It was with great pride that Brookline Rotary learned that Sabrina Zhou, a junior at BHS, had been awarded Brookline Youth of the Year on April 11th at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. In addition to a solid academic standing, Sabrina was chosen from 61 other nominees because of her extracurricular activities including reporting for the school paper, an officer for the Asian Pacific American Club, and involvement with Steps to Success. The selection committee made a point of acknowledging Sabrina's character and how hard she works to ensure her younger siblings success as well as her own. Of great significance for Rotarians is that Sabrina was awarded a scholarship to attend Rotary District 7910 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) training last spring. RYLA is a week-end program where students, from around the region, that are identified as potential leaders, are taught leadership skills. Sabrina subsequently attended Rotary events as a volunteer.
Another finalist this year was Paul Miller Schmidt, a senior, who has been instrumental in the Makerspace at Brookline Teen Center, and who worked with Brookline Rotary to secure a District Grant to purchase equipment for the MakerSpace.
Congratulations to Sabrina, Paul and all 61 honorees!
Venue Map
On Sunday, Sept 24th, BU Rotaract staffed the Boston Rotary club table at Brookline Day. A wonderful event for families Brookline Rotary has been participating for years. This year for the second time, the Rotaractors, many of whom are Occupational Therapy students, demonstrated the proper way to pack a back pack to avoid injury. For many school children, heavy back packs have become a concern given the strain they put on growing bones. The students were a big success with attendees at Brookline Day. Well done Rotaract! 
Great meeting yesterday as members partnered with Steps to Success and Eastern Service Workers to pack school backpacks with needed school supplies. Thanks to the generosity of our members 30 students will start school with pencils, pens, notebooks, and much more. Our member and resident Occupational Therapist, Karen Jacobs, made sure all packs were packed in an manner to ensure student safety with the heaviest items along the back of the packs. Occupational Therapy students and BU Rotaract will be with Brookline Rotary at Brookline Day at Lars Anderson Park on 9/23 to share these packing tips with all Brookline student and parents. The club is scheduled to do four of these service projects during our meetings this coming year. Non-members are welcome to join us. Check the calendar for dates and projects.
On June 3, 2018, several members of Brookline Rotary attended the Annual Brookline High School Scholarship Breakfast. This has become a wonderful Brookline tradition acknowledging our very impressive BHS graduates. The class of 2018 was as outstanding as past graduates and Brookline Rotary is proud to join Scott Butchart (see story on page 2), his team at the High School, Brookline Community Foundation and the other scholarship donors in honoring these amazing young people. Donors are seated with the recipients and Brookline Rotary had the pleasure of meeting Shahar Hartman, one of our recipients. Shahar was heading off to Washington DC the following week to receive a Congressional Gold Medal Award in addition to his awards on the third. Missing from the photo is Bo Winiker who raised the $100,000 to endow scholarships held by the Brookline Community Foundation. Present are Claudia Dell'Anno, Club President, Shahar, Susan Rack, Literacy Chair.)
Talk about inspiring... Our speaker yesterday, Janine Mosley showed us some truly amazing constructions she has made through origami. 
BACK TO SCHOOL DRIVE Please join us in our annual Back To School project. Once again, Brookline Rotary is hoping to collect donations to outfit 20 plus back packs to help area students start the new school year off right. Many local families cannot afford the cost of back to school supplies. Brookline Rotary is collecting donations to purchase supplies for these students. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender and race disparity in education, and increase literacy. The Back Pack program is one of several projects Brookline Rotary supports to ensure literacy for children and adults. Checks can be made out to Brookline Rotary and sent to PO Box 136, Brookline MA 02446. Our hope is to purchase supplies by August 20th so that we can put together back packs at our August 23rd meeting. Members can get donations to Susan Rack at or before the 8/16 meeting.
Brookline Rotary lost a member and our dear friend, Judy Moses, who was tragically taken on Sunday, 4/29/18. Judy has been an active member of Brookline Rotary since 2008 and personified the ideals of Rotary. She was a consummate professional who treated all with respect and fairness. Her many interactions and good works built good will and engendered solid friendships throughout her many areas of interest including literacy, animals, and mentoring young women. We extend our deepest condolences to her family. Judy will be greatly missed by us all.
This year, thanks to the help of Karen Jacobs, Shawna Carboni, Elmon Hendrickson, Target stores and the Boston University Rotaract Club, Brookline Rotary was able to distribute slow cookers to members of Women and Girls Thriving in Brookline and to veterans of the local VFW Post. The crock pots were part of a Healthy Eating Program the BU Rotaract has been doing for two years now. It was an extension of a District Grant that Brookline Rotary gave last year to Women and Girls Thriving. The gift from Target was also another way for us to thank our local veterans.
On January 4th, Joyce Graff, Sharon Herman and Susan Rack, all of the Rotary Club of Brookline, joined 59 other Rotary Volunteers from the US, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Mexico and Australia, along with the four Rotary Clubs of Agra for the 2018 Mega Polio Campaign. 
A very fun meeting as our Boston University Rotaract President had us use our bodies to replicate photos from her trip to InterotoTapai 2017. Sarah reported on her adventures at the 2017 Rotaract Conference in Taipai this past spring and then updated us on the activities of the Boston University Rotaract club. We could not be prouder of this group. Way to go Sarah and Rotaract!
And a good time was had by all. Thanks again to our community partner and David Gladstone, who literally stood with us as we informed Brookline that the fight against Polio still exists. We heard many stories as local residents stopped to say their mother had had polio or they were part of the beta testing on the original vaccine. Many more said they did not know that polio still existed! With your help, we can eliminate the virus from the planet! Thanks to everyone who helped on Saturday.
The luncheon with our Sister City guests has become an annual tradition, but this year it held greater significance as we await Rotary International's response to our application for a Global Grant. Edifice Roque, Laboratory Director for the Center for Investigation, Work & Environment, Medical School at National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, updated us on the progress of this multi-year project to ensure clean water to the area of Quezelquaque, Nicaragua. Along with the rest of the visiting team from Quezelquaque and the members of the Sister City Project here in Brookline, we learned that we now have a greater idea of the source of water contamination thanks to the research already completed. Brookline Rotary's grant will help to implement the needed changes to positively impact the delivery of clean water and educate the local citizens. This project will hopefully have a lasting effect on the health of the citizens of Quezelquaque.
It was another successful Freshman BBQ as Brookline Rotarians joined with sophomore parents at Brookline High School and faculty and staff to welcome the class of 2021! Despite the threat of rain and the window blown smoke, Rotarians and PTO fed over 800 as we welcomed one of the largest Freshman classes in memory. Way to go team!
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It was an agenda packed meeting on August 31. District Governor Karin Gaffney and Assistant Governor Karen Whetmore joined us along with two of our five 2017 RYLA students. Governor Karin Gaffney shared with us her vision for the year and her belief in the Rotary Spirit. "Warning" us that Rotary Spirit is contagious, she urged us all to recommit to our motto of service.
On July 1, 2017, Brookline Rotary, as in all Rotary International clubs, districts and International officers, passed the gavel to the next leadership team. Immediate Past President Elmon Hendrickson handed the club gavel to President Claudia Dell'Anno who then welcomed her team for 2017-2018. Officers and Directors include: President Elect Sharon Herman, Secretary Steve Von Lichtenberg, Treasurer Hadley Weinberg, Assistant Treasurer Paula Kerwin, Corresponding Secretary Shawna Carboni, Executive Secretary Shirley McPherson, Sgt. At Arms Chiquita Rice, Foundation Chair Arnie Miller, Club Advisor Elias Audy, Ambassador of Good Will Bo Winiker, and Directors Marina Brodskaya, Ken Goldstein, Gloria Rudisch, Laura Allen, Susan Rack, Claudia Dupre. Rotaract Advisor is Karen Jacobs and Interact Advisor is Marina Brodskaya. Elmon Hendrickson remains on the board as Immediate Past President.
Please remember we have one regular meeting this week, Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 7:00 AM - Brother's Restaurant and 12:15 PM – Brookline American Legion/VFW Post. 
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