Hershey), PDG Kevin Cogan (Carlisle-Sunrise), PDG John May (Hershey), PDG Tom Davis (Hershey)

         

At the local level, the Rotary Club of West Shore participated in the Camp Hill community event of STORMFEST where every aspect of water treatment was the theme.  The Club set up a booth and passed out 4 types of trees, thanks to the generous support of Bartlett Tree Experts, while explaining to the many visitors how Rotary is engaged in water preservation and other environmental issues in the area.  Club member and Hydrogeologist Joe McNally, Chair of our District Environment Committee, is busy planning projects to increase our environmental outreach and thereby our member engagement in volunteer opportunities.  If you have an environmental concern or interest, please contact Joe and join his Committee.