Message from the Club President

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 Message from 2022-2023 Club President Pamela Gray

 Message from 2018-2019 Club President David B. Gooch

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Kittery Website.  Our Club meets Tuesday mornings at Kittery Estates.  We are committed to serving our community.  Our club is not one of the larger clubs of Rotary District 7780 but as a result we do get to know each other well and have fun working and meeting together.  The Club is proud to be able to support our youth through programs with our schools, as well as serving our community's  senior citizens.  Check our our Newsletter on this site and follow us on Facebook.  We are a very family friendly club and enjoy our members including their family and friends in our activities and at our meetings.  We are always looking for new friends who are passionate about serving their community and the world to join us.  Contact us, be our guest at a meeting or project, and bring along your ideas and energy.

Dave Gooch

                              Message from 2016-2017 Club President Michael Scarpone

I joined Rotary in Vermont years ago when I was just launching my career.  I thought that it was probably a good way to gain more business contacts and meet other community folks.  I really had no idea of the scope and magnitude of the door I was walking through that first meeting.   The level of impact this organization has on a local, regional, national and international level is awe inspiring.

Fast forward years later when my travels would take me to reside in Kittery.  My reentry into the Kittery Club came at the invitation of a friend who asked me what I knew about Rotary and would I come to a meeting.  My first Kittery Rotary breakfast meeting felt like I had come back home.

So what is Kittery Rotary?  It is a dedicated group committed (more like passionate) about community service.  Food drives, blood drives, literacy projects, senior citizen dinners, helping to end childhood hunger and supporting the Rotary International mission of the eradication of polio worldwide is just a few examples of the groups impact.  Two of our members just returned from Cuba where they went into the remote villages to install fresh water filtration systems.

Rotary is a group of people that have a bond and there is a strong sense of community within the group.  It is a welcoming group that rises at every opportunity to help those in need.

To fully understand the organization, you simply cannot read about it, you must experience it.

So, my message is this-if you want to meet new folks who are committed to making a difference, if you want to help those in your community in both a local and global way and if you want to laugh and enjoy the company of others-come to a meeting.  I guarantee it can change your life.

Michael Scarpone

President

  Message from 2013-2014 Club President Jared Morse

   Thank you for taking the time to visit our club’s website.  It will give you a glimpse into who we are and what we do, but I encourage you to visit us at one of our weekly meetings, after-hour socials or local community service events.  We post upcoming events on this site, as well as on Facebook at http://facebook.com/kitteryrotary and Twitter at @kitteryrotary.

   My wife and I moved to Kittery in 2006 and, for the first few years, lived here without really getting to know anyone.  Working out of town and not having kids in the school system yet, it was easy for me to get entrenched in my day-to-day and let time pass without meeting many people.  I have a family member who has been a member of another Rotary club for years, and I knew a little bit about what the club did.  I’d see pictures of trips he took, and I’d hear about what they were doing over holiday meals, but I still had a predisposed notion that Rotary was, well, for old people.  The one thing that stuck with me though, was that he said it gave him a sense of community.  So, in 2010, I contacted the Rotary Club of Kittery looking to get that sense of community.  What did I find?

   I found that Rotary IS for old people.  But it is also for young people.  It’s for anyone who enjoys rolling up his sleeves to help someone in need, or who wants to gain valuable experience to take with him in his personal or business life.  It’s for those who want to be given a window into ways of life they didn’t know existed - in a remote village 2,000 miles away, or in their own backyard.  It’s for anyone who likes to laugh, possibly cry, meet great people, get out of your comfort zone, stay in your comfort zone, drink coffee, sing, pretend to sing, eat good food, help other people eat food, educate others, educate yourself, or fill an hour’s time on a Tuesday morning.  It’s for me.  It might be for you, too.

Jared Morse

President, 2013-14

Message from 2012-2013 Club President Patricia Holmes

Hi!

Picture a group of 20-30 adults getting together once a week for breakfast…shaking hands, laughing, sharing funny stories, planning the next community service project and fundraiser, supporting our community families in need in with food, taking part in worldwide efforts to eradicate polio and bring support to foreign communities in need. That’s the picture of our club. 

We are part of an international organization, Rotary International, that works to make a difference in the world, one community at a time.

We love serving Kittery! We give scholarships to graduates, dictionaries to every 3^rd grader in town, awards to Students of the Month. We make a spaghetti supper every year free to every senior in town. We work on projects at the high school and the ball field. We serve hot chocolate to everyone at the holiday parades. We support the Special Olympics. We do much more, and we have fun doing it!

If you would like to get the picture of the Rotary Club of Kittery, join us as our guest some Tuesday morning at 7:30 and have a great breakfast, hear a great speaker, and get to know what a group of people focused on Service Above Self can do.

Pat Holmes

President, 2012-13

Message from 2011-2012 Club President Brad Hirst

Rotary is a worldwide organization of 1.2 million members in over 80 countries.  Rotarians are a committed and diverse group of individuals who work together to meet real human needs in their communities, and around the world.  And we have fun doing it!  The Rotary Club of Kittery is 25 members strong and growing, and meets every Tuesday morning at 7:30 for a delicious breakfast, wonderful fellowship, engaging speakers, and an opportunity to make our community and our world a better place.  We are your friends, your neighbors, your business associates, and we invite you to come check us out!  We think you’ll like what you find.

This year, for the first time, we will be having our Fifth Tuesday meetings off-site in the early evening.  These will be times for fellowship and refreshment in different places in the community, specifically to strengthen our connections with the community and let folks get to know us in a less formal setting.  Check back to our website for specifics about time and locations.

If you are looking for a new way to connect to the Kittery community and want to join like-minded individuals in community service and build meaningful, lasting friendships, Kittery Rotary Club has a place at the table for you!

Brad Hirst, President 2011-2012

Message from 2009-2010 Club President Julie Perreault

I am honored to be a part of a service organization with 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide.

This year’s message to Rotarians The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands speaks to every one of our members as individuals.  It recognizes the strength of Rotary is within each club and it’s commitment to making the world a better place thru humanitarian efforts in our community and the world at large.

Our Kittery Club is a unique blend of dedicated people who realize they can contribute in a meaningful way and address the needs of those less fortunate.  Fellowship with like-minded constituents creates the energy, ideas, and action to change the world. 

The act of Service Above Self is divine in nature and its greater accomplishments are yet to be seen with the possible eradication of Polio as well as worldwide resources to relieve hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, and promote peace.

I personally want to appreciate what inspires our club then in turn provide the leadership to accomplish our worthy undertakings.

With a Sincere Heart

Julie Perreault

President 2009-2010