When the Montgomery Village (MV) and Gaithersburg Rotary clubs merged, our "trading area" grew considerably.
On November 13th, President Priscilla and President-elect Jacque exhibited at a reception for new residents of Montgomery village. Jacque reported that it was well-attended by families eager to learn more about their new community. The seats were filled and, after the presentation by MVF officials, the guests visited the booths and collected information. Priscilla and Jacque had the pleasure of talking about Rotary with many visitors,and they say there will be follow-up. This is definitely a worthwhile event to keep on our calendar and attend every year.
Montgomery Village, MD, was founded as a planned community in the mid-1960s. Now, it is a diverse community of more than 40,000 residents. In October of 1966, the Montgomery Village Foundation, Inc. (MVF) Articles of Incorporation were officially filed and recorded with a mission statement giving its purpose as promoting the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the community. Besides the MVF, the area is governed by 12 "homes corporations," 11 condominium associations, and 4 apartment rental complexes.
Approximately 1/3 of the residents were born outside the United States. The year 2,000 census showed they were about 37% Hispanic, 24% white non-hispanic, 23% black or African American, 11% Asian, and 5% other. The median household income in 2023 was about $95,000.
Editor's note: It definitely makes sense for our club to look to Montgomery Village as a source of potential members.
We will be busy over the holidays. We will not meet on November 25th or December 23rd or 30th, but other events will fill our time.
In the afternoon of November 20th, we will join the Rockville and Greenbelt Rotary Clubs in presenting a "Peace Concert." This will be held in the Rockville Senior Center on Carnation Drive. The ticket price is only $20.
On December 4th, we will distribute food for Gaithersburg Help, as we do every month. This is a highly rewarding activity.
On December 16th, club members will visit residents of the Kindley Assisted Living Building of Asbury Methodist Village. We have done this for many years. For a holiday gift, we give each resident and staff member a delicious Naval orange.
We have an ongoing collection of toys for "Glenda's Project," which was created and is run by our member, Susy, in honor of her late daughter. Members, please take an unwrapped toy or two to our next meeting.
Finally, we will have our annual holiday dinner in Il Porto on December 17th. Please take an item for the gift exchange--cost not over $25. As we know from the past, the real fun is in "stealing" gifts from our fellow Rotarians.
Early next year, we expect to induct a new member and to hold elections for our officers in the new Rotary year.
From February 14-16, the district will hold a Youth Leadership Awards weekend. Last year, we did not have a student to sponsor but paid the fee for a student sponsored by another club. This year, we would like to send a student from a school in Gaithersburg.
The district leadership training weekend for incoming presidents will take place from March 5th to 7th.
We will have a club happy hour on March 31st (seems like a long time to wait). Ken has volunteered to lead this and is proposing that we go to the Mayan Monkey, at Summit and Diamond Avenues in Olde Towne, Gaithersburg.
On April 28th, we will again host the Red Line Happy Hour. This is for members of Rotary clubs near the D.C. Metro Red Line, from Shady Grove through D.C. to Glenmont. The clubs informally take turns arranging a venue, publicizing the event, and providing hors d'ourves.
And then, of course, we'll have all our regular meetings.