The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley is a diverse, action-oriented, fun-loving club that serves the youth, the seniors, and the needy in our communities, often partnering with others. While focusing our service in the communities of Bolton, Lancaster, and Stow, Massachusetts, our club acts upon service opportunities wherever there is a need – regionally, nationally, and globally.
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Check our Calendar for Monthly Social and Service Events!
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District Site 
Emma's Cafe
Help senior citizens in Bolton celebrate Thanksgiving this year with a gift bag of treats. Your help in donating to the gift bags will be greatly appreciated. We want to fill over 100 gift bags this year!
To donate, contact Laura Spear at laura@spear.net by Sunday, November 17. Collections are also being accepted at various local churches.
For monetary donations, you can donate through PayPal using the Donate button at the top of the home page. You can also send your tax-deductible checks to:
Nashoba Rotary Charitable Endowment Inc.
Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley
PO Box 322
Stow, MA 01775
Nashoba Rotary Charitable Endowment Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, charitable organization.
On Monday, November 11, Stow-area veterans enjoyed a hearty breakfast while being honored at the First Parish Church of Stow and Acton, in Stow.
The breakfast, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, featured presentations from State Senator Jamie Eldridge, State Representative Kate Hogan, and the keynote speaker, Colonel Arvid R. Hill, Director of International Affairs and Director of Plans, Operations and Readines,. Colonel Hill spoke on “Honor Veterans Today but Appreciate Them Always” and emphasized the role of the National Guard in defending our country and how that role has expanded over recent years.
Colonel Hill's positions involve strategic planning, organizational assessment, and building partner capacity with our state’s partnership program countries of Kenya and Paraguay. Colonel Hill’s awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Army Achievement Medal. Previous duty assignments include command of the 110th Maintenance Company in Ayer, MA and command of the 126th Brigade Support Battalion in Springfield, MA as well as multiple other duty assignments throughout the Commonwealth. Colonel Hill was deployed during 2003-2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Tallil Air Base in Iraq. He l is a graduate of the United States Army War College, holds two Masters Degrees, and lives in Dudley, MA with his family.
The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with support from Bolton Local and the Repair Cafe Foundation, hosted the Bolton Repair Café on Saturday, November 9, with a record number of guests: 93! The event also had a record number of volunteers with 40 people who repaired broken items for free. The most amazing fix was cutting open a safe. The fix that took the most time was hand sewing a fur coat.
At a Repair Café, everything centers on making repairs. Knowledgeable volunteer help repair items such as clean and mendable clothing, knitted and crocheted items, lamps, small appliances, computers and other electronics, bikes, toys, and jewelry. They can also sharpen knives, scissors, and garden tools. You pay only for needed parts. If you know what parts are needed, please get them ahead of time and bring them to the Repair Café, to save time. The fix is free!
For more information about Repair Cafes or to start one in your area, contact Ray Pfau at 978-660-1291 mobile/text or ray.pfau@mit.alum.edu.
One thing was left out of the meeting notes from Thursday and one needs correction:
1. Jeff Loeb's Jazz Concert should have been in announcements - See below for details and the flyer
2. Laura Spear's Thanksgiving Bag items was incorrected noted - In the story below you will see a flyer for needed items
Meeting at Emmas Cafe
October 31, 2019 - REVISED with Additional Notes!
Club Assembly to review visioning goals and progress, no speakers this week.
The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with support from Maynard High School and the Repair Cafe Foundation, hosted its first Repair Café for Maynard, MA on Saturday, September 21. More than 40 people brought knives and garden tools for sharpening, lamps for fixing, clothes and sweaters for mending, and many other items for repair, including cell phones, laptop computers, CD players, a mower and chainsaw, and even a VHS player among others. The positive response guarantees another Maynard event, targeting spring 2020.
At a Repair Café, everything centers on making repairs. Knowledgeable volunteers help repair items such as clean and mendable clothing, knitted and crocheted items, lamps, small appliances, computers and other electronics, bikes, toys, and jewelry. They also sharpen knives, scissors, and garden tools. Participants pay only for needed parts. The fix is free!
Volunteers at the Repair Café look at all items brought in and help try to repair them. When the volunteers cannot repair something that is repairable, they offer suggestions about where to go for repairs.
Unlike a "fix-it" shop, where people drop off items to be repaired and continue about their day, the Repair Café is meant to get people involved with the repair process, and create connections with others in the community. People bringing in items for repair are asked to stay while their items are being fixed. They can just watch, help with the repair, fix the items themselves with help from volunteers, or just have a snack and visit with neighbors.
The Maynard Repair Cafe was supported by 30 volunteers with skills for computers and electronics, bikes, locksmiths, furniture and carpentry, knife sharpening, sewing and mending, and more. For future reference, please bring parts that may be needed to help with your repair.
For the third year, members of the Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley instructed about 20 extended stay students at Emerson School in Bolton, MA on bicycle and scooter safety skills. With support from Craig Kilmer, owner of CK Bikes in Harvard, MA, Rotarians taught the use of hand signals, maneuverability, and basic maintenance, and asked the students several “what if” scenarios to address issues related to safe riding.
The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, supported by The Friends of the Sudbury Community Food Pantry, held a summer food drive at Sudbury Farms in Sudbury, MA on August 24. Almost three police cruisers were stuffed with nonperishable food and toiletries to substantially replenish the Sudbury Food Pantry’s shelves.
The Sudbury Community Food Pantry finds that the stocking of its shelves is reduced during the summer when the Sudbury elementary school children’s food drives are inactive due to the school vacation. Therefore, the Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, assisted by The Friends of the Sudbury Community Food Pantry, conducted its second annual summer food drive.
The Sudbury Community Food Pantry services clients living in 61 different communities in the MetroWest area in Massachusetts. The food pantry is staffed by volunteers, and 88% of cash donations are used for purchasing food with the balance for maintaining the food pantry, funding the food truck rental, purchasing food handling disposables, and supporting minimal administrative costs. About $600 in cash donations received during the Stuff a Cruiser food drive will be fully dedicated to the purchase of food and these overhead costs.
