We are guided by the object of Rotary --- SERVICE in our
community and throughout the world. We are committed to building goodwill
and peace, providing humanitarian service and encouraging high ethical
standards in all vocations. We are proud of the contributions of our club to
the needs of our community, both locally and internationally.
Here are a few of our projects:
Loucks Games... Annually, our club sponsors the Glen Loucks Games, a
renowned track and field event which is the largest high school invitational
meet in the USA, held every year since 1948 at White Plains High School.
Our Rotary club's annual sponsorship of the weekend includes the Friday night dinner for athletes,
and the 5K road race on Saturday, open to the public.
Charlie Goldberger has served as a principal fundraiser and organizer of the Saturday 5K,
held in conjunction with the Games as promotional event and fundraiser
(i.e., not for the participating high school athletes to run in!).
Charles A. Goldberger 5K Race
In 2023, the 5K race was officially named the "Charles A. Goldberger 5K Race"
in honor of Rotarian Charlie's dedication to the race for many, many years.
Over the years, Charlie wrote most of the reports below:
Scholarships... In 1961, the White Plains Rotary Club, under
the leadership of Dr. Morton H. Flaherty, established the Scholarship
Foundation. Our own Club committees oversee the management and investment of
the capital of the fund; and determines the beneficiaries of the income of
the fund, by soliciting college-bound applicants from the White Plains High
School, Stepinac High School and Good Counsel School. The scholarships are
distributed on the basis of grades, school activities including athletics,
worthiness of financial requirements and all-around good youth citizenship.
In the beginning... Our first significant community project
came in 1920 when we sent 42 boys to the Westchester County YMCA camp
located on Great Captain's Island in Long Island Sound off the shore from
Port Chester.
The boys were transported by auto to Port Chester and then by boat to the
Island. Each boy was provided with two blankets and enjoyed two weeks at
camp. This project was so successful that the following year, 1921, we
provided for 60 boys. To help defray the expenses, the Club staged a
minstrel show in which all of the members took part.
Through voluntary contributions from the Club members in 1925 and 1926, we
were able to give the White Plains Hospital a new Cadillac ambulance, which
was badly needed to replace an old Ford station wagon. Also, at about this
time, a Student Loan Fund was established to help needy students finish
their education.
Projects in early years...
- providing eye glasses for needy children in the public
schools,
- transporting mentally handicapped children to the
Atypical School
on North Broadway,
- transporting physically handicapped children to various
hospitals,
- purchasing a moving picture projector which our club
members took to different children's hospitals in the area and showed
movies to the children several times a week.
Fundraising... One of our most successful fundraisers was the
golf match that was held for 13 years beginning in 1963 at the Fenway
Country Club. These exhibitions featured outstanding PGA tournament players,
as well as some sports celebrities. Among the celebrities who
played in the golf tournament was Willie Mays. This was followed briefly by
a tennis classic starring leading professionals under the sponsorship of AMF
at the County Center. Amongst the stars who played in the tournament
was Arthur Ashe. One of our members was an executive at AMF, which
helped line up the golf participants and later the tennis participants.
The proceeds from these two events netted over $575,000 for the benefit of
the White Plains Hospital and St. Agnes Hospital (a huge amount for that
time).
Swedish Concert... In 1981, Charlie Goldberger chaired an
event when a Swedish Youth Orchestra (sponsored by a Swedish Rotary
district) came to the United States to entertain at the RI Convention in
Chicago that year. They stopped in New York for 3 days. We were their host
and we met them at the airport, took them to Marymount College in Tarrytown
where we had arranged for them to reside, and arranged for a concert at the
United Nations which was well received. They also put on a joint concert in
White Plains with a local chorale group which was a big success and nice
fundraiser. One day, we split them up and they visited with Rotary families.
Of course, we also took them on a sightseeing tour of New York City.
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A Sampling of
Thank You Letters |
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1993 recipient Brielle Rosa graduated Cornell, joined
Peach Corps in Niger Africa, and sent us this thank-you letter
in 1998
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2009 Westchester ARC
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2009 White Plains Youth Bureau
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2009 Pace Women's Justice Center
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2009 Heartsong
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2008
Scholarship Winner
SANDRA MASTRANGELO
Journal News Article June 18, 2008
Sandra Mastrangelo's Thank-You Letter
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2008 Meals On Wheels
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2008 Slater Center
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2008 White Plains Youth Bureau
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2008 Pace Women's Justice Center
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2008 Lords Pantry
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2008 Grace Church Community Center
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2007 Gift Of Life
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2007 Scholarship Winners
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2007 Scholarship Thabata Ribeiro
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2007 Heartsong
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2007 Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless
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2007 Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry
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2007 Meals-on-Wheels
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2006 HeartSong
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2006 Prescription For Hope
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2006 Concept Care
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Scholarship recipient Junior Sainvil
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2007 Gift of Life Sponsorship
from White
Plains Times, 11/9/2007
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2007 WPHS China Exchange
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Ecuador Connection
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From 2000 through 2006, we donated 2 Class A fire engines and 2
ambulances to the Rotary club in the poor town of Bahía de
Caráquez. All four vehicles were contributions to our club
through efforts led by Evan Delman.
We have also provided the lifesaving clothing called
"bunker-gear" for the firefighters to wear while in the
performance of their duties; as well as the needed hose,
adapters and appliances that are used in fire fighting. Prior to
our donations, the local firefighters entered burning structures
wearing little more than street clothes for protection.
Regular inspections are made to insure the equipment is being
maintained in good and effective operating condition, and to
ascertain a list of equipment that has been used beyond repair.
In 2007 a team of 10 club members visited to see first hand how
one Rotary club can improve the lives of an entire community
half a world away.
In 2009, we made a donation of $11,000 for the construction of a
school in Bahía de Caráquez. Some of that money was raised by
our INTERACT club from White Plains High School. In 2010, the
school was completed.
Also in 2010, Dr. Evan Delman traveled to Ecuador again to
deliver some donated neonatal monitors to the hospital.
Read about our work with the
Rotary Club of Bahía de Caráquez, and the work we have done with
them over the past decade.
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Other activities of the Rotary Club of White Plains:
- Held road races.
- Annually we ring the bell for the Salvation Army
- Repaired homes run by the WARC,
- Conducted Christmas parties for the underprivileged of
White Plans,
- Collected sweaters for the homeless,
- and provided services at the Burke Rehabilitation Center.
- Donated money to help feed the homeless in Westchester
- Assisted in the construction of recreational facilities
for the handicapped
- Helped underwrite a program for educating high school
students in the operation of the UN
- Held auctions that that enabled us to donate $30,000 to
the benefit of the Neonatal and maternity center at W.P. Hospital and
the Children’s Rehabilitation Center of Saint Agnes Hospital.
- Participated in soap box derbies to benefit the American
Red Cross and our club Foundation.
Some Recipients over the years have included:
- The Ecumenical Food Pantry
- Hospice Program of the White Plains Medical Center
- Our Scholarship Fund
- St. Agnes Hospital Chemical Dependency Program
- YMCA Youth Program
- Approximately $50,000.00 to the Polio Plus Program
- St. Bernard's Head Start
- College Careers
- White Plains Child Day Care Association
- Cage Teen Center
- The Lord's Pantry
- YMCA Day Care Program
- White Plains Beautification Foundation
International Projects
We also supported a number of International community service projects,
including:
- Our club sponsored a program (named “Contact Point”) of
donating dental equipment and services to Jamaica and other countries;
- In 2000 and again in 2004, we arranged for fire trucks to
be shipped to cities in Ecuador where there was no fire fighting
equipment;
- We gave financial support for the construction of a school
in Calderon near Quito, Ecuador;
- We arranged to transport a laundry unit to Hospital
Rosario Lacayo in Leon, Nicaragua;
- White Plains Rotarians assisted in building shelters for
outdoor school facilities in Spanish Town, Jamaica, West Indies.
Click here for a report
filed by Rotarian Evan Delman on September 10, 2004 regarding the White
Plains Club's 2004 Mission to Ecuador.
White Plains ROTARY CLUB: This is a club where you can
achieve much by participation.
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