A Message from the Club President

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    Welcome to our website.  Our club, chartered in 1974, has a long tradition of charitable community service projects both in Western Maine and abroad, ever mindful of that universal goal of Rotary Clubs: "Service Above Self."

    The Bethel Rotary Club membership hails from all towns of the SAD #44 school district: Bethel, Newry, Greenwood, Woodstock, Gilead, Albany, and Hanover, and we would certainly welcome members from other neighboring towns. Bethel is approximately 33 miles north of (South) Paris on Route 26. We meet on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 for breakfast at the Bethel Inn. We always welcome visitors, so if you are in the area please join us and learn more about our club.

    This year finds our club with 40 members and aiming to add a few more.  Our diverse members bring with them a wide variety of talents and interests. Our annual service projects include: Christmas for Children, holiday food baskets, Rotary Youth Leadership Conference, RYLA, Group Study Exchange programs, helping a dozen or more local organizations such as Camp Susan Curtis and our local 4H camp, providing both college scholarships for high school seniors and alternative education scholarships.  We are proud to assist in Rotary's worldwide polio eradication campaign and Rotoplast.

    Our two biggest fund raising events happen each June: a golf tournament at the Bethel Inn and an auction & yard sale held at Telstar High school. We also put on fall and spring country breakfasts at Gould Academy in Bethel, and host a wine & cheese tasting fundraiser at Sunday River Ski Resort every winter.

    A member of the Bethel Rotary Club for over 5 years, I am now honored to be our president in the year that we Rotarians recognize that “The future of Rotary is in your hands.”

Scott Hynek, president