While our new tent and banner drew interested individuals to our site at the Restaurant Festival, the star of the booth was the introduction of our little foam Chili Peppers. In case you haven’t seen one yet, Anne Driscoll shows off one of the cute peppers that will be dropped from a large bag hanging over Jack’s Plaza on Gay Street at 3 p.m. on October 8th, the day of our annual, popular Chili Cook-off.Helping publicize the cook-off and our new 50/50 chili pepper drop at the Festival were Gary Hewitt, Matt Kuehn, Suzette Webb, Anne Driscoll, Sue Casso, Jeff Cantwell, and Melissa Baxter.
A large group of West Chester Rotarians were among the 500 Rotarians in District 7450 to attend the Phillies versus Milwaukee Brewers baseball game on Tuesday. An annual event of District 7450, some Rotarians made it a family affair. The Schwabs attended with son Matt and their grandchildren, the Sammarone family was there, and Paul Woodruff brought his grandson. Among others spotted in the crowd were Doug Meis, Melissa Baxter, Corey Cahill, and Kate Diffendorf.
A small but enthusiastic group of Rotarians gathered on a recent Saturday evening at Marshall Square Park to eat dinner and enjoy rock and roll music by Slingshot. Continuing her efforts to encourage West Chester Rotary Clubs to participate in joint activities, Immediate Past President Melissa Baxter was joined by Angela Brown from the Passport Club to picnic and listen to the music. An assortment of food trucks lined up along Matlack Street, but most folks brought their own picnic dinners and beverages.
Melissa Baxter turned over the club presidency to Rich Murray at a memorable presidential induction, like hundreds of Rotary clubs across the country and the world. Melissa accomplished so much in her year as our leader, notably bringing together other West Chester Rotary clubs in joint events. Apparently we did not overtax her, because she has now stepped up to join Jeff Cantwell in heading up the Chili Cook-off on October 8th! Talk about going “from the frying pan into the fire!” Fortunately she and Jeff have over 100 Rotarians and many other volunteers beside them as they venture forth, including Melissa’s supportive husband, Aaron.
Our club’s new tent and banner made their debut at the Turks Head Music Festival on a beautiful Sunday in June. The clever banner attracts visitors, and engages them in learning about Rotary, providing an additional, visible resource for displaying club brochures and information, and most importantly, publicizing our upcoming Chili Cook-off!
What has become an annual Service Above Self project for our club is helping neighborhood volunteers with clean-up day at Marshall Square Park in West Chester. This year, the clean-up day was scheduled for Earth Day weekend. Mac Neilon again handled the details, and directed 13 Rotarians and a child to help with picking up sticks, spreading mulch, shoveling up leaves, and general clean-up between 8:30 a.m. and noon on Saturday. Thanks to all the volunteers, and to Randy Lindel and Mark Sammarone for recording the event with photos.
Charles Streitwieser and Melissa Baxter represented our West Chester Club at the recent District 7450 District Conference, which Melissa described as a “relaxed format – people came and went throughout.”
Rotarians help out wherever there is a need! For example, Locust Lane Brewery (LLB), a member of the Exton Region Chamber of Commerce, conducts a series of events called ”Pints With a Purpose,” in which they pick a non-profit member of the chamber to highlight each month. The chamber’s Community Philanthropic Council’s February pick was the Chester County History Center (CCHC). All month, not only do proceeds from LLB’s monthly Community Cups project go to the non-profit, there is a happy hour at the end of the month.
The Philadelphia Eagles may have come up short on their bid to win the Super Bowl last weekend, but West Chester Rotarians were winners. Carol Hanson and new member Lona Pangia were among the four winners of the Super Bowl fundraiser conducted by Mac Neilon. Carol won $200 for her 2nd quarter pick, Lona won $200 for her third quarter pick, Fran Curtin (on a bucket list trip to Egypt with wife Judy) won $200 for his first quarter pick, and Rob Malone's grandmother won the fourth quarter pick and the $650 prize!
President Melissa Baxter and Bob Rogers tied for first place in the Rotary Barbecue Throw Down, held recently at the Boy Scout Council building in Exton. Melissa's entree was a succulent "Beat Bob Baby Back Ribs," and Bob's entrée was "Three Little Pigs," a tasty combination of pork shoulder, pork belly and bacon. Judy Curtin, past president of the Sunrise Club was runner up with her cinnamon spiced pulled pork. Other cooks/chefs from Sunrise included Bill Leber, and Laura Schofield and husband John Pierson's "Buckle Up" pulled pork (John smoked the pork for 16 hours!).
Arriving in a holiday mood, about 75 individuals, Rotarians and their spouses, gathered for a festive holiday party at the gorgeous home of Doreen and Bill Winters. Although elegant on its own, Doreen embellished the large Victorian style home with numerous decorated trees that she started putting up in October!
Another longtime tradition of our Rotary club has been the ringing of the bells at the bright red pots of the Salvation Army each year. This is a major fundraiser for the SA, which does so much good in our communities year around.
A casual, social gathering of Rotary members on the "Tuesday Before Thanksgiving" has been a longstanding tradition of the Rotary Club of West Chester. Over two dozen club members joined in keeping the tradition alive this year.
Members of our Rotary Club are never ones to shirk helping and participating in activities in the Borough of West Chester. And the recent Christmas parade was no exception! Jeff Cantwell was able to catch this photo of Rotarian and Bar Association director, Matt Holliday, on the Chamber of Commerce float. Jeff barely managed to get this photo because he was busy being one of the parade marshals!. Mark Sammarone was busy directing the hundreds of vehicles that were streaming into the borough hunting parking places. Mac Neilon also was very busy doing a variety of tasks to keep the parade running smoothly. Perhaps there were other Rotarians helping out that evening. The borough, chamber of commerce, and others know they can always depend on hard-working, often unseen Rotary volunteers and their families.
Several club presidents and members of the four West Chester Rotary Clubs met recently at Timothy’s for an All West Chester Member Prospect and Networking Social. One group of Rotarians who were having fun together included (from left) our own West Chester President Melissa Baxter, Debi Friedmann, president of the Passport Club, Russ DiFuria, a past president and member of the WEGO (West Goshen) Club, Bob Eaves, president of the Sunrise Club, and (front) Judy Curtin, immediate past president of the Sunrise Club.
According to Chili King Bill Friedman, an estimated record crowd of about 10,000 people flooded the streets of West Chester Borough Sunday, October 9th, when the annual Chili Cook-off returned for its 20th year!. Lines of chili lovers formed prior to noon, and booths remained busy until the awards presentations at 3:30, although many booths had run out of chili by then.
Anne Driscoll and Club President Melissa Baxter were among the several Rotarians who volunteered to staff our Rotary table at the recent Restaurant Festival in the Borough of West Chester to promote our upcoming Chili Cook-off. They sold wristbands so folks don't have to stand in long lines the day of the cook-off on October 9th, handed out updated brochures, and answered questions about Rotary. Meanwhile, John Schwab was busy "planting" Chili Cook-off signs in the borough. Many Rotarians have "planted" the bright red and yellow signs outside the borough, on corners, heavily trafficked streets, in their yards, and intersections. This will be the 20th year of our cook-off, which seems to grow in popularity each year, and even attracts folks from, other states, in addition to thousands of local individuals and families. Our cook-off returns after a two year hiatus due to COVID, and is widely anticipated. If you haven't signed up to volunteer that day, it's not too late to get in on the fun! See you on Sunday, October 9th!
For the 20th year in a row, Mac Neilon (fifth from left, next to West Chester Area School District Superintendent Bob Sokolowski) arranged for the donation of school supplies to the WCASD. Club President Melissa Baxter (sixth from right) joined Mac in delivering over $1,000 in supplies for students and families in need, from funds generated by the Rotary Club's Chili Cook-off. Caseworkers for the school district, pictured above, divide up the supplies and distribute them to economically disadvantaged students In the 17 district schools.
John Schwab (left) and Mac Neilon recently put up the first of several new road signs to provide additional visibility for Rotary clubs, and encourage individuals to look up and find a club, and learn about Rotary. The URL will direct individuals to all four Rotary clubs in the greater West Chester area. New and replacement road signage is one of the new projects of our club's Communications Committee. There will be additional signage to follow at all road entrances to West Chester, so keep watching for them!
"Promoting Rotary in sunshine and fresh air" was how Sue Casso Rogers described Sunday afternoon at the annual Melton Center Community Day event.
Our new club president, Melissa Baxter, had the pleasure of meeting the new Mayor of the Borough of West Chester Lillian DeBaptiste, when the mayor was our recent guest speaker.
The Rotary Club of West Chester, the Greater West Chester Sunrise Rotary Club and the Rotary Passport Club of West Chester joined together in choosing and awarding three high school graduates $2,000 college scholarships each. The scholarship recipients were chosen based on essays they wrote about their volunteerism, based on the Rotary motto, “Service Above Self.” Letters of recommendation from school administrators added verification of the students’ volunteer work.
Steve Brown, our outgoing president, received accolades for his leadership in the second half of the 2021-2022 Rotary year, our 100th anniversary, for his outstanding leadership during the (still circulating) pandemic. In addition to keeping club members engaged, Steve gave us brief looks back at our country’s history, and provided humorous moments at every club meeting to lighten the challenging times..png)
