








A man of peace who truly lived by our Four Way Test. May he be at peace.
This story appeared in the February 2018 issue of Rotary magazine.
It’s a crisp, sunny day in late October, and school groups are touring the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta.
They see the Bible that the 39th U.S. president took his oath on, a campaign ledger, and a mockup of the Oval Office – as well as his diploma in square dancing, a “Peanuts to President” game board, and a Marvel comic with the Carter family joining Captain America in saving energy.
At the end of the exhibit is Carter’s Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 2002 in recognition of his decades of work advancing peace and human rights.
“This is the biggest award in the world,” one of the field trip leaders explains to the elementary school students. Then she puts it into terms they will understand: “This is bigger than the Super Bowl MVP, believe it or not.”
Perhaps she should have mentioned his two Grammys.
Carter has spent his life fighting for peace: brokering the 1978 peace talks between Egypt and Israel that led to the Camp David Accords, paving the way for a nuclear pact between the United States and North Korea in 1994, and monitoring elections in Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and other places where the ballot box became an alternative to civil war. During his time in office, from 1977 to 1981, the United States was not involved in any wars.

Jimmy Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work resolving international conflicts and advancing human rights.
For the past 37 years, Carter has been redefining what it means to be a retired president – and the country’s longest-lived one at that, having surpassed Herbert Hoover (who lived 31 years after leaving the White House). During his presidency, Carter made a commitment to human rights the cornerstone of his foreign policy; he and his wife, Rosalynn, continued that emphasis when they founded the Carter Center in 1982. The center’s programs revolve around two main themes: peace and health.
“We feel that there’s a human right of people to live in peace,” he told The Rotarian. “We feel it’s a human right to have a modicum of health care, to have a decent place in which to live, to have a chance to have an education, to have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and the right to elect your own leaders.”
The center has observed 105 elections, including recent contests in Liberia, Kenya, the Philippines, Zambia, and Guyana, and it has worked with the United Nations and other groups to develop standards for democratic elections. When democratic avenues fail, the center mediates armed conflicts. It is currently involved in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan, Syria, and Liberia; it’s also working to combat the rise in violent religious extremism and Islamophobia in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
On other fronts, the Carter Center has formed a task force on disease eradication. The only one of its kind in the world, it analyzes data to ascertain which diseases could be eradicated from the entire world. The center is focusing on eradicating Guinea worm disease and regionally eliminating five other diseases: river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and malaria.
“I might say if Rotary wasn’t leading that fight to eradicate polio now, the Carter Center would – it’s the kind of thing that would be very exciting for us,” Carter says. “We’re very proud to see the progress that Rotary has had with that.”
Carter knows the power of service organizations well – he’s a member of the Lions club in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and a past district governor. And for more than 30 years the Carters have dedicated a week each year to volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.
Carter spoke with senior staff writer Diana Schoberg by phone from his home in Plains on Halloween. Still very involved in the community where his family has lived since 1833, he planned to go downtown that night to join other local leaders in greeting trick-or-treaters.

The Carters have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years.
Q: The Carter Center describes itself as waging peace. If peace isn’t merely the absence of war, describe the battle for peace.
A: We take peace not as a dormant situation, but as one to be fought for – like winning an armed conflict. We try to be aggressive in order to bring about that goal. We are not constrained at the Carter Center by policies of the United States government, although we have to comply with the law. We deal with people who are outcasts, or unsavory. I’ve been to North Korea three times, and I’ve probably spent more than 20 hours with their top leaders talking about the prospects of peace. We’ve also continued to deal with both Palestinians and Israelis. We have a relationship with the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, who the United States refuses to deal with. We try to probe aggressively to find ways to bring about a peaceful understanding between adversaries, but I always make a point to get permission from the White House before I embark on such an adventure.
Q: How do you work with people who are arguing with each other?
A: I wrote a book, Talking Peace, about that. People who are at war, or a couple with a marital difference that leads to divorce, or parents who are alienated from children, or students divided on a campus – all have a difference of opinion that they can resolve.
When I founded the Carter Center, I wanted it to be a little Camp David, where I negotiated with people who were at war. But I soon found that sometimes when two sides were fighting in a civil war, they didn’t even want me to talk to the other side – they despised their adversaries that greatly. So instead of negotiating, we discovered that we could appeal to them by taking advantage of a basic premise of politics, and that is self-delusion. We would go to the generals of the two sides separately and say, why don’t you let us come in and help you hold an honest election – we’re sure that the people of your country will choose the right person to be the leader. And since both sides thought they would be victorious in a peaceful election if we were in charge of it, they would go along with it. So we’ve now done more than 105 elections in the world, each without trouble, and many of them brought about by adversaries who found an election to be a better alternative than continued combat.
A: Is there something that you’ve learned monitoring elections that would surprise our readers?
Q: We’ve found that the United States doesn’t meet the criteria for the Carter Center, because our elections are not conducted properly here. We don’t have one central election commission that makes the decisions for our country – we have counties that decide exactly how people vote and what time they vote. The Carter Center requires uniformity in the whole country.

Jimmy Carter has written 30 books, including A Call to Action, released in December 2014.
In most countries where we work, we require that every candidate who is qualified have an equal chance to present their proposals to the public, with uniform access to the public news media and to the people’s minds. We try to minimize the impact of financial contributions within an election, not always successfully.
The United States has changed from a democracy to something of an oligarchy in the last few decades; the candidates who seek to be president have to raise a minimum nowadays of $200 million before they can hope to receive the Democratic or Republican nomination, and then a lot more later, when they run against the opposite party’s candidate.
Q: What would the United States have to do to fix its election system?
A: The main thing is to have public financing. When I ran for president in the general election against incumbent President Gerald Ford, he and I raised a total for the general election of zero. We didn’t go to anybody and ask for a campaign contribution. When I ran against Ronald Reagan in 1980, again we got zero money from any private contributor. We just used the box on the federal income tax form that each taxpayer could check to contribute. Nowadays every vote is not the same. The candidates rely on very wealthy people to help them become a nominee and be elected president, and then they’re obligated to those financial contributors when they get into office. The wealthy people get more wealthy and the powerful people get more powerful and the average person doesn’t have an equal influence on the American government anymore.
Q: Techniques to influence elections have evolved beyond stuffing ballot boxes. We are now seeing hacking and social media algorithms affecting outcomes. How is the Carter Center responding?
A: The Carter Center is studying the voting process. In many other countries, even in a nation like Venezuela, they have a voting system where you indicate your preference by a touch screen, and that’s transmitted to the central headquarters. Then you look at the screen and if it’s how you want it, you punch a button and it prints out a paper ballot. If a question is raised subsequently about the integrity of the election, you’ve got the electronic system that has given you an opportunity to have very early tabulation and then you’ve got the paper system to substantiate the accuracy of it. We don’t have that in our country, except in rare places. There’s no uniformity at all in America. I’m not criticizing my country, I’m just pointing out some possibilities for improvement.
Q: In its mission statement, the Carter Center recognizes that because it is tackling difficult problems, failure is an “acceptable risk.” Why?
A: When we began our work, we decided that we would be nonpartisan in nature, and we decided that we would not duplicate what other people were already doing well. If the United Nations or the United States government or Harvard University was taking care of a problem, we wouldn’t get involved in it. Instead, we’d fill vacuums in the world. Another thing that we decided, which is what you just mentioned, is that we would not be afraid of failure. If we think that something is worth doing, we make an all-out effort – even if we don’t have any assurance at the beginning that we’ll be successful. We’ve had some disappointments and we’ve had to change our priorities on some occasions, but that’s led us into some of the most fruitful things that we’ve done.


In 1978, as president, Carter orchestrated peace talks between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, right. The talks served as a model when the former president and his wife founded the Carter Center in 1982.

Jimmy Carter, with his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
Q: Can you give us an example?
A: Addressing Guinea worm, or dracunculiasis, was one of those that seemed hopeless. There was no known cure or successful treatment for it. It was found in 21 different countries. It was found in isolated villages that had no connection to one another. Often, ministers of health had never heard of the disease. It was one of those problems that nobody else wanted to address, so we had a chance to fill a vacuum. We had no assurance of success because until we began, there was no effective way to correct the problem. We’ve come a long way. We still face some unforeseen developments, but we are resolved to succeed. We’ve cut the number of cases of Guinea worm from 3.5 million the first year [1986] to 27 so far in 2017.
Q: You’ve been very close to eradicating Guinea worm for a while, just like Rotary has been very close to eradicating polio. What has made it so intractable?
A: We had a surprising development in the country of Chad a few years ago. We had zero cases of Guinea worm in Chad for nine years and all of a sudden we had another very small outbreak and we found that dogs were involved with transmission, and almost everybody who lives along a particular river in Chad has a dog. We’ve had to deal with this new outbreak just like you’ve had some setbacks with polio, but we’re not giving up.
Q: Being president of the United States would seem like the pinnacle of a person’s career, but after you left office, you went on to become one of the most respected humanitarians of our time. What did your work as president teach you? And was there anything that you only learned later?
A: When I was president, I learned about the interrelationships between countries and the differences between the people who live on the earth. I learned about problems like the threat of nuclear destruction, and we had a first glimpse of global warming at that time. I learned how important peace was: I was lucky enough to have kept our country completely at peace while in office – we never dropped any bombs or launched any missiles or fired any bullets.
Since I’ve been out of the White House, I’ve had much more intimate relationships with individual people than I ever did when I was president, particularly with people in foreign countries.
Q: When meeting regular citizens, what has made the biggest impression on you?
A: We tend to underestimate folks who have an average income of only one or two dollars a day, who don’t have good educations or decent homes. We think they’re inferior to us in some way because they haven’t provided for their families as we have. When we deal with them on a personal basis, we soon learn that they’re just as good as we are, they’re just as intelligent, just as ambitious, just as hard-working. Their family values are just as good as ours. We also learn that their perspective on life is different from ours, often because of the circumstances in which they’ve been born and raised. But we learn to respect them just as much as we respect ourselves.
Q: If you could do one thing to make the world a better place, what would that be?
A: The only time the human race has ever attempted to bring into reality the finest moral and ethical values of all the great religions was right after the Second World War, after 60 million people were killed. We organized the United Nations to guarantee that disputes would be resolved as they arose. That hasn’t happened. We still have multiple wars. Three years later, in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guaranteed people equal rights. Those two things have been a dream or ideal or vision or aspiration or an inspiration, but they haven’t been realized. I would mandate that disputes be resolved peacefully and that the declaration be implemented. That’s what I pray for, and that’s what I hope will eventually happen.
• This story originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Rotary magazine














New York with pre-collection drop off locations available from Monday, November 18, 2024 until Friday, November 22, 2024 as noted below. “Now, more than ever, our fellow neighbors are in need of food not only for Thanksgiving but to place food on their tables daily,” said Lori Orestano-James, Monticello Rotary President.
Sullivan County Food Pantry and the Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless Food Pantry during the winter months. We are counting on your generosity once again to help feed those in need.” Non-perishable food items may be purchased and dropped off the week of November 18, 2024 until November 22, 2024 at a local drop off spot. “We are grateful to Kristt Company, Broadway, Monticello and Landfield Avenue Synagogue, 18 Landfield Avenue, Monticello (for kosher food items), for serving as early drop off locations starting on November 18, 2024 where you may drop off item(s) Monday thru Friday, 9am – 4pm
(Synagogue 9am – 3pm) until November 22, 2024. All items pre-collected will be added to the items collected on November 23, 2024 at the Ted Strobel (Neighborhood Facility) in Monticello from 9am – 1pm, stated Lori
Orestano-James. “Julian Dawson, Executive Director of Sullivan County United Way and Kathy Kreiter, Executive Director for the Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless will be on hand to pick up the donated
items for distribution by the respective agencies”, stated Spinner further.
Items most needed:
Canned veggies, canned fruit, cereal, pasta, gravy, sauces, canned meats, canned pasta, jam, jelly, peanut butter, rice, shelf stable milks. (Any items non-perishable).


















Recently the Monticello Rotary welcomed Douglas Shindler and Michael Davis, Co-Founders of The Black Library, to speak at our weekly meeting. Located at 418 Broadway in Monticello, The Black Library is a library and community art space focused on celebrating Black History and Culture. The Monticello Rotary Club was moved by the wonderful work they do to engage the community, especially our youth. Monticello Rotary Giving Funds Treasurer Les Kristt presented The Black Library a check on behalf of the club for $250 for its continued great work of Service Above Self.
The Black Library provides a safe space for all to learn and create. There are so many programs being offered. There is an extensive Artist-In-Residence program, music, dance and lecture programs to highlight a few.
Monticello Rotary looks forward to the continued growth and prosperity of The Black Library and all of the great work being of Douglas (DJ) and Michael in making it all happen.
WHAT? 2024 Walk to End Alzheimer’s
WHERE? Bethel Woods
WHEN? Saturday, September 28th at 10:00 a.m.
WHY? Raise Awareness of a Dreadful Disease
WHO? Club Members, friends, family and our community!
Our Rotary Club has a team walking to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and Dementia once again this year! EVERYONE is welcome to walk with us! The more, the merrier!!
Our goal is to raise $2,500
If you would like to join our team to help raise funds, or to make a donation to our team,
use this link:
https://act.alz.org/site/TR?fr_id=17798&pg=team&team_id=910154
If you would like to make a donation in cash, or with a check payable to Alzheimer’s Association, please give the cash or check to Barbara Carr, or any other team member.
Thank you for your support!








Krissy was a strong spirit who believed in helping others be their best. Her energy was boundless, and she would want us to remember that giving to and helping others makes our community strong.
"An initiative of Rotary International President Stephanie A. Urchick is Mental Health an the stigma associated with it. We are humbled that Krissy's dad, Paul Walsh, daughter, Paige Gallet, and her family have given us their blessing to honor Krissy's memory in this way during Suicide Prevention Month," said Monticello Rotary President and Blood Drive Co-Chair, Lori Orestano-James. "We need to "Start the Conversation" so nobody feels alone."
"So many of her friends and those who knew her have been trying to find a way to give back to recognize her life accomplishments. The Monticello, Liberty, and Livingston Manor Rotary Clubs hope this Blood Drive will do just that," said Liberty Rotary Co-President and Blood Drive Co-Chair Gary Silverman.
Each pint of blood donated saves three lives. Those lives saved in Krissy's name would be a moving and wonderful way to honor the memory of someone who gave back to so many in life.
Please register today. Come and share your stories about Krissy or learn about her great work in our community, as you help to honor her memory while doing good in saving lives.





















The Monticello Rotary Club 46th Annual Monster Run Classic will be held on Sunday, August 4, 2024 starting at 8:30am at Resorts World-Catskills in Monticello, New York . The proceeds from the 2024 Monster Classic race will benefit the Sullivan County Veterans Coalition and is an event run by Monticello Rotary as part of Sullivan County Patriots Day.
Each year this community event draws hundreds of walkers, runners and spectators from all over New York State. This race is expected to draw another very large turnout for this year’s event.
The race consists of 5K and 10K running and 5K walk events for the whole family. This course proves to be challenging and is considered by many one of the best run/walk courses in the area. In addition, health, wellness and running related businesses will have information and free screenings on site during the event. Raffles, door prizes and an auction round out this family fun filled event.
The major goal of Rotary is to serve the community. The proceeds for this year’s race will help local veterans to meet needs of everyday living. According to Monticello Rotary Club President Lori Orestano-James, “Too many of our veterans need assistance with heating, food, transportation for medical serves, rent and mortgage assistance just to name a few. They have given to us all through their service to our country. Monticello Rotary is glad to sponsor this race to raise awareness and funds as a way of giving back to those who served and are currently serving.”
Many veterans sign up to participate. Their motto is, “Our Colors: Red, White & Blue Never Run……Except for the Monti Rotary Monster Run!” They look forward to running/walking with those they served to protect.
Special thanks to Resorts World Casino for serving as a title sponsor and enabling Monticello Rotary to return the race to its Monster Classic home. Meghan Taylor, VP Government Affairs and Public Relations Resorts World Catskills & Resorts World New York City states, “We are grateful for this terrific opportunity to raise awareness and funds for local veterans and the difficult challenges they face.”
So, whether you choose to run or walk any of the races, cheer on and be a supportive spectator, come out to show your patriotic support for the veterans, volunteer for the race needs, win some wonderful prizes or you are just attending to enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning in the Catskills, you will be sure to have a great time while supporting a great cause!
Registrations can be completed online prior to the event at https://runsignup.com/monsterclassic For further information about the race, please contact Race Co-Chairs Brad Rutledge or Brad Matican via email at RotaryMontiMonsterRun@hotmail.com or call (845) 798-1770.








L-R Orshii Boldiis, Secretary; Les Kristt, Treasurer for Special Programs; Rotary District 7210 District Governor Designee Carrie Hernandez; Rotary District 7210 District Governor Leo Kaytes; Monticello Rotary Club President Lori James, Immediate Past President, Bill Tochterman; Club Treasurer, Randy Katz, Vice President, Cris Cirillo Spinner, and President-Elect, Peter Alan Chester.
#ServiceAboveSelf Rotary International #TheMagicOfRotary




Wishing all a wonderful, safe, and healthy Holiday Season. Remember to take a moment to #Serve. It is the best of all holiday gifts to give to yourself.









- Direct sign up link - https://donate.nybc.org/donor/
schedules/drive_schedule/ 303543 - NYBC Phone number to call for appointments – 800-933-2566
- NYBC phone number to call for donor eligibility questions- 800-688-0900
- Link for eligibility questions – www.nybc.org/eligibility
- Donation Facts - https://www.nybc.org/donate-
blood/become-donor/donation- faqs/ - Additional questions - Call 845 798-1770







































The Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation.
Rotary established the recognition in 1957 to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships. Many other notable figures have been named Paul Harris Fellows, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk.
Plus 2 mean that Bob Ernst has met this accomplishment twice. He continue to give in his own name and in the name of his wife Eileen who is also a Paul Harris Fellow.
Congratulations Bob and thank you for all you do on behalf of Rotary.


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- Direct sign up link - https://donate.nybc.org/donor/
schedules/drive_schedule/ 300440 - NYBC Phone number to call for appointments – 800-933-2566
- NYBC phone number to call for donor eligibility questions- 800-688-0900
- Link for eligibility questions – www.nybc.org/eligibility
- Donation Facts - https://www.nybc.org/donate-
blood/become-donor/donation- faqs/
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The groups are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to plan a response for areas that aren’t receiving as much assistance as the urban areas. Aid efforts are also being coordinated through Rotary Clubs in the Houston area, the release said.
The five-member team includes Stuart Hirsch, director of operations for St. Mary’s Hospital Emergency Services in Connecticut. The other members on the team are Naval Corpsman Lawrence Smira and paramedical and rescue professional Charles Atwell, Charles Lee Miller and Thomas Andryshak. Hirsch, a Liberty Rotarian, is also the president of Operation Endeavor. Gary Silver, Susan Kraycer and Gary Siegel are other Liberty Rotarians on Operation Endeavor’s board of directors.
The Liberty Rotary Club has contacted thousands of Rotarians in the New York region to donate to the effort.
Monticello Rotary is proud to join the effort! We're asking members and friends to contribute to Operation Endeavor by making a donation online via this link:
https://www.youcaring.com/hurricanevictimsoftexasusa-914276
OR you can make a check payable to Monticello Rotary Club with "Operation Endeavor" noted in the memo space and bring it to a meeting.
THANK YOU for your support!
Operation Endeavor is a nonprofit that provides rescue, emergency medicine and trauma training and supports disaster preparedness in developing regions of the world.
2017 - 2017 Officers Installed!
Monticello Hosts Region 5 Meeting!
Scholarships Awarded to High School Seniors


After the presentation, we were entertained by Dylan Foley, Irish Champion Fiddler.
District Governor Louis Turpin and Assistant District Governor Amador Laput visited our club on October 25, 2016.
AG Laput introduced the District Governor who is a retired architect and a very involved Rotarian. DG Turpin is the "Shelter Box" program's representative to Rotary, he is on numerous boards, and he works with Nobel Prize Peace Laureates. DG Turpin began by saying he was in our shoes not too long ago with regard to the District. “I had no idea who the District was.”, he said. He has since found out. The district consists of people who are there to support Rotary clubs with service projects they do in their local communities and the world community.
“Rotary is an amazing organization” DG Turpin said, “and we should all be very proud of the way we serve humanity”. Many other organizations focus on a single aspect of service. Rotary doesn't do that. Rotary has six official areas of focus for how we serve humanity. Those areas are: Fighting diseases (the Polio-Plus program), Maternal and Child Health, Fresh Water and Sanitation, Education and Literacy, Economic Development throughout the developing world, and finally Peace and Conflict Resolution. Rotary was instrumental in helping form the United Nations. Rotary sees a need and figures a way to solve it.
DG Turpin said that he was aware of our club and the great things we do in community. He then challenged our club to step back and take a look at how we could take on new service projects that would benefit not only our local communities, but also benefit the world.
DG Turpin spoke about the word team. The word TEAM means: Together Everyone Achieves More. Great things can be achieved working with the District and our club leadership.
Shelter Box is a program that was started a Rotary Club service project. Shelter Box is an international relief organization that provides a box that contains shelter and other supplies to provide hope and dignity to the families who have lost everything during a disaster. Most recently, shelter boxes were in Haiti even before the latest hurricane arrived.
DG Turpin handed out a brochure which listed the District leadership team and the District goals for the coming year. The main goal of the District is for each club to have a “Hands-on” service project does “good” whether in the local community or abroad. A visible service project is one way attract the attention of your community and let them know what Rotary is about. A visible service project is also a way of attracting new members.
This year's District theme is “Do Good Have Fun We are Rotary” which is a good way to quickly describe what Rotary does.
The Monticello Rotary Club gave out nearly $8,000 in scholarships to students from Monticello Central Schools and Fallsburg School Districts last night!
Congratulations to all the students and their families!