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District 7150 - Make a Difference Day - Saturday, October 27, 2007
with Chair PDG Bruce Frassinelli
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2007: Skaneateles RC: 11 high school Interactors, 1 Youth Exchange & 5 Rotarians participated in the Make A Difference Day on Highway 20.	2007: eClub NY1 RC: 34 Hamilton College students & 4 Rotarians participated at the Utica Children's Museum
	2007: Moravia Rotarians repainted the "kiosk" (information booth) in town, which they built two years ago and donated to the Village.
2007: Above: West Winfield Rotarians clean up the cemetary Right: Baldwinsville RC does dictionary project
2007: Dolgeville Rotarians clean the cemetary

Hundreds of Central New York Rotarians fanned out to perform projects to benefit residents of their communities. Twenty-four Rotary Clubs from District 7150 participated in numerous projects, including highway cleanups, clothing drives, and handing out dictionaries to elementary school children.
The local Rotarians are among an estimated 4.5 million nationwide who volunteered their time and talents that day to do community projects and help the needy and less-fortunate in their hometowns. The event is organized by USA Weekend magazine and has become the nation’s largest day of volunteering.
More than 600 local newspapers read by 47.5 million Americans carry information about the program.
Actor Paul Newman donates $12,000 to the charities of each of 10 national honorees. This is the 14th time Newman has provided this incentive.

Here is a list of the Rotary District 7150 clubs and their projects:
For the third year in a row, heavy rains and poor weather marred Make A Difference Day activities in District 7150. Nonetheless, more than 200 Rotarians and their partners participated in 26 individual events. Although 26 clubs indicated in advance that they were sponsoring activities, nine clubs did not make final reports, despite requests that they do so.

Here are the clubs, number of persons participating and project undertaken:
* Adirondack Foothills, 6, cleaned seven bags of garbage from Route 365.
* Aurora, 10, collected five bundles of winter clothing.
* Canastota, no report, staff Fishes and Loaves soup kitchen.
* Cato, no report, picked up trash along Route 370.
* Chittenango, no report, changed batteries in smoke detectors and installed smoke detectors in the homes of senior citizens in the village.
* Clay/Cicero/North Syracuse, 3, helped at the food bank in an effort to reduce hunger.
* Dolgeville, 5, removed brunch and debris from around the fences in village cemeteries.
* Fulton, 8, cleaned up Route 3, trimmed and beautified the Rotary Memorial Grove and helped the YMCA.
* Fulton Sunrise, 5, made up 300 blizzard bags for the needy during winter storms.
* Greater Utica Sunrise, 13, helped local Girl Scouts at local Vini Vidi Vici event and assisted with the Girl Scouts Foothils Council annual event.
* Marcellus, no report, beautify high school courtyard.
* Moravia, 5, repaired kiosk, which Rotarians built two years ago, in the village.
* Oneida, 10, staffed health fair booth with WalMart at the Kallet Theatre, to promote healthy living & energy conservation.
* Oriskany Falls, no report, bought and planted flower bulbs at the village gazebo.
* Oswego, 6, collected 61 winter coats for needy children and cleaned the railroad tunnel walkway in the center of the city.
* Rome, 10, hosted 21 international students from Mohawk Valley Community College and SUNY-IT, planted flowers, cleaned up a rundown city park.
n Rotary e-club NY 1, 40, five club members and 35 students at Hamilton College helped with education and environmental programs and fall spruce-up at the Children’s Museum in Utica.
* Sauquoit, no reply, laid carpet (with funds earned through an annual Duck Derby) at Friends and Neighbors Community Center.
* Skaneateles, 17, beautification of Route 20.
* Skaneateles Sunrise, trash pickup along a village trail.
* Syracuse, 10, distributed 200 dictionaries to elementary school children.
* Syracuse Sunrise, 15, served and cleaned up at the annual pancake breakfast at Rockefeller United Methodist Church on Nottingham Road.
* Syracuse Inner City, 20, adopted Faith & Hope Community Center, members tutored children in math and reading, collected school supplies.
* West Winfield, 7, cleaned an abandoned cemetery in the village.
* Utica, no report, collected household

For more information about Rotary’s Make a Difference Day effort, call Bruce Frassinelli, district coordinator, at 315-342-4180 or email him at bfrassinelli@twcny.rr.com

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Since 2002, our District Rotarians have been participating in Make a Difference Day projects. (view picture of these on our district website)

Join with Rotarians from your club as you participate in this national day of doing good in October 2007.

Start now. Plan a one-day communitywide project for that day. Encourage participation from Rotary members and from members of your community.

Register your project with Bruce Frassinelli, district Make A Difference Day chair, at bfrassinelli@twcny.rr.com or by calling 315-342-4180.

We need you!!! Do your part to improve your community. Make A Difference

For details and project ideas, go to USA Today Weekend. http://www.rotarydistrict7150.org/MakeDifference.htm

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2006 Make A Difference Day - October 28th

Hundreds of Central New York Rotarians fanned out this weekend to perform projects to benefit residents of their communities. A record-breaking 33 Rotary clubs from District 7150 indicated they would participate in numerous projects, including highway cleanups, clothing drives and handing out dictionaries to elementary school children. The participation betters last year's former record of 30 clubs.

The local Rotarians were among more than four million who volunteered their time and talents to do community projects and help the needy and less-fortunate in their hometowns. The event is organized by USA Weekend magazine and has become the nation’s largest day of volunteering. Last year, more than four million people participated.

More than 600 local newspapers read by 47.5 million Americans carry information about the program. Actor Paul Newman donates $10,000 to the charities of each of 10 national honorees. This is the 13th time Newman has provided this incentive.

Here is a list of the Rotary District 7150 clubs and their projects:
* Adirondack Foothills: picking up roadside trash on Route 365, just east of Route 12.
* Baldwinsville: Storm stenciling in the village and a highway cleanup.
* Camillus: painting one of the client rooms at Chadwick House, a not-for-profit organization that provides housing for abused and at-risk women.
* Canastota: serving meals at the village’s food kitchen, Loaves and Fishes.
* Cato: Placing signs on the backs of existing ``welcome” signs to the community which say ``visit us soon again.”
* Cazenovia: finishing the painting of dugouts at a community ballfield.
* Clay-Cicero-North Syracuse: Providing recent copies of the Air Force Times to the Veterans Hospital volunteer office. These copies will, in turn, be placed on the hospital wards.
* DeWitt: Supporting the Syracuse Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 308 Otisco St., Syracuse. The club is seeking 12 volunteers to assist with various projects at the store between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those interested can call store manager Greg Wright at 315-475-9172.
* Dolgeville: clearing brush and trees from the village cemetery’s vintage fence.
* E-club: making improvements at the Children’s Museum in Utica (their earthly headquarters), along with the help of 36 students from Hamilton College in Clinton.
* Eastwood: planning to promote family literacy by hosting a book fair and community day at the Eastwood Community Center. There will be games for the children, food and refreshments. In addition, characters from popular books (Clifford, etc.) will be appearing. The Rotary Club will subsidize purchases of books for families which cannot afford them.
* Fayetteville-Manlius: Cleaning up a portion of Route 173, westbound between Manlius and Jamesville.
* Fulton: Cleaning a portion of Route 3 from Phillips Street to Bullhead Point.
* Greater Utica Sunrise: Assisting at the Fiesta Siesta that the Girl Scouts-Foothills Council is holding. The event is an international celebration which will honor numerous cultures. Rotarians are asking attendees to take a new hat, scarf or pair of gloves to be used by needy children.
* Hamilton: Selling programs at the Colgate football game to benefit community events and Rotary projects.
* Kuyahoora Valley: sponsoring a community health project, including cholesterol screening, blood pressure testing, etc. at the Poland Elementary School.
* Little Falls: cleaning up a portion of state Route 167.
* Marcellus: cleaning up Baltimore Woods, a nature preserve.
* Moravia: removing, replacing and painting the latticework on the outdoor stage of Moravia’s Ethel Fuller Park.
* New Hartford: conducting a winter clothing drive in partnership with the local Rescue Mission and WalMart.
* Oneida Shores: preparing and sending 100 dictionaries to children in a community in Armenia where former Rotarian Sam Tassone, a U.S. Peace Corps member, is stationed.
* Oriskany Falls: providing a dinner for senior citizens in Oriskany Falls, Madison and Bouckville.
* Oswego: collecting outerwear for needy children which will then be distributed on a needs basis by the Salvation Army.
* Oswego Sunrise: in cooperation with the Oswego Club, distributing thesauruses to elementary students in the City of Oswego School District, Trinity Catholic and Oswego Community Christian School.
* Rome: staffing Rome’s Pumpkin Festival; cleaning up Gleasman Home, headquarters of Rome’s Clean and Green Association, by doing yard work, scraping and painting and cleaning up the lower landing of Diowainsta, site of the Great Carrying Place Historical Monument and plaque placed by the Rome Historical Society by mowing, clearing brush, cleaning and polishing the plaque and sprucing up the flower garden.
* Sauquoit: cleaning a three-mile stretch of state Route 8 which runs through the villages of Sauquoit and Paris.
* Sherrill: volunteering to help with the Sherrill-Kenwood Fire Department Halloween party. Also, weather permitting, cleaning up, with its Interact club, Route 31 in Vernon.
* Skaneateles: cleaning a section of Route 20.
* Skaneateles Sunrise: clearing limbs, trash and vines on the village’s nature trail.
* Syracuse Inner City: providing third-graders with dictionaries in three local elementary schools.
* Syracuse Sunrise: helping with a pancake breakfast at Rockefeller Church in Syracuse.
* Utica: preparing and serving meals for about 100 at Hope House in Utica.
* West Winfield: cleaning up a highway in the village.

For more information about Rotary’s Make A Difference Day effort, call Bruce Frassinelli, district coordinator, at 315-342-4180 or e-mail him.

Above: Baldwinsville Rotary Club hands out dictionaries to school children. Right: Hamilton College Volunteers help out at the Children's Museum in Utica w/Rotary eClub NY1.

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2005 Make A Difference Day a Huge Success!

Rotary District 7150 of Central New York has been designated to receive the region’s Hero’s Award from USA Weekend for its efforts during Make A Difference Day last fall.
The awards were announced in newspapers nationwide which carry USA Weekend, the weekend supplement that reaches more than 10 million newspaper subscribers.
A record 30 Rotary clubs in District 7150 participated in Make A Difference Day activities on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005, or on dates near the national observance date.
``We are thrilled to be selected by USA Weekend to receive this honor,” said Rotary District Governor Gerald R. Gortner of Canastota. ``Helping our communities is one of the key avenues of service in which Rotarians are involved daily,” Gortner added.
Make A Difference Day, sponsored nationally by USA Weekend, is the most encompassing national day of helping others – a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Nearly three million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of cities and villages. In the process, more than 20 million people were helped, according to USA Weekend.
Participation by the 30 clubs in District 7150 exceeds by 50 percent the previous best participatory rate – 20 clubs in 2002, the first year the districtwide project was undertaken, according to Bruce Frassinelli of Oswego, chair of the district Make A Difference Day program and former district governor.
The district includes 48 clubs.
Here are the clubs and a summary of the projects they undertook and the number of Rotarians who participated (if known):
* Adirondack Foothills: Cleanup of Route 365 from Route 12 east, two miles on either side. This is part of the club’s Adopt-A-Highway program. Eight Rotarians participated.
* Auburn: The club planted more than 50 street trees.
* Aurora: Road cleanup.
* Baldwinsville: Highway cleanup and distribution of 470 dictionaries.
* Camden: The club spent about $250 on school supplies for needy children in one of the community’s elementary school. The club members also had a canned food drive for the food pantry in Camden. Club members collected about 12 cases of canned food and some monetary donations.
* Canastota: Canastota participated in the Council of Churches’ CROP walk. The Canastota CROP walk gives 50 percent of its proceeds to two Canastota food pantries and 50 percent to the World Hunger Foundation.
* Cato: Five Rotarians worked at Union Hill Cemetery in Cato for about three hours. The workers straightened or righted 25 headstones. They scrubbed another 20 to 25 with a solution of Clorox and water. The club will keep the cemetery as an on-going project with clean-up dates already set for this spring and summer.
* Chittenango: The club installed new batteries in smoke detectors or smoke detector units themselves in the homes of senior citizens, an ongoing project. Last year, the club donated leftover smoke detectors to the fire department. The club also distributed emergency kits to senior citizens.
* Dolgeville: The club cut down brush and did debris-removal at three sites. Rotarians also made collections for a local food pantry.
* E-Club NY 1: About 30 Hamilton College students assisted E-Club President Earl Lewis and Secretary Marlene Brown do clean up and refurbishing chores at the Children’s Museum in Utica.
* Eastwood: Fifteen Rotarians from the club distributed about 600 dictionaries to local schools. In addition, the club prepared for its water project. Seven Rotarians trained for the testing of water around the area. The club has adopted Butternut Creek in the DeWitt area. Club members also delivered 15 handmade clay pumpkins to the Ronald McDonald House for the children in the hospital and their siblings.
* Fulton Sunrise: Performed a food-packaging project at the Birdseye plant to distribute food to needy community residents.
* Greater Utica Sunrise: Five Rotarians cleaned up after the Utica Zoo’s annual ``Spooktacular” where kids go through the zoo to haunted houses and special areas. The clean up was held the day after the event when club members cleaned up papers and trash that were left behind. After the cleanup, club members helped remove some of the overgrown bamboo. According to club President Ed Jekel, club members posted a sign, ``Rotary at Work – GUS (Greater Utica Sunrise)” so passers-by and the staff at the zoo knew who was helping with the work.
* Hamilton: The club sponsored a cyber safety awareness forum. Speakers addressed critical information and tools needed to help make the Internet a safer place for children. The event was held at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton.
* Kuyahoora Valley: The club presented craft supplies, games, drawing pads, etc. to residents of the Middleville Nursing Home. Club members also made a commitment on Make A Difference Day to help the residents of the Country Manor Nursing Home with garden cultivating and planting in the spring.
* Marcellus: Five Rotarians received training in water-quality testing. This allowed them to participate in quarterly water-testing on a segment of Nine Mile Creek. This was done through Project Watershed at Baltimore Woods (Centers for Nature Education) in Marcellus.
* Moravia: Five Rotarians participated in the community’s annual CROP walk. The five raised $405. Overall, 47 walkers raised more than $2,500.
* New Hartford: Rotarians, in cooperation with WalMart, the Rescue Mission of Utica and Lite 98.7, collected slightly used coats along with blankets and quilts for needy people in the greater New Hartford area.
* Oswego: Six Rotarians were involved in the collection of winter clothing for needy children. The distribution was supervised by the Salvation Army.
* Oswego Sunrise: Seven Rotarians participated in a project of clearing garbage and debris along the railroad tracks and waterfront from the Port of Oswego Authority property across the entire length of Fort Ontario. According to club President Mike Shea, a ``significant” amount of debris and garbage was collected.
* Oriskany-Whitestown: (See Utica below)
* Rome: Six Rotarians worked at the Rome Clean and Green headquarters building doing interior and exterior cleanup. Basement and attic areas were cleaned and organized. Long-neglected shrubs and small trees were pruned, trimmed or removed to significantly improve the appearance of the building. Additionally, past President Dick Kahler reported that he did clean-up work in one of Rome’s public parks.
* Sauquoit: Rotarians painted and did odd jobs at Friends and Family in Clayville, an organization which helps the needy with food, clothing and other needs.
* Skaneateles: Four Rotarians cleaned 1.5 miles of Highway 20, west of the village of Skaneateles.
* Skaneateles Sunrise: Four Rotarians and a guest conducted storm-damage cleanup at the Skaneateles Community Center by reducing several fallen trees to firewood with chain saws and muscle-power, thus clearing blocked trails and common-use areas.
* Syracuse Sunrise: Rotarians did clean-up chores and winter-closing tasks.
* Tully: Rotarians gave dictionaries to third-grade students, collected slightly used books to give to the community’s elementary school students and cleaned up area roads.
* Utica: Hope House is a not-for-project agency in Utica that provides food for those who otherwise would not be able to get nutritious meals. Utica Rotarians collected non-perishable food items to assist Hope House. More than 80 Rotarians participated in bringing in food items and assisting with delivery. In addition, seven Rotarians from the Oriskany-Whitestown club assisted in this effort.
* West Winfield: Rotarians painted the pavilions at the West Winfield Park.
- Submitted by PDG Bruce Frassinelli, District 7150 Make a Difference Day Chair

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Saturday, October 22, 2005 – Rotary District 7150

What is Make A Difference Day: Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others – a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA Weekend magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October. In 2004, more than three million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day or weekend, accomplishing thousands of projects in hundreds of cities and villages.

Twelve Rotary clubs in District 7150 joined volunteers from across the nation on Saturday, October 23, 2004. Rotarians cleaned roads, collected outerwear for needy children, put up community signs, distributed dictionaries and did a variety of other work during this natonal day of giving.
District 7150 club participation has fallen from 20 in 2002 and 14 in 2003. We are looking for a recommitment to this project when the district was cited by USA Weekend in 2002 as having the most innovative projects of any group in Central New York.

Who takes part? Anyone. Young and old, individuals and groups. Anyone can carry out a volunteer project that helps others. Of course, we would like each club in the district to take on a specific one-day project in its community, but if some clubs do not participate, Rotarians in those clubs may participate. Involvement might be as ambitious as collecting truckloads of clothing for the homeless or as personal as spending an afternoon helping an elderly neighbor or relative.On the Make A Difference website, there is an idea generator which gives clubs and individuals lots of good ideas for projects.

Awards Each year, in April, hundreds of good deeds done on Make A Difference Day are selected for honors, headlines and charitable donations. Paul Newman, who donates all after-tax profits from sales of Newman’s Own products to educational and charitable purposes, continues his support of Make A Difference Day. Newman will donate $10,000 each to 10 selected projects. These 10 honorees plus hundreds of local honorees – including one in Central New York -- will be spotlighted in an April 2006 issue of USA Weekend, coinciding with National Volunteer week.

Registering your club’s project When your club or when any individual decides on a project, please submit it via email to district project Chair Bruce Frassinelli. If you have any questions about Make A Difference Day, you can call Past District Governor Bruce at 342-4180. All of the projects will be submitted to USA Today for inclusion in its master list for 2005 projects. We also ask clubs and individuals to take photos of their Make A Difference Day activities which will be posted on the district website.

10/19/05 Report from Chair PDG Bruce Frassinelli - 23 Clubs Participating to Date
There are 21 District 7150 clubs which are participating in Make A Difference Day activities. This represents a record number of clubs which will be involved in Make A Difference Day activities this year. Thanks to all clubs and participants for your willingness to step up to help others. Make A Difference Day, to be held Saturday, is the most encompassing national day of helping others -- a celebration of neighbors helpiong neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA Weekend magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place the fourth Saturday of each October.

The clubs participating so far this year are:
-- Baldwinsville -- conduct the semi-annual highway clean-up and distribute dictionaries to third-graders in the Baldwinsville area.
-- Camden: purchase school supplies and give them to needy students at one of the community's elementary schools; collect canned food to donate to the Camden area food pantry.
-- Cato: straightening, realigning and scrubbing tombstones and providing hedge-clipping and removing old or worn artificial flowers, all at the Union Hill Cemetery.
-- Chittenango: install new batteries and or smoke detectors in senior citizen homes; distribute emergency kits to senior citizens.
-- Clay-Cicero-N. Syracuse club donate an analog cell phone with charger to the Village of North Syracuse, who will issue it to a local senior citizen to be used to contact 911 in the event of an emergency.
-- Dolgeville: conduct road work project; cut down brush and remove debris; collect goods for the food pantry.
-- Eastwood: hand out dictionaries to students at schools in East Syracuse and Eastwood.
-- E-Club NY 1: (already performed) worked in conjunction with 25 students from Hamilton College to refurbish and renovate the Rotary Resource Reading Room at the Children's Museum in Utica as well as general cleaning of the museum and weeding around the outside of the building, and washing windows on the museum's 4 floors.
-- Fulton Sunrise: package food at Birdseye to donate to local food pantries.
-- Greater Utica Sunrise: grounds clean-up at Utica Zoo
-- Hamilton: sponsor cyber safety awareness forum. Speakers will adress participants to help make the Internet a safer place for children.
-- Marcellus: Send five club members to receive training in water quality testing to qualify them for quarterly testing on a segment of Nine Mile Creek.
-- Moravia: Rotarians from the club will participate in the annual CROP walk to raise funds for their favorite charities.
-- New Hartford: collection of winter coats, blankets and quilts.
-- Oneida Shores: several members will clean the lake shore for a mile; another member will take an old woman to see a friend whom she has not seen in several years; another will be meeting with a soldier who needs a friend.
-- Oriskany-Whitestown: join with Utica Rotary Club in collecting non-perishable food items to donate to Hope House, a not-for-profit agency in the inner city of Utica that provides meals on a daily basis for the most needy in the community.
-- Oswego: collect winter clothing, which will be given to the Salvation Army to distribute to its neediest clientsnduct a winter clothing collection. Needed items include coats, scarves, hats, mufflers, insulated boots and gloves.
-- Oswego Sunrise: clear the trail near Fort Ontario.
-- Sauquoit: is going to clean, paint and do assorted odd jobs at Friends and Family in Clayville, a local group that helps people out with food, clothing, etc.
-- Syracuse Sunrise: perform clean-up and winter closing-up tasks at the Matilda Jocelyn Gage house in Fayetteville.
-- Tully: give dictionaries to the third-grade students; collect slightly used books to give to the school; ckeab clean up the highways around the village.
-- Utica: in conjunction with Oriskany-Whitestown Rotarians, collect non-perishable food items for Hope House.
-- West Winfield: paint pavilions at West Winfield park.

More information Addditional information about Make A Difference Day can be found here.

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14 Clubs Involved in 2004 Make A Difference Day

Re: National Make A Difference Day was Saturday, October 25, 2003. In retrospect, without a project at the District Conference, which occurred concurrently with the national observance of Make A Difference Day, Rotary participation in District 7150 was somewhat muted. Fourteen of the 48 clubs (29 percent) in the district participated.

The clubs and the projects are as follows:
-- Eastwood Rotary Club: Jeanne Williams, a club member, asked her 3-year-old son's day care, Learning Universe, to be involved. Each of the classrooms baked cookies, muffins and bread that was delivered on Make a Difference Day to the Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse. In addition, the day care asked families to take in new or gently used books to be donated to the children's wing at Crouse Hospital. Abe Morelli, Jeanne's father, also helped organize some of these projects.
-- Rotary e-Club NY 1 (the district's on-line club): Rotarians, including Club President Marlene Brown and Club Secretary Earl Lewis worked with 30 Hamilton College students on various projects at The Children's Museum in Utica, including museum cleanup, weeding around the building, and improving our Rotary Resource Reading Room.
-- Fayetteville-Manlius Rotary Club: Discovering the local food bank was out of food, the club members committed to give and obtain food or each member donated money. A member of the club, Mary Dunaway, who made the club aware of the need, works for HSBC which made a $1,000 contribution so the food bank could receive a truckload of food.
-- Fulton Rotary Club: Rotarians collected new and good used warm winter clothing at three meetings through November. Half of the donations went to the Fulton Salvation Army and the other half went to Oswego County Catholic Charities for distribution to needy families.
---- Greater Utica Sunrise and Utica Rotary clubs: Eleven volunteers from GUS and 10 from the Utica club landscaped the House of the Good Shepherd. One group planted bushes and spread mulch in front of the four residential cottages while another group mulched around the school and administration building. The House of Good Shepherd is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing chlldren and families with treatment, education, counseling and support services that make a positive and lasting impact on their ability to succeed individually, as a family and as members of their community. Spouses and children of Rotarians and some children who are currently living on campus at the House participated. ``It was a great day," reports Anita Brown, project chair for GUS.
-- Marcellus Rotary Club: Four Rotarians were involved in car-parking duites at the Center for Nature Education at Baltimore Woods as part of the Harry Potter ``Holloween" party for children. The Rotarians directed hundreds of cars for this popular event.
-- Moravia Rotary Club: Four Rotarians and two guests worked in conjunction with the Moravia Elementary School and the Moravia Food Pantry. The club helped provide food and clothing for 200 to 300 people who, according to Club President Pat Murray, ``really seemed to appreciate our efforts."
-- Oswego Rotary Club: Rotarians donated 50 battery-powered radios and flashlights to the Oswego County Office of the Aging for distribution to people who could benefit from them during power failures. The second project involved the collection of winter outerwear for children and adults at three collection points in the community. Eight Rotarians were involved in completion of the two projects.
-- Oriskany Falls: Club members actively participated in a Red Cross Blood Drive Nov. 7. The date was chosen since so many club members were at the District Conference on Oct. 25. The blood drive was to help Madison Central School student Ryan Still, an atypical HUS patient who needs plasma phareses three times a week. Ryan is in his first year of school at Madison Central School. The club used fliers, posters and table tents in various businesses to promote the blood drive. Six club members and employees of Pierce Auto Parts donated blood and were on hand to volunteer. Bruce Pierce, an active Oriskany Falls Rotarian, is owner of the parts business. The Rotarians were accompanied by members of the Madison Central School Honor Society.
-- Sauquoit Rotary Club: Twelve Rotarians, exchange student Ana De Andres of Spain, rebound student Whitney Haskell and some local Boy Scouts cleaned up Black Cherry Hollow. ``We really did make a difference," observes club President Terry Heron.
-- Syracuse Sunrise Rotary Club: The club reached out to help a single mother raising two children with a painting project. Five Rotarians participated. ``Talk about neighbor helping neighbor," says club President Sondra Bufis. The other project involved helping in the fall clean-up and prep work for restoration of the Mathilda Joselyn Gage House in Fayetteville. This national historic home is being preserved by club member Sally Rosch Wagoner, who is bringing suffragette Mathilda Gage's accompanishments to national attention. ``Rotary makes it possible for a lot of good things to happen in our own communities," Bufis says. ``I am proud to be a member."
-- Tully Rotary Club: Six Rotarians participated in the clean up of highways around the Nice 'n' Easy in Tully.
-- West Winfield Rotary Club: The club adopted a 4.3-mile stretch of Routes 20 and 51 and picked up litter from the rights-of-way of both roads. The state Department of Transportion will install roadsigns noting the club's commitment to pick up litter along these highways three times for the next two years.

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Will you and your club Make A Difference again this year?

Re: National Make A Difference Day District 7150 of Central New York
To: Rotarians in District 7150
From: Bruce Frassinelli, District Governor 2001-02 Chair, Make A Difference Day

Thanks for your interest in this year’s Make A Difference Day. District Governor Andrea Ives is asking all clubs to undertake a project to help people in their respective communities on Saturday, October 25, 2003. The idea is to have as much participation as possible in a project that takes a few hours on that specific day or on that weekend.

If you need ideas, go to the National Make A Difference Day website or check the pictures of last year's projects. When you’ve come up with an idea, email it to me -- we will submit all of our activities as one entry.

Our district’s efforts have been cited by USA Weekend, the sponsor of Make A Difference Day, for the last two years. If your club will not be participating, you can participate as an individual by doing your own project or by joining with a club that has a project. A list of all club projects will be posted on this site in mid-October.

MADD is the most encompassing national day of helping others - a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Created by USA Weekend Magazine, MADD is an annual event that takes place the 4th Saturday of every October. Millions have participated. In 2002, 3 million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day, accomplishing 1000’s of projects in 100’s of towns. Your project can be large or small. Look around your community & see what needs to be done.

When the project is completed, please let me know how many Rotarians participated and any other information about it. If you take photos of the event, please send them to me at 139 Arcadia Avenue, Oswego, NY 13126 or to the above e-mail. We will send the best with our entry to USA Weekend and post the others on our district website. If you have questions, please call me at 342-4180. Thanks for lending a hand & making a difference.

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Will you and your club Make A Difference again this year? You can make a difference on National Make A Difference Day (MADD), Saturday, Oct 25, 2003. All Rotary clubs in D7150 are invited to participate by performing a community or personal service. Sign up to be a part of this great program. Contact: PDG Bruce Frassinelli, or 342-4180. Following is information found on the Make A Difference Day website.

MADD is the most encompassing national day of helping others - a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Created by USA Weekend Magazine, MADD is an annual event that takes place the 4th Saturday of every October. Millions have participated. In 2002, 3 million people cared enough about their communities to volunteer on that day, accomplishing 1000’s of projects in 100’s of towns. Your project can be large or small. Look around your community & see what needs to be done.

After participating on Oct. 25th, send information and pictures on your project to PDG Bruce, and send in an entry form to makeadifference.com so you will be counted among the millions of volunteers and be considered for an award. If you can’t participate on Saturday for religious reasons, you may do your project Sunday. Young and old, individuals and groups can carry out a volunteer project that helps others. USA WEEKEND features volunteers and their projects in articles and photos. Each year in April, hundreds of good deeds done on Make A Difference Day are selected for honors, headlines and charitable donations.

Will you and your club Make A Difference Day this Saturday -- National Make A Difference Day throughout the country? It appears we will have a large contingent of Rotarians fanning out across the communities of District 7150 doing community-service projects.

On behalf of District Governor Don Reese, I would like to thank you for your participation. DG Don says he will attempt to get to as many of these projects as possible after he bids farewell Saturday morning to our Taiwanese Group Study Exchange Team at Hancock International Airport.
President George Bush congratulates all Make A Difference Day volunteers in the letter that follows.

We should all feel proud of the work we and our clubs will do this weekend. Please have your Make A Difference Day person let me know how many Rotarians participated in the day's activities so I can make a full report to the district and to USA Weekend, national sponsor of Make A Difference Day.

If you can spare photos, please send them to me at 139 Arcadia Avenue, Oswego, NY 13126. We will use them to enhance our report. Digital photos can be send to Marlene Brown for use on our district website --

My thanks again to all clubs and Rotarians who will be participating.
Bruce Frassinelli, PDG
Chair, Make A Difference Day
District 7150

Participants in Make A Difference Day have been honored by President George W. Bush. (View jpeg of President Bush letter)

Make a Difference Day in 2002!

Memo from PDG Bruce - "All clubs in District 7150 are invited to participate in the Make A Difference Day effort this year on Saturday, October 26, 2002. We would like to have every Rotarian in the district do a 'good deed' for his or her community for the day -- preferably in collaboration with other similar-minded club members as a club-sponsored project. If clubs do not organize an event formally, individual Rotarians can do projects. Projects should be framed in a one-day time period (usually three to four hours or so). These projects should not be on-going or open-ended. Although you are encouraged to make a difference on Oct. 26, the projects can be done near that date, taking into consideration sensitivities about the sabbath of some religions. Nearly 500 District 7150 Rotarians participated in last year's Make A Difference Day. The effort was publicized in a full-page feature story in the most recent (Aug. 2002) edition of The Rotarian magazine, and the district was one of the national regional winners selected by USA Weekend, the national sponsor for Make A Difference Day.

Look around your community and identify a cause that needs attention. Then go tackle it as a club.Go online to get ideas makeadifferenceday.com
Register at inkindex.com for free project supplies, including Avery office projects. Also, see how your project can honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Please e-mail me a description of your project, along with the number of Rotarians who participated. If possible, please send a photo of the club in action working on the project to me at 139 Arcadia Avenue, Oswego, NY 13126. Our goal is to have 75 percent of the clubs participate this year, up from the nearly 50 percent which participated last year. If I can help or if you have questions, please contact me by telephoning 342-4180 or emailing me at the above address. Thanks for your consideration.

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District 7150 featured in Rotarian Magazine

the ROTARY EXPERIENCE - New York, USA Clubs show that Rotary Makes a Difference

Mobilizing Forces by Anthony G. Craine

Left: Bruce Frassinelli joins fellow Rotarians and other community members in a cleanup of the Rotary Trail along Lake Ontario.

AUGUST, 2002 - When it comes to service with an immediate impact, the power of Rotary often lies in its numbers. Hundreds of Rotarians working at the community level can make a big difference in a lot of lives in a relatively short period of time. With this in Mind, Bruce Frassinelli, 2001-02 governor of Disstrict 7150 (New York, USA), made it his goal to get as many Rotarians as possible involved in Make a Difference Day, 27 October 2001.

Created by USA Weekend magazine, Make a Difference Day is an annual event in which two million volunteers, mostly in the United States, spend the day helping others. Projects range from large-scale efforts, such as collecting food or clothing for the homeless, to more personal tasks, such as visiting an elderly neighbor. As the former publisher and editor of the Oswego Palladium-Times, which carries USA Weekend iin its Sunday editions, Frassinelli was well acquainted with Make a Difference Day and knew that it was the kind of effort Rotary clubs would embrace. "I thought it might be nice if I could get the district to involve itself in a whole series of projects for public good," Frassinelli says, "On our official visits to the clubs last summer I pushed it very heavily."

The response was strong. Despite some unfriendly weather - freezing temperatures and steady snow and sleet - some 480 Rotarians, along with family members and other community volunteers, turned out to work on a variety of projects across a six-county area, many of which took place outdoors. In Oswego, Frassinelli's club cleaned up a nature trail; in West Winfield, Rotarians installed lighting for a new flag display in front of the library; in Oneida, members did exterior home-improvement work for senior citizens. In all, 23 of the district's 44 clubs contributed. The effort impressed the Make a Difference Day organizers, who presented the district one of 529 local awards and reported on the Rotarians' work in an issue of USA Weekend. "I thought it was a tremendous turnout considering the weather," Frassinelli says. "The Rotarians in District 7150 who mobilized and participated in Make a Difference Day projects reached out and touched thousands in so many different ways in their communities."

Not all of the work took place outside, but the work indoors was just as challenging. New Hartford and Utica Rotarians joined forces to provide valuable maintenance work at a children's museum, where a door and rugs were replaced, rooms were repainted, and lights were installed. Marlene Brown, 2001-2002 president of the New Hartford club, sees this sort of concerted effort as a natural fit for Rotarians. "It points up the fact that Rotarians everywhere are proud to have it be known that making a difference in their communities as well as their world is important to us," Brown says. "We're aware that we're leaving a legacy, truly making the world a better place to live for those who will come after us."

AUGUST 2002 - Anthony G. Craine is senior editor of The Rotarian.

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