On Sunday, May 15, the Interact Service Club of Rocky Point High School and their advisor Margaret Messinetti participated in a spring cleanup at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck. Everyone took part in raking leaves, weeding flower beds, putting down mulch, painting, and general cleanup duties. Everyone worked hard, but they also managed to have fun.

Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck is a resident summer camp designed for young people ages 6-21 with special needs. Its mission is to help children and adults achieve equality, dignity, and maximum independence through a safe and quality program of camping, recreation, and education in a summer-time environment. Throughout the program, campers participate in typical summer camp activities, such as arts and crafts, talent shows, cook-outs, swimming and boating.

On Tuesday, December 9, Rocky Point Rotary welcomed guest speaker Therese Connors Ebarb, Esq.

Ms. Connors Ebarb's presentation was on elder law.  Thank you, Ms. Connor Ebarb, for a very informative presentation.

On Monday, November 24, Rocky Point Rotary President Lee McAllister attended the Rocky Point Board of Education meeting and presented Community Service Awards to nine Interact students and their advisor.  These students received this award in recognition of the time they spent at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck participating in the annual fall cleanup.

On Thursday, November 20, Rocky Point Rotary Club member Ann Marie Roberts presented food gift certificates to Joann Massimo, Program Director of Suffolk County Veterans at the Veterans Place in Yaphank.  

There was a overwhelming need to provide more then one hundred Veteran's families food for this Thanksgiving Holiday.  May God bless them!

Rocky Point High School hosted a successful blood drive benefiting Long Island Blood Services on Monday, November 17, 2014 in the school’s auditorium.  The drive was organized and sponsored by the Rocky Point High School Interact Club with club advisor and faculty member, Margaret Messinetti, serving as the coordinator. 

Rocky Point High School Interact club members and two Rocky Point Rotarians, Ann Marie Roberts and Diane Boos, assisted with the registration of donors and served refreshments to participants upon completion of their blood donation. Students, teachers, administrators, and support staff donated a total of 64 units of blood, which is the second highest donation day in the history of the drive.  Thank you to all who assisted throughout the day as well as those who donated blood.

 

On ​November 9th, Rocky Point High School Interact Service Club members together with their advisor, Mrs. Messinetti, and Rocky Point Rotarian, Susan Wilson, participated in a fall cleanup at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck. Everyone took part in raking leaves, moving picnic tables, and general cleanup duties. They worked hard, but they also managed to have fun.  They were assisted by members of the Port Jefferson Rotary and Interact Clubs.

Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 14 to 18, sponsored by individual Rotary clubs which provide encouragement and guidance, but are self-governing and self-supporting. The Interact chapter at Rocky Point High School is sponsored by the Rocky Point Rotary Club. In addition to successfully executing its own fundraising and community service projects, Interact has often joined the Rocky Point Rotary Club in cleaning up the campgrounds at Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck.

Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck is a resident summer camp designed for young people ages 6-21 with special needs. Its mission is to help children and adults achieve equality, dignity, and maximum independence through a safe and quality program of camping, recreation, and education in a summer-time environment. Throughout the program, campers participate in typical summer camp activities, such as arts and crafts, talent shows, cook-outs, swimming and boating.

Rocky Point Rotary visited the Miller Avenue Elementary School in Shoreham to distribute dictionaries to the students. Principal Louis Parrinello gathered the students in the school's auditorium where he told the students what Rotary is and does in the community. He showed the students how the Rotary Four Way Test is very similar to their Pillars of Character. At Miller Avenue School the students are committed to being Fair, Caring, Respectful, Responsible and Good Citizens. Before giving the students their dictionaries, Rotarian Forrest Dunbar described some of the things Rotary does locally and internationally. Pictured with Principal Louis Parrinello and members of Mrs. Stevenson's class are Rocky Point Rotary members John Maki, Betsy Whitney, Bob Curtin, Forrest Dunbar, Glenn Frost and Tom Talbot.

---

Guest speakers today were Pei & George Wei. They spoke about Shen Yun Performing Arts which is the world's premier Chinese dance and music company. It has performed to acclaim in over 100 cities around the world. Based in New York, it is independent of China's regime. Shen Yun seeks to breathe new life into into traditional Chinese culture and provide audiences with an experience of sublime beauty. Next year the company will be performing at Lincoln Center. 

---

---

Teresa Ward owner of Teresa's Family Cleaning in Rocky Point was the guest speaker at the February 23, 2010 meeting. Teresa spoke about how she got into the cleaning business and how the loss of her sister inspired her to get involved with the organization Cleaning for a Reason. This organization provides cleaning services to women undergoing cancer treatment. Teresa was named 2009 NYS Small Business Person of the Year by the US Small Business Administration and was recently inducted into Suffolk Women's Hall of Fame.

---

On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, the Rocky Point and Port Jefferson Rotary Clubs held a joint meeting at Brookhaven National Laboratory.  Marsha Belford, Principal Community Relations Specialist at BNL, arranged an interesting agenda for the visit to the Lab. The lunch time program by Steven Dierker, P.H.D., Associate Director for Light Sources, was about the new National Synchrotron Light Source II. This $1 Billion U.S. Department of Energy investment in science, technology and jobs on Long Island is scheduled to open in 2015. A synchrotron light source is an accelerator based research facility that allows scientists to look at the atomic level details of specimens. The present National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at BNL has been in operation for 27 years and been the site of thousands of experiments including those for users awarded with 2003 and 2009 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. The new NSLS-II is bigger and brighter than its predecessor and will help find solutions to America's energy challenges. After the talk and lunch, the group toured the present NSLS. Visiting Rotarians PDG Fred Notter (Sayville), ADG Barbara Ackermann (Southold), Heinz Nadler (Smithtown), and David Troyan (Riverhead) joined the two clubs at this special meeting.

---

On Sunday, January 24, 2010, Youth Exchange Program students from across District 7260 including our club's exchange students, Jordi Fernandez, Lucille Touveron and Arno Johannes Ranta-Aho gathered together at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church for an international potluck supper. A few students from District 7250 also joined in the fun, food, fellowship! Each student brought a dish native to their homeland and Rocky Point Rotary Youth Exchange Program Chairman Tom Talbot said the food was delicious. Suzanne Johnson of the Middle Island Club organized the event.

Lucille Buergers, Clinical Supervisor with the Student Assistance Service at Eastern Suffolk BOCES spoke at the January 12, 2010 meeting. Lucille spoke about the Alcohol Coalition of Eastern Suffolk BOCES (ACES Project). This initiative is comprised of two prevention programs, Project SUCCESS & Communities Mobilizing for Change (CMCA). Both programs are aimed at reducing the incidence of underage drinking. Project SUCCESS provides a Student Assistance Counselor who conducts a prevention series in high school health classes. CMCA includes a core leadership team that acts as an advisory group and a strategy team . The strategy team will conduct interviews with adult and student community members regarding attitudes, perceptions, and norms in the community.  The purpose of the interviews is to determine the best strategy to take to lower the incidence of underage drinking and assist students and parents with their understanding of the negative consequences of this behavior. If you are interested in being interviewed, e-mail Lucille at lbuerger@esboces.org

Rocky Point Rotary member, Tom Talbot, was recently named Community Leader of the Year by The North Shore Sun newspaper. In the announcement appearing in the January 8, 2010 edition of the paper, Tom's many civic service activities were highlighted. In addition to Rotary membership, Tom is the president of the Middle Island Civic Association, co-chair of the Brookhaven Town anti-litter task force, a member of the Sons of American Revolution, volunteer at the INN at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rocky Point, member of the Brookhaven National Lab Community Advisory Council and treasurer of the Affiliated  Brookhaven Civic Association. In addition to all of these activities Tom finds time to serve in many capacities for Rotary including club Youth Exchange Program Chairman. Our club is very proud, grateful and honored to have Tom as one of our own. This could not have happened to a nicer person!

Forrest Dunbar thanks Deputy Inspector Hal Jantzen for speaking about the SCPD Marine Bureau. Their jurisdiction covers the Long Island Sound on the North Shore, the Great South Bay and Atlantic coast on the South Shore, Peconic Bay, and various inland bodies of water such as Artist Lake and Lake Ronkonkoma. Hal described the extensive role of the bureau, and how it interfaces with local Fire Departments and other municipal marine bureaus.  Hal also showed the various types of equipment used by the bureau.

On Saturday evening, December 12, 2009, members of the Rocky Point Rotary Club gathered for some holiday fun and cheer. John and Theresa Aloisio hosted the party at their lovely home in Shoreham. John lead us in a round of seasonal songs by playing his guitar and ukulele. Honorary Member Spiro Karachopan's Sea Basin Restaurant provided the delicious entree dishes. A fun time was had by all! For more photographs of the evening's excitement go to the Club Fellowship photo journal.  If you have additional photos of the evening, send to Betsy Whitney.

On Tuesday, November 24, 2009, Rocky Point Rotary met in full red shirt regalia to serve a delicious Thanksgiving dinner to the residents of the Ridge Rest Home. Anne Marie Gianni arranged this service project and by all accounts (empty plates and all), it was very well received and a huge success. Spiro and Sea Basin provided the delicious turkey and all the trimmings. Thanks to Anne Marie & John Aloisio for putting the dinner together!