High school seniors from Ayer, Shirley, Harvard and Devens are eligible to apply for a scholarship from their local Rotary Club. The deadline to apply for a $2,000 prize is April 11, 2025.
Our club donated a bench to the Page Hilltop Elementary School made of recylcable plastic. The Club partnered with parents and students to collect 1,000 pounds of plastic for the Recycling Challenge with a prize of a free bench from Trex. The club dedicated the bench to the teachers and staff at the school.
Rotary Sponsoring RYLA Scholarships
We are pleased to announce that the Rotary Club of Ayer, Shirley, Harvard and Devens has awarded RYLA scholarships to eight local high school sophomores. These students will attend the 2025 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Conference at Fitchburg State University on June 27, 29, 29, 2025.
The RYLA Conference is an excellent opportunity for students to develop their leadership skills, broaden their horizons, meet new people and have fun!
The Ayer Rotary Club extends its deepest condolences to the Eldredge Family of Ayer on the passing of the beloved Kathy Eldredge, wife of Rotarian Robert. We proudly administer the Captain Daniel Eldredge Scholarship Fund, which honors the memory of Bob and Kathy's son, Dan.
At the family's request, donations in the memory of Kathy, a retired Ayer school teacher, may be made to the fund that provides a scholarship to a high school senior from Ayer. Please send donations by check payable to the Ayer Rotary Club, with the memo "Capt. Daniel Eldredge Scholarship" and mail to Ayer Rotary Club, P.O. Box 239, Ayer, MA 01432.
The Rotary Club has expanded its Crutches Recycling Project by adding four drop-off locations to collect unwanted crutches, folding walkers, and canes. The donated mobility aids will be shipped to developing nations and given to people living with disabilities.
The drop-off locations are Gervais Ford and Jack O’Lantern Liquors in Ayer, Clear Path for Veterans New England on Devens, and the Office of Dr. Jeffrey G. Resnick, DPM, in Harvard. The business hours and addresses for the drop-off locations are available on ayerrotary.com, the website of the Rotary Club of Ayer, Harvard, Shirley and Devens.
Cleaning out your attic can change a person's life. Here's how.
Imagine if you could not walk. Imagine you had no wheelchair or crutches. How would you get out of bed? How would you cook? How would you go to the store or work?
In developing nations, countless individuals living with physical disabilities do not have access to mobility aids. They are left to crawl or be carried.
Yet, in closets and attics across the U.S., countless crutches, folding walkers, canes and wheelchairs sit unused, no longer needed. Our Crutches Recycling Project seeks to unite your unneeded mobility aids with people in desperate need.
We collect unwanted mobility aids and ship them to people living with physical disabilities in developing countries. We partner with Crutches4Africa, founded by a Colorado Rotarian, Dave Talbot, a polio survivor now contending with post-polio syndrome.
"We so overlook the gift of mobility that we don't realize how powerful it is," says Dave. "Crutches4Africa has given me the ability to say yes to people who are literally crawling on the ground."
If you have items to donate or would like more information about this project please email us at ayerrotary@gmail.com
With proceeds from last year's Ducky Wucky River Race, the Ayer Rotary Club recently gave dictionaries as a personal gift to every third-grade student at the Page Hilltop School in Ayer.
Third-grade students at the Page Hilltop Elementary School received personalized dictionaries from the Ayer Rotary Club during a recent class assembly, just one example of public service funded by the club's annual Ducky Wucky River Race. Inscribed with each child’s name, the dictionaries are a gift meant to help students improve their communications skills and encourage them to excel in school.
“We are excited to provide a gift to each third grader to show them the Ayer Rotary Club and the entire community support their education and want them to succeed in school. We hope this will be the first year of a new annual tradition, and we thank the many individuals and sponsors who donate generously to support the community service work of the Ayer Rotary Club,” said Michael Phelan, the club’s president for 2015-16.
