The Rotary Club of Buffalo celebrated its Centennial during the year 2010-2011. There were 12 events:

Ronald H. Caruso, President 2011-2012, was the general chair of our Centennial. We enjoyed a very interesting year which was successful because of widepsread participation by our members and the Buffalo community. At the half-way point of his preseidential term, one year later, Ron summarized our activities. Click here to read more...

 

1, Displays of our history and contributions to the community were placed in several buildings during the year. The photograph shows Chair Anne Eberl Martin and Centennial President Charles C. Martorana with the display in the Rath Building. More..

 

2. The kick off for our Centennial celebration was an Enchanted Evening in the Naval Park Museum.
The evening was one of our most historic and educational venues. It was held at Naval and Military Park Museum, November 4,2010. The night was highlighted by proclamations from: City of Buffalo’s Common Council, presented by David Franczyk, shown in photograph, and The office of the Mayor of Buffalo, Mayor Byron Brown who proclaimed 2011 as Rotary Year in the City of Buffalo, and encouraged all citizens to congratulate and recognize the Rotary Club of Buffalo as it began its centennial celebration. More..

3. The Vocational Service Committee had many discussions were had about creating more hands on service projects & getting out into the community to do good for others. Laurie Albertsson took on the challenge. She contacted several of the non-profit organizations that are members within our club and asked them if they would like to be part of our Service Above Self Day. This entailed our members picking one of the non-profit locations, like the Food Bank shown in the photograph, to go to for half a day & volunteer for projects that the non-profits needed help with just before the holidays. More..

4. In conjunction with the downtown Christmas Tree Lighting at Rotary Rink, Buffalo Rotary presented Buffalo Place with 50 new pairs of rental ice skates with the Rotary Logo for the Rotary Rink. At the same time "Magical Memories on Main Street" began With a $10,000 grant from The Buffalo Rotary Foundation and additional sponsorship dollars from NOCO Energy Corporation, so the Theater District Association was able to fund the purchase and painstaking restoration of dozens of vintage AM&A’s figurines from the ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s and return them to the windows on Main Street between Tupper and Chippewa Streets for all to enjoy. More..

5, The Buffalo Rotary’s Sixth Annual Wines of the World (WOW) fundraising event was held on March 11, 2011 from 6–9 PM at Kleinhans Music Hall. The event featured nine of the area’s finest restaurants, six premium wineries and four craft brewed beer varieties. Features of the fundraiser were a silent and live auction, and 50/50 split that the Buffalo Jill’s assisted with ticket sales. The $30,000 that was raised from WOW will be used to fund the Buffalo Rotary Foundation community projects, such as literacy advocacy, Cradle Beach, Food Bank of Western New York, and Rotary Rink just to name a few. More..

6. We installed the Rotary Park sculpture on Rotary Row near Porter Avenue during the windy afternoon of April 28, thanks to the efforts of many including Rotary leadership, the artist/donor, Ed Hogle, Tony Diina, Bryce Bixby, Dave Knauss, our NYS representatives and our log-time supporter, City of Buffalo Councilman, David Rivera, who has supported us for many years and was such a big part in the naming of Rotary Row.

 

7, Then we held a Press Conference at Rotary park in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fontana Boathouse during which DG Karen Oakes joined President Charlie Martorana and Tony Diina as they welcomed the many government representatives and friends who attended and spoke on our behalf. More..

 

8. The main event of our 100th anniversary was the Centennial Gala held at the Hyatt Regency on April 28, 2011. Chair Ed Meyer assembled a great committee to make this a memorable night. Included were: Rich Adams, Brian Casey, Gia Coone, Joyce DeLong, Don DeMeo, Tony DIina, Michelle Longley, Charlie Martorana, John McClive, Megan Burns-Moran and Sandie Yeater. Our featured speaker,RI President Ray Klinginsmith had quite a time of it. More..