News
Highland Rotary Club Gives Back This Thanksgiving!
Once again, the Highland Rotary Club has stepped up to make the holiday brighter for our senior citizens who need a hand. We purchased 65 turkey breasts—a whopping 436 pounds of poultry—for the Ulster County Community Action to distribute to identified seniors in the Highland community to help them have a warm, delicious Thanksgiving meal.
 
President Steve Laubach and President-elect Don Verity met the driver's for Community Action to load up the tasty turkeys for delivery to those in need.
 
At Highland Rotary, we believe that supporting our neighbors is at the heart of building a stronger, more connected community. Whether it's fighting food insecurity, promoting peace, or honoring those who make a difference, we’re committed to making Highland a better place for everyone.
 
Deadline extended! Apply by November 28
 
The Highland Rotary Club is seeking Highland High School students aged 15-19 who are interested in the chance to participate in the Rotary International Youth Exchange (YEX) program. This long-standing, globally-recognized program provides students with the opportunity to live and study abroad, experience new cultures, and develop leadership skills in one of 100 countries across the world. 

YEX enables students to immerse themselves in a different culture, promoting peace, understanding, and international friendship. Participants attend school in a foreign country, live with host families, and engage in cultural exchange activities that foster global understanding and goodwill. Past participants have reported gaining independence, self-confidence, and new perspectives through real-world experiences provided by the program. They also have built lifelong friendships and connections with fellow exchange students, host families, and Rotarians around the world. Exchange countries sometimes vary from year to year, but generally include districts in Europe, Asia, and South America.
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RYLA Students Share their Experience
Five students who will be juniors at Highland Central School District in the fall attended the 2024 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) leadership conference at Mount Saint Mary College this summer. Their participation was sponsored by the Highland Rotary Club. RJ Schneider, Alexis Violaris, Zackary Maroney, Wesley Clarke, and Connor Pickett attended.
 
RYLA is an annual event that brings youth from across the region together for an intensive experience designed to help them develop skills in leadership, team building, problem-solving, and communication, while also having fun and making connections. RYLA’s main goal is to teach youth about the power of confidence, comfort, and cooperativeness. Participants are provided a once-in-a-lifetime experience that builds social and working skills.
 
RJ and Alexis attended this week’s breakfast meeting and shared their experience with members. Their parents reinforced the student’s enthusiasm upon returning from the conference, sharing that they are still taking about what a great experience it was.
The RYLA program committee is chaired by Mark Mahoney.
 
Service Above Self Challenge
The Highland Rotary Club has a family 4-pack of tickets to the Ulster County Fair, and a Family 4-pack (with ride bracelets) to the Duchess County Fair. Now through August 4th, we are looking for community members to commit acts of kindness in the Highland community, and then visit our Facebook page to share the story or video of good deeds on the post about the contest. Two individuals will be selected from the entries and win one of these fair packages. So go pay it forward, help someone in need, or commit a random act of kindness and be sure to let us know about it!
 
On Sunday, July 28th, we will select the first winner, who will receive the Ulster County Fair package.
Next Sunday, August 4th, we will select the winner for the Duchess Fair package.
 
If you know of a child under the age of 8 doing something good in the community, please also share their story (and include their age), because we have a special prize just for them, and it is even BIGGER than the fair packages!
 
So keep the stories coming and spread smiles and good throughout the community!
 
 
 
Supporting our First Responders
On June 11, we had the honor and privilege of presenting $15,000 that was raised at our First Responder Golf Outing to the Town of Lloyd Police and Highland Fire District. Each department received a check for $7500 to put towards purchasing safety equipment. We are blessed to have incredibly dedicated first responders at both the volunteer fire department and on our police force who consistently go above and beyond for the Highland community. Thank you to JSP Home Services for being our event Title Sponsor, as well as all of the other businesses who are a part of our event, and also to the golfers who come out to make this event so successful. 
 
Club Information
Welcome to the Highland Rotary Club
Highland

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m.
Vineyard Commons Theater
6142 Merlot Dr
Highland, NY 12528
United States of America
District Site
Venue Map
What We Do
Club Executives & Directors
President
Steve Laubach
President Elect
Don Verity
Vice President
Pete Fiorese
Secretary
PDG Chrissy G. Giangrasso
Treasurer
Shawn Shaughnessy
Rotary Day of Service Chair
Ruy Alencar
Membership Chair
BJ Mikkelsen
Public Relations
Holly Brooker
Immediate Past President
David Lambert
The Rotary Foundation
PDG Chrissy G. Giangrasso
Rotary Links
 

Mission:

The Highland Rotary Club mission is to support local community and international needs through the Five Avenues of Service:  Club Service, Vocational Service, Community Service, New Generations Service, and International Service guided by the ethical standards of the Four-Way Test.

Vision:

The Highland Rotary Club is one of the leading service organizations in the community, serving as a positive resource for the local community and expanding our humanitarian support internationally. As a service leader in the community, we make a difference in the lives of many people during their time of need and work to foster our service ethics with our youth.

We were honored to present the Highland Hose Co. No. 1 Fire District with a check for $10,000 to aid in the purchase of safety equipment. The funds were raised through the generosity of our sponsors of and participants in our first-ever golf outing in May 2023 to benefit first responders. Special thanks to our title sponsor JSP Home Services.
Read more about it here and be on the lookout for details about next year’s event which is being planned already!
Check out the great prizes for this year's Super 25 Raffle! Get your tickets online here, or see a Rotarian! 
Photo Albums
Upcoming Events

2024 Service Above Self Honorees

 
The Rotary "Service Above Self" motto conveys the humanitarian spirit of our organization. Each year, the Highland Rotary Club recognizes the people in our community who live by the same motto and are dedicated to serving our local community.

Award Honorees for 2024 are Jami Anson, Dennis Bragg, Raegan Hons, Sorbello Landscaping/Steven Sorbello, and TRC Auto Repair/Matthew & Sarah Bahr. You make our community a better place and are an example for all to follow.
We are so pleased to provide Taso Bakatsias with a donation towards his Eagle Scout Project! Taso came to a recent Rotary meeting and discussed his project, “Anchors Away,” which is an informational kiosk of the Black Creek Watershed that will be installed at the canoe/kayak launch. Taso has worked with the town's Environmental Committee, Town of Lloyd, Scenic Hudson, and John Burroughs Black Creek Trail Committee to design and get approval for his project, which will cost approximately $3500. Once he has secured the funding needed, his Boy Scout Troop and students from Highland High School will help build the kiosk. Good luck Taso!