Byesville Rotary reviews 25 years of service to community

Pictured: Dan Navicky, Byesville Rotary Past President, and Oziel Jeffries, current President.

Byesville Rotary celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011-12. During the month of July, some of the club’s past presidents have been asked to reminisce about their terms as president and let club members know about the service and community projects the club worked on.


Dan Navicky served as president of Byesville Rotary for two terms. His first term was 15 years ago in 1997. He remembers he missed his first meeting as president because he was visiting his son in New Zealand. He decided he should do a make-up meeting and attended a New Zealand Rotary meeting. He reported that the New Zealand Rotary members were delighted to have a visitor from the USA and bought him several rounds of drinks.

The rest of his term as president was a little less convivial. The club held two fishing tournaments as fundraisers. They also held an auction at the Cambridge Country Club. Service projects in 1997 included refinishing the gazebo at the park on the Byesville square. Navicky was able to get members of the Meadowbrook Interact Club to help. He stated that the “…kids just whipped through the project in no time.”

The club decided that the park needed brick paths leading to the gazebo. Club members raised $2000 for this project. Many local businesses made contributions toward the purchase of the bricks.

In 2000, Navicky served a second term as president. Service projects included purchasing copies of the Jeff for a Rolling Hills School class and providing support for Philippine flood victims.

Under Navicky’s leadership, the club worked with Southeastern Med to provide a Health Screening. Screenings were provided for 34 people. The service project has grown--in 2012, 125 people were served.

During both of Navicky’s terms, the club was recognized for its service projects by being awarded a Presidential Citation from Rotary District 6690.

Randy Lauder, co-chair of the chicken BBQ committee, reminded members that in order to continue the club’s history of service to community he needs volunteers to work the club’s chicken BBQ fundraiser scheduled for July 21. The Funds raised at this BBQ will be shared with the United Way who will help cook and sell the BBQ’ed chickens.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.