Stories
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. |
Senior Citizens' Chicken BBQOur annual Senior Citizens' Chicken BBQ will be held October 12. Reservations required by October 5th for this grab-n-go, pre-packed chicken barbecue meal. Free to senior citizens.
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Rotary Youth Leadership AwardsRotary 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! |
2024 Ayer Rotary ScholarshipApplications 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 Cornhole Tournament |
Page HilltopRotary 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.
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Ducky Wucky River Race May 20thThe world famous Ducky Wucky River Race will be held on May 20, 2023. As always, one lucky duck will win the grand prize of dinner for two anywhere in the world! Tickets on sale now at www.duckywucky.org.
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3rd Annual Devens Dog & Music FestivalDevens 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. |
With wedding delayed by pandemic, honeymoon looking duckyKiernan Cournoyer just won Rotary’s 2020 Ducky Wucky River Race and its grand prize of dinner for two anywhere in the world. Where is the newly engaged serviceman planning to travel?
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Ducky Wucky River Race Scheduled for August 29The 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) |
Win Dinner for Two Anywhere in the World!If your adopted ducky is the first to cross the finish line, you win the grand prize: Airfare, two night hotel & dinner (alcohol excluded, sorry). Net proceeds for charitable causes. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ayer, Harvard, Shirley & Devens. Some rules apply |
Helping Senior CitizensOur Annual Senior Citizen Chicken Barbecue and Ramps to Freedom Project put smiles on the faces of senior citizens recently.
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Donate Unwanted Crutches at Rotary’s New Drop-Off Centers
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The Powerful Gift of MobilityCleaning 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 |
Thank you to our Tournament Sponsors!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.
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Ramps to Freedom Wheelchair Ramp ProjectThe 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.
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Ducky Wucky Race & Festival Set for May 7The 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.
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Ayer Rotary Makes Family Holiday PossibleThis 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.
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Ayer Rotarians host the Annual Senior Citizen BBQOn Saturday, October 24th, Ayer Rotarians gathered at the Devens Community Center to host the Annual Senior Citizen BBQ. Special thanks to our friends from the Nashoba Valley Concert Band for providing great entertainment!
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Club Donates $1,300 to Harvard Ambulance Service for Two-Way Radios
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. |
Ayer Rotary Club partners to host Comedy Night
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
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