Stories

Today's program was from Dale Spencer, Museum curator from the Lake Ronkonkoma Historical Society. Dale showed us a slide show on the early days of the Lake as well as all the early settlers. We plan on having Dale come back to show us another slide show in the near future.

We swore in another new member to our club today. Please welcome Ralph Taylor from United Northern Mortgage Bankers. Ralph works out of Smithtown and was sponsored by Jeff Bass. Ralph looks forward to serving the community with the club.

We had the honor of swearing in another new member to our club today.  John Pszczola is the owner of JP Builders, a high end construction company.  He is the president of a local networking organization and is very excited of joining our team.  We look forward to serving the community with together.  

Today we had the pleasure of hearing from Saul Zabell who is a labor attorney in Bohemia. Saul kept our entire group engaged during his presentation and we all had many questions regarding our own businesses. It was great to get all these important labor answers from a professional.

We held another great networking event at Flanagan's Pub in Ronkonkoma.  Our club invited many local business owners and had approximately 30 people attend.  We got to hear about all their businesses and about themselves.  Our club was able to introduce many of them to Rotary for the first time and we shared with them all the great work of Rotary.  We are looking forward to seeing many of them at our next weekly meeting.  Proud to be a Rotarian!  

Our club gained another new member.  Jamie Snider of North Country Limousine was sponsored by Michael Barba.  Jamie's business is based out of Centereach and services all of Long Island.  He is also involved in scouting and coaching youth groups.  Our club welcomes him and looks forward to serving the community together.  

We held another successful food drive April 17 & 18th.  We collected over 100 bins of food and over $500 in donations.  We split up the food to help stock (3) pantries in our area.  We had volunteers from many different organizations that helped make the event so great.  We would like to thank the volunteers from The Association of Mental Health and Wellness, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, LT. Michael P. Murphy Sea Cadet Division, Connetquot High School Interact Club, Suffolk Community College Rotaract club as well as many other volunteers.  It always amazes me how generous the community is when given the opportunity to help out.  Great job by the entire team!

Today we got a very generous donation from Astoria Bank in Middle Island.  They donated $500 to help with our upcoming Lt. Michael Murphy Run Around the Lake.  We are expecting over 2000 runners this year and is sure to be a great event.  Pictures is Peggy McHugh from Astoria bank and Ronkonkoma Rotary President Greg Plante.  

We got to listen to a great program today from Bob Lewis.  He is the Vice President of the Church Council at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Lake Ronkonkoma.  Bob spoke about all the great outreach programs the church does for our local community.  They host various food drives, ship food to veterans and active military serving our country overseas.  They they do many different things to get the community involved in make our towns a better place to live.  Nice to hear about other organization helping out the community.  

Our club was able to hear about a project the Connetquot Interact club has been working on.  They had a contest in school to collect the cans needed for the BeesWell homeless stove project which is ran by Ron Perron and Shannon Burbage from our club.  They students made announcement over the school loud speaker and updated the different home rooms.  The winning class rooms were awarded a bagel party from our club.  Peggy Dinkleman the Interact advisor was able to get some students to come to our breakfast meeting despite them being on spring break.  Keep up the great work!

Today's Program was given to us by Dr. Mo on Chinese Musicology. We watched a video on the great history on Chinese music throughout time. They believe that music can help heal the soul! Great presentation today, thanks Dr. Mo.

Proud to announce we brought in another new member to our club today. Please welcome in Michele Martin! Michele reside in Ronkonkoma and owns an Allstate Insurance in Northport. Looking forward to helping serve the community together.

Today we heard from Jill Clough-Johnstson from Brookhaven National Labs.  Jill is the director of small business relations and showed us how we can do business with the lab.  They currently spend approximately $70 Million Dollars with Small businesses.  They offer tours of all the facilities and we are considering taking advantage of that.  The Lab is located in Upton, New York and is really its own city.  Very informative program!

Don't miss this Event!  The Sachem East Interact Club presents Ronny Romm-Hypnotist & Mentalist.  The event is Friday, February 6, 2015 at 7pm at the Sachem East Auditorium.  The event is $10, go show your support to the club.  

Our program for the week was Texting and Driving Awareness.  The presenter were Karen Torres and Sharon Brenner.  They spoke of the rising epidemic in our society and explained all the dangers associated with Texting while driving.  They showed us very moving and emotional videos of how this issues not only affect the people involved in accidents but as well as family members.  We invited the Connetquot High School Interact Club to attend and listen to the presentation.  This has become the number one killer of teenagers in the United States.    

We were able to welcome in another new member to our club.  Joe Casuccio is an accountant in the Port Jefferson area and lives in Hauppauge.  Joe is excited to be joining our club and getting involved in all the great events we are doing.  Looking forward to serving the community together. 

Ronkonkoma Rotary Club helping with Dinner at the Sheppard's Inn Soup Kitchen last night. We were able to pay for and feed over 40 people in need right here in our community. Looking forward to helping serve the community!

Our Club recently gave a full scholarship to a young Holbrook resident (Daniel).  Daniel is a graduate of Sachem North and is currently attending Suffolk County Community College.  He is a volunteer fireman in Holbrook as well as going to school full time.  He met the criteria set forth by our club by having very good grades while helping serve the community.  It was a pleasure to meet him.  Pictures-Rose Quaranta (scholarship chair), Renee Ortiz (Suffolk Community College Asst. Director of Development, Scholarship winner Daniel, Jeff Browne (President elect), Greg Plante (President).  

We had the honor of swearing in another new member to the club today.  Rev. Beth O'Callaghan from St. Mary's Episcopal Church is excited to join the club.  St. Mary's is one of the oldest Church's in our area and it located directly across Lake Ronkonkoma.  They also operate a food pantry that helps many families throughout the area.  We look forward to serving the community together.                

Today we had the pleasure to welcome in another new member to our club.  Lou Desepoli is the owner of Desepoli Wealth Management.  Lou recently moved his business from Center Moriches and is now located in Port Jefferson Station.  We are looking forward to serving the community together through Rotary!

It was a very special day for our club today.  We swore in not one, but two new members to our club today.  We would like to welcome Ron Perrone and Shannon Burbage to the Rotary Club of Ronkonkoma!  Ron and Shannon own a Risk Management company and have attended a few of our events already.  They both appear to be very excited about the great work of Rotary and we look forward to serving the community and the world together through Rotary!

Today we got to hear from PDG Dave Ardam about Polio Plus.  This has been a Rotary program started in the 1970's looking to eradicate Polio from the world.  To date Polio is only found in 3 countries in the world and is a main focus of not only Rotary, but CDC, World Health Organization as well as the Bill and Linda Gate's Foundation.  We are so close to getting rid of this terrible disease and with Rotary behind it, I know we will finish the job.  Its great to see how passionate Dave Ardam is about Polio Plus as well as all things Rotary.  

Today we heard from John Batanchiev, staff attorney at Long Island Housing Services.  He explained to us about how frequent it is for people to be treated unfairly when it comes to housing.  They help out both property owners as well as people looking for housing and rentals.  They do help a lot of people dealing with the foreclosure process in our current economy.  Interesting Program!

We had our official District Governor visit today at the club. District Governor Anthony Civitano and Assistant Governor Cheryl Rambler Govei joined us for breakfast. It was nice to here about all the great things Anthony is working on for our Rotary District 7255. He is a big advocate for Veteran's as well as health and wellness for Rotarians. Our club was able to trade banners with Anthony. Good luck with the rest of your term, and thanks for taking the time to visit our club.

Pictured-Ronkonkoma Rotary President Greg Plante, District Governor Anthony Civitano, Assistant Governor Cheryl Rambler Govei

Today's program was given to the club by Joe DeVincent who spoke about the Gift of Life Program. Joe brought in a father (Flamur Sahiti) and son (Dionit Sahiti) from Kosovo who will be having a life saving surgery on Wednesday. The Gift of Life is one of the best programs Rotary is involved in. We get to help save childrens lives all over the world. We raise money locally which helps fund these projects. Most of the children stay with Rotarians families while they are here waiting for the surgery to happen. Great Program Joe and to all the people involved in this great work.

Shooting event was a success last week. We had about 60 shooters attend and everyone had a great time. Big thanks to all the sponsors, volunteers, and shooters that helped out with the event. BBQ was great thanks to Texas Roadhouse in Deer Park. We were able to raise around $4000 which will be given to the Suffolk County Council of the Boy Scouts. Looking forward to making the event even bigger next year.

Today we had a chance to hear from Colleen Merlo, Executive Director for the Suffolk County Coalition against Domestic Violence.  Colleen and Shannon gave a great presentation on all the services available to people in need.  They have a 24 hour hotline 631-666-8833 and have a people in many different fields available to help out people in need.  They have emergency housing available to get people is safe situations as soon as they need.  They are going around bringing awareness to this issue which has only gotten magnified in the media by the recent NFL problems.  Its a shame that such a service is needed, but they are doing a great job helping out families in need.  

We had a great program today at our weekly meeting.  We were able to hear from John Rago who is the Outreach Coordinator for Supportive Services for Veteran's Families which is apart of the Association for Mental Health and Wellness.  John spoke about all the needs some veteran's are facing once they come back after serving our country.  He was putting the word out to let people know there are places to turn in times of need.  The biggest obstacles facing Veteran's here in Suffolk County is finding jobs.  We kicked around some ideas on how to help match up Veteran's with job.  Keep up the great work.  

Please come help support a food drive we are hosting this weekend.  Local pantries in our area are in dire need of supplies to restock.  Pantries are often forgotten over the summer and we need all the help we can get.  Please come down to the Stop and Shop located at 499 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma.  We will be there Friday 3pm-7pm and Saturday 9am-5pm.  We can use all the volunteers and shoppers we can get.  

We got to welcome in another new member to our growing club.  Jeff Bass of Remax was brought in by Mike Barba and has decided to officially join.  Jeff has other friends in Rotary and will be a great fit into our club.  Looking forward to helping the community with you!

At our weekly meeting we had the opportunity to donate $5,000 to the Lone Survivor Foundation.  This was made possible by our successful LT Michael P. Murphy Run Around the Lake that was held in June.  Our Race Director Louis Scotti, Past President Justin Quaranta, President Greg Plate, Race Director Paul Dobiecki, and Lone Survivor's Jason Kreth.  

We are proud to announce we brought in another member to the club.  Michael Barba, owner of Continental Car Care in Ronkonkoma came back to our club after taking a few years off.  Welcome back to the club Mike and looking forward to serving the community with you.  

Exciting Day at the Ronkonkoma Rotary. Greg Plante officially became the new President of our club. Jeff Browne the new Secretary. Mike Wilk was sworn in again as club Treasurer. We also Swore in three new members to our club. Daniel Fier, Tom Vasak, and Jim & Lori Quinn with 2 more getting voted in next week! Have you thought about joining your local Rotary Club? Find out how you can get involved

June 28th, 2014-Navy Seal LT Michael P Murphy Run Around the Lake is just around the corner.  The Race is Saturday June 28th.  We are expecting up to 1500 runners this year.  After the run we are having a BBQ, so stay for food provide by Texas Roadhouse and drinks donated by various local stores.  We are still looking for sponsors to help support this event and desperately need some raffle prices. If you own a business or visit any shops we can used gift baskets, gift cards, game tickets, etc.  Any help would be appreciated.  If you have anything available, please contact me at Greg@outercounty.com.   The run website is www.runaroundthelake.com. 

We had the opportunity to have a great program today.  Dr. David Parker is a representative for Boots on the Ground NY.  They are local Ronkonkoma non for profit organization focused on helping our returning hero's of war in any way they can.  They have a warehouse and donate gift boxes to our soldiers over seas as well as finding furniture, food and anything else they may need.  Keep up the great work!

June 10th, 2014-Our club took part in a fundraiser given by the Texas Roadhouse.  They agreed to donate 10% of sales to our upcoming Navy Seal LT Michael P. Murphy Run Around the Lake.  Almost our entire club came for dinner and to help raise money.  Texas Roadhouse has been very generous and will donating a BBQ for after our run.  I encourage everyone to go visit the restaurant and enjoy the great food, drinks and atmosphere!

June 5, 2014-Our club was able to attend the 23rd Heart and Sould event at Villa Lombardi's in Holbrook.  The event is run by The Ronkonkoma Chamber of Commerce.  This year they had a number of honorees including our current president of our club, Justin Quaranta.  The event was attended well by our club, friends and family of Justin.  Rose Quaranta read a very nice Bio of Justin and all the great work he does for our community.  We were glad to be a apart of such a great event.  

Our Club hosted a Networking/Membership Night at Flanagan's Pub in Ronkonkoma last Wednesday.  We had approximately 25 people attend this event and we got to meet some great business owners and proffessionals of our community.  We were able to inform everyone of the great works of Rotary.  We have a few potential members who will be attending our next meeting to see what we are all about.  Great times had by all!

We have a Food Drive scheduled for this weekend 3/14/14-3/16/14.  We will be at the Stop N Shop located at 499 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma.  We are going to be there Friday(3/14/14) from 3pm-7pm and Saturday (3/15/14) from 9am-5pm and Sunday (3/16/14) from 9am-4pm.  The food donated will help benefit Charlotte's Table Food Pantry located at the Clubhouse of Suffolk.  Any food they cannot handle will be dispersed in the community as well.  Please help support or to donate food. 

We had a very good program at our club today.  We had a presentation given to us by the Korean Spirit and Culture Promotion Project.  Kyung Pak and her friend brought in a number of books and Korean literature, traditional desserts and a very interesting video on the culture of Korea today.  Many people still think Korea as a war torn country, when in reality they have some of the most state of the art technology in the world.  It was very eye opening and a great program.  Good luck with your organization.  

The local food pantry in Ronkonkoma that we supports needs some supplies ASAP to help feed our community members in need.  I'm unable to line up a food drive until November 15-16, 2013.                                                        

Charlotte's Tables in located at the Clubhouse of Suffolk-939 Johnson ave, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779.  They cannot wait until the food drive.

Items needed: Cereal (hot and cold), canned tuna/chicken, various canned goods, dry pasta, tomato sauce and juice boxes.  Pet food is also overlooked and needed as well. 

Food Drive Information:  Stop and Shop-425 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma.  Dates will be Friday (11/15)-Saturday (11/16), times to be announced. 

Today we had the opportunity to meet the XO of the Sea Cadets-West Sayville, Brian Mastrangelo.  The Sea Cadets "home base" is at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville.  The Sea Cadets is for young men and women ages 11-17 years old.  We had a chance to work with the Sea Cadets recently at both our Pre-race pasta dinner, as well as our annual Run Around the Lake.  Their division is named after LT. Michael P. Murphy of whom our race is in honor of.  They were a great help to us for our events, and area great group of young adults!  They just recently announced a building fund they formed, to make more of a permanent home for their training.  We look forward to working with the Cadets in the future.  Keep up the great work Brian and all the Cadets!

Today we had the opportunity to listen to a great presentation from Sharran Chambers-Murphy of Long Island Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.  They are running a division of LICADD aimed to help Military Veteran's who may need some assistance.  Sharran is working very close with the local VA hospitals and is looking for helping spreading the work.  Thanks for coming to our meeting and good luck going forward!

Today Lori Abbatepaolo came to speak to us about a very useful organization.  2-1-1 Long Island helps connect to local health and human services agencies and programs.  It is a program of United Way.  You can find out a lot of great information on their webiste www.211longisland.org or by calling 211 on your phone.  This is a non emergency number but can be called to find anything from hospital, food services as well as events going on in the area.  Thanks for coming Lori, keep up the great work!

Today's speaker was Jennifer Anderson of Send Out Cards.  Jennifer informed us of a great service that would help people with relationships.  You can set up an account and send out cards to family, friends and business associates.  You make the cards online and can upload any personal greetings, picture and even video links to these amazing cards.  The cards can then be sent out directly without you ever putting your hands on them.  This service can act as great personal gifts as well as promoting your business.  The best benefit might be to keep all the GUYS, from getting in trouble for forgetting important birthdays and anniversaries!  Great Job Jennifer, and good luck.  

Today we got to meet a very special young girl and her father thanks to the great work of Rotary and Gift of Life!  Eljesa Vllasaliu and her dad, Nexhmedin, of Prestina, Kosova (formerly part of Yugoslavia) were brought here to New York to have surgery.  We presented Gift of Life representative Joe DeVincet with a $1,500 donation to help with the cost of this procedure.  We all pray the surgery is a success and for a speedy recovery for Eljesa!. 

 Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 34,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

"We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders."  - Rotary International's Strategic Plan. Our Core Values include: Service, Fellowship, Diversity, Integrity and Leadership.

Just two more days to vote for Rotary to win and be recognized.

Please vote to win 10,000,000 airline miles by voting, each day, from each browser and each computer or mobile device that you own. It has also been suggested that you can try every few hours, and even click on your back button and vote again and again. There appears to be no exclusions in the official rules, listed far below. 

Please forward this to your clubs, districts, friends, and family to help Rotary International win these miles, to be used to further our charitable work, and also raise awareness of the work done by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International

Greetings!

PRIP and RGHF member Frank Devlyn

I have seldom if ever asked the Family of Rotary to vote for an outside of Rotary Project but when I see a reliable airline like United/ Continental involved I have to take note.  If we get moving and vote every day plus spreading the word with our contacts we will get a chance to get part of the 10 Million Charity Miles as mentioned on their site to vote.     

 

Vote for Rotary International

You can vote only once a day. from each browser you use, and each computer or mobile device that you own, between now and December 31, 2011 here: http://10millioncharitymiles.com/

 

When you click on the link you will see symbols and the Rotary Wheel will be included for you to click on to vote for Rotary.  

 

Viva Rotary!

 

Frank Devlyn

Past Rotary President of Rotary International 

Past Chair of The Rotary Foundation

and RGHF member

 To read the NEWS section, click on the title.

ClubRunner did an update on the design of the newsletter. Let me know if you have problems reading it. 

The date for the Skeet Shoot has been changed to April 28, 2012. There was a conflict with a sanctioned shoot in New Jersey on the same day.

President Paul will purchase a shotgun for the raffle. There will be a $750 cash prize if the winner does not want the shotgun.

 The latest board meeting notes can be found under the site page called OUR CLUB. Once there, you will see another menu where the heading for the notes are.

Starting July 1, 2011 the new dues structure will be as follows:

Annual dues per member = $400.00,  this will cover the District dues, International dues and Rotarian magazine.

The annual dues should be paid in full. Arrangements can be made to pay it in installments. 

 An additional $12.00 per meeting will be collected by the treasurer, Mike Wilke. This will pay for the meeting room and the breakfast buffet.

Everybody pays.  Starting now (July 21, 2011) the breakfast/room fee of $12 per meeting can be paid quarterly. The first quarter will be the $150.00, less whatever you have paid up till now.

1) Community Service Awards:

a. Sachem East: Grace Taylor

b. Sachem North: Anthony Recek

c. Connetquot High School: Taylor Quaranta

2) Overcoming Challenges:

a. Connetquot High School: Katrina Schindlar

According to the official IRS notice, we now have exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This means any contributions to our charitable activities are deductible to the donor under section 170 of the Code.

We are classified as a Public Charity and donations will be made to the RONKONKOMA RC CHARITABLE FUND, INC. Dave Ardam, PDG is responsible for putting this together for us. I have submitted an Application for an Exempt Organization Certificate with New York State. This will enable us to purchase items and services without the added expense of paying sales tax.   

The important documents listed above can be found on the web site. However, you must log in to get to the CLUB DOCUMENTS section. 

April 7-10th, 2011: Multi-District Conference – Sheraton National in Arlington VA

There was an area meeting (that I missed) and the dinner at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck (which I also missed).  I'm still learning the new web site design and will post some photos in the JOURNAL  section. Oh, and the first annual Family Fun Day at the Timothy Hill Ranch. See the photos in the JOURNAL section

Newest member, Amaury Hernandez, was our program last week and gave us a great presentation on reverse mortgages. If you have any questions on any types of mortgages, Amaury is the "go to" guy to see.

Mike Stoltz and Matt, from the MBA, were promoting the golf outing on Sept 29, 2010. It's at the Swan Lake Golf Club in Manorville. The golf fee is $185.00, dinner only is only $75.00.  There's a flyer somewhere on this web site. Registration starts at 11:00 AM, followed by lunch; 1:00 PM shotgun start; 6:00 PM dinner.  Awards, raffles, & an auction will follow dinner. Did I mention it's only $185/golfer?

We may be losing Kelly as a member. She has a job offer in Memphis at the University. We wish her lots of luck.

If you missed a meeting and have a makeup, let Lydia, Diane or me (Ed Iraci) know. We can post it on the web site.

As of the last board meeting, the dues structure has changed. Rotary International and District 7260 have raised the dues for clubs. As a result, we have put the following dues structure for the coming year (starting July 1, 2010).

We have people who do not eat breakfast so, to be fair, their dues are $100 per quarter.

Full dues for those who do chow down at all the meetings, their dues will be $250 per quarter. Breakfast cost is $12 per meeting.

Now the big question is...how do I make out the invoice for the quarterly dues??

Suffolk County United Veterans is grateful to the Rotary Club of the Ronkonkomas for being a $1,000 "Presenting Sponsor" for the upcoming "Kick Stands Up Motorcycle Poker Run and Car Show for Homeless Veterans" on July 25. Details of the event are at www.mhaw.org/ksu.

Today we were able to bring in Jon Sidewitz from Flanagan's Pub in Ronkonkoma into our club.  Jon and his team have been a great help to our club for the past few years and we all felt they would be a perfect fit into our club.  Flanagan's is located on Hawkins ave in Ronkonkoma and they are very involved in the clean up and beautification of the Ronkonkoma area.  We look forward to serving the community together. 

Today we swore in another new member to our growing club. Stuart Schuster owns a catering business called BBQ Stew's. He was introduced to Rotary from his sponsor Dr. Louis Scotti. Stuart is excited to be a part of our team and serving the community together.

Our main program for the week was from our very own Steve DeLuca and Chris Frey about Contractors for Kids. Steve is the president of this great organization that offers financial support to families dealing with sick or recently deceased children. They have doubled the amount of money in the past year that the organization is able to help out families with. Our club is looking forward to helping out the cause.

This past Saturday our club sponsored the 2nd Annual Veteran & Family free day of wellness help at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck. The event was ran by Suffolk County United Veteran's. Our club was able to help out serving lunch to the veteran's and families. Great job by our team!

Today we got a very generous donation of $2500 from Dan Murphy and the Michael Murphy Foundation to go to our Memorial dedication we are having at MacArthur Airport on June 28th. We are donating a granite statue remembering all the soldiers were killed in Operation Redwing. 
Pictured: Dr. Louis Scotti, Paul Dobiecki and Dan Murphy.

Today we got to hear from a fellow Rotarian from the Huntington club about a great project he is involved in.  The name is General Needs and he collects items and supplied them to Veterans in need.  He concentrates a lot of his work at the local VA hospital.  He collects items such as boots, sleeping bags, underwear, socks, peronal care items, etc.  Our club had the opportunity to help supply boots for 40 veterans during the winter which led to 7 veterans get jobs doing snow removal.  Lonnie does a great job and we can see how passionate he is about this work.  Looks like our club has a few more projects in the works to help out General Needs.  Great presentation!

Today we had the honor to award long standing member Edwin Sprague a Paul Harris plus 3 pin.  Ed has been in Rotary for over 45 years and has been a great asset to our club.  Pictures is our District Rotary Foundation Chair Arnie Quaranta and Edwin Sprague.  Congratulations.  

Todays Program was from Bryan Mastangelo and Gary Vertichio of the LT. Michael P. Murphy Division of the Sea Cadets. They currently have 40-45 students in the division. Some of the students go on to serve in all branches of the military and are all great kids. They regularly help out at our food drives and biggest fundraisers. Keep up the great work.

We had another great day for our club! Got to swear in another new member. Please welcome in Steve DeLuca. He is the First Vice President and Branch Manager of Suffolk County National Bank located in Bohemia. Steve is also the President of Contractors for Kids, another non for profit organization helping out children in need. Looking forward to helping serve the community together.

Ronkonkoma Rotary Food Drive Update
Our next Food Drive will be held on November 14 & 15 at Stop and Shop in Ronkonkoma. We will be collecting food for multiple food pantries in our area just in time for Thanksgiving. Please mark your calendars and come help volunteer or donate food.

We had a group of 6 Italian Rotarian's come to our district for 2 weeks recently.  They were part of our Friendship Exchange Team and got to see many things in the New York area while they were here.  A special thanks to our very own Rose Quaranta (Friendship Exchange Team Chair) and Arnie Quaranta for doing so much for the team while they were here.  They even hosted a farewall BBQ at their house along with 40 of there closes friends.  

We had the opportunity to spend some time with some great Interact students from Connetquot High School.  These students came to our early breakfast meeting during their last days of summer vacation.  Hopefully we were able to keep them entertained.  They are looking forward to the school year and planning some great events to help the community.  We will back them in any way we can.  

We had a great performance recently from Sweet Adeline's Heart of Long Island Chorus Group.  They sang to the largest group of Rotarians we have ever had.  We had guest Rotarians in from Italy, Hauppauge, Glen Cove, Huntington, Smithtown and more.  We had Interact members from Connetquot High School.  The group had about 17 members attend and had everyone on their feet for 2 standing ovations!  Great Job to the group.  

Today's Program was Rhonda Riccio of WLIX Radio.  Rhonda's family has been part of Rotary for years.  She spoke of how the radio industry has changed as well as how the station has changed through the years to appeal to a large audience.  They offer great and affordable advertising opportunities for businesses in our area.  Good luck to the entire WLIX team!

Trap/Skeet/BBQ

Another great day at the club. We swore in another new member today at The Rotary Club of the Ronkonkoma's! I would like to welcome into the club Russell Castaldo of Absolute Electric. He will make a great Rotarian and is excited about all of our upcoming events

We had a very nice presentation yesterday from Janet, a representative for the Giving Doll New York.  Their organization makes hand made cloth dolls and distributes them to children in times of need.  They are involved in doing this in several states throughout the country and have donated over 10,000 dolls to date.  They are currently looking for volunteers to help as well as fabric donations.  They seam to be a good fit to team up with Rotary's Gift of Life program.  

We had to opportunity to hear about a great cause going on right here on Long Island.  We heard from Rosemarie Kluepfel and Amaury Hernandez of Fairway Independent Mortgage Company.  They gave a great program telling us how we can help out to give a Veteran a house at no cost to them.  You can look at their website veteranshomegiveaway.org and see how you can help out as well.  Its great to hear about these type of initiatives and how passionate the people are who are involved in them.  Great Job Rosemarie and Amaury, keep up the great work!

Here is a list of upcoming events we are going to be apart of:

June 5th-Heat and Soul Dinner hosted by the Ronkonkoma Chamber of Commerce at Villa Lombardi's.  They will be honoring our very own Justin Quaranta on all his great work done for our community.  

June 10th-Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser for our 30th annual Navy Seal LT Micheal P Murphy Run around the Lake.  10% of dinner proceeds support our event.  Please get people to come for dinner

June 26th-Pre-Race Pasta Dinner at Windows on the Lake in Ronkonkoma.  Volunteers needed.  

June 28th-Navy Seal LT Michael P Murphy Run around the Lake.  Volunteers needed.  

July  17th-Serving Dinner at Camp Pa Qua Tuck in Center Moriches.  Volunteers needed. 

August 16th-Food Drive at Stop and Shop in Ronkonkoma.  Volunteers needed.  

We also had a visit from Joe DeVincent giving us an update on all the great work of Rotary's Gift of Life Program.  Joe brought in Katia Ventura Hernandez and her mother Erika.  Katia was a recipient of the great work done by the Gift of life.  We are very grateful for the Gift of Life program, the host families and Joe DeVincent.  Keep help raising money for this great cause!  (Pictured: Joe DeVincent, Erica Hernandaz Ventura, Rose Quaranta, Katia Ventura Hernandez, Justin Quaranta, and Arnie Quaranta)                                                                                                                                        

We had another great food drive last weekend.  We were able to stock Charlotte's Tables and the Ministries food pantries with much needed items.  We were also able to donate money to St. Joseph's outreach, Church of the Resurrection along with other food pantries in need.  The community was more then willing to help out and donate to this great cause and we couldn't have done it without them.  We also had great help from The Rotary Club of Ronkonkoma, Connetquot Interact, Michael P. Murphy division of the Sea Cadets, Cub Scout troops from Lake Grove, Clubhouse of Suffolk and many other caring volunteers excited to help out the community.  Great Job by All!

Today we had the opportunity to meet PFC Melanie Gonzalez who is currently a Marine.  Melanie was a member of Interact and has traveled through the exchange program.  She gave us and update of her experiences on going through boot camp and being a "sharpshooter".  Melanie also let us know how being involved in Rotary helped her with many of the challenges she has faced through her military experience.  We are all grateful for her service to this great nation. 

We had the opportunity to meet some bright and promising High School students from Connetquot and Sachem North.  These students received our yearly scholarships for 2013.  These students were selected by our committee after submitting applications for us to review.  These students showed the spirit of Rotary throughout their High School years by volunteering, hosting fundraisers and being leaders in their respective schools.  The dinner was held at Windows on the Lake in Ronkonkoma.  The scholarship ceremony was run by our very own Rose Quaranta, and the majority of our club was able to attend this special night.  We also had PDG Dave Ardam and Assistant Governor to (Connie Gevinski) Nicole Cardiello was able to attend.  Thanks again for everyone who helped support this great night.  

Here is the list of People who were honored:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Connetquot High School-Bryan Hirt and Robert Nilson.  Connetquot Interact Advisor-Peggy Dinkelman and Assistant Principal Mike Sipman were also in attendance.  

Sachem North-Sara Iadanza.  Sachem North Guidance Office-Carolyn Roell was also showing support

I never thought that the military was going to be part of my life.  I don't look so good in green, and I am not so sure about boot camp at my age.  However, on Sunday I, like many of you, found myself part of Arnie's new Army.  In the past, I have often commented on how inspiring Arnie's dedication is to Rotary.  When I have had the opportunity to listen to him speak I not only want to be a better Rotarian but a better person.  Same can be said about Arnie's speech on Sunday.  Watching the governor's medallion be passed down through the ranks of Past District Governors was amazing.  Can you imagine how many great deeds were done while those governors were at the helm of their respective Rotary districts?  While it is hard to say just how much Arnie is going to accomplish, I am confident that Arnie is going to leave a stamp  as big as the gavel he was given on District 7260 forever.    And Arnie, even though I never considered a career in military, it is my wish that I can join your ranks to do my personal best to support you in all of good works you are sure to accomplish this year.  Not only am I genuinely honored to call you my friend and fellow Rotarian, I am truly privileged to call you Governor.  Thank you so much to Diane for coordinating such a great event to a big shout out to Kevin and his staff at the Marriott for the wonderful food, great service, and amazing time had by all. 

  PRE RUN PASTA DINNER We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful night for The Run Around the Lake Pasta Dinner.  Not only was the weather beautiful, attendance was fantastic, the food was delicious, and good fellowship was enjoyed by all!      Besides our Rotary Family it was especially good to see The Connetquot Rotaract Club, Denise Schwarz of The Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Ronkonkoma's, and so many local residents in attendance.       We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Anthony from The Beach Club for donating his services so that we, as Rotarians, can continue to accomplish all the great things we do!  Great work for coordinating the event Dr. Lou!    Check out the photo journal for more great pictures!

On October 9th through October 11th, The Rotary Club of the Ronkonkomas in conjunction with the Sachem North, Sachem East, and Connetquot Interact Clubs are working to "stuff a truck" full of food. 

Rotarians Bill Brenner, Ed Iraci, Scott Kaplan, Mike Stoltz, and Kelly Penwell worked along side of Sachem North students, staff of The Clubhouse of Suffolk and Justin Quaranta today to collect forty totes of food from the generous shoppers at Lake Ronkonkoma's own Stop and Shop. 

Numerous shoppers reported how wonderful they thought the Sachem North students were.  I have to say without hesitation they are right!  I am incrediblyproud of the twenty Sachem North Interactors who turned out for the event!

Good luck to the rest of the Ronkonkoma Rotary team and Interact Clbs for the rest of the weekend.

And Arnie, if you don't propose Justin for membership I am going to!

Have you made your donation this year?

The Every Rotarian, Every Year effort encourages Rotarians worldwide to participate fully in their Rotary Foundation. Endorsed by the Foundation's Trustees and the Rotary International Board of Directors.  See Ed Iraci to make your donation via Snail Mail.

We hear that question from people who show an interest and are potential members.  What's your answer? One good one is:
Rotary club members are part of a diverse group of professional leaders working to address various community and international service needs. Through community service and other means, Rotary club members help promote peace and understanding throughout the world. Our members are our most important asset. They are the force that allows Rotary to carry out its many humanitarian efforts and achieve its mission.

Another answer would be to describe any one of our great SERVICE projects that will relate to the interests of the person if you happen to know them.  Youth Exchange, Group Study Exchange support, hands on help for the other partners in the community, Polio Plus, Club and personal Foundation contributions, social activities, opportunities to serve in local and international service activities, and the excellent friendships with all Rotarians both here and the world over. 

You can also say that the person wearing the Rotary symbol (example, your pin) is saying that he/ she is a person that can be counted on, has high personal and professional ethical standards, and is a friend.  In fact, if you wear your pin, people will ask you what it is for if they don't already know! And they will probably want to join us!!
by Glen Agar Rotary Club of Kapuskasing