Rotary Club Of Carmel

Club History:

More than seven decades have passed since Austin Lescarboura, representing the Peekskill Rotary Club, made countless trips to Mahopac and Carmel to explain to a few community leaders, the goals and opportunities offered by a Rotary Club.

On April 6th, 1932, Rotarians gathered at the Dean House to celebrate the charter of the Lake Mahopac/Carmel Rotary Club. Over the years, the meetings of this new Club alternated between sites in Mahopac and Carmel as the Club tried to meet half the year in one town and half in the other. The Lake Mahopac/Carmel Rotary grew, prospered and left many marks of accomplishments in both communities and with Rotary International. Finally in 1967, as the membership exceeded 60 Rotarians, it was decided that the time had come for two separate clubs.

On Wednesday, June 14, 1967, the Carmel Rotary Club celebrated its charter at Lombardi's Restaurant in Mahopac. Sam Hickman, a charter member of the Lake Mahopac/Carmel Rotary and past District Governor, was elected the Club's first president. The Carmel Rotary wasted no time in getting into the service mode with 29 of its 30 charter members having been members of the Lake Mahopac/Carmel Club, and this experience "jump started" the new Club. A community calendar was the major fund raiser that year and the Club hosted the Australian Rotary Group Study Exchange Team. The "Carmelite", the new Club bulletin, got its name from its first editor, Len Golditch.