Croton Rotary Club Members Talk Service with Second-Graders

From Croton-Harmon School District: From donating 150 turkeys to the Croton-Cortlandt food pantry each holiday season to fighting polio on a global scale, second-grade students at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School learned that the Rotary Club of Croton-on-Hudson’s members are dedicated to making the world a better place.

Second-graders study types of communities, including the goods and services that are part of them, and heard firsthand what a local service-driven organization can accomplish when Rotary members visited their classes on April 5.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edward R. Fuhrman, Jr., a Rotarian, was joined by Rotary President Dr. Greg Schmidt, the village’s mayor, and fellow members Yvonne Cech, Bryan Deyo, Peter Drexler and Cynthia Lippolis to discuss the organization and give a book about Rotary to each student.

“To belong to a Rotary club, you are usually someone in your community who has a business or some professional association, but Rotary is an international organization,” Dr. Schmidt shared.

At the local level, the Rotary club sponsors the Interact Club at Croton-Harmon High School, offers scholarships to graduating seniors each year and sponsors a Little League team.

“We look for ways to support education in schools,” said Cech.

Cech, a former director of the Croton Free Library, read an excerpt from the book given to students about the types of initiatives Rotarians worldwide are involved in – from providing healthcare, building wells, vaccinating against polio and more.

Students thanked the Rotarians for the generous gift and look forward to learning more about Rotary International as they read their books and do further research at home.

Photos courtesy of Croton-Harmon Schools:

(Photos 1 and 2) Second-grade students at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School in Croton-on-Hudson were each gifted a book from Rotary Club of Croton-on-Hudson’s members during an April 5 visit.

(Photo 4) Members of the Rotary Club of Croton-on-Hudson spoke about the organization during an April 5 visit with Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School’s second graders. Pictured, from left, are Bryan Deyo, Cynthia Lippolis, Yvonne Cech and Dr. Greg Schmidt, village mayor.

(Photo 4) From left: Rotary Club of Croton-on-Hudson members Dr. Greg Schmidt, Cynthia Lippolis, Peter Drexler, Yvonne Cech and Bryan Deyo spoke with second-grade students at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School about the organization and gifted them each a book on April 5.