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

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.

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.

Author Courtney McKinney-Whitaker will speak abut 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.

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.

Bruce Youngbluth, incoming president, of the Hershey Rotary Board of Directors 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.  

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. 

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.