Rotary Youth Leadership Awards

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
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Joan Pena 2024-03-11 04:00:00Z 0

2024 Ayer Rotary Scholarship

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.
2024 Ayer Rotary Scholarship Joan Pena 2024-03-11 04:00:00Z 0
2024 Cornhole Tournament Joan 2024-02-08 05:00:00Z 0

Page Hilltop

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
Page Hilltop Jason Kauppi 2023-12-07 05:00:00Z 0
Senior Citizens' Chicken BBQ Jason Kauppi 2023-09-01 04:00:00Z 0
Ducky Wucky River Race May 20th Jason Kauppi 2023-04-20 04:00:00Z 0

3rd Annual Devens Dog & Music Festival

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Devens Dog & Music Festival, 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. . 29 Antietam St. (Museum Field), Devens, MA has been rescheduled to Sunday, October 31, 2021!
 
 
This event supports the Dogs2Vets Program. This annual fundraiser provides the vital funds necessary to support this program and provide much needed service dogs to Veterans. The Ayer, Shirley, Harvard and Devens Rotary Club has partnered with Clear Path for Veterans and the Nashoba Valley Rotary Club to bring this dog-loving fun to the area. Admission is $10; leashed dogs welcome.
 
3rd Annual Devens Dog & Music Festival Joan Pena 2021-10-31 04:00:00Z 0
With wedding delayed by pandemic, honeymoon looking ducky Jason Kauppi 2020-09-08 04:00:00Z 0

Ducky Wucky River Race Scheduled for August 29

The race is on!  The world-famous Ducky Wucky River Race will be held August 29th, and the grand prize winner can travel anywhere in the world for dinner for two.  Tickets are on sale now at duckywucky.org.  (Due to the pandemic, the race will be held without fans in attendance.  Race video and a list of all winners will be posted on duckywucky.org)

Ducky Wucky River Race Scheduled for August 29 Q. McBeakley 2020-08-07 04:00:00Z 0
Win Dinner for Two Anywhere in the World! 2020-02-17 05:00:00Z 0
Helping Senior Citizens Jason 2019-10-10 04:00:00Z 0

Donate Unwanted Crutches at Rotary’s New Drop-Off Centers
 

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. 
 
Donate Unwanted Crutches at Rotary’s New Drop-Off Centers  Jason Kauppi 2019-07-26 04:00:00Z 0

The Powerful Gift of Mobility

 
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
 
 
  
The Powerful Gift of Mobility Joan Pena 2019-05-29 04:00:00Z 0

Thank you to our Tournament Sponsors! 

Posted on Feb 04, 2018
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The Ayer, Harvard, Shirley, Devens Rotary Club held its first annual Cornhole Tournament on Saturday, February 24. Thanks to our sponsors, players and spectators, the event was a success! Thank you to Gervais Ford, Central Ave Compassionate Care, Nikopoulos Insurance Agency, Pinard's Landscaping, Jack O'Lantern Liquors, Reese's Travel Adventures, Turf Logic, Lorden, Pastor and Lilly P.C, ISS and MediaPower! Inc.  
Thank you to our Tournament Sponsors! 2018-02-04 05:00:00Z 0

Ramps to Freedom Wheelchair Ramp Project 

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The Ayer Rotary Club will build wheelchair ramps for people in our community who need a ramp but are unable to afford one on their own. The Club is currently accepting applications from area residents. For more information, or to apply, please contact Patricia Thorpe at 978-339-3419, or via email pattythorpe@live.com.  
Ramps to Freedom Wheelchair Ramp Project Patricia Thorpe 2018-02-04 05:00:00Z 0

Ducky Wucky Race & Festival Set for May 7

 
The date for the famous Ducky Wucky River Race is set for May 7 and one lucky duck will win the grand prize of dinner for two anywhere in the world.  Tickets are now available from Ayer Rotary Club members and participating ticket sellers.
 
 
Rotarians pick up the rubber duckies after the race is finished.  
 
The race will kick off at 4:30 p.m. - rain or shine - with up to 5,000 rubber ducks racing down the Nashua River in Harvard.  The bib number on the winning duck will determine which ticket holder wins the grand prize.  Past prize winners have traveled to Venice, Paris, Tokyo, Cape Town, Sydney, and Jakarta.
 
Tickets will also be available on race day at the annual Apple Blossom Festival on Harvard Common.  The festival is a popular family attraction featuring live music, shopping, food,children’s games and fire truck rides.  The festival is held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 
 
 
 
 
Ducky Wucky Race & Festival Set for May 7 Melissa Fetterhoff 2016-04-12 00:00:00Z 0

Ayer Rotary Makes Family Holiday Possible

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the time of year when most families plan holiday gatherings. But for some area residents, attending a holiday dinner with family simply isn’t possible because they physically can’t leave their homes.  On November 14 and 15, the Ayer, Harvard, Shirley, Devens Rotary Club changed that situation for one Shirley couple. The Club built a wheelchair ramp for two elderly residents who had been virtually housebound for several years.
 
“This is wonderful,” the ramp recipient, a 92 year old man, said, “I can’t thank you people enough. Now we can go to our daughter’s for Thanksgiving. It will be the first time in years that we’re able to go.” The man’s wife has severe rheumatoid arthritis and was not able to go up and down the three stairs to her front door. In order to leave her home, she had to be physically carried out by two people.
 
 
Ayer Rotary Makes Family Holiday Possible Melissa Fetterhoff 2015-11-18 00:00:00Z 0

Club Donates $1,300 to Harvard Ambulance Service for Two-Way Radios

Posted by Melissa Fetterhoff

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 Ayer Rotary Club President Melissa Fetterhoff, Dr. Steve Beckman of the Harvard Ambulance Service, and Ayer Rotarian Bill Spacciapoli
The Ayer Rotary Club presented a $1,300 check to the Harvard Ambulance Service for the purchase of four two-way radios for use by EMTs responding to emergencies.  President Melissa presented the donation to Dr. Steve Beckman, director of the Ambulance Service at last week's meeting.

Dr. Beckman was the evening's speaker and told about the efforts of the ambulance service to have round-the-clock staffing and to reduce response times to emergencies.  He particularly stressed the uniqueness of having Bromfield High School students as trained EMTS who are able to leave school and respond to daytime calls.  The busiest period of the day is between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., when they have 43 percent of their calls.

Beckman said they are using a strategy of sending a responding EMT directly to the scene of the call, while another retrieves the ambulance.  This allows the on-scene EMT to assess the situation and begin treatment.  However, he said a lack of two-way radios was impeding the service's efforts to effectively communicate.  

The Harvard Ambulance Service is funded entirely from insurance billing and donations, and it receives no taxpayer support from the town.  However, Beckman said the service's revenues just keep up with expenses, leaving little extra for equipment purchases.

 
Club Donates $1,300 to Harvard Ambulance Service for Two-Way Radios Melissa Fetterhoff 0

Ayer Rotary Club partners to host Comedy Night

Posted by Melissa Fetterhoff

 

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Please join the Ayer and Groton-Pepperell Rotary Clubs for a Night of Comedy on Friday, November 11, 2011 at the Bull Run Restaurant

Cocktails/Cash Bar @ 730pm, Show at 830pm

Tickets $20 each

Tickets Available for Purchase by Calling:

Nashoba Valley Chamber of Commerce (978-772-6976)

Pinards Florist (978-772-3883)

Gervais Ford (978-772-6600) 

 Special thanks to the Event Sponsors:

     Senate Construction Corp
     Catalano Companies
     NorthStar Construction Services
     North Middlesex Savings Bank
 

 

 

Ayer Rotary Club partners to host Comedy Night Melissa Fetterhoff 0