Assistant Governor Tom Simon, representing Rotary District 5520, with Paul Harris Fellowship recipients Nancy Cerutti, Shelly Tarantello, Elizabeth Allen, and Sandy Tobin. Greg Viola, the Club’s Rotary Foundation chair, arranged the presentation through Rotary International. Photo by Linda Hull
The Rotary Club of Los Alamos’s newest recipients of the Paul Harris Fellowship recognition are, from left, Shelly Tarantello, Elizabeth Allen and Sandy Tobin. Photo by Oliver Morris
BY LINDA HULL
Vice President
Rotary Club of Los Alamos
Four members of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos received Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) recognitions at the Club’s September 6 meeting. The recognition is named after Paul Harris, who founded Rotary in 1905. The PHF recognition was created in Harris’s memory in 1957 as a way to show appreciation for contributions made to the Foundation’s charitable and educational programs. A Paul Harris Fellow is an individual who contributes $1,000 or in whose name that amount is contributed. The PHF honors an individual’s service to the community and demonstrates significant support for the meaningful work of The Rotary Foundation’s goals of world peace and international understanding.
Donations made to The Rotary Foundation fund Rotary International’s seven Areas of Focus: promoting peace; fighting disease, especially polio; providing opportunities for clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; supporting education; saving and enhancing the lives of mothers and children; growing local economies; and protecting the environment.
Tom Simon, the Assistant Governor for Rotary District 5520 and a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Fe, and Greg Viola, the Los Alamos Club’s committee chair for The Rotary Foundation, presented the PHF recognitions.
Nancy Cerutti, who has been a Rotarian since 1998, was awarded her seventh PHF based upon her generous donations to The Rotary Foundation, the financial arm of Rotary International. She has served actively on many committees and in several Board positions, including Club President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Cerutti grew up with Rotary. Her father and grandfather were Rotarians, and her family hosted an exchange student from Australia when she was in high school. Cerutti currently leads the Club’s Four-Way Test Essay Competition committee for 8th-graders.
Through Cerutti’s generosity, three other Rotarians–Elizabeth Allen, Shelly Tarantello, and Sandy Tobin–were presented with their first PHF recognitions. Allen, who joined the Club just a year ago, hosted a Rotary Youth Exchange dinner for District 5520, helps maintain the LAHS Memorial Garden and Rotary Treehouse at PEEC, and has served on scholarship and other youth committees.
Tarantello, CFP®, Founder and Branch Manager of Wiemann Wealth Strategies/Raymond James, manages the Club’s investment account and is an active business sponsor. She has served on Memorial Garden, Crab Fest, and youth scholarship committees.
Tobin, Rotary advisor to the Los Alamos High School Interact Club, Rotary’s youth organization, also volunteers with other Club youth programs, including scholarships and Rotary Youth Exchange. She is an active participant in Memorial Garden, Crab Fest, and Meals of Hope projects.
For more information about the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, please contact Alison Pannell, Club President, (505) 570-0629 or Linda Hull, Vice-President, (505) 662-7950.