In keeping with tradition, the Rotary Club of Waterbury goes through its annual leadership “Change Over” around July 1 each year. The process involves the election of club officers for the next three years as Rotarians gather to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year and anticipate projects for the upcoming year.
The Waterbury Rotary met at the Waterbury-Stowe Fish & Game Club earlier this month for a catered BBQ dinner where outgoing President Tori Taravella opened the meeting and the trio of incoming leaders for the 2025-26 year – Theresa Wood, Hayden Jones, and Mike Bard – closed the meeting. Wood, Jones and Bard will each take on the duties of club president for four months over the coming year, beginning with Wood.
The club currently has 28 members and, for a small club, it accomplished many community projects and activities over the past year, the most recent being the June 28 Not Quite Independence Day celebration. The daylong event included the annual parade and the festivities that followed: a concert, children’s activities, a new dunk tank event, and the evening fireworks show. Club members were very happy to have the weather cooperate for the day after two years of rainy NQID celebrations. Members shared many “happy bucks” donations and stories from the NQID effort at the annual meeting.
Rotarian of the Year & Paul Harris Award
The Change Over evening recognizes a Rotarian of the Year, and that honor went to Marge Gulyas this year for all of her work on the board of directors, coordination of the annual Pie for Breakfast event, and her tireless efforts supporting all of the club’s functions. She is also the behind-the-scenes support for her husband, Ron Gulyas, who is the assistant district governor and one of Rotary’s Interact Club leaders who works with local high school students.
The club also gives out a Paul Harris Award for community service. Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary International, which began in Chicago in 1905. Although he was born in Racine, Wisconsin, Harris has Vermont roots as he was raised by his grandparents in Wallingford, Vermont. He had some rocky experiences in school here, including attending and being expelled from Black River Academy in Ludlow and later being deemed a prankster at his next school in Rutland. He attended the University of Vermont, but was expelled after an incident involving a secret society. He went on to Princeton University before moving to Des Moines, Iowa, where he apprenticed at a law firm and graduated from law school at the University of Iowa. Before settling down in a law practice, he went on to work as a newspaper reporter, an actor, and he even traveled working on cattle ships going from the U.S. to Europe.
He eventually settled in Chicago and worked for a law firm. While in Chicago, he was motivated to improve his community, and he pulled together community leaders from different walks of life – likening them to the spokes of a wheel – looking to do improvement projects in the city. Their first public service project was the construction of public toilets. From that early effort, Rotary was formed. Today, Rotary Clubs around the world display the spoked-wheel emblem.
To his credit, Harris is remembered for saying, “Success is not measured by wealth, but by the positive impact you have on others.”
It was with Harris in mind that Rotary established the Paul Harris Foundation and awards. Each year, the Waterbury Rotary Club presents a Paul Harris Award to someone who has impacted the Waterbury community.
The club this year presented the award to Waterbury Roundabout Editor Lisa Scagliotti, acknowledging that she has exemplified the ideals of service to the community that would make Paul Harris proud. Scagliotti took on providing vital news to the community when, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Waterbury Record weekly print newspaper stopped publishing. The Roundabout has continued to provide news without a paywall for the community with the goal of ultimately making it a successful business. Scagliotti pointed out the online news site’s mission that says in part: “We hope to provide a source of connection. Through photos and stories, we hope to hold up a mirror to our community.”
Like the Rotary, Scagliotti demonstrates service above self, and the club was happy to recognize her contributions to the community.
Likewise, the Waterbury Rotary Club also holds up a mirror to the community with 28 local members who come together to help make our community a better place, project by project, whether it is cleaning up from floods, measuring sunflowers, hiding Easter eggs for children to collect, or delivering a dictionary to every third grader.