Home Page Stories
Rotary Partners with Page Hilltop Elementary School to Win Plastic Bag Recycling Challenge!
 
We are teaming up with Page Hilltop Elementary School to win the NexTrex Recycling Challenge.  Together, if we collect 1,000 pounds of plastic, we win a Trex Bench for outside of the Page Hilltop Elementary School.
Recyle Beyond the Bag
Applications Being Accepted
 
 
Each year our club is committed to sponsoring two students in total from the towns of Ayer, Shirley, Harvard and Devens by giving them the opportunity to apply for a scholarship. Candidates for the scholarship must be high school seniors, or the equivalent, and must be applying to help fund tuition to a higher or continuing education program.
Rotary Sponsoring RYLA Scholarships
 
We will be awarding four local high school sophomores scholarships to attend the 2024 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Conference at Fitchburg State University on June 21, 22, 23, 2024.
The RYLA Conference is an excellent opportunity for students to develop their leadership skills, broaden their horizons, meet new people and have fun!
 
RYLA
     
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.
Club Information
Service Above Self
Ayer

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Thursdays at 6:00 p.m.
Bull Run Restaurant
215 Great Rd (Route 2A)
Shirley, MA 01464
United States of America
 
Club Executives & Directors
President 2024-2025
President 2026-2027 (VP)
Immediate Past President
Secretary
Sgt at Arms
MEMBERSHIP Chair
Scholarship Chair
Newsletter Chair
Website Chair
Speaker Chair
YOUTH Chair
Interact Chair
Youth - RYLA Chair
Youth Exchange
RSS
Rotary members assist with Hurricane Helene relief efforts

Clubs donate supplies, raise funds, and volunteer

Rotary Foundation receives highest rating from Charity Navigator for 16th consecutive year

Rotary Foundation receives highest rating from Charity Navigator for 16th consecutive

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, to host 2028 Rotary International Convention

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, to host 2028 Rotary International ConventionRotary has announced that Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, will host its convention in 2028.The Rotary International Convention welcomes tens of thousands of

Camino walk raises funds and camaraderie for Florida club

Five members of the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake, Florida, hiked Spain’s Camino de Santiago raised about $7,000 to raise funds to help Ukrainian refugee mothers and children in the Tampa Bay area. It also brought the entire club closer together.

The polio shot heard round the world

A son recalls his father’s great medical achievement — and the moment he experienced that breakthrough firsthand