MILFORD – For only the 8th time in 71 years, the Milford Rotary has named a woman, Paula Telage, as the president of the chapter.

Held at the Community House on June 29, the Board of Directors took their oaths of office for this new Rotary year.

As is tradition, past president Chris Rogers, CPA, presided over this year’s event. In addition to Telage (Director of Corporate Giving at Home Health & Hospice Care), President-Elect Doug Knott (President at Knott’s Land Care, LLC), Vice President Greg King (Owner, G. W. King Forest Products, LLC), Immediate Past President Tim Finan (Network Consulting Engineer at Cisco), Secretary Tom Young (Paralegal at Sturm Law, PLLC), Treasurer Todd Leo (Private Wealth Advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.), Assistant Treasurer Verna Ross-Hoyt (Bookkeeping Assistant at Page 1 Bookkeeping, LLC and Janet L. Spalding CPA) and Directors Paul Wydra (Owner, wydraTEK LLC – Small Business IT Consulting), Douglas Rupert (Banking Consultant, Retired), Glenn Flessas (Financial Representative at Bankers Life), George Scollin (Retired Professor), Susan Robinson (Realtor at CB Realty), Sergeant-at-Arms Mike Ciardelli (Retired, Past President of Ciardelli Fuel Company) and Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Tom Grella (President at Grella and Son Irrigation) were sworn in.

Telage is excited to accept the reins, and called the Rotary, “a great group of people.”

“We get together for fellowship,” she said, “but also to help make their community a better place. We have fundraisers throughout the year but also do community service events.”

One example is the Senior Citizens Chicken Barbecue which is held every May.

“I think we serve close to 300 seniors in the community at no charge to them,

Telage said. “We buy all the supplies and do all the cooking.”

This weekend, the 56th Annual Rotary Swim Meet is “back in the water.” The meet will be held at Keyes Memorial Park on July 24 and 25. The meet will be swum as timed-finals and each session will be seeded slowest to fastest by computer.

“There will be something like 15 teams and 350 young athletes will participate,” Telage said. “We’ll be volunteering there for the two days. We do some cooking too – sausage and hamburgers and stuff like that. That’s something that our club has sponsored as a community event.”

The Milford Rotary recently held its biggest fundraiser of the year, the 100 Holes of Golf in One Day, which was held at Vesper Country Club.

“The net was in the ballpark of $90,000,” Telage shared. “But the money that we spent, that makes up the gross, was done with local vendors. We tried to keep the money local, so we had things printed at The Copy Shop in Amherst. We bought supplies from different local businesses.”

Milford Rotary Club member and past president John Siemienowicz (founding Member at Jay Steel LLC) will be the first Milford Rotarian to serve as District Governor for District 7870 for the 2021-2022 year. The 7870 District Governor oversees 60 Clubs in Southern NH & Southern VT. The Club presented him with an engraved brick with his name on it which was installed in Milford Rotary’s Centennial Park. Other significant recognitions included a Paul Harris Fellow Plus One Recognition for outgoing President Tim Finan and the Stan Powers Award for member David Sturm (principal at Sturm Law PLLC).

“This is the first time that Milford Rotary has had a district governor,” Telage said of Siemienowicz. “That’s pretty cool.”

The Milford Rotary Club serves the towns of Amherst, Milford, Mont Vernon, Lyndeborough and Wilton, and meets weekly on Wednesdays at noon at the Milford Community House. The Club consists of 70 active volunteer members who last year raised and donated over $139,000 through their charitable giving and scholarship programs. The funds are raised throughout the year with events such as their 100 Holes of Golf in One Day, Annual Pancake Breakfast and by selling Christmas Trees.

Coincidentally, Telage’s husband, Aaron Telage, also received his Presidential Pin from the Hooksett Rotary Club in June.

For more information about the Milford Rotary, please send a message to MilfordNHRotaryclub@gmail.com or visit milfordrotaryclub.org.