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Rotary Club of White Plains, New York

2021-22 Club President Jill Owens

WHAT IS ROTARY? May: Youth Service Month Think of ways to prepare your younger members for leadership positions, such as assigning them a mentor. It's a great way to connect younger members with Rotarians they may not know as well.

We resumed but then suspended again our in-person lunch meetings at noon on Tuesdays, returning to Zoom until May 17th when we resume meeting face-to-face. Check the schedule below to confirm each meeting's location. If questions, please email info@rotaryWP.org for information. Visiting Rotarians are always welcome.

Upcoming Club Schedule:

Current club members can access the "members-only" area using their private passwords. Members can read weekly Bulletins, Board minutes, print the photo Roster, edit their own Profiles, check attendance, update the schedule, and so on.

War and Peace Our club believes that Rotary International has influence around the world. We have urged RI to take a courageous stance supporting Ukraine in its defense from Russia's invasion, and use its powerful voice to encourage countries that have not supported Ukraine to step up and do so. It is an unusual action by a Rotary Club. . . but our Board felt that RI should do more to encourage clubs around the world to pressure their governments to "not do business" with Russia, and to use RI's powerful voice to speak out against Russia's aggression. Link to our letter (PDF, 1 page)

Racial Justice In Rotary, we have no tolerance for racism. Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Rotary strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change. The Rotary Club of White Plains is part of Rotary International, an organization of 1.2 million individuals from around the world and, consistent with RI's principles, is a multicultural, multiethnic organization welcoming all people. The Club has long been committed to diversity in its membership and leadership. Our Club supports the recent, peaceful protests addressed to racial injustice and encourages authorities and community leaders to recognize the message being conveyed by these protests and to take all necessary actions to address that message. Our members acknowledge that racial justice cannot co-exist with systemic racism in our institutions including policing, housing, education, access to affordable healthcare, incarceration and the justice system. We agree the time is now for consistent and concerted efforts to make fundamental changes toward finishing the work of achieving racial equality for everyone. "To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try."       - Rosa Parks Policy statement of the Rotary Club of White Plains Approved by the Board and published June 28, 2020

A short video by volunteer Steve Buckley introduces the Rotary Club of White Plains.
It highlights many of our activities. Thanks to Steve for a nice tribute video. (duration 2:01)

Rotary Means Business - Westchester meets every fourth Thursday of the month. Currently, we meet via Zoom at 9AM. Meetings are open to everyone whether you are a member of Rotary or not - so I will be happy to provide meeting information for you and your professional colleagues. Please contact me at lwf7471@gmail.com for meeting details. Hope to see you soon. Bill Fishman

Rotary Means Business is an R.I. Fellowship focused on helping Rotarians do business. Here in Westchester County, we hold monthly networking meetings open to all - Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike. Networking: In 1905, our founder Paul Harris conceived Rotary as a way for business and professional men to help and support each other in their businesses. He called it fellowship and mutual helpfulness; today we call it networking. In 1945, Paul Harris explained: "This new club was called Rotary because in the early days the members met in rotation in their various places of business so that they might come to know one another better.  The heart and soul of the first Rotary Club in Chicago was fellowship... ...and the original idea of mutual helpfulness evolved into the idea of general helpfulness."

Noteworthy...

What is Rotary's motto? Surprise! There are 2 official mottoes.

The White Plains Club's Role in Admitting Women into Rotary

Women were not allowed to be members of Rotary until 1987. White Plains played a meaningful role in changing Rotary's rules to admit women! Thank God we did! Here is the rest of the story. First women inducted as members by an R.I. president were in White Plains!

The first R.I. President to induct women was M.A.T.Caparas who came to White Plains in 1987 to induct Jo Falcone. MAT was a long-time close friend of our member PDG Andy Morzello who arranged the visit to RCWP. MAT passed away at age 97 in 2020. Read Andy Morzello's Tribute/In Memoriam to M.A.T.

Report on the 2019 Loucks Track Meet

Every year -- even during pandemic 2020 -- our Rotary club is a sponsor of the Loucks Games, the largest high school track meet on the East Coast. We are proud of our involvement. (Check out these photos of Charlie Goldberger)

Contribution Summary

We award scholarships every year to students at the high schools in White Plains. In addition, we make contributions to community groups and we support The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Click for a contribution summary. (Alas, this listing is out of date and needs to be updated.)

George Koplinka's Collection of Rotary Stamps!

RCWP member George Koplinka joined our club in 1966 and became interested in postage stamps commemorating Rotary around the world. He soon found a rich history of different countries honoring Rotary by issuing postal stamps, and he bacame a collector. In December 2019 George donated his collection to our club. We have developed a photo archive of some parts of George's collection. It is found in our website "Archives" which can be accessed from the main menu.

Annual Coat & Sweater Drive

Dear Rotarians and friends, Please support our annual coat and sweater drive and help keep our neighbors warm this winter. Bring your gently used coats and sweaters to any of our December lunch meetings at the Crowne Plaza hotel (Tuesdays, December 3, 10, 17) between 12 and 1:30 p.m. All items collected will be distributed to needy individuals through the Salvation Army of White Plains. If you can't drop off at a lunch meeting, call Libby Hollahan at 761-6259 to arrange pickup/dropoff. We'll be collecting coats and sweaters until Dec 17th... Thank you for your support! Click this window for details.

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