Rotary Club of Carlisle Sunrise

10/14/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Club members beautified the traffic triangle across the old Sentinel newspaper building on East North and East Louther Streets. The crew (see pix below) weeded, trimmed, and placed corner stones that were unused during the Rotary International Peace Pole Dedication last month at Dickinson College in Carlisle. Rotary is keeping Carlisle looking good!

10/14/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Members from all three Carlisle Rotary Clubs supported the United Way Day of Caring on Friday, 9 Oct (see first picture below). Our assignment was to help the Carlisle Borough Community Pool located at 1236 Franklin St (0830-1200). The main task was to assemble 6 planter boxes (see pix). Boxes were stored after assembly and will be taken out, placed in front of the pool building by the road and filled next spring. Rotary members also weeded flower beds surrounding the pool building and pulled grass/weeds from the asphalt around the picnic pavilion. Finally, members washed down the beautiful mural found on the picnic pavilion that had been soiled by birds during the season. Benefactor was the community of Carlisle. POC for the project was Ann Monko, Catlisle Borough Recreation and Pool Manager. Unite for Good!

10/14/2026

Unite for Good! Thank you, Stephanie Baity, Financial Advisor, CFP, for speaking to our club earlier this week. Stephanie provided important financial information useful to members. We are now inspired to do more personal planning to address often overlooked aspects of attaining financial independence and peace of mind. She stressed five common blindspots:
1. When did you last check your beneficiaries; are they up to date? Your will may not necessarily cover all your financial accounts.
2. Will vs Estate Plan: Who will manage your finances or make healthcare decisions? Are your documents up to date? Your will is only one piece.
3. Scavenger Hunt: Do your chosen people know where to find what they need?
4. Retirement Fund vs Retirement Plan: The former is what you have saved and invested to fund the latter. How much is enough? It is based on your retirement income and spending habits.
5. What are your goals? Goals without a plan are wishes.

Create Lasting Impact!

10/07/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Thank you, Dr. Andrew Hill, Army War College faculty member in the Department of Command, Leadership and Management where he currently serves as the course director for a core course, Strategic Leadership. Dr. Hill provided a briefing to our club on a novel assessment tool that both he and a colleague are researching, MAX Q. MAX Q helps characterize human performance under maximum stress, usually in the context of extremely time compressed circumstances. He provided several examples from the Apollo Manned Space Launch Program explaining and theorizing how NASA achieved "excellence" within a most stressful "difficulty space." Many thanks for stretching our minds!

10/07/2026

Unite for Good! Belated thank you to Maddie Seiler, a local journalist, who recently spoke to our club. Maddie is a Big Spring HS (2019) and Liberty University (2021) graduate with a degree in Journalism/Global Studies with a minor in Spanish. She joined the Sentinel staff in January 2022 as a general assignment reporter covering local government, education, business, events, breaking news, and crime/courts. Keep an eye out for her feature article on a local inventor scheduled to soon appear on Shark Tank. Learn more at The Sentinel Newspaper website: https://cumberlink.com/

09/28/2026

Rotary at Work! Recently, Carlisle Rotary Club-Sunrise members joined area citizens in the annual clean-up Carlisle days on 18-19 September. Carlisle is now sparkly clean. Let's keep it that way! Pictured below are the ever-cheerful club members Mark Vertuli (left) and Doug Winton. Other members helping out with the clean-up were Mike Zick, Harold Cooney, John Cummings, Jonathan Anthony, Ron Taylor, Dave Loucks, and Marv Salsman. Unite For Good!

09/28/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Recently, on 21 September, the Bosler Memorial Library, the Carlisle Rotary Clubs, and the J. Sherwood McGinnis, Jr., War, Peace, and Justice Project unveiled a new Peace Pole. The Peace Pole serves as the centerpiece of the new J. Sherwood McGinnis, Jr. Memorial Peace Patio in front of the Bosler Library (see pictures below). The Rotary International Peace Pole serves as a long-lasting monument displaying the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in multiple languages. The new Peace Pole and Memorial Peace Patio offer a meaningful place for our community to reflect on and celebrate the enduring hope for peace. Sherwood was a long-time member of Rotary, a career Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department, and a Bosler Library Board Member and advocate. He also co-founded the War, Peace, and Justice Project (https://www.warpeacejustice.org). He truly embodied the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth."

09/28/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Special, belated thank you to Baktash Ahadi who recently spoke to our club. Baktash is a two-time Emmy® Award–winning filmmaker working at the intersection of narrative, culture, and human connection. His films and collaborations have been recognized with Emmy and Peabody honors, screened at major international festivals, and shortlisted for Academy Award consideration. Across documentary film, advisory work, and public engagement, he explores how stories shape identity, power, belonging, and meaning—especially in moments marked by conflict, displacement, and change. He shared his personal experience, coming to America at the age of 5 with his parents and brother. His family arrived in the United States as refugees from Afghanistan, and he grew up navigating multiple cultural realities shaped by displacement, conflict, and belonging. Later, his service in the Peace Corps and my work as a military interpreter in combat environments deepened my understanding of how language, power, and narrative operate under pressure—how meaning shifts depending on who is speaking, who is listening, and what is at stake. He shared his latest film, Champions of the Golden Valley, which was acquired by Olympics.com and won the Emmy® for Outstanding Sports Documentary in May. For additional information, visit his website at: https://www.baktashahadi.org/

Two-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker working at the intersection of story, culture, and human connection.

09/13/2026

Service Above Self. Please join our club in providing needed support to non-profits serving our local community and beyond using the proceeds from our annual, back because of high demand, pecan sales! Super fresh and nutterly delicious, these pecans make great holiday gifts for co-workers, neighbors, and others! Arguably, nothing says "Happy Holidays" in every tradition better than a bag or two of pecans! Wow! We got you covered! Or, better yet perhaps, use these beautiful pecans in holiday recipes for nutty bars, cookies, pies, and more! You can buy direct on Black Friday at our booth in Carlisle Tractor Supply or, more conveniently, you may order by leaving a message at the phone number in the flyer below or using the Venmo QR code also provided. Help us help those in need!

09/02/2026

Create Lasting Impact! Recently a Rotary Club from Northern India (near the Nepalese border) contacted our club asking if we could join them as an international partner in their effort to provide a blood bank at a local hospital that was in critical need of one. In quick order members of our club, led by PDG Kevin Cogan, and others individually pledged to provide the required global grant, Rotary District 7390 matching funds ($4,500) to help bring this project proposal to fruition. We met virtually with our new Indian partners (blood brothers?) earlier this week (PDG Pramod Kumar pictured below). They thanked us with reciting this beautiful "Ode to Carlisle Sunrise" composed for the occasion:

When morning wakes the skies of Carlisle town,
The Sunrise fellows rise to clear the night,
With "Service Above Self" to wear the crown,
And bring the heavy world a healing light.
Lo, Kevin leads a virtual drive of life,
A gift of vital blood to distant shores,
Where Brad’s faithful heart relieves the strife,
And Rebecca opens mercy's doors.
Your global grant a sacred beacon rears,
Where Gorakhpur’s great cancer center stands;
A modern blood bank to dispel their fears,
Sustained and strengthened by your giving hands.
Accept our deepest thanks, most worthy peers,
Whose noble love echoes through the years?
Though miles divide our shores, the beating heart
Of fellowship doth bridge the roaring sea.
For this great gift of life, this sacred shield,
The prayers of Gorakhpur ascend to thee.

Service Above Self! Connect for Good!