West Orange Rotary Club Holds Community Service Awards

So you thought we only gave out scholarships?  That's just a part of what the Rotary Club of West Orange raises money for. Every year for more than 80 years, the club has given out monetary awards to many West Orange community service organizations as well as other not-so-local awards.

On Friday, June 24, at Mayfair Farms, the club held it's annual Community Service Awards Luncheon.  We rewarded 15 organizations with over $14,000 in donations to keep doing the good work that they are known for.  In order to qualify for an award, the organization must contact our organization before the middle of May to be considered.  The Awards ceremony is always on a Friday in June.

Since 2005, the West Orange Rotary club has been the annual benefactor of the South American Exhibit at the Turtle Back Zoo.  We helped build the exhibit in 2005 and the club is committed to a long term relationship with the highly successful world class zoo. Dr. Jeremy Goodman, the Zoo's Director and veterinarian was present to accept the award.

 This year, the club made a donation to the American Cancer Society-Relay for Life in the name of one of our members who died of cancer this year.  Carol Beardslee was an active annual supporter of the Relay for Life and made sure we always had a team of participants from the Rotary Club. 

 Camp Merryheart, which is a summer camp for children with serious mental and/or physical disabilities, is an annual recipient of an award for a campership for a worthy child and the club also maintains the arts and crafts building at the camp.  Recently, we replaced an old roof and created a handicap accessible back patio that the children can utilize in the summer.

Every year since 1998, the Rotary Club of West Orange has been a Sustaining Partner of Rotaplast.  Rotaplast is a Rotary sanctioned International Service project that sends American oral surgeons, dentists and medical support staff to Third World countries to repair cleft palate and other serious facial deformities of children. 

Without these surgeries, these children live a life of isolation and are ostracized and perhaps even shunned from regular society.  With surgery, they can learn to speak properly, be educated and perhaps become functioning members of society.  The surgical teams also teach local surgeons how to perform these surgeries as well as provide nutritional counseling to help prevent these deformities from occurring.

The remainder of the recipients included:

• The West Orange Community House
• Main Street Counseling
• The West Orange Scholarship Fund
• The West Orange First Aid Squad
• The Mayor's Program for Individuals with Disabilities
• West Orange Police Athletic League (PAL)
• Help the Children Hear
• Metro YMCA of the Oranges
• The West Orange Animal Welfare League
• Friends of Edison National Historic Site
• Hazel Avenue School Rainbow Program

If you think your community service organization would be eligle for a community service award, please contact our 2011-2012 Community Service Chairman, Joseph A Vena, at: jvena@mandelbaumsalsburg.com or info@westorangerotary.org.