The History of the Rotary Club
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Rotary Year 2014-15 President Paul Sawtell The year began with the inauguration and installation of Officers at Redeemer Church on June 23, 2014. Newly inaugurated President Paul Sawtell briefly described Rotary’s role in Peace efforts, specifically the creation of the United Nations at the end of the Second World War. The installation of officers was performed by Assistant District Governor Ronnie Chantker. The Officers and Directors for the year were Vice President Todd Dempsey, Immediate Past President Dale Lazar, President Elect Lynn Heinrichs, Secretary Michael Arietti, Treasurer Jan Auerbach, Membership Director Dana Sippel, Service Director Bob Jansen and Directors-at-Large Eva Seraghy and Lois Wilson. The first meeting of the year fell on July 1 and the program was Past President Dale Lazar’s retrospective. One of the goals of 2014-15 was to increase the interest level of meetings to encourage attendance and attract potential new members. Examples of the meeting presenters are as follows: Dave Baranek, retired Navy fighter pilot, author of “Top Gun Days”; John Foust, Dranesville District Supervisor; Elaine Jean, author of “Carpe Weekend”; Del. Barbara Comstock, candidate for US House of Representatives; Terry Irving, author of “Courier, White House to Watergate”, Karen Yelick of Indego Africa and Social Enterprise in Rwanda; John White and the History of McLean Little League. One of the most impressive presentations was made by Amina Anisi, a scholarship awardee. She was born in Republic of Congo and virtually escaped to the United States a few years ago. She sought equality and an increase in her chances for a better life. She was earlier awarded a scholarship by our club and others in the District to pursue a nursing degree at NOVA. Her presentation was impressive in that she is striving to help all people achieve their full potential. Service Director Bob Jansen chaired the voting on Club support of Service Projects at the meeting of November 18. The results of the voting determined the support of the Club and Foundation of various charities in the McLean area. Club member Lois Wilson and Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club member Michelle Peters made a presentation about Michelo on August 12. Michelo is a project initiated by Lois and Michelle to assist St. Joseph’s School in Swaziland. The school was established for handicapped children and was horribly underfunded and languishing before Lois, Michelle and others established the program to increase the resources and activities at the school. Honorary Member and Member of Falls Church Rotary Bilal Rashid introduced his new biography of his father entitled “The Invisible Patriot” on May 5. Other Rotarians making Classification Talk presentations were George Winters on July 29; Vance Zavela on September 16; Gene Durman on September 23; Carol Stone on October 28 and Farraz Siddiqui on May 12. Treasurer Jan Auerbach introduced Renuka Chander and Ed Schrock who made a presentation entitled “McLean, a Community of all Ages”. Most touchingly Rear Admiral (Retired) Kathleen Martin made a presentation honoring veterans on November 11. She discussed the establishment of Veteran’s Day also known as Armistice Day. She also introduced Sergeant Michael Frazier, USMC, Retired. Sergeant Frazier is the son of Kathy Martin’s best friend from high school. He was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2011. She lauded the stamina, strength and determination that has enabled him to move from the battlefield to Walter Reed Medical Center and onward along the journey to recovery. The club, once again, participated along with Tysons, Arlington, and Dunn Loring clubs in Monte Carlo Night. This year it was held November 5 at Fairview Park Marriott. Our representatives to the committee were Glenn Yarborough, Debbie Jackson, Vance Zavela and Faraz Siddiqui. The event was quite lively with a 12 piece band, Little River Jazz Band, gambling and live and silent auctions. Altogether our club’s portion of the receipts was $13, 613. Another major fundraising event was the Chocolate Festival held January 25 at the McLean Community Center. Chairperson Jan Auerbach rounded up and utilized the talents of just about every club member and their spouses and children to help raise in excess of $13,000 for our club. Special thanks go to our Interactors from Langley for their help in every capacity, especially the kids’ activity room. McLean Day was chaired by Bob Jansen and held at the Lewinsville Park as usual on May 23. This year we had the food sales tent behind Bob Rosenbaum’s house but we also manned an informational booth along the “Midway.” Chairman Bob Jansen used his analytical skills and managed to coordinate the costs of supplies. We managed a profit of $3,200, the highest in history. Years earlier Chairperson John Rosenbaum changed from burgers to pizza, which increased the quality of the products sold. This year Chairman Jansen continued the quality but increased the efficiency of purchasing hot dogs, buns and the delivery of the pizzas to increase our profits. Up until this year McLean Day was beginning to look like a lackluster money maker but a great club morale booster. This year we managed to turn a tremendous profit. Kathy Martin chaired the Timber Lane Elementary Reading Program once again. Club members read to Kindergarteners, first and second graders at the school and provided the book to each child. This program was established to encourage literacy among our youngest students in an especially hardship stricken school. Kathy also chaired our annual Adopt-a-Family at the Holidays. This year she raised donations from our club members of $865 to provide gifts for a deserving family. Sam Agarwal introduced the Dine Around program in which Rotarians and their spouses would gather at a restaurant for a meal. The first session was at Idylwood Grill and later at the Tara Thai Restaurant. We also continued meeting for Happy Hour on the first Monday of each month at Evo Bistro. The club continued supporting McLean and Langley High School sports. We also awarded $10,000 in scholarships to students graduating from McLean, Langley and Pimmit Adult High Schools. Past President Todd Dempsey oversaw the awarding of Youth Service Awards to outstanding service minded students from Langley, McLean, Potomac School, Thomas Jefferson and Madeira. Bob Hahne, once again vowed to provide one million meals for Stop Hunger Now. He raised funds, with the support of our club members to provide the assembly of 300,000 meals at an event held November 1 at Redeemer Church. Club members, Interactors, other Youth and church groups came together that day under Bob and Dominic Alexander’s leadership to achieve Bob’s goal. One of our greatest achievements of the year was nominating Bob Hahne for the District Rotarian of the year award. Bob’s humble service and charity was finally recognized with award to him at the District Conference in Cambridge, Maryland in April. Increasing membership continues as one of the major goals of Rotary International. This year we inducted three new members: Farraz Siddiqui, Jill Rawlins and Carol Triplett. Unfortunately we lost long time member Guru Raj to a physical move and two current members to death. Stan Richards and Bill Reed passed in July. We lost several past members as well. Past President Pete Hilgartner and Kenny Yang also passed away over the course of the year. We continued our outstanding achievements in District 7610 competitions. Not only did member Bob Hahne win the Rotarian of the Year award but our club was also awarded Exemplary Award for Vocational Service and Exceptional Awards for Club Service and most importantly Exceptional Award for Club Excellence. The club under Glenn Yarborough as RI Foundation Chair also remained 100 percent Paul Harris Fellows and Every Rotarian Every Year. ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This history was prepared and written, year by year, by Past Presidents Willis L. (Will) Fairbanks and William M. (Bill) Stell for the years 1965 through 2002, and by subsequent Past Presidents for the terms following 2002, under the authority of the Board of Directors, Rotary Club of McLean, Virginia. The principal source of information has been the almost 1800 issues of 'The McLean Wheel,” our weekly bulletin, supplemented by Board of Directors minutes and other informational material as available. We are indebted to Past Presidents Robert F. (Bob) Rosenbaum and Tin Tin Nu (Tin Lay) Raschid for faithfully collecting the Wheel over the years. The original 2003 edition was edited by Past President Michael J. Holleran, who supervised the proof-reading, using the services of members David Coyle, Marianne Voight, Jerry Tankel and Paul Sawtell. The 2008 and 2009 editions were edited by Club Historian and Charter Member Bill Stell, with the services of Tom Mangan, Pamela Danner, Todd Dempsey, Bob Hahne, and Scott Mills. Jan Auerbach has been maintaining the history since 2010. If we have omitted any contributions, it is because we have enjoyed the support of all, throughout the project. 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