Bladensburg Rotary Club
Chartered - March 20, 1959
The Bladensburg Rotary Club meets every Thursday at 12:15 for lunch at the
Woodmore Country Club in Mitchellville, Maryland.
Missed a meeting? Click here to find a list of other area clubs and their meeting times.
Founded in 1959, the Rotary Club of Bladensburg is a local chapter of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of business people who have been dedicated to service projects for over a century, fostering goodwill and world peace through helping communities in need. The Rotary motto is "Service Above Self." Locally, the Bladensburg Rotary provides grants to numerous local organizations that assist community residents, from children to the elderly, as well as offering hands-on participation in community charity events such as feeding the homeless at Elizabeth House, Margaret Brent Fun Day, Dr. Bear's Toy Box, the Third Grade Dictionary Project, Christmas Stockings for children of the incarcerated, and the School Supply Boxes program. Worldwide, Rotary International and its member clubs assist in many projects from health to education, but they are best known for starting and being one of the biggest sponsors and participants in the "Polio Plus Project" dedicated to eliminating Polio from the entire planet through complete vaccination of all children. The Bladensburg Club supports two orphans in Afghanistan, sponsored a Sewing Machine Project for Widows in Kabul, and is currently working on a water/well project in southern Afghanistan.
In addition to its charitable work, another goal of the organization is to foster fellowship among its members, through regular meetings of each club. The Bladensburg Club meets every Thursday at the Woodmore Country Club. These luncheon meetings offer opportunities to meet and greet with fellow Rotarians, as well as hear from weekly visiting speakers discussing current world developments.
BLADENSBURG ROTARY CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
OLIVER C. ("OLLIE") ZINSMEISTER, JULY 22, 1911 - NOVEMBER 2, 2008
We mourn the loss of Ollie Zinsmeister, our Charter President, (pictured on left, with member John Wilkerson). A native of Rochester, New York, Ollie became the first percussion student at the Eastman School of Music in 1924. He enlisted in the "President's Own," the U.S. Marine Corps Band, in 1935, as their principal percussionist and xylophone soloist, and remained with the Band twenty years, retiring as a Master Sergeant in 1955. He moved on to the Bladensburg Chamber of Commerce, and when the College Park Rotary Club sought to found a new Rotary Club in the area, it was Ollie who did the lion's share of the work of recruiting members and gaining a charter for the new Rotary Club of Bladensburg. He has been the guiding force behind the Club for the 50 years of its existence. Though Ollie had been long retired and was living in Annapolis, we were honored by his presence at Charter Nights, and he remained a frequent source of advice and encouragement for Club presidents.
Ollie was deeply involved with music all his life, building a collection of many hundred photographs and autographs of composers, conductors, and musicians with whom he had associated. The oldest living former member of the U.S. Marine Corps Band, he told many entertaining stories about his experiences. After retiring from the Marine Corps, he long remained an active musician, performing with the Naval Academy Band as a guest xylophonist in 1998, and composing the Naval Academy Band March for a performance the following year. (An audio file of the Band playing Ollie's composition can be found on the web at http://www.usna.edu/USNABand/soundfiles.html .) Ollie and his wife Marge were also active in Windjammers Unlimited, an organization devoted to the preservation and performance of circus music, with Ollie performing for several albums of their recorded music as well as many of the concerts the group has given all over the world.
Ollie's wife Marge, a founder of the Bladensburg Rotary Anns in the early days of the Club (before women could themselves become Rotarians), preceded him in death in 2003. We offer our condolences to daughter Carol, son Robert and his wife Kathleen, and grandchildren Brett and Adman Zinsmeister. A memorial service was held November 6th at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Annapolis, attended by many members of our Rotary Club. In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the Hospice of the Chesapeake ( http://www.hospicechesapeake.org/pages/donations.html ), Childrens' National Medical Center ( http://www.dcchildrensfoundation.com/ ), or the Calvary United Methodist Church (http://www.calumc.org/ ).
Check out the new Club History page on our site!
Our club awarded 4 college scholarships to the following 2007 high school graduates:
Shakir Manners- (4th from left) Fairmont Heights- he will attend
Ryan O’Neill (5th from left) - DeMatha- he will attend
Oluwanife Solomon (First from right) - Parkdale- she will attend
Vivian Ugboh (Second from right)- Parkdale- she will attend UMD-CP.
In addition to the scholarships, we also gave out awards to the outstanding students of the
The following students received awards for being outstanding students:
Elizabeth Dekoladenu (second from left) - Cosmetology;
Patrina Turnbow (Third from left) - Nursing Assistant;
Memuna Kanu (We are hoping someine will send us a photograph!)- Culinary Arts; and
Rodolfo Guevara (First from Left)- Culinary Arts.
Guests who attended with these scholarship recipients, included M.K. Femi Manners (Shakir’s Mother); Courtney Davis (Shakir’s girlfriend); Patrick O’Neill (Ryan’s Father); and Bukola Solomon (Oluwanife’s Mother). A Big THANK YOU to Floyd Holmgrain and his committee for all of the hard work that went into choosing these 4 scholarship recipients.
Margaret Brent Fun Day 2007
This year's Special Olympics Day at the Margaret Brent Elementary School in New Carrollton was a great success.
Chairman Milt Jernigan and wife Betty, the Principal, faculty, and staff of the school are to be congratulated for providing such a fun-filled day for the children.
With pony rides, games, and a pizza lunch, it's hard to say who had more fun, the kids or the Rotarians!