A message from Marie Tremblay, club President for 2019-2020:
 
The 2019-2020 Bedford Rotary year was enlightening and challenging as well as a very rewarding year.    
 
A special thanks to the 2019-2020 Installation Committee for their support and guidance: Sze-Wen Kuo, Christine Pinney, Nancy Gilroy and Diana Jarvis.Thank you to our neighbor club the Rotary Club of Concord for their collaboration and partnership with our annual Football lunch and our traditional football “BET”.  I want to give special thanks to Dick Hale of Club Concord for his continued Board Advisory.

Now to highlight some of our accomplishments this past year.  We had 3 club members attend the Rotary Leadership Institute, one of the highest RLI attendances.  We sponsored 10 Bedford High School student for (RYLA) our Districts Rotary Youth Leadership Awards.  Last July, we were happy to have our second annual Membership Social.  Special thanks to Nat Brown for opening his home and hosting the event.  In August, we had another successful Summer BBQ event at the Bedford Council on Aging.  Also, in August we had our very first “Service Planning Project” sponsored by Enterprise Bank to bring local community partners together to strengthen our collective efforts in our community.  In September, we had a Social to view the Video “Tashi and the Monk”. Special thanks for Christine and Tom Pinney for opening their home to host the event.  In September we had our annual “Bedford Day” fundraiser and it was a strong success and special thanks to Flatbread for donating 100s of pizza for the event.  On October 24th, we highlighted a “World Polio Awareness Day” to support abolishing Polio.  Also, many of our members attended The Lowell Spinners to support “End Polio Now” a fundraiser sponsored by our District.  In November, many club members attended the Bedford High School performance of “12 Hungry Jurors” in which Gabe, our international exchange student performed. In December, our club successfully held our annual “Breakfast with Santa” where over 500 community members gathered at the Bedford High School for a breakfast, visit Santa’s Village and get their photo with Santa.  This event also highlights dozens of local businesses, donations and sponsors.   In February, we once again had our annual “Game Night” in which we gather for fun and to collect donations for our local food bank.   Special thanks to Diana and Chris Jarvis for opening their home to host this event.   Although we had many additional fundraisers and projects planned, unfortunately they had to be cancelled due to the COVID19 Pandemic.   

Another very proud accomplishment this year, 2 Bedford Rotarians will follow each other and serve as District 7910 District Governors. Join me to celebrating Cliff Rober as DGE 2021-2022 and Victor Tom as DGN 2022-2023.  

Last, and most importantly, I would like to acknowledge our entire club for its tireless work and swift pivot during a Pandemic!  We as a club quickly picked up our meetings on Zoom, special thanks to 2020-2021 President Sze-Wen Kuo for arranging the Zooms and keeping our speakers scheduled for presentations.  Our club did not miss a beat as “People of Action”, we found ways to support our community.  The club completed over 75 hours of production and delivered over 440 face shields, hundreds of gift cards, over 300 face masks, over 500 3D printed face shields all to frontline workers and local hospitals.  We also provided gift cards to the Food Banks. We are presently in the process of delivering Hazmat suits to frontline workers and more.  Our work does not end.  I am proud to be called a Bedford Rotarian and I look forward to another great year in 2020-2021. Thank you, Rotary Club of Bedford, for all you do for each other and for our greater Community.