Upcoming Events
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays:
  • Becky Garry
    July 6
  • Julie O'Neil
    July 10
  • Christine Price
    July 18
  • Ann Radcliffe
    July 22
  • Maureen Conway
    July 24
Anniversaries:
  • Lori Benjamin
    Marvin Benjamin
    July 9
  • Abby DelaMotte
    Ray
    July 10
  • Gerald Walker
    Gail
    July 31
Join Date:
  • Stu Lucker
    July 23, 2013
    12 years
  • Kenneth Graham
    July 25, 2023
    2 years
 
 
Club Information
Welcome to our Club!
Painesville

Service Above Self Since 1926

We meet In Person
Tuesdays at 12:00 PM
Lake County History Center
415 Riverside Drive
Painesville, OH 44077
United States of America
Home Page Stories
Meetings are Tuesday's at noon at the Lake County History Center. Please join us if you are interested in finding out about Rotary or joining the club!
 
 
We are halfway to our goal of collecting 1,000 pounds of plastic before February 2026.
 
 
 
July 1, 2025
 
Today is a special day in Rotary, July 1st is out with the old and in with the new. Today is the first day of the Rotary year. Clubs thank their past President and their staff for a job well done for the 2024-2025 Rotary year and welcome the new President and their staff for the the 2025-2026 Rotary year. 
 
Maureen Conway has been a great leader for the 2024-2025 Rotary year. She accepted the Other's Award from the Salvation Army, she welcomed several new members, she spoke about Rotary at the annual Lake County Chamber of Commerce meeting, and she accomplished many other things this past year. A big thank you goes out to her and her staff for a job well done! 
 
Maureen also accepted a Rotary pin and plaque presented by Assistant Governor Albert Tien.
 
Maureen Conway passing the leadership on to Dan Garry. 
 
Dan Garry began his presidency by giving Anita Walters and Christy Maygar Rotary pins recognizing them as the treasurer and secretary respectively. Thanks to both for continuing on in these positions. 
Christy accepting the pin that Dan presented to her. 
 
Dan also introduced his new board members. He is also excited for the new Rotary year starting with the Mardi Gras parade in Fairport Harbor on July 5th. He invited everyone who is available to join them for the fun! He encouraged everyone to keep collecting plastic so that we can put a Rotary bench in Veteran's Park. Dan would also like to increase membership. Everyone is looking forward to a great productive year. 
Welcome Dan!
 
 
July 5, 2025
 
Today Fairport Harbor celebrated their very last Mardi Gras ever! Dan Garry and the crew of people thought it would be a good day to celebrate both the years of Mardi Gras and Rotary by creating a Rotary float for the last parade. A lot of fun (despite the heat) was had. Candy was thrown and fans handed out to parade goers. Here are few pictures from the parade. More can be seen in the photo album titled "Fairport Harbor Mardi Gras Parade".
 
The crew who were able to attend the parade. Thanks for the support!
 
 
 
 
May 3, 2025
 
Painesville Rotary's annual fundraiser was held on May 3rd at The Banquet Center at Saint Noel in Willoughby Hills. The theme was "Run for the Roses". It was the day of the Kentucky Derby. As you can see from the pictures many participated with all they had in the theme. Fun was had by all and many items were won by friends, family and guests.
 
Thanks for all the hard work of the committee and volunteers to make it another successful fundraiser!
 
 
May 13, 2025
 
Mentor and Painesville Rotaries held their annual Drama Awards to recognize the achievements of students in the fall and spring musicals. This year was the 50th year that they have been awarding the Drama Awards. It was a fun night!
 
 
 
May 6, 2025
Today scholarships were awarded to 2 seniors. Each recipient received a $1,000 scholarship to help with their college goals. This year the club chose to give 2 (one student from each school) a $1,000 scholarship rather than 4 $500 ones. The students applied for the scholarship and were chosen based on their grades and their volunteerism and extra curricular activity. 
 
Janel Montgomery was the senior from Painesville Harvey chosen as this years' recipient. Her teacher Sharon Fitzgerald introduced her and told us a little bit about her high school life. Janel then told us she will be attending Penn State New Kensington, a small campus near Pittsburgh. Janel will be playing basketball and studying Radiology. 
 
Congratulations Janel Montgomery and good luck in the future!
 
The second recipient of the Painesville Rotary scholarship is Nicole Zanko. Nicole will be graduating from Riverside High School soon and has 39 post secondary hours from Lakeland Community College. Her teacher Scott Bailis introduced her. He told us a little bit about her high school life. She is a four year National Honor Society member and will be graduating with an honors diploma. Nicole told us that she will be attending the University of Toledo in the fall. Both of her parents and a couple of other family members have attended the University of Toledo. She will embark on a six year Pharmacy program. 
 
Congratulations Nicole Zanko and continued success at the University of Toledo!
 
 
Brian Kane (Scholarship Committee Chairperson) presenting Nicole and Janel with their scholarship money. 
 
 
June 17, 2025
 
Jerry Walker's giant check. Congratulations Jerry! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
July 15, 2025
 
Our speaker today was Karen Zavarella, DNA Supervisor at the Lake County Crime Laboratory. The Lake County Crime Lab started in 1973 because of the need to get lab results faster. In the past BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigations) was the lab that the entire state was using. There are now 8 crime labs located in Ohio, BCI is the state run crime lab. BCI sometimes has a backlog of investigations going on; and the counties that have their own labs are able to get information to the investigators quite a bit faster. 
 
The Lake County Crime lab is under the administration of the Prosecuting Attorney, Charles Coulson. But by no means are they biased. The lab and the scientists working in the lab are working to find scientific evidence whether it leans towards the defense or the prosecution! The Lab is funded by a tax levy. They run on an approximate budget of $1.5 million annually. The Lab services all of the Lake County police agencies free of charge but do actually charge agencies outside of Lake County. 
 
The Lab services include, DNA testing, toxicology testing, drug chemistry testing, fingerprints, firearms , and trace evidence examination. Each entity is run and maintained by a team or individuals to get that information out as quickly and efficiently as possible. They are a fully accredited lab. That means that external agencies come in to assess them every 4 years fully, and every year as a check up. The standards they are evaluated on are called ISO standards and there are over 450 of them. It is a rigorous set of standards! Karen is proud of the fact that they pass with no accreditation problems year after year. 
 
Thank you Karen for coming to speak to us. Thanks also for sharing some investigations that you were part of where the crime was solved with DNA evidence. 
 
 
Dan Garry, President and Karen Zavarella, DNA Supervisor for the Lake County Crime Laboratory posing for a picture. 
 
 
 
 
 
Our next meeting is July 22, 2025 in the barn at the Lake County History Center. Our speaker will be Cathi Mezzopera, founder of A Kid At Art for the Heart.         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rotary Club of Painesville โ€“ Meeting Minutes
 
๐Ÿ“…๐Ÿ“… Date: July 8, 2025
 
๐Ÿ•›๐Ÿ•› Time: Meeting called to order at 12:19 PM
 
๐Ÿ‘ฅ๐Ÿ‘ฅMembers Present
Patrick Armstrong (Sergeant-at-Arms)
Lori Benjamin
Marc Burr
Abby DelaMotte
Sue Ellis
Jim Federico
Debbi Garafalo
Dan Garry (President)
Halle Graham
Ken Graham
Brian Kane
Christy Magyar (Secretary)
David McCall
John Miller
David Osborn
Christine Price
Anita Walters (Treasurer)

๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿ™‹Guest
Guest welcome 5-year-old future Rotarian, Lincoln Cutler to the meeting! - watch out world, Rotaryโ€™s next generation is coming in hot!
 
 
๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™Opening
โ€ข Prayer: Gracefully delivered by Marc Burr, bringing calm, gratitude, and just the right touch of divine energy ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™

โ€ข Pledge of Allegiance: Led with pride by Abby DelaMotte, who put the united in United States
โ€ข Song: A crowd favorite! Brian Kane knocked it out of the park with โ€œTake Me Out to the Ball Gameโ€ โ€”peanuts, Cracker Jack, and all!
 
๐Ÿ’ธ๐Ÿ’ธ Happy Bucks / Sad Bucks
โ€ข Dan โ€“ Tossed in a happy buck full of parade pride! ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰As the float rolled by, he heard folks shouting โ€œThank you for all you do!โ€ โ€“ a true standing O for Rotary in action. We came, we waved, we conquered!
โ€ข Marc โ€“ PAW-sitively overjoyed to share that he welcomed his very first pup into the family a few months ago! ๐Ÿพ๐ŸพAnd this isnโ€™t just any good boy โ€“ this future fur-therapist is training to be a therapy dog for a funeral home. Comfort on four legs, coming soon!
 
โ™  Queen of Spades
๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰Big congrats to Jim Federico, our daily winner who pocketed a cool $21! ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’ฐ
 
But the Queen still lives on... hiding in the deck, waiting for her grand debut.
 
The total pot is now up to $196 and climbing โ€” so letโ€™s keep those cards flipping and the excitement rolling!
 
๐ŸŽค๐ŸŽคGuest Speaker Spotlight
  • We were thrilled to welcome Caitlyn Stillisano from Lake County Soil and Water Conservation! Get
    ready to dig into some fascinating insights on protecting our local environment. Weโ€™re so glad to have her with us!
 
โœ…Four-Way Test
Led by David McCall, stepping up to the mic ๐ŸŽค๐ŸŽคโœจ ๐Ÿ™Œ
 
Announcements๐Ÿ“ฃ๐Ÿ“ฃ :
Dan says... Donโ€™t forget the Back-to-School Bash! We're teaming up with the Salvation Army to collect school supplies so every student starts the year feeling prepped and powerful! Think backpacks, notebooks, lunch boxes โ€” the essentials that help kids shine from day one! ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸโœ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ

๐Ÿ“…๐Ÿ“… First Board Meeting of the New Rotary Year Join us on July 17 as we kick off the year in style! Weโ€™ll put a bow on this yearโ€™s success and dive into plans for next yearโ€™s BIG fundraiser. Letโ€™s dream big and serve even bigger!

A Huge Thank You for an Epic Mardi Gras Float! To everyone who helped make our Fairport float fabulous โ€” THANK YOU! ๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ’You brought the fun, the flair, and the Rotary pride. Itโ€™s bittersweet to say goodbye to Fairport Mardi Gras after so many unforgettable years. ๐Ÿ’ญ๐Ÿ’ญ Special shoutout to Dave Osborne, who fondly remembers his first (and maybe not-so-legal) beer at the event. Ah, memories... ๐Ÿบ๐Ÿบ๐Ÿบ๐Ÿบ Thanks for the good times, Mardi Gras. Youโ€™ll always be part of our story.๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ
 
๐Ÿ“๐Ÿ“ Next Meeting
๐Ÿ—“๐Ÿ—“ Tuesday, July 15th
๐Ÿ“Œ๐Ÿ“Œ Location: Lake County History Center โ€“ 415 Riverside Drive โ€“ At the pavilion behind the barn if weather permits

๐ŸŽ™๐ŸŽ™ Speaker: Karen Zavarellaโ€“ Crime Lab
 
๐Ÿ•ง๐Ÿ•ง Meeting adjourned at 1:05 PM

Respectfully submitted,
โœ Christina Magyar, Secretary
 
Speakers
Cathi Mezzopera
Jul 22, 2025
The Art Bus Tour
Randy Barnes
Jul 29, 2025
Lake Humane Society
Jennifer Bystricky
Aug 05, 2025
Knitting for Cancer
Nick Lippert
Aug 12, 2025
USS Cleveland Legacy Foundation
Dan Garry President
Aug 19, 2025
Open meeting
Eric Holler
Aug 26, 2025
Vista- Perry Power Plant
Paul Qua and Dale Smith
Sep 02, 2025
Past District Governors
Bob Oborn
Sep 09, 2025
District Governor 2025-2026
Donnie Winchell
Sep 16, 2025
Ohio Wines
Dan Garry President
Sep 23, 2025
Open meeting
Dawn or Darrell Kendall
Sep 30, 2025
The Ox Shoppe
Doug Lewis
Oct 07, 2025
Painesville City Manager
Neil Stein
Oct 14, 2025
Tour Lake County
Wendy and Dalya Berezovsky
Oct 28, 2025
Sweet Dreams for Kids
Club Executives & Directors
President
Immediate Past President
Treasurer
Secretary
Sergeant-at-Arms