Backpack Buddies

In conjunction with Second Harvest Food Bank, during the months of June, July and August, the club provides member volunteers to assist with packing food for the Backpack Buddies program. The Boys & Girls Club of Allentown program involves providing a back pack filled with food items and given to needy children on Fridays so that they will have proper nourishment over the weekend. Over 1,000 grocery bags were packed for the community in 2008.

Book Drive

During the month of May, the club conducts a book drive during which the members donate books to be given to local organizations (Allentown YMCA & YWCA, Casa Guadalupe and The Boys & Girls Club of Allentown) for redistribution to children. This drive has resulted in hundreds of books being donated annually and is part of an overall national effort which has donated over 4.5 million books.

Camp Neidig / www.campneidig.com

Camp Neidig is a leadership camp for youth that brings together high school students for a four-day weekend of fun, friendship, and team-building activities.

Joseph S. Neidig, governing officer of District 2654, started a “Leaders of Tomorrow” camp in 1950 at Camp Delmont (Green Lane, PA). When District 2654 split and formed our District 7430 in 1961, the camp was named “Camp Neidig” in honor of its founder.

Dictionary Project / www.dictionaryproject.org

In 2006 the Allentown Rotary Dictionary Project distributed dictionaries to approximately 1,300 pupils in 49 classrooms in all the elementary schools of the Allentown School District. This is the local execution of a nationally recognized program dedicated to giving dictionaries to students to keep as their own personal reference books, in the belief that a dictionary is an essential tool for a quality education and that a student cannot do his or her best work without one. We believe that a dictionary in the home serves as a resource for the whole family. It improves everyone's vocabulary and it encourages children to learn more words.

Group Study Exchange

The Group Study Exchange (GSE) offers a unique educational opportunity for one Rotarian leader and four non-Rotarians. Team members visit government and legal institutions, schools, colleges, places of historical and cultural interest and various business entities. They stay in homes of
Rotarians from hosting clubs and are exposed to the family life in the country they visit.

The Allentown Rotary Club sponsors both the William Allen High School Interact Club and the Central Catholic Interact Club. Interact, a Rotary-sponsored youth service club, was launched by the RI Board of Directors in 1962. Interact clubs provide opportunities for young people of high-school age to work together in a world fellowship of service and international understanding. The term "Interact" is derived from "inter," for international, and "act," for action.

Today, there are over 8,600 Interact clubs with about 200,000 members in some 110 countries. Interactors develop skills in leadership and attain practical experience in conducting service projects, thereby learning the satisfaction that comes from serving others. A major goal of Interact is to provide opportunities for young people to create greater understanding and goodwill with youth throughout the world.

Find the William Allen Interact Club on Facebook

The William Allen Interact Club has done several projects, including canned food drives, volunteering regularly at The Phoebe Home and The Lehigh Valley Salvation Army along with financial contributions to Shelter Box. In 2010 and 2011, the William Allen Interact Club partnered with the Episcopal House to prepare a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day dinner to serve over 200 people from the surrounding neighborhood at St. James UCC in Allentown.

William Allen Interactors assisting with a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Dinner (2011)

Pool Pals

Started in 2000-2001, Pool Pals identified third graders in Elementary Schools throughout the Allentown School District to provide an eight week Red Cross Learn-to-Swim program.

Our club works in cooperation with the Allentown School District, our local chapter of the American Red Cross and other community organizations who have pools and cater to young people such as the Allentown YMCA & YWCA, the Allentown Jewish Community Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown. Coordinated by the Youth Committee, approximately 60 second graders annually complete the program with the assistance of over 40 Rotarians throughout the program's course. Students receive instruction, bathing suits and snacks. Upon completion, students are given certificates and a Rotary Pool Pals T-shirt.

The Roger and Louise Mullin Scholarship Fund

The Allentown Rotary Club Foundation has committed itself to awarding a college scholarship every year to a deserving high school graduate from each of Allentown's three high schools: Allentown Central Catholic High School, Dieruff High School and William Allen High School. This scholarship program identifies young people with financial need who have demonstrated service to their communities and strong leadership qualities. The scholarships are $1,000 renewable for four years of college for a total of $4,000. The application process requires of submission of an application (with recommendations and school transcripts) as well as participation in an interview with the Scholarship Committee of the Allentown Rotary Club.

This scholarship fund was established in 1988 by the Allentown Rotary Foundation with a major benefactor gift of the late Roger and Louise Mullin. Roger Mullin was a former CEO of Mack Trucks as well as an active member of the Allentown Rotary Club. For more about Roger and Louise Mullin, please read the article from the March 17, 1993 edition of The Rotary Smile.

For consideration for a scholarship, please e-mail: scholarships@allentownrotary.org. Be sure to include contact information for you and your parents / guardian and the name of high school you currently attend. If you attend high school in Allentown, a representative from the Allentown Rotary club will contact you promptly.

Romper Day

Romper day is a community celebration of the summer parks program in Allentown founded in 1914 by Harry C. Trexler. Children from numerous Allentown park programs come together once a summer on Romper Day to take part in various events and games.

Each year in August, the Allentown Rotary Club provides volunteers to assist with serving food and refreshments to the children who participate in this annual celebration, sponsored by The Trexler Trust.