Home Page | Rotary Club of Boca Raton Sunset

Welcome to Rotary Boca Raton Sunset!

We meet In Person & Online

Mondays at 6:00 PM

using zoom

PO Box 810427
Boca Raton, FL 33481-0427
United States of America

Meetings occurring every other week using zoom. Please contact club secretary for details.

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7-27-20 C Ron Allen - Mentoring Network

During our zoom meeting July 27, 2020, our speaker will be C. Ron Allen. He is a highly respected newsman who is President and CEO of CRA Media Group, the parent company of the Delray Beach Tribune and a media relations firm. An award winning journalist, he previously worked 24 years as a reporter for the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. During his tenure, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and inducted into the Black Journalists Hall of Fame. Mr. Allen focused on helping businesses grow the bottom line through sales & leadership training, succession planning, change management, talent retention and communications.

He has nearly single-handedly been the lifeline for more than 700 children over the past 29 years. Few in South Florida are unfamiliar with C. Ron and his KOP Mentoring Network, formerly Knights of Pythagoras Mentoring Network (www.kopmn.org ). Many think they know his story, a veteran journalist, who started the organization in 1991 to pull wayward youth off the streets in southern Palm Beach County. But they really don’t know how hard he works, uses much of his own funds, and spends most of his time trying to educate and enlighten, oftentimes forsaking his own personal needs.

Sue Meister Recognized as Red-pin Paul Harris

Sue Meister was recently recognized with a Red-Stone Multiple Paul Harris Fellow pin. The Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation. Rotary established the recognition in 1957 to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships.

Introduced in 1984, the blue-stone Multiple Paul Harris Fellow pin recognizes additional donations up to $5,000. Red-stone Multiple Paul Harris Fellow pins were introduced in 1988 to bridge the gap between the blue five-stone pin and Major Donor recognition levels. Currently, 12 of 16 Rotary Boca Raton Sunset active members are Paul Harris Fellows; seven members have been recognized with blue-stone pins and now we have three recognized with red-stone pins: Sue Meister, John Ross and Steve Laine (who is also an Arch Klumph Society member: over $250,000).

Sue regularly donates to The Rotary Foundation in support of one of her favorite causes, Providing Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene that support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. Rotary doesn’t just build wells and walk away; we share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term. During her year as President of Rotary Boca Raton Sunset she encouraged our club to raise awareness in the Boca Raton community as well as supporting a joint project with Rotary clubs in France and Nepal to provide water filters in mountain communities that led to a Global Grant for medical equipment in rural Nepal communities. She also encouraged our club to support a Global Grant for the HANWASH project in Haiti now a Rotary International model for providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene led by John Smarge a member of the Rotary International Shaping Rotary’s Future Committee.

7-13-20 Children's Books: Haley

Haley Marguerite Mariano is the author of the children’s book series called Charlie Takes an Adventure. Haley provided the program for our July 13, 2020 meeting via zoom. She started out by telling us a little about the Rotary club she currently belongs to on the west coast, Rotary Siesta Key. Rotary Siesta Key is a small club similar in size to ours, about 15-20 members. Their projects include helping with a food bank and raising funds for a Guatemala project to help supply books for schools providing new books every five years, and like most Rotary clubs throughout the world raise funds for Polio eradication. Haley also works with schools around the country to provide mentoring that helps bring children up to grade level reading.

Haley was born in Natick, Massachusetts and now lives in Boca Raton, Florida. She has taken her books all over the southern portion of the United States, especially the whole state of Florida. She has done over a hundred book readings at preschools, elementary schools and middle schools. With her three books already published in the Charlie Takes an Adventure series, Haley hopes to take Charlie to all 50 states in the US in the future.

Early in her life, Haley struggled with reading comprehension difficulty and was fortunate enough to have received help in overcoming the problem; now she hopes to help other young readers overcome similar problems through her encouragement and the books she has written. Her own experience helps her quickly reach young readers with the empathy and assistance that builds up confidence and comprehension.

The first book in this series, Charlie Takes an Adventure, was written as an language arts project in the sixth grade. With a lot of hard work and ambition, Haley had this book published and has since written two more books, Charlie Takes an Adventure to Massachusetts and Charlie Takes an Adventure to New York. Haley also spreads the love of reading by selling her books at farmers market, craft festivals and other big events all over the state of Florida and beyond. She is even venturing into the Carolinas later this year.

Along with being a children’s book author, Haley is a motivational speaker and inspirational blogger. She enjoys giving her motivational talks to young people so they can be inspired to follow their dreams just like she has. All of the hard work that Haley continues to put into her business shows that she is ambitious, driven, energetic and always looks to inspire others every chance she gets. She also strives to empower young woman to be confident, independent leaders through her breakthrough motivational events.

Thanks Haley for an inspiring and encouraging program, we hope to see you again, especially while you are located here in Boca Raton.

2020-21 Officer Installation

Justice Major Harding was our keynote speaker during the virtual club meeting to install the 2020-2021 Rotary Boca Raton Sunset Officers June 29, 2020.

District 6930 Governor Elect Els Van Engelenburg conducted the officer installation. We were unable to meet in person or enjoy a dinner together because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Els made and effort to reach through the internet to offer the pins to our incoming officers. The edited video captured by zoom is available on YouTube.

Prior to the installation of new officers, we enjoyed a brief review of the Rotary Boca Raton Sunset accomplishments during the 2019-20 Rotary year. First President Sue Meister offered her thanks to all who served our club and community to accomplish so many of our goals. This was followed by a video prepared by Joseph Riopel and presented by Secretary Jerry Leitherer as the annual recap report.

Major Best Harding (born October 13, 1935) is an attorney and former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court by Governor Lawton Chiles in 1991 and served until 2002. His tenure as chief justice lasted from 1998 to June 2000.

District 6930 Governor Elect Els Van Engelenburg owns multiple companies including Global Marketing and Management Services, Inc. and World Wide Real Estate Consultants, Inc. of which she is also President. The companies specialize in total integrated sales and marketing services within one company. Els and her husband Bill are the founders of the Van Engelenburg’s Foundation, Inc. which was set up to help promote education for children and to help women to re-acclimate to society after incarceration or recuperate from Domestic abuse situation.

Els has been selected Rotarian of the Year in her club three times by her peers. She had been selected by Rotary International as the recipient of the Service Above Self Award a distinguished award of which she is rightfully proud. Els was born and raised in the Netherlands where she worked in the medical field for 27 years.

We are a small friendly dinner club with strong Rotary Foundation support. Our membership includes three past district governors and special enthusiasm for youth and literacy service. We distribute dictionaries to six local elementary schools, bring Josh the Otter with a swim safety program to three pre-K schools, and honor a Rotary Scholar each month for the high school hosting our Interact club.

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

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Rotary Boca Raton Sunset, PO Box 810427, Boca Raton, FL 33481-0427