Rotary Club of Sterling

2023 Flags for Heroes

A HERO is anyone important in your life -- honor your personal hero and support your local community through Flags for Heroes.

Help us create a field of honor by sponsoring a flag. You will receive a medallion to honor your hero. Funds raised from Flags for Heroes go to support local community service projects and youth scholarships.

The flags will be displayed from November 4 - 18 in Sterling adjacent to Bungalow Lakehouse along Route 7.

Visit SterlingRotary.org or email [email protected] to learn more and to sponsor a flag.

We will be holding our regular meeting on Wednesday, October 4th at 5:30 PM at the Bungalow Lakehouse located at 46116 Lake Center Plaza in Sterling. Please plan on attending as we have some exciting events and activities in the works for the fall!

Our guest speaker will be Tony Howard, the President & CEO of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. Tony oversees the largest Chamber in Northern Virginia and brings a wealth of knowledge about the business environment within our community. The Chamber is involved with advocacy and public policy, both at the local and state level, including the current Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance Rewrite. There are many other programs, professional development and networking opportunities provided by the Chamber on a regular basis, which are developed and planned by Tony and his staff for the benefit of the Loudoun business community.

If you are unable to attend in person, please join us online:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88042579225

Meeting ID: 880 4257 9225
Passcode: 844929

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

Our club's fall Potomac River watershed cleanup at Algonkian Regional Park

Join us at DC Prime Steakhouse for a Business Networking Reception

Come and bring a guest for an evening of networking with local business leaders. This networking event will be a perfect opportunity to meet and mingle with other professionals, expand your professional circle, and find opportunities to advance your career.

Wednesday, October 11 - 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

DC Prime Steakhouse
20120 Lakeview Center Plaza
Ashburn, VA 20147

Complimentary appetizers will be served

Come out Saturday to help the environment -- join us at Algonkian Regional Park between 9am - noon for a cleanup. All are invited!

The Rotary Club of Sterling will host their annual Potomac River Cleanup at Algonkian Regional Park on Saturday, September 30 from 9am - Noon

47001 Fairway Dr, Sterling, VA 20165

Bags, Gloves, and Lunch provided

We will meet at the registration table at the Boat Ramp

Help the Environment -- Join in the Cleanup

Food For Neighbors is our guest speaker for the club meeting on Wednesday, September 20.

Join us at Bungalow Lakehouse at 5:30 to learn more about this fantastic local program created to help children experiencing food insecurity, and how you can become involved in helping our community.

If you are unable to meet in person, join us on Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87961115695

Meeting ID: 879 6111 5695
Passcode: 352489

See you Wednesday!

What a great group of volunteers!

The Food for Neighbors Sterling collection site sorting team -- great job everyone!

FoodforNeighbors.org

It is Red Bag Day!

Place your food donations on your porch for the volunteer drivers to collect this morning. See you at the sorting sites to gather and distribute the donations for the students. Thank you for helping students in our community!

Food For Neighbors is a fabulous program the Rotary Club of Sterling is involved with, helping children in our community facing food insecurity. If you are not involved with Food For Neighbors, learn more about how you can help at FoodForNeighbors.org

Rotary District 7610

The Rotary Club of Sterling will host their annual Potomac River Cleanup at Algonkian Regional Park on Saturday, September 30 from 9am - Noon

47001 Fairway Dr, Sterling, VA 20165

Bags, Gloves, and Lunch provided

We will meet at the registration table at the Boat Ramp

Help the Environment -- Join in the Cleanup

Food For Neighbors Red Bag Day is coming!

Will you be filling a Red Bag on Saturday, September 9? Don’t forget to respond to our text or email to let us know if you’re participating. (If you aren't receiving our helpful text reminders and would like to, please contact us via the website to let us know.)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​If you cannot fill a bag this month, you can still participate by "filling" a virtual Red Bag on our website.
https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/virtual-red-bag/

A special thanks to our September Community Champion, Amazon Fresh, for sponsoring our Red Bag event.

There is an urgent need for BLOOD DONORS in our area right now!

The Big Picture: Multiple traumatic incidents and medical emergencies have left the Northern Virginia / DC Metro area Type O blood inventory critically low. We need all blood types, but a boost to the Type O supply will significantly help patients in need.

Why it Matters: Type O is in high demand because it is the most common blood type. Additionally, O negative is the universal blood type, which is needed for emergency transfusions and immune deficient infants.

If you are able, please donate blood!

To donate at Inova, call 1-866-BLOODSAVES or visit inovablood.org to schedule your appointment.

For Rotarians interested in becoming more involved, there is a Rotary Action Group for this:

https://ourblooddrive.org/

and a Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotaryblooddonation/

Join Rotarians in making a difference locally to help our community through Service Above Self -- Donate Blood

Congratulations to all members of the Rotary Club of Sterling for being recognized for their hard work and dedication to Service Above Self during the 2022-2023 Rotary year by receiving the Rotary Citation from Rotary International!

The club earned the Rotary Citation by demonstrating strong community service and commitment to the goals set at the beginning of the Rotary year. This award was announced today by 2022-23 Rotary International President Jennifer Jones.

We are proud of the hard work and dedication shown by the club members in earning this award -- fantastic job everyone! 👏

Come join us and say Hi!

We are at the I-Care Health Fair letting everyone know about the fabulous work Rotary does here in our community and around the world to improve health and make a difference.

There are fun kid's activities -- moon bounces, face painting so bring your kids.

19955 Highland Vista Drive, Ashburn, VA - near the Chick-fil-A in University Center

Join us for dinner at the Rotary Club of Sterling meeting on Wednesday, July 5 -- 5:30 pm at Bungalow Lakehouse

Our guest speaker will be from Women Giving Back. Come learn more about this fantastic organization and how to help women and children in crisis.

If you can't meet in person, join us online through Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88042579225

Meeting ID: 880 4257 9225
Passcode: 844929

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!

Happy New Rotary Year! July 1st marks the beginning of our Rotary Year - this year's Rotary theme is "Create Hope in the World".

Join us as we serve to create hope in our lives, the community around us, and the world by working together with a common purpose. We are so excited to see & share how we Create Hope in the World this upcoming Rotary year!

Today's the day! Join us this evening at Bungalow Lakehouse for our 35th Anniversary Dinner and Officer Installation Ceremony

Celebrate 35 years with the Rotary Club of Sterling!

You are invited to attend the Rotary Club of Sterling 35th Anniversary Awards Banquet and Officer Installation Ceremony on Friday, June 24, 2023 at Bungalow Lakehouse in Sterling, Virginia.

Share your club memories with us as we gather together to celebrate 35 years of Service Above Self in our community and around the world.

Happy 35th Anniversary to the Rotary Club of Sterling!

Join the Rotary Club of Sterling this evening at our club meeting as we learn about Wheelchairs 4 Kids and how we can help a child in our community.

Wheelchairs 4 Kids is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children with physical disabilities by providing wheelchairs, home and vehicle modifications as well as other assistive equipment at no charge to the families through our Let’s Roll Program.

At our meeting we will learn from Nina about Wheelchairs 4 Kids and the local need for wheelchairs and ways to help families in our area.

Join us in person for dinner, or online at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88042579225

Meeting ID: 880 4257 9225
Passcode: 844929

See you tonight!

Celebrate 35 years with the Rotary Club of Sterling!

You are invited to attend the Rotary Club of Sterling 35th Anniversary Awards Banquet and Officer Installation Ceremony on Friday, June 24, 2023 at Bungalow Lakehouse in Sterling, Virginia.

Share your club memories with us as we gather together to celebrate 35 years of Service Above Self in our community and around the world.

Join us at the club meeting this evening, Wednesday May 17 at 5:30 pm, Bungalow Lakehouse. We will be meeting the Sterling area high school scholarship winners and celebrating their success.

A great thank you to all of the volunteers that came out to celebrate Earth Day with the Rotary Club of Sterling.

Celebrate Earth Day!

Join us at Algonkian Regional Park on Saturday at 9am for our annual Potomac River watershed cleanup.

9am - Noon

Meet us at the boat ramp

Lunch provided by Chick-fil-A

Congratulations to Max Gonzales, winner of the Rotary Club of Sterling Youth Music Contest for his self-composed piano piece entitled "You". Max, a sophomore at Park View High School,did a fantastic job performing his winning entry and the whole club is impressed by his performance and excited for his future in music.

Pictured left to right: Judy Brittle, club president Colleen Radich, Max Gonzales, his mother Cherita Lewis, Suzanne Volpe and Eileen Lewis, D7610 Membership Vice Chair.

Join us at Bungalow Lakehouse on Wednesday, April 19 -- 5:30 pm

46116 Lake Center Plaza, Sterling, VA 20165

Our speaker will be Eileen Curtis, District 7610 Membership Vice-Chair

Celebrate Earth Day with the Rotary Club of Sterling!

Join us on Saturday, April 22 at Algonkian Regional Park in Sterling for our annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup

9am - Noon -- Meet at the Boat Ramp at the park

Gloves and Trash Bags provided

Stay for lunch as we celebrate Earth Day and the results of our hard work

Come to the club meeting on Wednesday, April 5 at 5:30pm to hear from Vedha of Anna Sudha Community Kitchen.

'Anna Sudha' means pure nourishment in Sanskrit. Anna Sudha Community Kitchen was founded by Nupur Panjabi out of her home kitchen in early 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. She realized that the pandemic had significantly changed the food landscape in Northern Virginia and saw a marked increase in food insecurities. Unemployment was high. The lines at food banks were long, and grocery shelves were bare because of interruptions in supply chains. People had stocked up on shelf-stable groceries and were not getting fresh, healthy, nutritious meals. It was her dream to make freshly prepared food accessible to anyone who simply desired it. She started out to give back to our community to close the gap in food insecurity and envisioned a community where good-quality, nutritious, home-cooked food was accessible to all.

Anna Sudha Community Kitchen works to provide fresh, nutritious meals to shelters and home-bound seniors, which is the core of their mission—spreading love through food. Join us at the meeting at Bungalow Lakehouse on April 5 to learn more about this organization and how we can help spread nourishment in our community.

Support Maternal / Child Health - a Rotary Area of Focus by donating blood!

There is an urgent need for O Positive (and O Negative - the universal donor type) right now! Help this mother deliver her child safely by donating blood this week!

URGENT NEED for O+ Blood
A pregnant patient in our care with an expectant high-risk delivery will need many O+ blood products in the coming week. These blood products will be used for a life-saving transfusion and surgery after the high-risk delivery. Make a difference in this patient’s life by donating blood today.

Donate blood today to help this mother and future mothers with high-risk deliveries. Visit www.inovablood.org or call 1-866-256-6372 to make your life-saving blood donation appointment.

Inova Blood Donor Services

This is a reminder that our meeting dates have changed -- our next meeting is this Wednesday February 1, 5:30 pm at Bungalow Lakehouse.

We welcome our guest, Ashley Ivey, a local poet who will be joining to entertain with her talent as she speaks on "The Essence of Poetry".

Ashley is looking forward to sharing with us the Essence of Poetry. Poetry is to the soul what that first full breath of air is to a newborn baby. The baby cries, a mother’s heart is filled with joy, the olden folks mourn and a youthful heart contemplates life and love. Poetry can lift you to great heights or break you down into a torrent of tears. Poetry is a collection of raw, scattered emotions tempered through rhythm and rhyme into a melodious flow of the written word. Poetry is the unsung song within us, the secrets of our soul which otherwise may be left unspoken. Of all the art forms, poetry is the most personal. The artist’s heart laid bare with the stroke of a pen. It can inspire, educate, and comfort. A painting or sculpture may be beautiful or awe-inspiring to look at, but only poetry can be committed to memory and wrapped around a person’s heart.

Ashley Ivey is Assistant Administrator for I-CARE Inc., her family-owned and operated home health care organization. Her leadership experience includes team training, business development, IT integration and client engagement. On a mission to educate and encourage others, Ashley serves her community through programs focused on education and health opportunities for youth and aging adults. Her passion for wellness and prevention stems from her extensive healthcare experience that includes over two decades in administration and a decade as a clinician, Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. As an innovative entrepreneur, Ashley has been featured in The Washington Business Journal, Washington Post, WUSA9 News and has been a featured speaker at youth programs, wellness seminars and health fairs.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday evening at 5:30 as we meet in person to fellowship and learn more from Ashley Ivey about "The Essence of Poetry".

New Updated Club Meeting Times:

The Rotary Club of Sterling will be meeting on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, at 5:30 pm at Bungalow Lakehouse - 46116 Lake Center Plaza, Sterling, VA 20165

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 1 -- We hope to see you there!

Club Meeting: Tuesday, January 17 at 6pm online via Zoom

Join us as guest speakers Walter Ruby and Scott Monett talk about the Rotary eClub7610 global grant project, Advanced Trauma Life Support, and their experiences with Israeli and Palestinian doctors working together getting the ATLS program put into place.

Walter Ruby is a veteran activist in Muslim-Jewish relations. From 2008-2017, he served as Muslim-Jewish Relations Director at the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding; organizing hundreds of ‘twinning’ events; bringing together thousands of Jews and Muslims in over 30 countries on five continents. Ruby presently serves as president of Jews and Muslims and Allies Acting Together (JAMAAT), a grass roots community of Muslim, Jewish and Interfaith activists in Greater Washington. He is International Service Chair at Rotary eClub7610 in northern Virginia.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87961115695

Meeting ID: 879 6111 5695
Passcode: 352489

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

Calling all Sterling area Middle and High School Students -- Rotary Youth Essay, Speech, and Music Contests

The Essay Contest is open to students in grades 7-8 -- The theme of the essay is "The Four Way Test", and entries are due February 15.

The Music and Speech competition is open to students in High School Grades 9-12. The theme of the speech contest is "Imagine Rotary". Entries are due March 1.

The winner of the club contest for each category will receive $50, and will advance to the area and/or District 7610 competition.

Interesting idea for Rotary's Vocational Service Month. What books would you recommend?

January is Vocational Service Month in Rotary

Vocational Service focuses on:

Adherence to and promotion of the highest ethical standards in all occupations, including fair treatment of employers, employees, associates, competitors, and the public.

The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, not just those that are pursued by Rotarians.

The contribution of your vocational talents to solving the problems of society and meeting the needs of the community.

Paul Harris wrote: "Each Rotarian is a connecting link between the idealism of Rotary and their trade or profession".

Vocational Service is the way Rotary fosters and supports the application of the Ideal of Service to the pursuit of all vocations.

How are you using your professional talents to serve your community and improve your world?

Did you know that you can include toiletries in your Red Bag? The most needed items include toothbrushes, toothpaste, maxi pads, deodorant (full size) and bars of soap (in individual or 2-packs). These items are part of the grocery list on your bag's tag for easy reference! Thanks for including a few items in your bag on January 14!

** Goals **!

"In order to live in the kind of society you want, you have to help build it." -- Jennifer Jones, Rotary International President

Happy New Year! Join us for lunch!

We have our 1st meeting of 2023 scheduled on Tuesday January 3 at Bungalow Lakehouse - social time 12:15 -12:30, and the meeting begins at 12:30.

Professor Philip Wilkerson from George Mason University will speak to us about leadership, goals and the power of visualization. If you have goals you want to achieve this year come and find out how to make this your year of accomplishments.

Please invite a friend to hear Professor Wilkerson who is also a successful leader in Toastmasters.

If you can not join in person, you can participate online through this Zoom link:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88042579225

Meeting ID: 880 4257 9225
Passcode: 844929

Setting goals, visualizing the future and working towards improving the future and our society and world -- We look forward to seeing you there!

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." -- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Wishing health, happiness, and new opportunities and blessings to count each day to you and yours in the New Year!

The next Food For Neighbors Red Bag collection event is Saturday, January 14! Please consider helping our local schoolchildren by donating food (a red bag is left at your door, you fill it up, and it is collected by a volunteer Saturday morning - easy peasy, no extra effort on your part to get it to a collection site), volunteering to drive to collect donations, or volunteering at the sorting sites set up throughout the area.

The Rotary Club of Sterling volunteers at the Sterling site, but there are sites throughout Northern Virginia - go to the Food For Neighbors website for more details and to sign up.

Will you be filling a Red Bag on Saturday, January 14? Please respond to our text or email so we know if you plan to participate. If you cannot fill a bag this month, you can always help by "filling" a virtual Red Bag on our website.
https://www.foodforneighbors.org/get-involved/virtual-red-bag/

Rotary Club of Sterling wishes to thank all of our members, volunteers and community partners for your dedication to Service Above Self and helping improve the lives of everyone in our community and world over the past year.

We Believe there is Good in the World, and you show us every day this goodness through your kindness and commitment to Being the Good in the world.

Wishing you peace, joy and health this holiday season. Merry Christmas to all celebrating today ❤️