Tuesday, July 1, 2025
By
Donna Defino, an 8-year Rotarian, was introduced on Tuesday, June 10th as the 2025-2026 President of The Rotary Club of Wicomico County. Defino was nominated by a committee of Past Presidents and unanimously accepted by club members in June 2024 as the President-Elect.
Donna has been a member of the Rotary Club of Wicomico County since 2017. Since joining, she has been an active member of the board and, most recently, held the position of Treasurer.
Last year, after 24 years, she retired from Hebron Savings Bank where she served as the bank’s CEO & President for the past nine years. Prior to that, she was the bank’s EVP & Chief Financial Officer.
She currently works with small businesses in the area providing accounting and consulting services on a part-time basis. She is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 40 years of experience in banking, public accounting, management, and finance. She is the immediate past Chairman of the Greater Salisbury Committee and has served on several other nonprofit boards in the community.
A native of Salisbury, Donna lives with her husband, Dean, and has two adult sons, Jacob and Jordan Adams.
Rotary Club of Wicomico County Presents “Hero” Award
Saturday, February 8, 2025
In partnership with the Salisbury Independent and WMDT, The Wicomico Rotary Club presented the Hero Award on February 6, 2024.
This award is designed to honor an individual who has performed a single Act or Event within Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset or Dorchester Counties, that represents an Amazing and Heroic Act during the calendar year. Nominations are accepted through December 31st of each year. The committee will select a recipient and present the award on the first Tuesday in February of the following year.
The recipient will receive the Wicomico Rotary Hero Award Plaque and a $1,000 donation to the 501c3 Charity of their choice.
This year the Rotary Club of Wicomico County has selected two recipients:
Recipient 1
Last summer, a golf outing turned into a medical emergency at Green Hill Country Club in Quantico. Thanks to the swift actions of two local men, a life was saved.
When Larry Dernulc suffered a heart attack on June 6, 2024, just outside the clubhouse, Rob McDonald and Dr. Eric Munoz immediately jumped into action. Larry was right outside of the Pro Shop, and he was in (a golf) cart. He was not moving, he was unresponsive, and he had no pulse.
Dr. Munoz directed bystanders to move Dernulc to the ground and performed CPR on him for four minutes. They shocked him after two minutes, and at that point started getting some agonal breathing back. EMS showed up within about four minutes.
Dernulc was rushed to TidalHealth in Salisbury, where Dr. Greg Treuth installed stents in his coronary artery, which was completely blocked. “Fortunately, we got to him in time and he was able to preserve his brain function and everything else,” Dr. Munoz said, adding that Dernulc has made a miraculous recovery.
Recipient 2
On Oct. 17, 2024, Detective Adeline Cyrus located and saved the life of a missing juvenile. The child suffered from “mental impairments” according to the police department, and there was an immediate concern for their wellbeing.
Det. Cyrus would find the child clinging to a pier in the Wicomico River near First Street. She immediately jumped into action, pulling the child from the cold water and saving their life.
“(She) and the other officers that responded did go the extra mile because they checked and left no stone unturned … This child was located in the water on the river’s edge where they could easily have been missed,” said Salisbury Police Chief David Meienschein.
Det. Cyrus is a ten-year veteran of the department, and like others in the agency, consistently goes above and beyond in her duties. He added that made all the difference in saving the child’s life in October.
Saturday, February 8, 2025
In partnership with the Salisbury Independent and WMDT, The Wicomico Rotary Club presented the Hero Award on February 6, 2024.
This award is designed to honor an individual who has performed a single Act or Event within Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset or Dorchester Counties, that represents an Amazing and Heroic Act during the calendar year. Nominations are accepted through December 31st of each year. The committee will select a recipient and present the award on the first Tuesday in February of the following year.
The recipient will receive the Wicomico Rotary Hero Award Plaque and a $1,000 donation to the 501c3 Charity of their choice.
This year the Rotary Club of Wicomico County has selected two recipients:
Recipient 1
Last summer, a golf outing turned into a medical emergency at Green Hill Country Club in Quantico. Thanks to the swift actions of two local men, a life was saved.
When Larry Dernulc suffered a heart attack on June 6, 2024, just outside the clubhouse, Rob McDonald and Dr. Eric Munoz immediately jumped into action. Larry was right outside of the Pro Shop, and he was in (a golf) cart. He was not moving, he was unresponsive, and he had no pulse.
Dr. Munoz directed bystanders to move Dernulc to the ground and performed CPR on him for four minutes. They shocked him after two minutes, and at that point started getting some agonal breathing back. EMS showed up within about four minutes.
Dernulc was rushed to TidalHealth in Salisbury, where Dr. Greg Treuth installed stents in his coronary artery, which was completely blocked. “Fortunately, we got to him in time and he was able to preserve his brain function and everything else,” Dr. Munoz said, adding that Dernulc has made a miraculous recovery.
Recipient 2
On Oct. 17, 2024, Detective Adeline Cyrus located and saved the life of a missing juvenile. The child suffered from “mental impairments” according to the police department, and there was an immediate concern for their wellbeing.
Det. Cyrus would find the child clinging to a pier in the Wicomico River near First Street. She immediately jumped into action, pulling the child from the cold water and saving their life.
“(She) and the other officers that responded did go the extra mile because they checked and left no stone unturned … This child was located in the water on the river’s edge where they could easily have been missed,” said Salisbury Police Chief David Meienschein.
Det. Cyrus is a ten-year veteran of the department, and like others in the agency, consistently goes above and beyond in her duties. He added that made all the difference in saving the child’s life in October.