Note From The Desk of The President

A Note From the Desk of President Kristen Morse:

Dear Rotarians,

Thank you being my friends & biggest supporters. I was completely blow away & surprised by all of the gifts and the baby shower you planned for me last week. Thank you for the parenting advice and lovely words of support expressing your confidence in me. Baby Morse will be here any day now and I look forward to sharing him with all of you. He is very lucky to already be loved by such an amazing group of service hearted community leaders.

See you all soon!

Service Above Self,

Kristen Morse

Opportunities to be of Service:

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." - Jimmy Dean

10K Dirty Sock Run Volunteers Needed - After a HUGE success last year, we are gearing up for 2023! The committee for our largest fundraiser of the year will be meeting on Weds, Feb. 22nd at 11:30am at Long Island Yacht Club. Please attend this meeting to learn how you can help out!

Literacy Project Committee- Next Committee meeting is Weds March 8th 11am, at Long Island Yacht Club. More than 775 Million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. That's 17% of the world's adult population. The goal of the literacy project committee is to strengthen the capacity of our community to support basic education & literacy, reduce gender disparity in education & increase adult literacy. The committee supports education for all children and literacy for all children & adults.

Hygiene Drive Volunteers - The club will be running a hygiene drive to collect items to be distributing at local soup kitchens and food pantries. We will need help collecting items, transporting items, assembling items into kits and delivering kits to soup kitchens. Please respond to this newsletter or email our Community Service Chairwoman, Megan Noble if you would like to volunteer. (megan@garveypropertiesli.com)

Dictionary Project 2022-2023

Thank you to Chairman: Marc Horowitz

Thank you to Committee Members: Frank Seibert, Alice Cromarty, Pat Ziegler, Mary Donovan, Bonnie Heller, Gail Sullivan, JoAnn Boettcher

This year we donated almost 900 dictionaries to the 3rd graders in 15 different elementary schools from North Babylon, West Babylon, Babylon & West Islip. Traveling around our community for weeks to conduct 15 presentations was truly a labor of love and we thank all Rotarians who participated. This year the committee made the difficult decision to end the Dictionary Project and focus efforts next toward supporting literacy in a different way. While all Rotarians love the nostalgia of a physical dictionary, the truth is that most children, even adults simply use their smart phones to look up the meaning of words they don't know. The committee is determined to brainstorm a project that better support the literacy of our community moving into the future instead of clinging to the past. The Dictionary Project was led by Past District Gov. & Past President Frank Siebert for many years and we thank him for his service to the project.

Youth Mentorship

West Islip Interact Club: Pet Supply Drive for Islip Town Animal Shelter

Our club is proud sponsor the West Islip Interact Club for students aged 13-17. They are currently running a pet supply drive for the animals at Islip Animal Shelter. Please any donations to our next meeting or there is a drop off box at the West Islip Public Library. We are very proud of the teens in West Islip Interact Club!

Lunch at the Babylon Historical Society

What a great afternoon at the Historical Society!

On January 25th, Babylon Rotary Club held their lunch meeting at the newly renovated Babylon Village Historical & Preservation Society. The Historical Society re-opened on Saturday Sept. 24th, 2022 after being closed for two years for renovations. Nearly $400,000 was spent to return the building to it's original glory. All of the funds were either donated or earned as grants. The property on which the museum stands was donated by the children of Henry Livingston, who resided across the street. The museum property was left to the people of Babylon with the stipulation that it would be developed for community use. A campaign was commenced to start a library and the building was completed to house the library. When the library was moved to S. Carll Ave in 1969, the Historical Society was formed.

The club enjoyed an enthusiastic tour from Rotarian Wayne Horsley & President of the Historical Society Board, Judy Skillen. You simply must go see it for yourself. The museum features rotating exhibits and even some Rotary History.

Upcoming Events at the Historical Society:

JOURNEY OF HOPE: THE IRISH IN NEW YORK

FEBRUARY 26 @ 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

February 26, 2023 at 2pm – Journey of Hope: The Irish in New York – Tara Rider

From the 18th century onwards, dramatic numbers of Irish citizens emigrated to the U.S, often to escape religious persecution and economic hardship. Dr. Tara Rider is a lecturer Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences as well as being a Public Scholar for the New York Council for the Humanities.

SHIPWRECK OF HOPES

MARCH 26 @ 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

March 26, 2023 at 2pm – Shipwreck of Hopes – Angela Reich

Join local author and Fire Island Lighthouse docent Angela Reich as she presents “The Wreck of the Elizabeth: Long Island’s Maritime History.”

Upcoming Meeting Dates

Board Meetings at 11:30am at Long Island Yacht Club

Weds Feb 8th, Weds March 8th, Weds April 12th

Regular Lunch Meetings at 12:30pm at Long Island Yacht Club

Weds Feb 8th, Weds Feb 22nd, Weds March 8th, Weds March 22nd, Weds April 12th