Annual Run for Tomorrow

The Rotary Club of Weston’s 18^th Annual Run For Tomorrow Helps Many

Photo (12-8-13RunForTomorrowMayorsCup055.jpg) Caption: In December, hundreds of Weston elementary school students will lace up their sneakers for the Mayor’s Challenge Cup, part of the Rotary Club of Weston’s Run For Tomorrow. (Gaye, Rotary Article September, 8/24 11:46am)

By Gaye Stewart-Loudis, Rotary Club PR Chair

Every fall, for the past 17 years, a dedicated group of people who live the motto of “Service Above Self” join together with the City of Weston and generous local sponsors to produce the Rotary Club of Weston’s Run For Tomorrow. This fall is no different. Weston Rotarians are busy putting together their annual holiday season charity run and Get Fit Fest community wellness festival. Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital is the Title Sponsor of the Rotary Club of Weston 18th Annual Run For Tomorrow, presented by Botaniko, the City of Weston, and Cypress Bay High School. The event will be held on Sunday, December 13^th at Cypress Bay High School. A special guest this year will be Edward Luchik, a Combat Army Veteran and the first hip amputee to run multiple marathons . He will run the half marathon and then speak at the GetFit Fest about having a vision. 

Last year, the club raised approximately $46,000 to fund many community-based and charitable projects – providing happier, healthier tomorrows for kids and adults. The club supports hands-on projects to help local residents and the needs in our community. LifeNet4Families (formerly the Cooperative Feeding Program) serves Broward County homeless and hungry people. The Weston Rotarians regularly visit to help staff the food service lines, and have helped to renovate the facilities. Hope Outreach serves Broward County hungry and seniors and offers a children’s afterschool program called Leaps. Another service project for the Rotarians is their partnership with the Broward Sherriff’s Office, bringing equine therapy to children and elders. With the Horse Heroes program, Rotarians have witnessed the joy these animals bring to kids at the Children’s Harbor foster home and to elders at the Alexander “Sandy” Nininger State Veterans Nursing Home. Other beneficiaries of recent Runs include the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center, Harvest Drive, HANDY, and various veterans’ programs.

Run For Tomorrow also promotes physical fitness in the community, and in particular to Weston elementary school children. The City of Weston partners with the Rotary Club of Weston in issuing the Mayor’s Get Fit Challenge to young students. The school with the highest number of Family Health Walk participants, as a percentage of enrollment, will win the 2015 Mayor’s Get Fit Challenge Cup and a cash prize for their school.   

Be a Gift to the World

By Julian Gazzano, Jr., Rotary Club of Weston President 2015-2016

Having been a Rotarian since 1980, it is an honor to lead the 120 talented and diverse members of the Weston Rotary as we embark upon our 30th year as the Rotary Club of Weston.

Incoming Rotary International President, R.K.”Ravi” Ravindran of Sri Lanka, has introduced his theme for the year to the 1.2 million Rotarians. His theme is simply, “Be a gift to the world”.   

The Rotary Club of Weston has lived by the Rotary International motto of “Service above Self” and has provided to the many charitable organizations we sponsor. We embrace this theme and look forward to every day.

Weston Rotary has two major events each year: the annual Rotary Run For Tomorrow 5K/Half Marathon, scheduled for December 13^th, and the annual Scholarship Golf Classic tournament held each April. Proceeds from the holiday run provide support to numerous charities, both locally and internationally. Some of the worthy organizations we support include Harvest Drive, The Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center, LifeNet4 Families, Hope Outreach, Gilda’s Club, HANDY, Horse Heroes, the VA home in Pembroke Pines, as well as Children’s Harbor. All the proceeds from the golf tournament provide scholarship money for students from Cypress Bay, Sagemont, Western high schools, as well as HANDY. 

In addition, the Weston Rotary supports Interact Clubs at three local high schools, Rotaract Club at NSU, The Purple-Pinky Project and Polio Plus for the eradication of Polio, International Literacy projects with Rotary clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean region, and the Rotary Inbound Student Exchange Program.

Rotary has no secret handshake, no secret policy, no official creed, no secret meeting or rituals. It is an open society of men and women who simply believe in helping others.

Rotary is a service club. Its business is mankind. Its product is service. Rotarians provide community service to both local and international communities. This is perhaps the best reason for becoming a Rotarian -- the chance to do something for somebody else and the self-fulfillment that comes back in the process. It is richly rewarding.

Ravi Ravindran said, “We in Rotary aspire to great deeds. Abraham Lincoln, who gave the gift of human dignity to so many. Mother Teresa, who gave the gift of compassion to the forgotten. Mahatma Gandhi, who gave the gift of peaceful change to the oppressed. All of them gave their lives to others -- and their lives became gifts to the world.”

So, if you want to be a gift to the world and have the passion to make a difference, please consider membership in our Club.

The Rotary Club of Weston meets Thursdays at 7:15am at Weston Hills Country Club. For more information contact President Julian Gazzano, Jr. at retnysupt99@yahoo.com or visit www.WestonRotary.com.

29th Rotary Club of Weston Westonlawyers.com Golf Classic

Take a Chance! Play for Scholarships! Make a Difference!

By Ken Ruiz and Gaye Stewart-Loudis

For the 29^th consecutive year, the Rotary Club of Weston is sponsoring the WestonLawyers.com Golf Classic. This event raises funds for scholarships provided to dedicated high school students from Cypress Bay High School and Sagemont High School in Weston, Western High School in Davie, and HANDY students.

“The Rotary Club of Weston continues to raise the bar and has awarded over $1 million in scholarships since we began, with over $100,000 in scholarships awarded last year alone. Our goal is to work harder to make this year even bigger and better,” said Michael Freedland, Rotarian and co-chair of the Golf Classic.

Michael is the managing partner at WestonLawyers.com (also known as Freedland Harwin Valori, PL,) who has been the Title Sponsor of this tournament for almost ten years. “We have a great time on the golf course, but an even better time each month at one of our weekly meetings, when we honor the “Student of the Month,” and listen to these students, who work hard to achieve in school and make a difference in their community,"

Stated Freedland.

Weston Hills Country Club will be the host for this wonderful and worthwhile golf event to be held on Monday, April 4^th. In addition to the 18 holes of golf, there is a full day of entertainment, activities and great food.  There are opportunities for prizes, both on the course and during the raffle, which includes a variety of spectacular items including vacations, golf foursomes, golf equipment, spa packages, and restaurant packages. 

A kickoff celebration, the Draw Down Raffle Party, will take place on Thursday, March 10^th at 6:30pm at the Harley Davidson dealership in Sunrise. The event is sponsored by ACUDERM, Inc. Guests purchase in advance raffle tickets for a one in 400 chance to win $10,000, while enjoying a night of fun, food, drinks and entertainment.

This year’s WestonLawyers.com Golf Classic and the Drawdown are expected to raise more than $100,000 to be awarded as scholarships for the 2016-2017 school year. Interested students must apply through their College Brace Advisors. A committee of Rotary members selects the recipients after a day of interviews at the schools. A special scholarship breakfast will be held in May at Weston Hills Country Club honoring the students and their families and recognizing the generous golf tournament and Drawdown sponsors. 

If you are interested in joining us for golf, sponsorship opportunities or volunteering your time and or talent, Weston Rotary wants to speak with you. Please contact Michael Freedland at michael@westonlawyers.com

Eradicating Polio in the World

ROTARY has been working to eradicate POLIO in the World for almost 30 years. After POLIO was eradicated in the US in 1979, the effort directed to end polio worldwide

In 1985, more than 125 countries had active cases of Polio, but after millions of vaccines delivered worldwide by communities and Rotarians, the world is now 99% Polio free.  Today only 2 countries are still struggling to win this fight: Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Not long ago Nigeria & India were part of this group, but they have been declared Polio Free. The decrease is from more than 1,000 daily, to only 41 cases or Polio reported thus far this year.

This is a phenomenal accomplishment for Rotary and its strategic partners: UNICEF, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and local Governments.  There are over 34,000 Clubs and 1.2 million members who have dedicated Fundraising efforts and Awareness Campaigns, and Vaccination trips, to end Polio.  END POLIO NOW, the Rotary motto, has planned activities until 2018, the anticipated year for a POLIO FREE WORLD.

The ROTARY CLUB OF WESTON is an active supporter of the END POLIO NOW Campaign for years. The Club conducts community oriented projects centered around children, who learn to help less fortunate kids not only locally, but in other parts of the world. Purple Pinky Days will be conducted in and around Weston. The Purple Pinky idea was developed to mimic a child receiving the polio vaccine, with a Gentian violet ink-mark applied to a finger of a healthy child giving a donation and their time.  The objective of the project is to teach values to the kids by making them aware of how each dollar they help to raise, will save kids from POLIO, one by one. For every dollar a child donates, they are allowed to purple-mark one finger as a sign of saving 1 child from Polio.   Each vaccine dose costs $0.60, but it requires a budget of $5.5 Billion to deliver the vaccine to the millions of kids, fewer than 5 years old, in those highly populated countries…until the job is finished.

Rotary International the Rotary Club of Weston and the community, continue working together to End Polio Now.  At Rotary Club of Weston, WE CHANGE LIVES, WE SAVE LIVES

The Rotary Club of Weston meets at 7:30am for breakfast every Thursday at Weston Hills Country Club

Rotaract of West Broward

Rotaract of West Broward is a newly formed nonprofit service club designed for young professionals with the intent of promoting leadership and service in the community. Rotaract of Club of West Broward has chartered for membership in July and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Weston, FL.  As an organization of young professionals, ages 18-30 in the west Broward area, this club strives to assist its members in their professional and leadership abilities. They are part of a movement of youth that want to make a difference at the local level, while encouraging international understanding through a framework of friendship and service.  The Rotary motto “Service above Self”

Just three weeks after their first meeting, they had their first community service project at Manor Oaks Nursing and Rehab Center in Fort Lauderdale. They spent time with the residents; played games, and shared stories. They also helped with lunch and assisted the nurses.   The new club also participated with the Weston Rotary Club in the Weston July 4^th Parade.   The second community service event took place on July 11th at Feeding South Florida.   The  organization rescues food, and before distribution, the products need to be inspected to ensure safety.  Along with other volunteers, the club sorted through over 19,000 pounds of products that will turn into over 16,000 meals for individuals in need.

The Rotaract club of West Broward currently meets every Tuesday at 7:45 pm at Temple Dor Dorim in Weston, FL.  During the meetings, they get together to discuss upcoming projects, learn from amazing speakers, and exchange ideas.  The last meeting of the month is a social event where they break from the routine and get to enjoy the company of other fellow members along with food and drink.

At Rotaract Club of West Broward members get to know their community and its needs, while building new relationships. If you are a young professional in the area of West Broward who would enjoy growing as a person and in giving back to the community, please contact Cristian Aguilar, Membership & Fellowship Chair, at cristianaguilar1992@gmail.

The members of the Rotaract Club of West Broward feel very lucky to have incredible support from the Rotary Club of Weston as they continue to go on this journey into the world of charity and service.  They continue to actively plan different service projects to make sure they help the most people they can and support different causes throughout South Florida.