At the 2022 Rotary District 7390 Conference, DG Greg had the honor of presenting several awards to Rotarians in District 7390. The next time you see these awesome Rotarians, congratulate them on their dedication to Rotary!
The Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World
The Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World was established by the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation in order to recognize outstanding work in the field of the eradication of Polio. To be considered for the award, a Rotarian must have active personal service in the effort to eradicate polio. Outstanding service in the field of advocacy and fundraising efforts that supports Rotary’s PolioPlus program may also be considered.
In the 2021-2022 Rotary year, Past District Governor John Kramb was selected to receive the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World. PDG John has been on several NID trips to India, hosts multiple events per year to raise funds toward the eradication of Polio and currently serves as the End Polio Now Coordinator for Region 39W. Congratulations John!
District 7390 Outstanding Service Award
The District 7390 Outstanding Service Award is presented to one District Rotarian per year. We are looking for a Rotarian that has served in a District leadership role or done dynamic, innovative work on a District Committee for three or more years. This person should have also crafted or contributed to a well-developed strategy to achieve District goals and ultimately made the District stronger.
The 2021-2022 recipient of the District 7390 Outstanding Service Award is Past District Governor Alden Cunningham. Alden is a member of the Rotary Club of Carlisle. He served as District 7390 Governor in 2005-2006 and is a member of the Paul Harris Society and a Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation. Alden is receiving the District Outstanding Service Award for his dedicated service to Rotary Means Business and the District Awards committee. Alden implemented Rotary Means Business in the District and created District centered awards to honor Rotarians in District 7390. Thank you Alden for your dedication to Rotary, Rotary Means Business and through honoring Rotarians with awards. Congratulations Alden!
D7390 Lifetime Achievement Award
The be eligible for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Rotarians are required to have at least 25 years of Rotary membership and demonstrate effective work at the Club and District levels.
The 2021-2022 recipient of the District 7390 Lifetime Achievement Award is Past District Governor Connie Spark. Connie is a member of the Rotary Club of York-East. She joined Rotary in 1996 and served as District Governor in 2009-2010. She was a GSE team member in 1994-1995 and a GSE team leader in 2000-2001. Connie is a graduate of the Rotary Leadership Institute and has attended the last 16 International conventions. Connie has a passion for Humanitarian Medical Missions and has either lead or participated in 35 mission trips.
Connie has the been very involved in the York-East Rotary Club and at the District and Zone levels of Rotary. She served as the District Rotary Foundation Chair, a member of the Grant committee, a District Lane chair, and now at the Zone level as an Assistant Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator. Congratulations Connie!
Rotary International Service Above Self Award
Rotary's highest honor is the Service Above Self Award. It recognizes Rotarians who demonstrate Rotary's motto, Service Above Self, by volunteering their time and talents to help others. The award is internationally competitive and is granted to no more than 150 Rotarians worldwide.
DG Greg had the honor of presenting the Rotary International Service Above Self Award to Kathleen Stoup. Kathleen is a member of the Rotary Club of Carlisle. She has demonstrated outstanding humanitarian service with over two decades of transformational efforts in Kenya. Her work in Kenya has improved the lives of thousands of Kenyans in the very poor and isolated areas of Kilimombogo and Thika.
Kathleen has developed longstanding ties and built trust with local leaders and Rotarians. These relationships have helped to make projects in Nairobi successful. The projects have been to expand dental support capabilities, water infrastructure and education and training in water usage plus improving eye care. Back at home, she has successfully raised significant funds to help with cancer treatment in the Carlisle area and devoted herself to local area beautification as a Master Gardener. Kathleen’s work on the District 7390 Grants Committee has brought to fruition many grants over the years. She is a compassionate leader that has shown the ability to “Make it Happen” again and again. Kathleen has had many accomplishments over the years with no expectation of recognition. She truly embodies “Service Above Self”. Congratulations Kathleen!
We hope we can count on you this year to sponsor a Flag for your Hero and to help us share the word with others by passing along this information and the sponsorship forms to friends and family. Sponsorships are available on both an individual and a corporate basis. Corporate sponsorship entitles the sponsor to receive 5 flags to honor heroes as well as a corporate banner that will be on display with the beautiful American Flags flying in the breeze.
This year our Flags will proudly fly for a two-week period starting May 21, 2022, through June 5, 2022, at the New Freedom Heritage Green. Medallions on sponsored flags will be placed on the flags as in past years and will be given to the sponsors when the flags are removed.
Join us for a patriotic Dedication and Remembrance ceremony at the New Freedom Heritage Green site 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
The Mechanicsburg Club has been working on a Global Grant for the community of Metalillito, El Salvador since it was approve in September of 2019. All of the part of the grant have been completed and about $18,000 of the funding remains. The club plans to petition The Rotary Foundation for permission to use these funds to build more composting toilets for the growing community which has identified a need for 35 more units. Continue reading below for the full story of the club's work with this community.
Background The community of Metalillito in El Salvador was urgently needing to solve the problem of maintaining and enhancing their water system. Metalillito is a poor community with about 310 families and over 1,000 people located in a south-west hilly area of El Salvador. The Rotary Club of Mechanicsburg learned of the community while drilling a District Club Grant funded well nearby in 2011. Metalillito was in desperate need of a sanitation solution at that time. They had a well-organized community group (ACAPOME) that was seeking solutions, but they lacked to money and technical expertise to solve their problem. It’s a long story but the club was able to obtain a Global Grant for $123,888 (GG1420733) and construct 203 composting toilets and a 100 m3 water storage tank in 2015. We developed a relationship with the host Rotary Club of San Salvador Noroeste to do the project. Seven Mechanicsburg Club members visited the community and the Noroeste Club in February 2016. They were very pleased with the project and honored by the welcome which they received.
Current Project
Beginning in late 2017, the community prepared some documents describing their need for a way to have a sustainable water system. They saw the primary problem was the high electricity cost. Their proposed solution was a solar power system. This idea was informally presented to the Rotary Foundation which responded that a comprehensive/sustainable proposal was required. The global grant application was developed and consisted of three major areas: 1) Solar electric panels connected to the ground water pump and the utility’s grid with associated training in maintenance, 2) Office computer and printing equipment with associated training in development and management of a water system, and 3) Hygiene and Sanitation training.
After collecting the required information GG1984786 for $47,218 was submitted and was approved on 9/16/2019. There were several issues with actually getting the funds but they were received in December 2019. Further delays were caused by revised, but lower quotes so the project did not start until March 2020. That is when COVID-19 started and it greatly impacted the project until September 2020. By December 2020, the solar panels had been installed but the utility did not approve their operation until April 2021. In the meantime, the community and the Rotary club celebrated the solar panel installation on 12/6/2020 and the first global grant progress report was submitted on 12/17/2020.
In April 2021 the solar panel maintenance training was completed. The final software installation with utility operation training and community hygiene training was accomplished in January 2022. The project is completed as designed and a progress report was submitted on April 19, 2022.
The project has over $18,000 of unspent funds. We will be asking The Rotary Foundation to use those funds to build more composting toilets. The size of need is being documented and quotes for the work are being sought.
On May 18, 2022, the Rotary Club of Colonial Park Foundation will award $82,000 in scholarships to 31 high school students from the five schools in their area. This year, the Foundation received 339 applications from students for the 21 different scholarships available. Randy Sibert, President of the Foundation said, “this was a record number of scholarships for us and an increase of 141 scholarship applications more than last year.” Scholarship amounts ranged from $500 to $21,000.
Since 2002, the Rotary Club of Colonial Park and the Foundation have given $254,900 to organizations in the community and $688,908 in scholarships for a total in 2022 of $943,808. The Rotary Club is anticipating going over the one-million-dollar mark in 2023!
Join WITF and Rotary 7390 Tuesday, May 24 at 6pm at the WITF Public Media Center in Harrisburg as we host the 2022 Teacher Impact Awards Banquet. Help us make this a special in-person event honoring dedicated teachers.
The buffet style hors d’oeuvres banquet is open to the public and recognizes outstanding professionalism, classroom leadership, and significant contributions made by teachers across our region during this past year. The event also provides an opportunity for the community to say “Thank You” to our educators for their commitment and dedication to our students.
We’ll present awards to seven K-12 teachers in public and private schools in the Rotary District’s seven county area which includes: Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry, and York. Plus, we’ll screen special video profiles of each educator highlighting their exemplary work in the classroom.
Tickets are $35 per person. Tickets must be purchased by May 18. Reserve your spot now!
Watch the broadcast premiere of the 2022 Teacher Impact Awards television special on WITF TV June 23 at 8pm or stream on-demand beginning June 23 through the PBS Video app.
As we seem to be in the early phase of possibly a second Cold War, it might be useful to see the first Cold War through the life of an Army officer who served on many fronts of that war from Germany to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, from Vietnam to Korea, and from Mexico to Nicaragua. Colonel (R) Alden M. Cunningham experienced levels of war from a mix of conventional and guerilla war in Vietnam, to a no war no peace armistice in Korea, and to insurgency in Nicaragua. In the 1980s, he wrote award winning articles regarding Mexico's National Security and US Strategic Options in Nicaragua.
This autobiography captures all phases of his life of Leadership in Service both as an Army senior Foreign Area officer defending our nation and as a former officer of Rotary International doing good in the world. His book is available on amazon.com (Kindle), barnesandnoble.com (Nook), and other platforms for $4.99 plus tax. Please consider buying the online version of this autobiography written by a fellow Rotarian and 38 year member of Rotary District 7390. Thank you.
York-North Rotary will be hosting a Summer Festival at PeoplesBank Park on June 11 from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., to fund “Math is a Superpower”. The festival will feature live music, food, wine, beer, spirits, small games of chance and more will be featured. Please support this valuable math program, by joining us on June 11 at PeoplesBank Park.
Rotary Club of York-North has partnered with the York County Literacy Council to provide free, custom mathematics education, “Math is a Superpower.” Rotary Club of York-North will fund the program while the York County Literary Council will provide the training. This course is designed for individuals who are not in the education system and in need of remedial math education, including multiplication and division of fractions and decimals.
Graduates of this program will then qualify to enroll in the ManufacturingPathway Training Program, provided by the Manufacturers’ Association. Employment opportunities, with the Manufacturers’ Association membership companies, will become available following successful completion of both courses. Math as a Superpower will positively impact individuals, employers, and our community. The 8- week course, will meet two times per week from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., beginning September 20, 2022. The classes will be held at Career Link, 841 Vogelsong Road.
Rotary York-North has been in existence for over 30 years, providing service above self to local and international communities. Some successful programs to date are:
Funding for students in need in local school districts and local organizations
Providing services for homeless families, nursing home residents, and individuals with disabilities
Building an all-inclusive playground and supporting the Rotary Baseball field at Cousler Park
The Mechanicsburg Club has been working on a Global Grant for the community of Metalillito, El Salvador since it was approve in September of 2019. All of the part of the grant have been completed and about $18,000 of the funding remains. The club plans to petition The Rotary Foundation for permission to use these funds to build more composting toilets for the growing community which has identified a need for 35 more units. Continue reading below for the full story of the club's work with this community.
After collecting the required information GG1984786 for $47,218 was submitted and was approved on 9/16/2019. There were several issues with actually getting the funds but they were received in December 2019. Further delays were caused by revised, but lower quotes so the project did not start until March 2020. That is when COVID-19 started and it greatly impacted the project until September 2020. By December 2020, the solar panels had been installed but the utility did not approve their operation until April 2021. In the meantime, the community and the Rotary club celebrated the solar panel installation on 12/6/2020 and the first global grant progress report was submitted on 12/17/2020.
