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COVID-19 Coronavirus Response

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

In the midst of the coverage around COVID-19, as places of business, schools, and other agencies are taking precautions to prevent the spread of disease the club's Directors have decided to suspend our weekly meetings for the next 2 weeks. We will reassess the situation on March 31st and decide whether to continue not meeting or resume meeting as of April 2nd. During this down time I encourage us all to stay in contact with each other.

Peace,
Derek Van Gulden

President 2019-2020

Rotary Club of Rockport, Massachusetts

New Time, New Place!

Posted on Nov 04, 2019

Beginning Thursday, November 7, 2019, our club meetings will move to a new location and new time! Join us at Rockport Inn & Suites, 183 Main St, Rockport. The first meeting of each month will be at 5:30pm for drinks with dinner at 6:00pm. For the remaining weeks, we will now meet at 7:30am for breakfast. We're excited for this change — join us!

Lobsterfest 2019 is coming — August 10!

The Rotary Club of Rockport is hosting its 23rd annual Lobsterfest, rain or shine, on August 10 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the American Legion Hall Bandstand at Back Beach.

Tickets are $27.50 in advance or $35 the day of the event. Your ticket provides a hot boiled lobster, clam chowder, corn on the cob, a roll, watermelon and soda or water. There will also be a cash menu of burgers, hot dogs, chips, beer and wine. Live entertainment by Two Weeks From Everywhere, playing a variety of music, drawing from diverse influences of Americana, country, rock, folk, pop and bluegrass.

Tickets are still available at the John Tarr Store, Village Silversmith or from any Rockport Rotarian. To pay with a credit card, call 508-317-6206. Advanced tickets are strongly recommended.

Proceeds to benefit Rockport Rotary Club Community and International Service Projects.

Rockport Installation and Awards

Posted on Jun 19, 2019

On Wednesday, June 19, 2019, Rockport Rotary installed their new President and Officers and presented community citations at their annual awards dinner.

Wendy Hyatt, director of Rainbow Day School, was honored as Citizen of the Year, and Erin Caniff, Physical Education Teacher since 2004 at Rockport Elementary, was honored as Town Employee of the Year. In a special commendation, Peter Beacham, a longtime member of Rockport Rotary, was posthumously awarded for a Lifetime of Service. His wife, Janice Beacham, accepted the honor on Peter's behalf.

Derek Van Gulden was sworn in as President for 2019-2020 by Past District Governor Ingrid Brown, along with the Executive Board including Present-Elect Rob Liebow, Secretary Kecia German, Treasurer Rob Audano, Sergeant-at-Arms Phil Chalmers, and Directors Sean Fennessey, Nikki Marin, James Moore, Matthew Wigton, and Peter Willcox, Immediate Past President Susan King, and Foundation Chair Dennis Doolin.

Rockport Rotary Helps Action Shelter Keep Cool

Posted on Jun 13, 2019

Rockport Rotary, along with Breen & Sullivan Mechanical Services and Emerson Swan, Inc., stepped up to help the Action Shelter in Gloucester keep their cool with a new central air conditioning system. Rockport Rotary provided funding for the project in the form of a $5,600 District Grant in cooperation with Rotary District 7930.

Living the Island Life

Posted on Jan 21, 2019

The John Lane Auditorium at Rockport Middle/High School was filled with the sound of Rockporters laughing at themselves as Rockport Rotary put on a single showing of Living the Island Life — "A wicked funny musical comedy about life on our side of the bridge." The ensemble cast of talented locals played to a full house, on Saturday, January 19, 2019, in the musical comedy conceived by Rockport Rotary's own Linda Sanders who wrote the book and lyrics and directed the production. A second show planned for Sunday was canceled due to an ominous winter weather forecast. The cast included Jeff McKeen, Wendy Betts, Guy Parsons, Emily Marques, Kathleen Morgan, Bob Ellis, Sue Bonior, Andy Heinze, Jack Reed, Chas Kreis, Gordon Baird, Evelyn Reed, Carolyn Howard, Derek van Gulden, Anne Hyde, Frances Fleming, and Chariclo Malcolmson as Kitty the Dog.

Rockport Rotarians Donate $14,100 Toward Hurricane Relief

With three major storms hitting in less than a month, Rockport Rotarians answered the call in a major way — raising a combined total of $14,100 from club member contributions and matching funds from the club's coffers. Checks have gone out, including $4,700 each to:

Disaster Aid USA (a project of the Rotary Club of Historic Prince George’s Co, Maryland) for their on-the-ground relief efforts in the Greater Houston area after Hurricane Harvey
Rotary Foundation Donor-Advised Fund for Hurricane Maria
Rotary Foundation Donor-Advised Fund for Hurricane Irma

Rockport Rotary trusts in the Rotary Foundation and Disaster Aid USA, and know that these funds will be put to the best use. The membership is happy to help out with the recovery after these destructive storms.

Rotarians Renew Hearse House

Volunteers from Rockport Rotary recently spent a pair of Saturdays working to scrape and repaint the Hearse House on Beach Street. Located at the Old First Parish Burying Ground, the Hearse House contains a hearse purchased by the town in 1836. Now that painting is completed, a light will be installed so that visitors can see the hearse inside.

Rockport plungers raised $1,915 to fight polio

The numbers are in from this year's Polar Plunge, and Rockport Rotary raised a total of $1,915 to raise awareness and fight polio.

The Rockport Rotary members were among more than 250 Rotarians and others who plunged into the icy waters of Long Beach in Gloucester as part of the Rotary District 7930’s seventh annual Polar Plunge on February 4, 2017.

The Rotary effort will pay for over a quarter of a million polio vaccines — at just 60 cents per vaccine — for children worldwide. This year’s event added to the over $510,000 raised by local Rotary clubs since the Polar Plunge began seven years ago.

“If you want to feel alive, do the Polar Plunge to end polio,” Rockport Rotarian's largest contributor, Bob Gillis, said.

In the fight to eradicate polio, Rotary has contributed $1.2 billion, and its members have logged countless volunteer hours to help immunize more than 2 billion children in 122 countries. Case numbers of the disease have never been lower, and only three countries — Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan — have yet to stop the transmission.