The Niles Times
The Rotary Club of Niles held its year end banquet June 18 at Ciminero's Banquet Centre.
Club President Larry Giovinazzo told the group it was a very rewarding and fulfilling year as many of the goals were met or exceeded with little effort. Next year will mark 85 years of the Rotary Club in Niles.
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The Niles Rotary Club ended its year with a banquet held last month. The program included a summary of the clubás accomplishments during the past year. Pictured from left are: Joyce Hartzel, Gil Macali, Delores Macali, Michael Clayman, Hilda Clayman, Gary Clayman, Earl Stiver, Marcella Burgess, Dave Williams and Larry Giovinazzo.
Some of the year's highlights include an Appreciation dinner for Anthony Lariccia and his family's generous donation to the Niles School district for the football stadium repairs. The club also wrote a grant to raise money to purchase DVD players for the Niles City School district. The district has been updating their course curriculum over the past few years and has received DVD supplemental materials with the new books. Unfortunately they did not have enough DVD players to make viable use of the supplemental DVDs. Niles Rotary was able to purchase 42 DVD players to supply the entire school district through the grant it received. As a way of saying thank-you, students at Washington Elementary invited Rotarians to lunch and a short program.
Beginning this year Rotary International challenged all of its clubs and their respective members worldwide to raise $1000 per year for the next three years as part of its mission to extinguish Polio. This was brought on by a challenge by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matching donation of $100 million towards the cause when all Rotary clubs meet their goals. The Niles Rotary Club has already raised its first $1,000 and are well on their way to raising its second $1,000.
These projects and others are possible through Rotary's EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year), fund. The fund is made up of additional donations from Rotarians in addition to their dues. The Niles club is ranked second in our district with an average of $175.00 per member contribution.
During this special year end dinner we honored 3 members for their years of service and consistent dedication to Rotary and the community of Niles. These three gentlemen have been Rotarians for over 50 years!! Mr. Gil Macali, Mr. Earl Stiver and Mr. Edwin "Duke" Doubet. It is a great honor to have them as members and be a part of such a momentous occasion.
We ended the night with much needed thanks and gratitude for some current and past members. We awarded one of the most prestigious honors a Rotarian can receive, The Paul Harris Award. We passed out 10 of these honors to current, past and loved ones of deceased members for their efforts, and dedicated service as a Rotarian.