Paul Harris Presentation

Vince Lynch joined the Rotary Club of Belleville, seventeen years ago.  During that  time, he has demonstrated that he is an outstanding member by the leadership roles he has taken in many of our club’s projects and events.  It should be noted that his wife, Joy, is also a good friend of Rotary, assisting him in many of these activities. During his early days as a Rotarian, the City of Belleville asked Rotary to assume responsibility for organizing the craft show which was held on West  Zwick’s Island during Waterfront Festival. Vince stepped forward.  A major aspect of this project was finding participants who were willing to demonstrate their craft skills and products and appear on dates assigned to the festival.  Selecting participants stretched from one show to the next.  Vince also helped with obtaining the covering tent, and its installation, and worked with the participants to establish mutually agreeable sales areas.  Organizing clean-up afterward was no small task by itself.

 

The Rotary District 7070 Conference was held in Belleville, in 2003, during Bill McKay’s tenure as District Governor.  Vince was part of the hardworking organizational team.  He helped with registration for over 500 visiting Rotarians.

 

For several years, Vince and Joy did the shopping for special needs children, for the annual Christmas party.  They also wrapped all the presents.  Often, up to 25 children were involved.  Those of us with three or four children or grandchildren for whom we shop, can understand the time commitment of this endeavour.

 

Annually, Vince develops, reviews  and revises our Rotary Club roster.  We have about 130 members, with some leaving and others joining each year.  Keeping up with each member’s vocation, address, phone number(s), email addresses, and in some cases spouse(s) is a considerable responsibility.  As you are aware, the book also contains names of our officers and directors, committees and chairs, and International Directors.  Vince continues to improve the book and make it more useful to us.  Included recently, is background information regarding our  Satellite Club as well as instruction for Rotary Website Accessing, and Personal Profile Editing.

 

Camp Merrywood is one of the experiences that defines many of us in Belleville Rotary.  When we lost Glynn Reynolds, our long time leader in this initiative, Kristin Crowe and Vince took on the task as co-chairs in 2009.  The number of volunteers, both Rotarians and others, taking part each year in the three day spring clean up, continues to grow.  Kristin and Vince do a great job of working with the Merrywood Staff to assess needs, and then assigning up to fifty volunteers to painting, woodcutting, building, electrical, landscaping (as I personally discovered to be the most dangerous), and various other work groups.  Kristin and Vince have the skills to establish an atmosphere where volunteers complete the tasks, while enjoying fun and fellowship.

 

Rotary Loves Kids is our largest fundraiser, providing an opportunity to help us to help others.  Vince was a long term member of this committee which meets frequently throughout the year.  He has been involved in promotions, setting up sponsor signs at the three golf courses at the beginning of the day, and removing them at the end.  Some signs were stored for the year in his garage.

 

In addition to these main responsibilities, Vince always is ready to help out in other Rotary projects and initiatives such as investing the time to take the “Smart Serve” course to allow him to serve alcohol at public events.  During the Waterfront Festival, Belleville Rotary Club members help by serving at the beer tent at  Zwick’s Island.  In return we receive a percentage of the profits.  Vince fills several shifts.  He takes many turns helping at the Salvation Army Kettle each year and helps out with Meals on Wheels when called upon.  He worked with Michael Maloney and others in the renovation, cleaning, and updating of the portable for the tutoring program “Each One Teach One”. If someone is ill or in need on a personal level, Vince has shown on several occasions that he is quick to  respond, whether that need is transportation, food or simply a friendly visit.

 

Vince exemplifies the qualities of an outstanding Rotarian.  We are thrilled that his contributions to our club, to Rotary in general and to our community are being recognized  through this Paul Harris 2 Award.