Community service is the mission of the Sunrise Rotary Club, which meets  Wednesday mornings from 7 to 8 a.m (thus the motto “Early to Serve”) at Bados on Beverly Road.  Each week, a speaker addresses the group.  Recent speakers have included Meghan Anderson on “Professionals Helping Seniors,” Bob Fragasso on “Financial Issues,” and Frank Kravetz, author of “Eleven Two,” a book about World War II POWs.  The speakers  talk for 15 or 20 minutes in an informal setting, as the members have breakfast, network, share good news and make plans for special events.

District Magistrate Blaise Larotonda, an active member, encourages  any interested man or woman  to come  and hear a speaker—check the website at  http://www.mtlebanonsunriserotary.net/ for the list of upcoming topics; there is no charge or obligation to join the club.  Of course, he, club President Lee Heckman and speakers chair Bob Mente would be delighted if guests decided to join, becausethe club needs as much help as it can get to raise funds that benefit the local community.

Art in the Park is Sunrise Rotary’s biggest annual fundraiser, thanks in large part to member Elaine Rosenfield, who has been the artistic coordinator for the  “fine arts festival”  since it debuted 10 years ago. This year, she is shepherding Art in the Park’s  move to a new location—the Academy parking lot just off Washington Road Uptown—where the event will be bigger and better than ever this October 6 and 7  in cooperation with the Mt. Lebanon Partnership’s first-ever Plein Air Mt. Lebanon festival, also taking place on Washington Road.

Sunrise Rotary  co-sponsors the annual Mt. Lebanon Classic Car Show each June with the Mt. Lebanon Police Department and this year for the first time will co-sponsor Brew Fest,  Saturday, September 22 from 4 to 7 in Clearview Common, with Mt. Lebanon Municipality.  The event, which features tastings from 15 area breweries provided by Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale, receives major financial support from Howard Hanna Real Estate Services and will benefit Outreach Teen and Family Services and the Mt. Lebanon Veterans Memorial.

The list of organizations that Sunrise Rotary supports, usually in grants of $2000 or less, is impressive.  In 2011-2012, the following organizations will receive contributions:  Veterans Leadership Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Bower Hill Presbyterian Church, Gateway -Rotary Teen Leadership Institute, Mt. Lebanon Police Association, Outreach Teen & Family Services, Rotary Ethics Symposium, Mt. Lebanon Village, Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf, Mt. Lebanon Library, Dormont Library, Asbury Foundation, Salvation Army, Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education, PAWS With a Cause—Dogs for the Disabled, Dormont Life Span Senior Citizens Center, Mt. Lebanon Recreation Department, Mt. Lebanon Partnership, Boys and Girls Club, Mt. Lebanon History Center, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program Mt. Lebanon, Dormont Volunteer Fire Department and Mt. Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department.

There will be no meeting on Wednesday, July 25, as there is a special meeting the following evening to distribute the checks to the beneficiaries. (That meeting is open to the public and is Thursday, July 26 at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at Bado’s on Beverly Road.)  The next speaker is on August 8 at 7 a.m., when Tom Richards will speaking on “Shred It.”

If you would like to be a speaker, contact speakers@mtlebanonsunriserotary.net or call Bob Mente, 412-279-9016.