Welcome Rotarians and non-Rotarians to the Rotary Club of Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Two years ago I decided to move into Northeastern PA where my Sales territory had long been concentrated and give up staying in hotels here most nights of the week! I’d been exposed to Rotary as an organization when my daughter was a Rotary Exchange Student to India in 1999-2000 and never forgot how impressed I was. So, I decided to look for a Rotary club to join here. The members of the Pittston Rotary Club embraced me immediately and I found some of the most generous and dedicated individuals I’d ever met! Being a Rotarian has been very rewarding since and I’m proud and honored to be serving as the President of our club for the 2008-09 year.
As a local service club we strive to give generously to our community. We donate dictionaries each year to third graders in the Greater Pittston Area to encourage reading skills at an early age. We hold a Blood Screening clinic that provides a full lab analysis of an individuals’ blood for close to nothing! You’ll always find us ringing the bell for the Salvation Army or hosting Bingo at the Pittston Tomato Festival! And each year we donate more food and money to local food banks through our “Score a Goal Against Hunger” project where we accept donations at a local Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game.
Internationally, Rotarians around the world give so much through a wide range of humanitarian, educational & cultural programs. Since 1985, Rotary’s Polio Plus program has contributed greatly to the protection of more than 2 billion children from the dreaded disease of polio. Rotary International’s goal is the certification of polio eradication in this world. By the time that is accomplished our efforts will reach 650 million dollars!!
Rotary International President Dong Kurn Lee has chosen “Make Dreams Real” as the theme for this year and he states ”In 2008-09,I will ask Rotarians everywhere to focus on the most precious resource of every community: our children” I’d like to invite you to be a part of that by joining us as a new member and experiencing how we all can make those dreams real.

Grace Planck, President