Events

We are seeking volunteers to score and rank essays written by 9th grade students from Hershey, Middletown, and Milton Hershey Schools.

Essay reviews are typically completed independently using feedback forms, followed by discussion to determine winners. Essays may be up to 1,500 words in length.

Awards to be presented: 1st Place: $500, 2nd Place: $300 and 3rd Place: $200.  Winners advance to the Rotary District Competition, with the opportunity to earn additional prize money.

The deadline to submit our selected essays to the District is February 16.  We'll do a final review on March 4th to determine winnners.

Hershey Rotary Speech Contest

We are looking for volunteers to score and rank speeches from 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students from Hershey, Middletown, and Milton Hershey Schools. Students will deliver 5–7 minute speeches based on Rotary’s Four-Way Test.

The contest will take place at Milton Hershey School on Saturday, March 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Awards to be presented: 1st Place: $500, 2nd Place: $300 and 3rd Place: $200

Winners advance to the Rotary District Competition, with the opportunity to earn additional prize money.

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

Hershey High School has been granted the opportunity to host the PA Academic Decathlon State Championship this year, and are recruiting judges for this event.

Top Academic Decathlon teams in PA will meet at Hershey High School on March 13 and 14, and they need judges for our Essay, Speech, and Interview events. We hope you will consider registering to serve as a judge at this long-running wonderful event and opportunity for these students. No prior experience is necessary to serve as a judge.

Essay judges will receive a free lunch as thanks for your help in judging these tournaments, and Speech/Interview judges will have a hot breakfast during orientation. 

If you would like to throw your hat in the ring as a judge this year or to see all the details, check out the registration form HERE.

Please don't hesitate to call State Director Phil Cerami at 610-505-1307 if you have any questions. 

@@@Please note if you sign up through the above link to also let Joe Alfano know if your involvement at joseph.alfano@vistaautismservices.org so that you can receive credit and acknowledgement through Rotary. Thanks!@@@

Please join us to hear the winning essay and speaches. 

March is National Women in History Month. Today, we will recognise the service and leadership of women past and present in the Rotary Club of Hershey.

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Join us at Country Meadows in Hershey as we greet and honor Rotarians who call Country Meadows home, and pay tribute to our honorary member and pianist for many years, Jan Dunkle. Light refreshments and beverages are complimentary. There is free parking. Look for us at the front entrance of the main building.

Join us for a presentation by Dauphin County Deputy Chief Clerk, Vincent Paese. Learn about the various programs and celebrations leading up to July 4th commerating our country's 250th Birthday. 

Dr. Stacy Winslow, Superintendent of Derry Township School District

Easter Monday is more than a name

• Christmas is always on December 25, Thanksgiving the 4th Thursday in November, and July 4th is self-explanatory. Easter, however, is calculated quite differently. It comes the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. For this reason, the unofficial holiday can come as early as the third Sunday in March and as late as the fourth Sunday in April. The day after is known as Easter Monday and it is much more than an acknowledgment of the day that proceeds it.
• Perhaps you have wondered about the significance of this date and how or why it came to be. There was a time in America when this date was observed nationally although Easter is not a national federal holiday. Americans who did not believe in what the day represented, respected those who did. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, do celebrate the day as a legal holiday as part of their cultural tradition.

Easter Monday long past

• Some American businesses were closed on the Monday following Easter Sunday years ago and children were off from school for Good Friday and Easter Monday prior to having an entire week as a break. Some people of faith scheduled paid time off from their jobs on Easter Monday and churches, as well as individuals, hosted egg hunts because the children were out of school.
• Today students have an entire week of spring break which does not always coincide with the Sunday designated to observe the Christian celebration of Christ's resurrection. It can be the weeks prior to or the one that follows what has become known as Holy week. American schools once allowed students to decorate with Easter decorations and have holiday programs but educators today no longer can mention Easter or Christmas. This is because the separation of church and state is being emphasized more in modern society

Easter Monday Celebrations in different cultures

• Easter Monday in some cultures is called Renewal Monday, or Bright Monday, which is a time to reflect on the meaning of the season. In Catholicism, the day is known as the Monday of the angel. The day after Easter/Resurrection Sunday for some is the official ending of all that leads up to the date before the work week resumes.
• Easter Monday for many is the culmination of all that has taken place beginning with Madi Gras, which includes Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent, and all Holy week observances. Although America does not officially recognize Easter Monday it is a public holiday in many other countries worldwide.
• In Eastern Christianity, the Monday that follows Resurrection Sunday marks the second day of Octave which is an 8-day celebration beginning on Easter Sunday and ending the following Sunday. In Western Christianity, this is called the week of Eastertide.

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Come see how our Club's District Grant is making a difference at the Leader Center for Active Life. If you are able to come early, from 10:30 - 11:00 AM, you can tour the Leader Center and see the impact our District Grant is having. Doors open for the luncheon at 11:00 AM and lunch is served at 11:30 AM. Lunch is followed by entertainment by guitarist Matt Miski.

Pete will updates us on the latest happenings at Milton Hershey and Catherine Hershey Early Education Schools

Join Derenda Updegrave in feeding the families at the Ronald McDonald House. 

Lilla Molnar - will present a wrap-up of her experience here as an Exchange Student. 

Meet John Haddad, author of Thrill Ride - The Transformation of Hersheypark. 

• More than an amusement park linked to a chocolate empire, Hershey Park in its early years was an extension of industrialist Milton Hershey's paternalistic capitalism.
• Drawing on deep archival work and personal interviews, Haddad charts how memory and feelings are tied to locations and how people respond when change threatens those locations. 

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

I've decided to reschedule due to Saturday's forecast of 95% chance of rain and temperatures around 50°F during our cleanup window. 

Rotary has adopted the cleanup of 422 from Ceylon Avenue to Howard Avenue.  We will have our spring cleanup on Saturday, April 25th from 9am – 11am and are looking for 10 volunteers.  This coincides with Downtown Hershey Association's Kiss Hershey Back cleanup on the same day.

Materials have been ordered for the cleanup (gloves, bags …) and we have Rotary Vests to wear to advertise our club. 

Details on the cleanup segment:  2-mile stretch on 422 from Ceylon Avenue heading east to Howard Avenue.  The intersection of Ceylon and 422 is the Tender Years Child Development Center across from the The Hershey Company headquarters.   The Howard Avenue intersection is just past the Cocoa Country Inn and The Outfitters Ski shop.

History of Adopt-A-Highway:  In 1984 the idea for the Adopt A Highway program was born when James Evans, an engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, witnessed litter blowing out of the back of a pickup truck he was following in Tyler Texas. Concerned about the increasing cost to the government of keeping roadways clean, Evans began asking community groups to volunteer to pick up trash along designated sections of local state highways. Evans got few takers for his idea, however, in 1985, Billy Black, the Public Information Officer for the Texas Department of Transportation took up the cause and organized the first official Adopt A Highway program. In April of 1990, The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) began its Adopt A Highway (AAH) program. Since 1990, volunteers have been beautifying roadsides two miles at a time.

Award-winning historical author Courtney McKinney-Whitaker will speak about her research and book about Charles Thomas, who served as Secretary to both Continental Congresses. This timely presentation will tie in well with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration. 

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Join Harold Nightwine in feeding the families at the Ronald McDonald House. 

Memorial Day 2026 is on Monday, May 25, 2026, marking the federal holiday in the United States dedicated to honoring military personnel who died in service. Established as the last Monday in May by the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act, it is also considered the unofficial start of summer, often celebrated with parades, family gatherings, and visits to cemeteries.

• Date: Monday, May 25, 2026.
• Purpose: To honor, remember, and mourn U.S. service members who lost their lives in military conflicts.
• Origin: Originally known as "Decoration Day" to decorate graves with flowers after the Civil War.
• Observances: Many people visit cemeteries, fly the U.S. flag at half-staff until noon, and participate in a National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 p.m. local time.
• Traditions: Parades, community gatherings, and barbecues are common, marking the unofficial start of summer.

Dr. Julie Lentes is an Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences and the Assistant Director for Global Health Initiatives at Penn State College of Medicine. Within the public health sciences graduate programs, she teaches advanced coursework in qualitative research, public health education methods, an international field work course, and directs an immersive summer exchange training program for visiting health professions students from universities across the world. Dr. Lentes also serves as a faculty site lead for the medical student Global Health Scholars Program in Vietnam and Ghana. She is currently leading a research study in Vietnam on pediatric motorbike helmet safety and mentors student research throughout the academic year.

Alyssa Roth, from Rotary Elizabethtown, will speak on the activities of our Rotary Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS). Alyssa travels the district educating members on the issue of modern slavery. Rotary Action Groups are independent, Rotary-affiliated groups with experts in a particular field. They offer their technical expertise and support to help clubs plan and implement projects to increase their impact.

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

• Bruce Youngbluth, 2026-2027 president of the Rotary Club of Hershey will present for your consideration the 2026-2027 Budget for Hershey Rotary.  Please be present to express your support or share your thoughts on this important proposal.  
• Recognizing Paul Harris Fellows.
• Member Spotlight - David McMullen

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Please join your fellow Rotarians for this very important event.  President Tom Jones will lead the Annual Hershey Rotary Club Assembly.

It's an opportunity to see where we were and where we go next.  

Join us for President's Day at Hershey Rotary!!!  

It's a salute to out-going President Tom Jones, and warm welcome for in-coming President Bruce Youngbluth. 

President Bruce will share his vision for Hershey Rotary 2025-2026.  Listen and find out about his priorities and his unique perspective on the year ahead. 

Carlisle Rotarian Fred Gellert will speak on Rotary Leadership.

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

Dauphin County Children and Youth

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Any inquires regarding agenda and meeting should be directed to club president, Bruce Youngbluth. 

• Clean out and mulch the mulch beds around the houses
• Clean out the raised bed garden area
• Trim bushes along the back of the properties near the alley way.  

More than 37,000 Rotarians from around the world navigated to the Rotary International Convention in Taipei concluded with Inspiration and Call to Action!

Past District Governor Paul Thompson and Maria Thompson will recap the Powerful Performances and Speakers, to Global Service Committments.

Thank you Paul and Maria for your service. 

Please join Hershey Rotary for one of the most inspirational events of the year,  as we welcome the Army War College International Fellows to Hershey Lodge.  

Each year approximately eighty senior military officers from around the world are extended an invitation from the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to attend the U.S. Army War College.

The academic year is full of studying, research, and fellowship as these officers are instructed in areas ranging from military concepts and doctrine to national and theater level strategies.

This gathering is one of our most visible opportunities to show that Peace is one of Rotary's most important missions.  

The hope of this meeting of officers from around the Globe  is that should conflict ever break out, an  International Fellows officer from Country A will see an International Fellows officer from Country B, across the table, and together, they can work toward a peaceful solution.     

Market on Chocolate 2026 Season- This event runs every Saturday, May 30th through August 29th. Many hands make light work! 

Emily Pavalko -  Manager, Marketing and Public Relations will be joining us to recap the latest at the Ronald McDonald House of Central PA.

Kendra Daub and Cait Clarke with Cocoa Kitties and Amy Lewis from Derry Township Community Cats will be our speakers. 

Show up and help the Cocoa Packs Team set up or tear down for their Back To School Distribution. We need folks early in the morning to set up tables and put out the BTS supplies,, and again around 5:30 to pack stuff up and put away the tables.

Come and help assemble meal packs for hundreds of children around our community.

Join us to welcome Lisa Maloy, Executive Director of the Hershey History Center.

Come and help distribute food to hundreds of children and families in our community from the parking lot of the Spring Creek Church of the Brethren.

Join Harold Nightwine in feeding the families at the Ronald McDonald House. 

Monthly Board Meeting. All inquires should be directed the club president, Bruce Youngbluth.

Maryann Havalchak graduated from Ithaca College with a bachelor’s degree in Health Education.  Maryann is a 29-year veteran in the public health arena specializing in domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Currently, Havalchak serves as the Program Manager of the Prevention Education Department at the YWCA Greater Harrisburg, educating professionals and community members on public health issues.

From the Hershey Community Archives: Cocoa Bean Football Game – Hershey Community Archives (hersheyarchives.org)
The Cocoa Bean Game began in 1943 as a community service project of the Rotary Club of Hershey and the Hershey Civic Club. The local football teams of Hershey High School and the Hershey Industrial School [now known as the Milton Hershey School] wanted to play each other. Ralph Hoar, then head of athletics for the Hershey Industrial School, is generally credited with the original idea for the game.

Become better aquainted with Ayeon Lee, our exchange student visiting from Korea.

Member spotlight will be Cindy Hartman.