Newport Rotarians Attend Boys & Girls Home Event

Rick & Anita Moreau attended the Boys & Girls Home at Lake Waccamaw on March 26, 2022 representing Newport Rotary. This project is supported by District 7730 and many of our local Rotary and other civic clubs across the state and region. The Rotary Cottage is undergoing renovation and will be the first Level 2 Cottage - this will be "home" for children who need special therapy and intervention for emotional and psychological needs that result from severe trauma and PTSD - many good changes are in store for B&G Home - many thanks to Rotary. Our contact there will change - Mason Smith has taken a new position in Germany and is excited about it, but knows that he will be leaving a wonderful place in Lake Waccamaw. The day was bright, but chilly - but the welcome for all the Rotarians was so warm...we toured the campus, learned about the coming changes and growth and shared lunch with everyone (however, my plate blew off the table (we ate outdoors) and I had to get another hot dog and slaw). This is such a good facility to support - we had $125 in Dick's gift cards to donate - plus our annual giving from Newport Rotary. If you haven't been...make it a point to GO,GO,GO...

Newport Rotary Installs Little Free Libraries around the Newport Community

It was a fun evening in the neighborhood – the Newport North Carolina neighborhood(s) – as Newport Rotartians gathered shovels, concrete, drills and books and installed three Little Free Libraries..and that’s only the beginning. The bright blue and yellow boxes went up in front of the Newport Rotary building, in Maher Saikali’s Exxon Station on Highway 70 and in front of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Newport. Crystal Coast Habitat and Newport Rotary teamed together to support literacy for Newport, and the surrounding communities, by donating boxloads of books to keep the LFL’s stocked. Friends of Rotarians, Friends of the Public Library, Friends of Habitat, and friends of friends have made sure that we have a room overflowing with books of all kinds – so the install fun will continue as we spread out to fulfill requests from several Newport neighborhoods. Newport Rotarians Julia Saikali Capps (President), Maher Saikali, Steve and Tammy Blizzard, Bevin Wall, Rick and Anita Moreau, Joe Garner and President-elect Mark Eadie made the most of the of our time together, enjoying the spring weather and the Rotary fellowship. Newport Rotary now has 6 Little Free Libraries available to various Newport communities with boxes at St James UMC fellowship hall…Camp Albemarle on Hwy 24…across the street from Newport Elementary School in downtown Newport…Crystal Coast Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Saikali’s Exxon Station and next to the Rotary Bench, across from the Newport Park on Howard Blvd. We chose our area of focus to be Basic Education and Literacy this year – knowing that the 2 years of COVID left us with book deserts all over our county – and we felt we were best able to help our community by providing books for all ages. PP ANITA MOREAU. 

Dictionaries Donated to Local Third Graders!

Newport Rotary continues the Dictionary Project tradition in 2022. 4 Newport Rotarians were warmly welcomed in Gramercy School in Newport on Tuesday, March 15…and had a wonderful time. Gramercy school has two lively third grade classes – 32 students having fun with their new dictionaries – eager to show off their new-found treasures in the pages of their books. These dictionaries offer much more than words…and each student seemed to find something important to show us – maps, periodic tables, sign language, the longest word in the English language (that no one could pronounce) – and of course, their favorite words and how to find them. Newport Rotary club President Julia Saikali (she said this is her favorite project), Newport Mayor and Rotarian Dennis Barber, and Rick and Anita Moreau have found that giving children the gift of knowledge becomes “beneficial to all concerned”. Thursday, March 17th found the Rotary warmly welcomed by a myriad of little leprechauns at Newport Elementary School. Although we could not go into the classrooms, and all the third grade classes were on a field trip, we gave the dictionaries to the school for distribution. Newport Rotarians Tammy Blizzard, Rick Moreau and Anita Moreau had a great time with a few teachers and students - all dressed in green for the big day. The dictionary project certainly helps build good will and better friendships, because they know we will come back year after year. ANITA MOREAU. 

Open House at Boys & Girls Home

The Open House for the North Carolina Boys and Girls home will be held on March 26, 2022. All Rotarians are invited (you can find further information in the current District Newsletter). Rick and Anita Moreau will be attending and the Boys and Girls Home has requested donations of gift cards for Dick's Sporting Goods. The Moreau's will be glad to take any donated gift cards with them and pass them along. You can bring a gift card (of any amount) to the next Rotary meeting on Monday, March 21st or drop it by Bevin Wall's office where Rick and Anita can pick it up by March 25th. Thank you for your generosity! BY JULIA SAIKALI

Newport Rotary's Community Service this month

Newport Rotary is extremely busy with service to others in and around the Newport community and this was reflected in their March 7, 2022 meeting. Here are some of the happenings: 

• Eleven (11) new Little Free Libraries kits were received and are ready to install in and around the Newport area. A portion of the $7,500 project is supported by a Rotary Foundation District Grant and the other by Newport Halloween Hootenanny proceeds. Three libraries are already in the community. 2-3 more will be placed on the Service Meeting of March 21, 2022. Locations are TBA on the other Libraries. Significant Books have been collected and are in-hand for the project.  

• Newport Rotary was a "Silver Sponsor" of the Hope Mission "Empty Bowls" fundraiser. Newport Rotarians Rick & Anita Moreau, Tammy Blizzard and Mayor Dennis Barber are active supporters and collaborators with Hope Mission. Three "empty bowls" were re-auctioned with $105 in new money being donated to the cause. 

• Dictionary Project books will be delivered to Grammercy School on March 15, 2022 and to Newport Elementary School on March 17, 2022. Newport Rotarians will be on hand. Newport Rotary spearheaded the effort countywide in 1996. It's remarkable that some of the teachers at Newport Elementary have the very dictionaries they were given when they were in the third grade at Newport Elementary. 

• Hospice House meals are still being delivered monthly to the Crystal Coast Hospice House in Newport. We discussed the effectiveness and smarter implementation of this project. Rick & Anita Moreau will report back. 

• As is customary, Newport Rotarians will volunteer for the Newport Pig Cooking Contest culling station and other locations around the project on Saturday, April 2, 2022. Several Newport Rotarians are instrumental in the Pig Cooking organization, including Steve Blizzard, Tammy Blizzard and Dennis Barber.     Whew!