Tag: rotary international

DERRY — One of the most prestigious awards in the Rotary Club world has been granted to a woman who has served her community for a decade through Derry Village Rotary Club.

Alice Makino was the recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Award in the Derry Village Rotary Club. This is the first time in four years the club has presented the award to one of their members.

Makino explained that the award goes to someone who goes above and beyond to do “service before self,” which is the motto of the club.

“I’m very honored that they gave this to me; it means a lot,” Makino said. “I hope that I can just keep helping and being involved as much as I can, and even more hopefully in the future.”

Makino is now the fifth active member in the club to have the award. She said the four other award recipients get together and vote each year on whether or not they feel a member should be considered, and then debate the merits of the person’s contributions.

Makino said she was blown away when the four past recipients explained what made her stand out in particular.

She organizes the annual spaghetti dinner the club hosts, as well as the dinner for veterans on Memorial Day. She sets up the annual holiday shopping the club does for different organizations in town like The Upper Room and Salvation Army, and will help with food drop offs for End 68 Hours of Hunger, a nonprofit that is dedicated to eradicating childhood hunger.

Makino also acts as secretary or other positions when members can’t make a meeting and was a co-president with her husband in 2017.

What initially made Makino excited to join was the veterans dinner. It was the first event she had volunteered for at the club, and that was all she needed to solidify her desire to be involved.

“The joy and respect in the way the members treated the veterans and the way the veterans appreciated it, that was it,” Makino said. “There was nothing else I wanted to do than get involved in a group and make a difference and be willing to get out there and help people who needed it.”

The award is named for the founder of Rotary International. Makino said while it’s common for a lot of clubs to give it to a person who donates a lot of money to local organizations, the Derry Village Rotary Club focuses on those who give their time and efforts more.

Makino had been giving monetary donations to different community organizations in the past, but she wanted to help people and the community with her actions.

“We go out and build the pavilions and redo concrete steps and do the gardening at the library,” Makino said. “We go out and give sweat equity and do the work.”