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THE GARDEN STATE ROTARY CLUB The first Rotary Club in Cherry Hill was formed in 1955 as a dinner club. In the mid-1970s, a number of its members decided that they would prefer to meet at the lunch hour, and on March 19, 1976, at the Ramada Inn (formerly the Cherry Hill Lodge), the first meeting of the Garden State Rotary Club of Cherry Hill took place. The founding fathers of the club were Keith J. Bashaw, Esq., and Dennis McHenry, the representative of Rotary International. The club elected Bashaw as its president at that first meeting. McHenry called the members and their wives to order at the club’s first Charter Night, June 22, 1976; Bashaw accepted the Charter from William Lamon, District Governor. The club awarded Paul Harris Fellow distinctions to Bashaw and McHenry. The club’s 31 charter members elected John Canterbury their second president, and he presided over the club’s first full year. The club met at the Hideaway, Cinelli’s, and the Cherry Hill Inn. Dues were $60, and lunches were $6, and the club budget was $7,000. The year saw the first Serendipity Sunday and the first Group Study Exchange Program, which brought seven business-men an inside view of Stan Ravitz’s supermarkets. The following year, the club initiated a Christmas Party for handicapped children in conjunction with the Police Athletic League. By 1985, the event attracted 1,200 children and prompted a visit from Governor Thomas H. Kean. More than 200 students from the two Cherry Hill high schools helped decorate the hall and serve the guests that year. Once the event was successful on its own, the club turned its attention to other needs, and PAL continues to sponsor this very successful project. Marv Mullen, who was president in 1979-80, is credited as the force behind one of the most successful projects in the history of the club, the Garden State Sports Complex. Member/architect John Kehr drew up the initial layout for the grounds in January 1979, and in April the Courier-Post announced that 300 Township Little Leaguers would be canvassing the municipality for donations to help develop the complex. In October, the newspaper featured the headline, "Rotary Club Plans to Build Ball Fields." By that time, Mullen and his committee had already arranged to lease 30 acres from the Township under the Green Acres Law at $1 a year. Site preparation began in May 1980, and by 1983, the club raised $125,000, with substantial contributions from a number of corporate donors. The project won the ultimate honor for the club, the Special Achievement Award from Rotary International. The club dedicated Doug Heir Field at the Garden State Sports Complex in May 1986. Heir, a local attorney, was honored as Man of the Year for 1985 for some most remarkable accomplishments. In an act of heroism, he dived into a pool to save a child. Sadly, his spinal column was injured in the accident and left him a paraplegic. He also became a medal-winner in the International Olympics for the Handicapped. Following the award banquet, he was selected by Wheaties as part of the cereal maker’s promotional package program. In October 1987, the club formally presented the sports complex to the Township of Cherry Hill. Today, it serves thousands of youngsters and stands as a tribute to the members of Garden State Rotary Club who transformed the site into eight fields for baseball, soccer, and rugby.That year was notable, too, for the admission of the first woman member of the club. Garden State Rotary Club recognized the importance of Rotary for the growing number of women in business and the professions, and invited Toni Parkinson to join. Toni was also the first woman president of the club in 1991-92. As the 1987-88 year drew to a close, Steve Pelzer, Joe Schooley, and Frank Slattery left the Garden State Rotary Club as founders of the Cherry Hill Breakfast Rotary Club, the third Rotary Club in the Township. Their first organizational meeting took place June 2, 1988. Schooley is credited with developing a project that continues to involve all three Rotary Clubs of Cherry Hill, the distribution of food baskets to our needy neighbors each Thanksgiving. Every year, Rotarians come together to fill bags with side dishes, to gather for a festive planning lunch, and then to pick up the turkeys and the side dishes at Joe Schooley’s office and distribute them to needy families in the Township. The clubs provide 500 turkeys every year, and the program has touched thousands of families in Cherry Hill. As the years went by, the club continued to raise its fund-raising sights so that it could give more to the community. Members worked hard to add to the coffers for Polio Plus, the successful venture of Rotary International that has virtually eradicated the crippling disease from the face of the Earth. To protect and to serve our neighbors, the club presented the Cherry Hill Police Department with three bulletproof shields, equipment it lacked until the club stepped in to help. A wheelchair softball league among Cherry Hill’s clubs took a different tack: the loser committed to donating wheelchairs to the winner’s hospital of choice. All the local hospitals have benefited from the Wheelchair League. Even when the games aren’t played, the club still donates wheelchairs every year to hospitals and senior citizens. The club also raised funds for the Rotary Memorial Recreational Facility at the Children and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at Kennedy Hospital. The gift included athletic courts, a stage, shrubbery, and lighting for the facility. The club also visits the unit every year at Christmas to entertain the youngsters who use the facility. Santas have included Brian Backensto, Jimmy Horowitz, Elliott Fuhrman and Joe Eisberg. A national program for teenagers, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), has become a major activity for the Garden State Rotary Club. Mike Wagner, who served as president of the club in 1992-93, continues to chair the regional RYLA program, which helps outstanding students enhance their leadership skills. The club is the most active in RYLA among district clubs and sends more students through the program than any other. Garden State Rotary Club’s members are active in sports as both participants and fans, so it is no surprise that sports play an important part in the club’s activities. In addition to playing in charity golf tournaments, members have turned to sports for some of the club’s most effective fund-raising activities. For the last decade, the club has worked with Rotarians from three districts in Philadelphia and South Jersey to raise goods and money for Strike Out Hunger. Former District Governor Neil Garber initiated and encouraged the program, through which clubs from the three districts buy tickets for a Phillies game at a premium and then donate cans of food at Veterans Stadium. Half of the money comes back to the clubs for Paul Harris Fellowships, and the event raises $100,000 a year. To acknowledge the success and the uniqueness of Strike Out Hunger, the president of Rotary International joins the clubs for breakfast every year. The biggest fund raiser of the Garden State Rotary Club started innocuously, when Jimmy Horowitz acquired tickets for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the summer of 1995. The club held a raffle for the tickets, and it was so successful that it inspired the idea of raffling off tickets for a trip to the Super Bowl. Partnering sales of tickets with other clubs and with selected charities, the club chose the raffle as a major undertaking, and in the four years since its inception, the Super Bowl raffle has raised more than $50,000. The Garden State Rotary Club of Cherry Hill has left its mark on the Township during the 27 years of its existence. In 1999, the club arranged to build a gazebo at a newly developed recreational site on Chapel Avenue and to donate it to the Township. Today, the club symbol stands proudly at that entrance to Cherry Hill, down the road from Cherry Hill High School West among the cherry trees that line the avenue. As it enters its twenty-fifth year, with fifty members sharing convivial lunches at Ponzio’s each Friday, the club continues to direct itself toward its Rotary mission: Service above Self. The biggest current fundraiser of the Garden State Rotary Club started innocuously, when Jimmy Horowitz acquired tickets for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the summer of 1996 during Marv Axler’s Presidency. The club held a raffle for the tickets, and it was so successful that it inspired the idea of raffling off tickets for a trip to the Super Bowl. Partnering sales of tickets with other clubs and with selected charities, the club chose the raffle as a major undertaking, and in the eight years since its inception, the Super Bowl raffle has raised nearly $150,000. In 2001, the raffle prize was changed to a vacation trip. In 2003, it was dedicated to the Foundation to eradicate Polio by 2005. In 1999, the club arranged to build a gazebo at a newly developed recreational site on Chapel Avenue and to donate it to the Township. Today, the club symbol stands proudly at that entrance to Cherry Hill, down the road from Cherry Hill High School West. In 2001, the club completed its funding of “The Living Maya” a research project that documented the folklore and traditions of the Mopan and Q’eqchi’ Indians of Belize. The finished product on CD was presented to the President of Belize and is now used to teach school children throughout his country. In 2002, under President Art Campbell, we initiated three annual scholarships of $500.00 each to Cherry Hill High School Seniors active in community service. We also donated a $3,500 matching grant to the Cherry Hill Fire Department. The money was used to purchase escape harnesses for our firemen. The day after the 2003 Annual Strike Out Hunger game, our club had the honor of hosting a breakfast meeting for the RI President Jonathan B. Majiyagbe, attended by over 200 Rotarians from four districts. With only a few weeks planning, we came together to produce on of the finest and most inspirational events in our club’s history. That year, in addition to our Polio commitment, we donated $5,000 to the new Cherry Hill Library for the purchase of children’s picture books. We also provided money to purchase chickens in Burkino Faso, Africa. The gift will provide work and income for twenty families for a year. The year 2005 marked the 100th Anniversary of Rotary and another active year for our club. Our own Tom Veevers became District Governor (2004-05) and we became the host club at the District Conference in Cape May. Under the leadership of President Joe Eisberg, we had the best hospitality room with a Mexican Fiesta them. Again, our club hosted the R.I. President, Glenn Estess Jr. at a breakfast after the Strike Out Hunger game. The Tsunami disaster moved our club to action; shipping over 1,000 lbs. Of clothers to Sri Lanka. Locally, with the aid of a R.I. matching grant, we donated 6 gerichairs to the Cadbury Nursing home. In
January 2006, Tom Veevers, E.J. Paul and Bonnie Natal accompanied 25
other Rotarians from our District to India, helping inoculate millions
of children against Polio. A devastating earthquake in Pakistan
moved our club to send two shelter boxes – helping save the lives of up
to 20 homeless people. In
2007-2008 Tom Veevers led a team from our club including Dave Zelley,
Deborah White and Terri Greenfield to Nigeria, to innoculate children
against Polio. The Garden State Rotary Club of Cherry Hill has left its mark on the Township and the world during the thirty three years of its existence in all these ways and more. As it enters its thirty fourth year, with forty six members sharing convivial lunches at Ponzio’s each Friday, the club continues to direct itself toward its Rotary mission: Service above Self.
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