Gov. Quigley featured speaker for September 11 at Newport Rotary

DG Allen Quigley

Rotary District 7730 Governor Allen Quigley will be our featured speaker at a special Newport Rotary meeting called for Monday, September 11, 2023 at the Newport Rotary building. DG Allen has been a frequent guest at Newport Rotary recently. All Rotarians are encouraged to attend and bring a guest. A little more information about DG Allen follows. 

Allen Quigley, Wilmington West Rotary Club, serves as District Governor for Rotary District 7730 in 2023-24. He has served as co-chairman of the District DEI task force, and District International Service Chair representative. Allen served as president of the Wilmington West club in 2019-20 and the Warwick Valley Club (NY) in 2006-07. He is a Rotary Leadership Institute graduate, served his club as Foundation chair and is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Paul Harris Society member, and Bequest Society member. On the International landscape, he participated in projects in Ghana and Ethiopia.

Allen is currently principal of Lawson Gray, LLC, a business advisory firm. He has held leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies in the telecommunications, commercial construction, government, and services industries. He also owned and managed one of Wilmington’s favorite breakfast places. His areas of expertise Include building high-performance sales teams, creating effective strategic alliances and implementing strong fiscal controls.

Allen’s community service goes beyond Rotary as co-founder of Change the Channel, area organizer for Braver Angels, and co-founder of the Wilmington Chapter of Our Stories: Brave Conversations on Race. He is a graduate of Duke University and a former Naval Flight Officer on the P-3C antisubmarine warfare aircraft.

He has three amazing daughters and eight even more amazing grandchildren!

Announcement: Clara's Closet Teacher Supplies Distributed

Now in the first full week of school, the teacher supplies donated to Clara's Closet by Newport Rotary and others have been announced to Newport Elementary School staff and are being rapidly handed out and utilized. 

Below is Newport Elementary School's Principal, Laura Parish's announcement email this week. 

NES Teachers, 

Some of you have already made your way to Clara's Closet in the Hawk Hub.  The Newport Rotary and Wall Family have contributed $2,000 worth of school supplies to support our students!  They also plan to do a Spring Semester distribution as well.

The Fall distribution includes the following items:

4800 thermal laminating sheets

250 earphones assorted colors

1152 No 2 pencils

Black sharpies

876  Black/Colored dry erase markers

60 Dry erase erasers

Elmers Glue

Safety scissors

320 earbuds

Assorted folders

Please join me in thanking Newport Rotary and the Wall Family for continuing to support our students and staff!

Laura Parish, Principal

Newport Elementary School

Rotarians Conduct Annual First Day of School Cleanup at Newport Elementary School

First Day of School Cleanup Crew

Over 25 Newport Rotarians, school personnel and guests participated in the "First Day of School Cleanup" on Saturday morning, August 19, 2023. The event is an annual event of over 10 years duration organized by Newport Rotary that seeks to make school grounds and entrance as inviting as possible for the students, parents and staff on what can be a stressful first day of school. This year the cleanup featured a lot of lawnmowing, mulching the front garden beds, sweeping up and hanging fresh flower baskets at the school entrance. New Newport Elementary School Principal Laura Parish and numerous staff members joined in. Over 100 hours of volunteer service went into the event. 

Club Provides Teacher Supplies for a Second Year

Newport Rotarians provided $2,000 in teacher supplies to Clara's Closet at Newport Elementary School on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 for the Fall 2023 semester. The school supply closet contains items that teacher usually pay out-of-pocket for during the school year. Teachers were surveyed for the items they most needed.   

The project continues Newport Rotary, Rotary Foundation grant and funds from the Wall family supported project from last year providing over $6,000 in teacher supplies. This year Bread & Barley church also donated some items and several additional grants are being sought. 

Thanks Pres. Rachel, Matthew, Pam, Bevin, Rick, Anita, Dennis and Tammy for day-of support stocking the shelves, Pam, Rick & Erin for additional logistics. And Matt for getting the church involved! 

We will do it again in December/ January! 

August is a busy Service Month!

August is a very busy service and planning month at Newport Rotary.  

August 7 - Rotary Meeting - busy meeting planning upcoming service activities. 

Week of August 14 TBA - Clara's Closet stuffed at Newport Elementary School - (Rick Smith & Matt Shortway, Coord)  

August 21 - Rotary Meeting - Program on the Carteret Local Food Network

August 19 - Project - First Day of School Cleanup at Newport Elementary School (Maher Saikali & Julia Capps, Coord) 

We need good turnout on all of our projects! Please make all effort to participate! 

Local Nurse is Newest Member of Newport Rotary

Pres. Rachel Bell (l) and new
member, Taylor Pridgen (r) 

We welcome Taylor Pridgen as the newest member of Newport Rotary. Taylor is a nurse working throughout eastern North Carolina and has lifelong ties to the county. Taylor is the first new member in the 2023-24 Rotary year for the club. 

Taylor was proposed by Past Governor Bevin Wall for membership, she met with Rotarians Wall and Tammy Blizzard for her pre-membership review and was inducted by new Newport Rotary President, Rachel Bell at the regular club meeting on July 17, 2023. 

As a medical professional, Taylor is already helping with development of the club's 2023-24 Signature Project in the mental health area. Thanks, Taylor! 

Newport Rotary 2023-24 Officers Installed

Newport Rotary's President 
 Rachel Bell (l) installed by 
District Governor Quigley 

Newport Rotary's Leaders for the ensuing Rotary year, including President Rachel Bell, were sworn in by 2023-24 District Governor Allen Quigley during the club's June 19, 2023 meeting. During his comments he recognized Newport Rotary as "one of those small, unique clubs, that gets things done". It was a special occasion to have our club president installed by their own District Governor.

Quigley encouraged Rotarians and guests in attendance to use their Rotary involvement to "Create Hope in the World", echoing RI President Ian McInally's theme. Pres. McInally calls for Rotary to create hope in the world by working for peace and mental wellbeing. He urges members to engage in tough conversations and earn the trust that’s necessary to realize these values. Newport Rotary is engaging in that process to determine their next major grant supported project. 

Installed along with President Rachel were Anita Moreau, Vice-President; PDG Bevin Wall, Secretary; Maher Saikali, Treasurer; Matt Shortway, Sergeant-at-Arms and Dennis Barber as President-Elect. President Rachel's guests Matthew and Lucas were also in attendance.