Newport Rotarians Restore Grave of Town Father

After the Rotary Meeting on May 19, 2008, Newport Rotarians gathered at the Amariah Garner Cemetery in Newport to complete the restoration of the Josiah Bell gravesite. President Maher Saikali led the effort.

Josiah Bell is one of the five original Town Commissioners of the Town of Newport, and according to current Mayor (and Rotarian), Derryl Garner, is the only one of the original "Town Fathers" whose gravesite has been located.

The gravesite was in disrepair after years of neglect. It waqs overgrown with weeds, the brick casement was broken into many pieces, affecting the grave's integrity, and the headstone was cracked in two pieces, and had shifted away from the grave's foundation.

Over the past several months, Newport Rotarians sought out local community experts and restored the grave. The headstone was reset on this occasion with the assistance of Rotarian Amos Parker of Amos Parker Builders and Tom Hege. Also pictured onsite are Rotarians Bob Chambers, Harold Chartley, Jack Askew, Pam Wall and Bevin Wall.

Click here to see pictures of this community service project.

Click here to contact us on how you can be involved.

Newport Rotary "Dogs It"

The May 19, 2008 Newport Rotary Club "went to the dogs"- literally! A Hotdog Smorgasbord greeted Rotarians as they came in for their weekly meeting.

The creativity of Rotarians knows no bounds and was on ample display during the "building of the dogs" with the multitude of fixin's.

Even visiting Rotarian Tom Singletary from Morehead City- Noon got in on the act.

Click this link and see if you can identify your dog!

What is Rotary Doing Now!

Click here to find out what Rotary and the Rotary Foundation are doing now!

Newport Rotary Learns About Blogs

The Rotary Program on May 12, 2008 at the Newport Rotary Club was a presentation on the web technology called a "Weblog" or "Blog", and was conducted by club member Bevin Wall.

A slideshow introduced "blogging" terms and concepts, what Blogs "are" and "aren't", and what type of information is best presented in this format.

A display of the Newport Rotary Bulletin Blog concluded the program, with a description of the various features, applications and uses of the Blog for the Rotary club, and ways to make it a shared communication device.

Two prospective Rotarians, RuthAnn Sluss of RuthAnn Sluss Realty, Inc., Newport, and Marilyn Everett, with EDA PA, Architects visited as guests of Bevin Wall.

The meal of fish, rice & peas was prepared by Pam Wall with help from Megan Wall, making the club meeting a real family event.

Park Benches for Civic Project Arrive!

The park benches for the Howard Boulevard Civic Project arrived on Friday and are located behind the Rotary Building.

The Club will need to discuss further implementation of the project in its upcoming meeting.

Pick'n in the Park Resumes- "in the Park"

Rotarian Bob Chambers advised the club that "Pick'n in the Park", the informal gathering of country music "pick-up" musicians, will resume in the Newport Town Park, opposite the Rotary Building on Friday Nights beginning May 9, 2008.

The event has been hosted by the St. James Methodist Church Community Life Center during the winter months.

Newport Rotary has encouraged the event series and periodically supplied snacks and drinks as a fundraiser.

The Outdoor Learning Center at Newport Middle School

Newport Middle School is developing an Outdoor Learning Center (OLC), this according to Tonya Scott, Sixth Grade Science Teacher, who presented the program at the Newport Rotary Club on May 5, 2008.

Ms. Scott, who was inspired to create the OLC by the "Last Child in the Woods" book by Richard Louv, told of her upbringing on a farm in Lumberton, North Carolina. She has observed in her students, a disconection with their natural environment, such as being creatures of the indoors, and not having real experiences with nature, instead living through TV and video games.

The OLC is a place where children can experience nature. It is being centered around a stormwater retention pond on the Middle School campus, and in addition to the pond includes a "Shade Shelter" structure, a vegetable garden, and will soon include a weather station.

A broad coalition of community organization sponsors, businesses, and families of students have been assembled by Ms. Scott with the support of the school administration, led by Principal Bud Lanning. About $5,000 has been raised for the effort so far.

Ms. Scott is a former Group Study Exchange Team member to Mexico, sponsored by the Newport Rotary and Morehead City Noon Rotary Clubs. If you are interested in more information or want to become a sponsor, she can be reached at tscott@nms.carteret.k12.nc.us.

Ms. Scott was introduced by the Weekly Program Chair, Rtn. Manley Smith.

Newport Rotary Aids Bangladeshi Fishermen Victims of Cyclone Sidr

Newport Rotary has partnered with the Dhaka North West (Bangladesh) Rotary Club to provide manual fishing vessels to fisherman who lost their livlihoods in Cyclone Sidr last year. 40 Boats will be provided to 80 families formed in a cooperative to work the vessels.

The project is funded primarily by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in an International Matching Grant, and will cost approximately $24,500.00 to complete. The funds were made available for selection for this project by Rotary District 7730. The project contact in Bangladesh was Professor Bari, who was Group Study Exchange Team Leader to Southeast North Carolina in 2006.

Cyclone Sidr struck coastal Bangladesh on November 16, 2007 and devastated the community with a significant loss of life. Fishermen in th area lost their homes, standing crops, boats, and fishing equipment. The average income for fishermen in this area is about $200.00 per month.

Rotarians from the local Bangladeshi club will screen recipients, monitor the project, and conduct workshops for the affected fishermen.

Newport Rotary Plans Sidewalk Bench Project

The Newport Rotary Club will install two 6 foot long, vinyl over steel park benches at two separate locations along the one mile stretch of sidewalk lining Howard Boulevard in the middle of Newport.


The route is busy with activity throughout the year with walkers, bicyclists, joggers, and persons traveling between the destinations. Apartments, adult care homes, residential subdivisions, commercial and professional offices, municipal offices, fire and police departments, ballfields, playgrounds and the town's park line Howard Boulevard. The benches will provide welcome respites for the heavily traveled thoroughfare.


A portion of the project will be financed through a grant from The Rotary Foundation targeted to encourage hands-on Rotarian projects in their communities. The balance of the funds are club funds raised from the club's community fundraisers.


Howard Boulevard was named for the late Moses C. Howard, a civic leader and Past-President of the Newport Rotary Club. Click the video below for the sidewalk route through Newport.




The benches will be permanently set in concrete, and will be "Rotary blue" in color. They will have the recognizable Rotary Wheel affixed as well as a plaque indicating the benches as a project of the Newport Rotary Club.

"Happy Dollar" Tradition starts with Newport Rotary

Few people know it, but the members of the Newport Rotary will quickly tell you. The Happy Dollar tradition seen in many Rotary clubs throughout Southeast North Carolina and beyond started in the Newport Rotary Club.

Back in the 1960s, the late Frank Odell moved to Newport from Rye New York, where he was in the Rotary Club of Rye. He introduced the concept of the "Happy Dollar" to club members who excitedly adopted it. As visiting Rotarians made up in Newport, the idea spread far and wide.

A "Happy Dollar" is the giving of a dollar in exchange for an opportunity to inform the club of happy (or sad) news. The funds collected support the general budget of the club and help to fund many service opportunities.

And, it all started here!

First Post to the Blog

This is the first post to the Newport Rotary Club Blog.

This Blog is a resource for the members of the club and also for the community at large about the activities of our club at the community level and beyond.

Rotarians and others are welcomed to comment. Any Club Rotarian is invited to submit Blog articles to Bevin Wall for publication at Bevin@rli33.org .