Who We Are
Rotary is where neighbors, friends, and problem-solvers share ideas, join leaders, and take action to create lasting change.
The Rotary Club of Boca Raton consists of 80+ community-minded business leaders from the greater Boca Raton area. Our members focus on making our community a better place to live, work, and play by inspiring and uplifting today’s youth to become tomorrow’s leaders by sharing our virtues and values. Some of our community service projects include: Providing college scholarships for high school seniors, fostering the performing arts in today’s youth, promoting STEM & robotics to middle and high school students, providing dictionaries for Boca Raton’s 3rd graders, assisting local foster children and educating families in need. Rotary’s motto is “Service above Self” and our club members live by that every day to “Change Lives and Build Futures.”
Our club was founded in 1957 by a group of local business professional that wanted to give back to the local community. The Rotary Club of Boca Raton is one of over 35,000 rotary clubs comprising over 1.2 million members around the world. Rotary is a non-political, non-religious organization who mission is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. Rotary’s main areas of focus are:
- Promote peace
- Fight disease
- Provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Save mothers and children
- Support education
- Grow local economies
We meet every Wednesday at 12:00PM for lunch at The Pavilion Grille in Boca Raton. Our lunches provide a chance for our members to network with other “Service above Self” minded individuals, learn from a variety of outside guest speakers, and work together on planning community service projects. Additional our club has a lot of activities outside of our weekly lunch from community service projects to casual social events. We also host three major events a year including OPAL, Future Stars, and The Pirate Invasion Run. Rotary is more than a service club, it’s a group of your 80 closest friends who are focused on making the world a better place by helping others and living life by the Four Way Test.
Signature Events
OPAL Awards
The Outstanding People And Leaders Awards recognizes citizens in Boca Raton who have demonstrated an on-going commitment to serve their neighbors and our City through Philanthropic, Professional Leadership (Business), Education, Governmental(Civic), Community Service and Medical Service Endeavors. Every January, over 350+ members from our community come together to honor the recipients and raise money for the missions and projects of The Rotary Club of Boca Raton including youth college scholarships.
This one of a kind of event has been recognized by Rotary International receiving a Significant Achievement Award of which only a select few are given out to the over 35,000 Rotary Clubs around the world. Every year the event is a sellout so we recommend purchasing your tickets early to celebrate the people that make Boca Raton one of the best places to live, work, play.
Future Stars
For over 17 years Future Stars has been one of South Florida’s most prestigious middle and high school performing arts competition. In partnership with the City of Boca Raton, the dance and vocal show is hosted live at Mizner Park Amphitheater to over 1000+ people produced by a professional light and sound crew on the same stage some of the nation’s top talent performs. Every year students from across South Florida audition to make the less than 30 finalist acts for the show that will be judged by some of the region’s top talent. Many of our past performers have moved on to the country’s top educational institutions including Juilliard, NYU Tish, and Northwestern and several have become household names in their professional career.
Auditions are open to all middle and high school performing arts students in the South Florida area to compete in our vocal and dance categories. Of the over 100 plus applications we receive every year only the top 25-30 acts make it to become a Future Stars Finalist. We are excited to see this year’s top talent!
Pirate 5K/10K
For over 20 years The Rotary Club of Boca Raton has been helping put on a community Run. Over the years Rotary has partnered with D.A.R.E., the YMCA, XXXX, and many others to promote healthy outdoor fun. This year we have a very special run planned in partnership with the Florence Fuller Child Development Center. Arrrrrrrgh you ready for it?
Grab ye matey, and your favorite parrot, and come run for goodwill and better friendships benefiting the kids of Florence Fuller at our Pirate Invasion Run. Hosted on the world famous A1A Blvd, you will be running along the beaches that centuries ago the real “Pirates of the Caribbean” set foot on. We want to see you best pirate attire and your fastest run times. It’s a friendly family event with special costume contest, live entertainment, breakfast, bounce houses, a special kids run. This professionally timed race by Runner’s Edge is just not for “yar fun luvin running matey” its a beautiful course for professional runners too. Well if be it they like to be chased by pirates! Arrrgh…
Community Projects
Latest Happenings
Rotary Supports Boca Helping Hands Fund Raiser
A number of Rotary members supported Boca Helping Hands (our local food bank) with a virtual fund raiser. The MC was Club member Neil Saffer. Club member Bob [...]
#CORONACANT (Stop Me) Movement via Jordon Hernandez and Luke Lynch
Andrea O’Rourke introduced Luke Lynch and Jordan Hernandez during our Club’s Zoom meeting: she recalled for us that Luke had talked to the Club last year when he [...]
Club Member Rachel Heurta, ARNP Provides Members with Easy Access to the Coronavirus Antibody Test
Our member (and Club Past President in 2016-2017) Rachel Huerta is owner of Direct Primary Care of Boca Raton – a membership, medical practice that provides standard primary care services [...]
Craft Talk – Frank Beaton – NHL & Bagpipes
Frank (pictured playing the Bagpipes) grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and, like most young kids his age, he learned to play hockey. He turned pro in 1973 [...]
Ken Romer, PBSO on Managing Digital Fraud & Identity Theft
Pictured above is Ken Romer, Volunteer for the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) and Club President Vanessa Havener. PBSO recruits many volunteers to help the Sheriff’s office [...]
Ken Davis Craft Talk – A Successful Realtor & Helping with the Cat Island Orphanage
Pictured above are Vocational Talk Coordinator Jeff Tromberg and Member Ken Davis. This narrative was graciously written by Ken with team editing with questions from Jeff. First, I want [...]
Debbie Vance – Helping Rotary Through Amazing Graphics
Our Club was pleased to have Debbie Vance of Vancouver Island, BC be our guest speaker. Debbie creates wonderful graphics as a volunteer program for Rotary. Her images [...]
Nicholas Metropulos, Executive Director Marine Education Initiative
Pictured above are a middle school student and Nicholas Metropulos, Executive Director of the Marine Education Initiative which educates and empowers socio-economically disadvantaged middle school students to preserve [...]
Rotary Scholarship Mentor/Mentee Luncheon
Pictured above (from l to r) are Club President Vanessa Havener along with a number of the Club Scholarship Recipients. The names include the Club mentor in parenthesis: [...]
Eda & Cliff Viner Community Scholars Foundation
Pictured above are Eda Viner and her daughter Niki Knopf (Executive Director). The Foundation supports comprehensive college scholarships for graduating high school seniors in Boca Raton and Delray [...]
Scott Singer, Boca Raton Mayor
Pictured above are Club President Vanessa Havener with Mayor Scott Singer. Scott provided a well-organized ‘State of Boca Raton’ presentation which is below. Click here for the "State [...]
Jeffrey Zirulnick and JARC Florida: Helping Disabled Individuals and Adding Value Services to the Community
Pictured above are Club President Vanessa Havener with Jeffrey Zirulnick, CEO of JARC – an organization that helps intellectual and developmental disabilities able to integrate into the workforce. [...]
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