Events

Serve lunch at Lazarus House Soup Kitchen on the first Wednesday of every month at noon.  Enjoy fellowship with the volunteers and residents at Lazarus House while doing good and making a difference in the Rotary way. 

Melissa Pennington is a dedicated advocate for youth, with over a decade of experience in the non-profit sector. Throughout her career, she has championed initiatives that go beyond academics, focusing on enhancing opportunities for young people to succeed in all aspects of life. Melissa has spearheaded programs offering mentorship, life skills training, and extracurricular activities, fostering environments where youth can explore their full potential and build the confidence to pursue their dreams.

Her work has centered on bridging gaps in access to essential resources, particularly for those from marginalized communities. From partnering with local organizations to secure funding and create impactful outreach programs, to leading teams that mentor at-risk youth, Melissa’s leadership has consistently brought meaningful change.

Driven by a deep passion for social justice and equality, Melissa is committed to ensuring every young person she serves has the tools, support, and encouragement to thrive outside the classroom. Through her strategic vision and collaborative spirit, she continues to transform lives, one initiative at a time.

 Melissa currently serves as the Associate Program Director at Playworks, an organization dedicated to transforming children’s social and emotional health through the power of play. Playworks partners with schools to create safe, inclusive environments for play, where children can develop crucial skills like teamwork, conflict resolution, and leadership. Through structured recess programs, Playworks helps foster positive relationships and encourages physical activity, supporting students' holistic development.  

Join the team from Ironstone Farm to hear more about what's happening with the herd! 

Dan Strollo, Executive Director – In Control Family Foundation - a nonprofit offering the nation's first state certified closed course, hands-on crash prevention training.

www.driveincontrol.org

Dan is a father of four with a background in the auto industry, marketing and construction.  He first learned of In Control back in 2006 and has led the organization for over 15 years, reaching 40,000+ students and saving countless lives in the process.  Today, his goal is to educate you on how dangerous driving has become and offer some tips to keep you and your family safer on our roads.

Common Man for Ukraine’s co-founders turned small-town New Hampshire heart into global impact, refusing to stand idly by after the February 2022 invasion. Without a clear path to help Ukraine’s children, the four volunteers reached out and built one. 

Inspired by our Plymouth Rotary Foundation's commitment to Service Above Self, our all-volunteer team efficiently and effectively partners with fellow Rotarians on the ground to deliver impactful relief programs for Ukraine's most vulnerable children.

With every humanitarian trip our co-founders lead, it becomes clear that the needs of Ukraine's children of war keep growing both in scope and complexity.

Starting with an effort to feed the children and heat their safe houses, the toll on their mental health became increasingly clear -- leading to the launch of our trauma counseling initiatives.

Aaron’s Presents is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that offers 1) hands-on, individualized mentoring, 2) materials/services, and 3) logistical help to any child in 8th grade or below who wants to carry out an idea that benefits at least one other person, animal, and/or the environment. We follow the children’s vision as they create and lead a memorable, meaningful, and fun experience by practicing kindness, empathy, and generosity.

In the process, the children discover the value of their ideas and unique qualities and their ability to make the world better exactly as they are at every age and stage. Ours is a new approach to “community service”, because we’re asking kids to start seeing giving not as an occasional obligation but as their larger purpose.

Leah Okimoto started Aaron’s Presents in January 2014 as a way to honor the memory of her son. At other phases of her life, she has composed music for musical theatre, run a legal recruiting firm, tutored and mentored kids, and volunteered at homeless shelters, hospitals, schools and meal kitchens. She graduated from Harvard University in 1998 and currently lives on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA with her husband and two daughters.

Top Notch Scholars positions inner-city youth for success based on the principles of Intentional Psychology, an approach that’s been effective in helping improve human performance & achievement.

Andover's Leadership Academy is an 12 week course designed to enhance townspeople's understanding of Town government operations and for municipal leaders and townspeople to learn from one another through conversation. The program is designed to advance understanding of and participation in civic affairs as well as to increase awareness of the challenges facing municipal government.

Essex Capital Partners was founded in 1995, and since its inception, has owned, developed and operated a portfolio of commercial properties in the greater New England region.

ECP’s first solar project was CRL Solar in White River Junction, VT, which entered commercial operations in 2012. Since that time ECP has successfully developed and capitalized 14 MWdc of solar projects in Massachusetts and Vermont.  As a family business and owner-operator, we take a long term view towards equipment and vendor selection, community relationships and sustainability. 

The goal of the Haggetts Pond ADA Rail Trail project is to improve the existing trail along the railbed near Haggetts Pond to make it more welcoming and usable to all town residents. The paved trail proposed at the site will be fully accessible, providing opportunities for persons of all abilities to enjoy Haggetts Pond and the serene environment that surrounds it. When completed, the trail will be the first Town-sponsored accessible and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant trail in Andover, making it a cornerstone of accessible recreational opportunity in the community. 

Andover High School students made a splash on the world stage recently after winning an international physics competition and being invited to a laboratory in Germany.

It all began at the start of the 2023-2024 school year when then-junior Richard Chen approached physics teacher Daniel Donovan with a lofty idea. Chen, a member of the Andover High School Physics Club, wanted to enter a group into Beamline for Schools, a challenging particle physics competition.

Last May, the team received news that it was one of the competition’s three winners and earned the team a trip to Hamburg, Germany to test their experiment.

Only the third team from the United States to win this competition, the team is bound for Germany in September 2024, excited for a unique two-week long learning experience that will serve Andover students in years to come.