Tour of Caesar Rodney schools by District School Superintendent Christine Alois

Members of the Camden Wyoming Rotary Club were given a tour of Caesar Rodney schools by District School Superintendent Christine Alois. Eleven club members met with the Superintendent at district headquarters and went to the Caesar Rodney High School where they were met by the High School Principal, Dr. Sherry Kijowski. She talked about the 2300 students at the high school and the many programs available to them. Dr. Kijowski guided the Rotary members on a tour of CR High School where they got to see the athletic facilities, the cafeteria, the ROTC classroom, a dance studio, a culinary arts classroom, and several additional areas of the high school.

 The group then went to WB Simpson Elementary School where they were met by Ashley Holmes the Principal of Simpson Elementary. She took the group to a Chinese immersion class where they were able to see the first graders learning the Chinese alphabet.  The tour group went outside to see the gardens that the children take care of as well as the outdoor play area that the students are holding a fundraiser to get additional funds for more playground equipment.

The Rotary members were impressed with the neatness and decorum in the schools. Several members of the Rotary Club will be back to the elementary schools in early November to deliver dictionaries to all the 3rd grade students as part of an annual program.

Camden Wyoming Rotary meeting September 21, 2022 - Food Bank of DE

Chad Robinson, Director of External Affairs at the Food Bank of Delaware visited the Camden Wyoming Rotary Club at their meeting on September 21st to review the work the Food Bank does in Delaware. He talked about the over 16,000,000 pounds of food distributed between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022; that included 4,290,000 pounds of produce and 2,591,000 pounds of meat. By county, this broke down to 8,516,000 pounds in New Castle County, 4,272,000 pounds in Kent County and 3,600,000 pounds in Sussex County.

Chad spoke about the impact of Covid on the residents of Delaware and how the Food Bank ramped up to provide services to those in need. The Food Bank has a variety of programs in addition to the distribution of food. They have a nutrition and education outreach program, a food bank farm, and a culinary school which is a 14-week program for unemployed, underemployed common individuals with disabilities to learn skills in food service.

The Food Bank of Delaware distributed over 170,000 backpack meal kits. Over 41,000 of the food deliveries were made to people’s homes by Amazon and DoorDash. The food bank had 15,541 volunteer visits with over 46,000 hours donated. To help with the increased need in Kent and Sussex County the Food Bank will build a larger warehouse in Milford.

Learning about DACdb

On Wednesday, August 31, 0ur resident IT pro Dave Walczak coordinated a Zoom call with District Executive Secretary Sandra Early to teach CW Rotary members how to use DACdb

CR Superintendent addresses CW Rotary

On April 1, 2022, Dr. Christine Alois began her tenure as the first woman and 11th Superintendent for the Caesar Rodney School District.

Before taking the role as Deputy Secretary for the Delaware Department of Education in 2018, Dr. Alois served in various roles in the Caesar Rodney School District for 24 years.

Dr. Alois addressed the club about the district goals and objectives for the upcoming school year.  The club is working with the district to distribute dictionaries to third graders again this year.

Left: Dr. Christine Alois Right: Dr. Yasmith “Jassy” Johnson, CW Rotary Club President

Thank you for a FANTASTIC Year!

It was a record year for our Flag program, with 255 Flags flying proudly around our community and in Brecknock Park.

We hope you’ll join us again next year!

2021 Flag Subscriptions are Now Available!

This marks the 8th year of our flag display program. While we’re happy to provide this service to our community, what makes us proud is how many of you have supported us throughout the years. Your support has helped fund $66,000 in scholarships since 2014!

The Camden-Wyoming Rotary Club plans to award four $2,000 scholarships in June. We hope you’ll join our flag program so we can continue to provide this much-needed financial assistance to worthy graduating high school seniors.

For information and to sign up through our secure online ordering system, please visit us by following this link.

OR

C-W Rotary Club Welcomed Kelley Rouse

At our meeting on Wednesday, February 26, the C-W Rotary Club had the pleasure of hosting Kelley Rouse as our guest speaker/performer. Kelley performed “Called Back” which is an original work that explores the groundbreaking poet Emily Dickinson's most enduring themes of love, death, and immortality through the story of her life-long friendship with Susan Gilbert-Dickinson. The script was inspired and supported in 2016 as part of Worcester County Library's The Big Read and a grant from The National Endowment of the Art and Arts Midwest.

About Kelley Rouse:

As an actress and playwright, Kelley enjoyed a distinguished career of over thirty years as an anchor and award-winning broadcast journalist for WMDT and WBOC. She received Associated Press Awards for her series "Our Town," "To Baghdad and Back," and "The Anniversary of 911." While at WBOC, she helped inaugurate "The Jefferson Awards" to celebrate unsung heroes on the Delmarva Peninsula.

During a long career in television, she raised a family and performed in numerous plays, including three one-woman plays "The Year of the Woman" (as Jeannette Rankin,) "Sunset of an Artist" (as Georgia O'Keefe,) and wrote her most recent play "Called Back" (as Emily Dickinson's sister-in-law Susan Dickinson.)

She was selected to perform "Sunset of an Artist" in 2014 for the Maryland Humanities Chautauqua. She is certified by the Teaching Artist Institute in partnership with Maryland State Arts Council. Kelley divides her time between Dover, Delaware, where she delights in the companionship of her ninety-eight-year-old father, and Salisbury, Maryland. She continues to write as well as perform locally and nationally.

View fullsize

Club President Debbie Taylor and Guest Speaker/performer Kelley Rouse