Rewilding Inside and Out -

Flags are proudly displayed at the Amesbury Servicemen's Memorial Honor Roll on Main Street (across the street from Amesbury Middle School).  Flags will be on display starting  May 25th through Flag Day, June 14th.  The honorees are  veterans, active-duty service members,  first responders, police, firefighters, EMTs, teachers, coaches,  essential workers, family members, humanitarians, or best friends. Hero's names are personalized on a medallion, which are attached to a full-size American flag, and which will be given to each flag sponsor as a remembrance, when the display is taken down.  

To learn how Amesbury Rotary puts the support of this project to work in our community, please click on the "Read More" button.

42nd. Annual Award

The 2024 Educator of the Year is Derek Bent, who has been make a difference in his students lives at the Amesbury Middle, for 27 years. Derek was nominated by Julie Sisson, who's letter read by Amesbury Rotarian; Madison Barns. Joining Derek for the award presentation were his daughter Lily, and son Ethan. Recognition of Derek's work, contributions and accomplishments were Amesbury Superintendent (and Amesbury Rotarian); Elizabeth McAndrews, and Amesbury Middle School; Jayne Vilandenis. We were honored by the presence of past recipients of this award; Marianne Curry and her husband Mike, 2000, and Stacey Fijalkowski, 2001.

Previous Recipients:

The Amesbury Rotary Club is committed to serving the youth of our community. We sponsor scholarships and offer interest-free loans to Amesbury students. We also honor one of the many outstanding educators in our school system each year. This award recognizes professional excellence and the performance of outstanding service in the Amesbury School System. Eligibility requirements as follows:

• Must teach in the Amesbury School System - this includes all classroom/special education teachers and specialists in technology, art, music, library, guidance counselors, etc. Administrators are not eligible.

• Must have been employed in the Amesbury School System for at least five years.

• Must not plan on retiring within the next two years.

• Must not be a previous recipient.

42 years and counting

“This is the 42nd.. year that the Amesbury Rotary Club will be giving an Educator of the Year award,” said Donna Collins, who heads the nominating committee., “which recognizes professional excellence." The Amesbury Rotary Club takes nominations from students, parents, co-workers, anyone in the community, Collins said. “We get all these letters and I screen them. The teachers have to have taught in Amesbury for at least five years and not plan to retire within the next two years.”

After Collins sifts through the nomination letters and verifies eligibility with the school department, the committee, which includes three or four Rotarians and four past winners, reviews all eligible nominations. Rotarians make the final decision,” she said, “but the input from the teachers is very valuable to us in making that decision.”

For event pictures, please click on the READ MORE button on the lower right of this screen

On March 27, 2024, Christine Turner, Executive Director of Link House based here in Amesbury presented an update of Link House, its several housing, rehab and treatment sites, and its outreach to the communities that Link House serves.

Chris oversees all aspects of Link House’s residential and outpatient treatment programs, bringing more than 25 years of experience leading human service organizations to this role.

Prior to joining Link House Inc., Turner held leadership positions at Lowell House Inc. where she served as the Clinical Director for women’s treatment services and was instrumental in procuring grant funding for the development and oversight of specialized addiction treatment programming for women. During her time at Lowell House she also served as Director of the Sheehan Women’s Program, Senior Director of Residential Programs, and interim CEO. Turner was also the Director of DPH funded Community and Residential Substance Abuse Services at The Psychological Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

A Licensed Alcohol Drug Abuse Counselor and Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor, Turner is also board certified by The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and is a Master Addictions Counselor with the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Bedford College (part of the Cambridge University Institute of Colleges, UK) and her graduate degree in Community Counseling Psychology from Springfield College, Massachusetts.

Purpose of a Grand Jury

A grand jury is used in the U.S. to protect people from unjustifiable and unfair prosecution. The grand jury, composed of 12 to 23 everyday citizens, reviews evidence, and hears testimony for the purpose of conducting an investigation into alleged criminal conduct. Such grand jury investigations take place behind closed doors, testimony being kept secret, in order to encourage witnesses to testify freely. If there is sufficient evidence presented to warrant the defendant being charged with the crime, and put on trial, the grand jury issues an indictment.

When a true bill indictment is issued, it results in the defendant being criminally charged, and the move toward trial begins. When a no true bill is issued, most people never even know the matter was heard by a grand jury, as these proceedings take place confidentially.

The worst possible weather combined to produce the 1936 flood: A warm front that stalled on March 11 followed an unusually cold, snowy winter. With that warm front came the first rain storm, centered on the White Mountains. It lasted until March 13 and dumped five inches of rain onto Maine, New Hampshire and parts of Vermont. Weather forecasters had accurately predicted the 1936 flood, and ample warning prevented much loss of life. Ice jams on rivers caused most of the destruction. A mark at the very top of the first story of a barn on River Road in Merrima, shows the high water mark of the infamous 1936 flood, an event that is largely forgotten today. The flood caused enormous damage all along the Merrimack River and its tributaries. It forced the evacuation of Amesbury’s Point Shore, and led to desperate measures such as dynamiting ice jams.

On January 18th. a contingent of Amesbury Rotarians had the pleasure of visited Holly B's workshop and studio at CI Works here in Amesbury, and learned about the relatively little art form of "fracking." As the accompanying pictures show; We had a "WHALE of a GOOD TIME!" Holly showed us the end product and then took us through the entire process. We learned about safety measures, sent electricity through the wood (fracking), scraped the ashes, sanded, burned the edges, and posted for pictures. We even had time to make sure that Donna and Sandy received their new Paul Harris recognition pins. It was tons of fun and we learned about a local business in our backyard. Great evening!

 Members of Amesbury Rotary were all smiles this evening as we put together emergency food bags and birthday bags fo the clients of Pettengill House. Many families need food to get them through a few days while they work on getting settled. We know this will help. This project was funded in part by a District 7930 Managed Grant which was made possible by our club’s contributions to The Rotary Foundation. Thank you Terri Doerfler for making this happen! All of your planning and efforts made this a fun, meaningful project. This wouldn't have happened without you! This is why I’m (Julia Phelps) so committed to Rotary. We make the world better in our own backyards as well as every where else in the world.

Last week Julia Phelps shared some of her many Rotary experiences. Specifically, she shared her “WASH” (Water, Sanitation and Hygine) involvement and experience. 

I think this is a great example of what Rotary is and can be. Some members of our Club are, or have been involved with International events/efforts. Some of our members are much more focused on the local area, and some members are not yet involved . I hope at least one take-away from Julia’s presentation is that there are many ways to get involved and if you aren’t sure of how to do so, just ask one of our Members – we really have a number of experienced Rotarians in our Club.