In the 1920s, two Rotary Clubs were founded in Moorestown: the Rotary Gun Club and the Rotary Lunch Club. Then in 1986, a new club, the Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club, arose for those participants who found it difficult to break away during the middle of the day to meet up for lunch. This club now celebrates its many accomplishments spanning three active decades.
The Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club was designed as an easy way to give back to the local and international communities and to those people who are not as fortunate as the members who live in Moorestown. Founding members of the club include its first president, Dick Leuliette, as well as Don Petroski, Phil Cooper, Joe Gross, Rick Young, Mike O’Connor, Bill Brown, Jack Ginsberg, David Friedman and the late Doug Lewis.
“Rick Young and I had difficulties meeting at lunchtime and we both enjoyed Rotary, so we decided to have a breakfast club in Moorestown representing Rotary,” the now 77-year-old Leuliette, who now resides in Delaware, said. “As far as getting the club off the ground, it was a piece of cake for me because we had a tremendous support from the membership. It was a pleasure for me to be a part of Rotary, and the club is just terrific — they’re a great bunch of guys.”
These founding members blazed a new trail to increase avenues to give back both to Moorestown and the international community, and today the roughly 70 members continue to keep the club involved in many charitable events throughout the year.
“We never run out of places to give money. Charity begins at home,” Young said.
Some local charities the club has funded include YMCA Camp No Worries, Moorestown Citizen of the year, Power up Gambia Solar Panels, Curing Polio via Rotary International, Navajo Nation Clean Water Program, Moorestown Police Department Police Unity Tour and the Burlington County Sheriff’s Project Lifesaver. It has also provided two automated external defibrillators for the practice fields in Moorestown and pledged $10,000 to the Moorestown Community House over five years to help refurbish the building.
Additionally, this year the Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club will host its annual backpack stuffing drive on Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Moorestown Community House. The club hopes to be able to fill approximately 160 backpacks with school supplies, from folders to pencils, for Moorestown students in need in grades K-12. The backpacks will be delivered to Moorestown Ecumenical Neighborhood Development and the Moorestown school district before the start of the school year.
“It’s a relatively new club considering how long Moorestown has been around, and we’ve been able to grow the club tremendously in the past 30 years,” Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club President Scott Aschoff said. “We want to honor the founding members because a lot of clubs come and go, but this one has survived and has been able to contribute back to the community over the decades. This is a great milestone.”
For those interested in becoming of the Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club, an individual must attend three meetings. Then, the Board of Directors will give the individual an application to fill out and then the board will vote on whether to allow that person to join.
If interested, individuals should attend one of the club’s meetings, held every Wednesday at the Moorestown Community House at 7 a.m. for comradery and coffee, a 7:15 a.m. breakfast and the meetings begin promptly at 8 a.m., or contact Aschoff at apollon11@aol.com.
