WESTFIELD — On Tuesday, June 9, the Westfield Rotary Club awarded 16 scholarships to Westfield students, totaling $158,000.Acommittee of club members chose the recipients based on their academic achievement, community service and financial need. Since 1967 the Rotary has awarded over $3.5 million dollars in scholarships to more than 1800 students.The Rotary Club Foundation has funds invested in the Westfield Foundation, and also administers some scholarships for the WF. Glen Dumont, who serves as the vice president of the Westfield Foundation Board, spoke about the WF’s role in supporting community initiatives. Many of the scholarships were endowed by past Westfield residents who left money in their wills to give back to the community. There are also some scholarships provided by the former Women’s Club of Westfield. Those funds are supplemented by the Rotary’s fundraising activities, especially the annual Breakfast with the Bands, held at Westfield High School every spring.
The evening also included remarks by Westfield Superintendent of Schools Ray Gonzalez, who is a Rotary member, and Rotary Club President James Hely. Additional scholarship committee members in attendance were Deirdre Gelinne (Chair), Ray Kostyak and Mary Ellen O’Boyle.Alexandra Cicala, a college student who received a scholarship to help fund her law school education, offered advice to the high school students, advising them to get out of their comfort zone and try new things to make the most of their college experience.
The Rotary Club of Westfield is 105 years old. It is a group of businessmen and women who want to give back to the community. Its primary focus is to be a Service club, but there arealso some business networking activities.Some local projects include:helping homeless veterans, feeding “food insecure” people in our area, and helping the soup kitchen run by St. Joseph’s Social Service Center in Elizabeth. International projects include: collecting bicycles for the third world; building and supplying a medical clinic in Nigeria; collecting books for the same Nigerian town, and providing dialysis machines in India. Rotary International is active in 168 countries, with 1.4 million members worldwide.Their motto is “People of Action”.
The Rotary Club of Westfield meets the first two Tuesdays of each month at noon for lunch at Limani Seafood Grill on North Avenue. Guests are always welcome. For more information, check out the website:westfieldrotary.com.
