The Sayville Rotary Club honored five local students with Student of the Month Awards at the May 16th meeting at Land's End Caterers. The students are, pictured from left to right, CJ Furchert, Stefanie Ebo, David F. Condito, Les Danielle Knizek and Nicole Mary Anthony. They attend the Bayport, Sayville and Connetqout High Schools and were recognized for their scholastic and civic achievements.

Our Sayville Club traveled west for a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Islip on May 2nd. The guest speaker was Tom Love from the the village of Islip in England. Tom was hosted at the home of Pam and Mike Dawidziak. Pictured with their traded club flags are Sayville Club President Tony Brinkmann, Tom Love and Sheryl Rambler Goveia, President of the Islip Club. 

Fourteen foreign exchange students hosted by local Long Island Rotary Clubs were taken on a overnight trip to Washington DC recently. Sayville's Rotary student, Elvir Stuck, is pictured second from the right in the front row. The students had a busy time sightseeing from early in the morning to late in the evening.  

Elvir Stuck, our Exchange Student from France, exchanges Rotary Club flags with club President Tony Brinkmann. Also pictured are Tina Varone and Steven Middelberg from the two Bayport families who hosted Elvir this school year. At the lectern is Vinny Luezzi, the Director of the club's Student Exchange Program.

Sayville Rotary's two newest members, Hubert Zepf and Nick Wartella, were sworn in at a busy, well attended meeting on Thursday, March 21st. Hubert was hosted by Elsie Ruddy of the Sayville Club and Nick was hosted by Linda Moran of the East Islip Club. 

Dr. Jean M. Cacciabaudo, MD and Chief of Cardiology at Southside Hospital, spoke recently at the Sayville Rotary Club about the hospital's cardiology center. The Southside Hospital is associated with the North Shore LIJ and has recently seen major growth and increased services for the community. Dr. Cacciabaudo spoke specifically about the award winning Open Heart Surgery Program. Already over 500 surgeries have been performed. The hospital has over 2200 employees plus 50 volunteers and in a recent year had 68,772 emergency visits.  

Michelle Gillettte (second from right) recently became our newest member. Michelle has a bakery business in Bayport and was hosted by Vera Esposito (far right) and was sworn in by PDG Fred Notter. She indicated she was looking forward to working with our Sayville Rotary Club in its local charitable projects.    

   Photo: Suzanne Piard/Spellman Studios

Supervisor Tom Croci was the guest speaker at a joint meeting of over 65 guests and members of the Sayville and Islip Rotary Clubs at Land's End Caterers. The Supervisor spoke about current town affairs including Superstorm Sandy relief efforts and Fire Island breaches and their environmental impact on the bay waters. He also discussed his hopes for a new sewer project along the south shore hamlets in Islip and the recent installation of his new Deputy Town Supervisor Linda Agnello.  

Harry Martin, Bayport-Blue Point Schools, and Curran Boyce, of the Sayville Schools, were recognized at Rotary's meeting on March 21st for their outstanding scholastic and civic achievements. They are pictured with Club President Tony Brinkmann. The Sayville Rotary Club has been honoring exceptional local students since their first meetings in 1937. 

Pictured are Aurora Vokshi, age 16, and her father Lulzim of Peja, Kosovo in the surgical recovery room of the Saint Francis Hospital. The life saving heart operation went so well that she was discharged later that evening, December 19th. Thanks to local Rotarians, St Francis Hospital and other benefactors, this trip was provided at no cost to the family. It was the second child to receive the Rotary Gift of Life heart surgery this month. The Sayville Rotary Club is proud to have as its member Joe DeVincent who heads up this Gift of Life program as its Chairman.

Three students from local schools were honored at the January 17th meeting. The students, holding their awards, are Danielle Paleaz from Connetqout, Peter Hayes from Sayville, and Mary Horan from the Bayport-Blue Point Schools. The students were chosen for their academic and civic achievements and they are pictured with their Educators.   

Our club participated in the annual Holiday Parade down Main Street on Saturday, November 24rd. Pictured are some of the Sayville Club members who were joined by members of the Rotary Rotaract Club from the local high school. There are over 34,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide.

Sayville Rotary is a proud supporter of the Rotary Gift of Life program on Long Island. The program brings needy children from overseas to local hospitals for life saving surgeries not available in their home countries. Rotarians pay for the transportation, surgery and arrange temporary housing for the child and parent. Pictured are Sayville Rotarians with Eljesa (in red), the girl receiving the surgery. Her father Nexhi Vllasaliu is pictured to her right. Standing directly behind him is Sayville Rotarian, Joe DeVincent (with beard). Joe has been hosting the family from Kosovo at his home.     

Adam Cline, from the Forrest Hills Financial Group, gave members some good financial investment advice at our October 11th meeting. Now all we need is the money!