Rotary Club of Blacksburg

10/08/2026

PDG Bret Hrbek shared his knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for international projects and global grants with the Blacksburg Rotary Club. He is truly a wonderful ambassador for Rotary and will help any club jump into a global grant. Find your passion!

10/02/2026

Today we welcomed two new members to our Club. Rotarians Reverend Kris Aaron and Peggy Beck were initiated to the Club this afternoon by President Hincker.

We also heard from Reed Kennedy about a non profit organization called Hope to Walk based on Blacksburg that provides free and low-coat prosthetic legs to amputees in developing countries where the cost prohibits them to obtain otherwise.

Reed Kennedy, the Volunteer Executive Director of Hope to Walk recently retired as an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. He began his career as a naval officer, but his primary career has been in hospital administration. His education includes a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Masters of Healthcare Administration from Medical College of Virginia / Virginia Commonwealth University, a Masters of Public Health from Virginia Tech, and a Graduate Certificate in Global Planning and International Development from Virginia Tech. In retirement, Reed is actively engaged as a volunteer consultant for Christian mission hospitals abroad, as well as local community service and church lay leader positions.

09/24/2026

Today we opened our program with a brief financial presentation by our President Hincker.

We also had a visit by Montgomery County Public Schools’ own FRC Team 401, Copperhead Robotics. It was so wonderful to hear from young folks. They were talented, very well spoken and very invested in STEM education and the volunteer work to introduce what they do to their communities as well as to younger folks.

They achieved a major victory at the FIRST Robotics Championship in Houston, Texas. Competing on the Hopper Field, Team 401 was awarded the prestigious Excellence in Engineering Award. They competed against more than 600 top-tier robotics teams representing 66 countries.

The Excellence in Engineering Award, sponsored by Littelfuse, is given to the team whose robot has the most
elegant and effective engineering solution. Copperhead Robotics stood out on the world stage because of its
smart, innovative design and incredible attention to detail. This award is a testament to the students’ technical skill and their ability to work together seamlessly to solve tough problems.

Bringing this award home is a huge win for Montgomery County Public
Schools. The 40-student team represents all four MCPS public high schools and is led by head coaches Michael Collver and Karen Stoll from Blacksburg High School, and Christiansburg High School alumni assistant coaches Preston Childress and Brandon Landreth.

The team credits its success to the
dedication, perseverance, and teamwork of its students, coaches and
mentors, whose hard work throughout the season made this achievement
possible.

Now in its 27th competition season, Team 401 Copperhead Robotics continues to serve as a source of pride for the community, showcasing the power of local STEM education and student-driven innovation.

09/18/2026

Today we heard from Rotarian Tamra Oliver. Tamra participated in Rotary
as a spouse for many years before joining the Christiansburg-Blacksburg
Monday night club over a year ago, and she was fortunate to be selected to participate in the Rotary Friendship
Exchange to Brazil. She shared with us the cities she visited, the friendship she made as well as the many Rotary Club’s service activities she witnessed as she traveled with the group.

We also have a visit from Rotarian Vickie Damico from Rotary Club of Montgomery County. She shared with us the Pancake Breakfast information to fund raise for coats for MCPS students.

09/13/2026

Our program this week was a presentation from Dr. Jamie Zoeller, Professor and Registered Dietitian on her work into Community Cancer Control and Obesity Research.

Dr. Jamie Zoellner is a Professor and Registered Dietitian in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia where she provides leadership for the Community Cancer Control and Obesity Research Program.

She also serves as the Co-Program Lead for the Cancer Prevention and Population Health (CPH) program for UVA’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and is leading efforts to expand
the research and outreach mission across Virginia and beyond.

Her research includes engaging medically underserved areas in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and discovering solutions to the causes and
consequences of limited health literacy.

She focuses on lifestyle risk factors
(i.e., diet and physical activity) that have direct relevance to obesity and
cancer prevention efforts.

She is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and serves on the journal’s Board of Editors, the Research Committee, and STATS Committee.

Dr. Zoellner has several funded research projects including those targeting sugar-sweetened beverage behaviors among rural Appalachian residents, childhood obesity treatment, colorectal cancer screening, and building capacity for rural cancer control in southwest Virginia.

09/04/2026

Welcome to Blacksburg, DG Charlotte! We all enjoyed your presentation and learned about our district and the International aspect of Rotary. Thank you for visiting.

08/31/2026

What a fabulous work Saturday building 40 beds for kids in the NRV with Sleep in Heavenly Peace. This was a district grant with the RC of Blacksburg and the RC Radford Noon. We were joined by our District Governor Charlotte Whitted, Rotarians from the Christiansburg-Blacksburg club, Rotaractors from VT, Corps of Cadets, Friends of the Blue Ridge, Blacksburg Junior Women’s Club, a dozen family members and members of St Mary’s Catholic Church. St Mary’s allowed us to use their parking lot and kept us in snacks and water. Thanks to Jeff Hamel from Blacksburg Rotary who did a lot of heavy lifting to get this organized. And a special thanks to Paul Mele from Sleep in Heavenly Peace for letting us be part of this awesome project. Thank you to our many wonderful volunteers. I don’t have a number yet but we had over 150 sign up. Many thanks to The Rotary Foundation for the funding. The power of a worthy project!

08/28/2026

08/28/2026

What an interesting program today. William Hedley from Aclara Resources, currently residing in the CRC, is building a vertically integrated, heavy rare earth supply chain. The company is a Canadian development company producing sustainable heavy rare earth elements dysprosium and terbium for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines,

08/23/2026

Great day for our annual yard sale! Thank you all for participating and putting long hours of hard volunteer work! Thank you Rotarian Chris Belluzzo for your leadership!