The story of The Rotary Club of Ridgefield is impossible to share in the span of a few short pages. Because it isn’t about just one fundraiser, one event, or one service project.
It’s scholarships for local students. Grants for nonprofits. Trees replanted along Main Street. Meals delivered to first responders. Thanksgiving baskets for families in need.
The more than 600 American flags flying proudly throughout town? That’s also thanks to the Rotary Club of Ridgefield. This year, they feel especially meaningful as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and Ridgefield prepares to celebrate another Fourth of July beneath a sea of red, white, and blue.
Ridgefield Rotary received its charter 85 years ago from Rotary International. Since then, the group has continually exemplified its motto: Service Above Self.
“Service Above Self isn’t just our motto—it’s how we operate,” says Kathy Graham, who finished her tenure as president of the club in June. “Everything we raise goes right back into this community.”
Fly the Colors is Rotary’s annual subscription-based flag service program—and one of the larger fundraisers each year. The program was brought to town by Sue Manning, former First Selectperson and longtime Rotarian, in 2015.
For $80 the first year, and $40 each year following, a Rotary volunteer will come to your home, install a plastic pipe in your front yard to hold the flagstaff in place, and return to place the flag for the season before collecting it again at the end of summer. It’s simple and seamless.
Gary Roman, who oversees Fly the Colors, says the program raises about $25,000 annually. A portion of the funds is regularly donated to the United States Marine Corps.
Since the program began, roughly $125,000 has also been donated to the University of Connecticut’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, a tuition-free training program that helps veterans and military spouses start or grow small businesses.
“When we’re out planting the flags, people say ‘thank you,’” Gary tells us. “And we say ‘thank you’ right back. They know the money isn’t going to some unknown cause—it’s going to veterans. And that’s exactly why they participate.”
Rotary Club of Ridgefield has a core membership of about 40 volunteers—neighbors, professionals, and retirees committed to serving the community. High school students can also get involved through the Ridgefield Interact Club, sponsored by Rotary and widely regarded as an outstanding example of student leadership. For larger fundraisers, the club occasionally partners with organizations like Ridgefield Little League, Boy Scouts of America, and Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield. But for the most part, this relatively small group has quietly become one of the town’s most impactful organizations, consistently raising more than $100,000 each year—and giving it all away.
Between the NFL conference championships and Super Bowl Sunday each winter comes Taste of Ridgefield. This past February, the fundraiser celebrated its 25th anniversary. Local restaurants donate food and staff, guests purchase tickets to sample dishes from some of the best kitchens in and around town, and young volunteers help clean up afterward. The result is part fundraiser, part town tradition.
Then there’s RRRESTAFFLE in the fall, where participants can purchase $20 raffle tickets for the chance to win gift cards redeemable at roughly 65 local restaurants and eateries. Last year’s grand prize winner took home $2,500 in gift cards—25 different cards worth $100 each. Second place received 12 cards worth $1,200; third took 6 cards worth $600.
But Rotary’s generosity extends well beyond flags and food.
One of the defining features of Ridgefield is the canopy of mature trees lining its roads and neighborhoods. But decades of disease and aging growth have left gaps throughout town—and replacing trees is expensive. Rotary saw an opportunity not only to raise funds, but also to help restore part of Ridgefield’s landscape in the process.
Rotarian Bill Wyman has spearheaded the Replanting Ridgefield project. For $4,000, donors can sponsor one tree; three trees cost $10,000. Each comes with a dedication plaque. So far, Replanting Ridgefield has raised $120,000.
“Some of the dedications are so poignant,” Kathy says. “One man bought three trees because Ridgebury firefighters had saved his wife’s life.”
Another moving dedication is for a tree planted in front of Keeler Tavern in honor of Rotarian Joel Third. Joel was a beloved community figure who passed away this spring.
“We have an award called the Making a Difference Award, which was just started last year,” Kathy says. “It was awarded to Joel and, as his prize, we planted a tree in his honor.”
Every year, Rotary awards the largest scholarship at Ridgefield High School. This year, the club is awarding two $10,000 scholarships through a blind review process. Committee members never see applicants’ names as they work through roughly 250 submissions, evaluating need, service, and circumstance.
“It’s truly remarkable what some of these kids are dealing with and still accomplishing,” says Joe Cleary, who oversees the scholarship program and recently took the helm as President. “It gets harder and harder to choose as you whittle it down.”
Rotary’s grant program—which any nonprofit can apply to—supports a wide range of local needs, with the club awarding roughly 50 grants each year to area organizations. Recent funding has helped provide everything from a washer and dryer at the Ridgefield Theater Barn to new computers at Woodcock Nature Center. Both projects received special matching district grants, doubling Rotary’s contribution and bringing total support for each organization to about $5,000.
Then there are the more ephemeral efforts—ones that don’t necessarily show up on a balance sheet.
Every day in May, Rotary volunteers picked up meals donated by local restaurants and delivered them to first responders. Around Easter, there’s the Ballard Park egg scramble, where approximately 6,000 eggs are scooped up by Ridgefield children in roughly 90 seconds. There’s the monthly Grove Street cleanup, where volunteers collect litter. And there’s the annual Day of Service. This year, Rotarians are headed to Sunrise Cottage on Sunset Lane to seal the driveway and plant flowers.
And there’s work that reaches far beyond Ridgefield’s borders. This past year, Rotary members collected and shipped books to schools in the Philippines—funding the postage so that children halfway around the world could have something to read.
Closer to home, they restocked the library at The Center’s residential facility known as The Patricia House sure to include titles in Spanish and Portuguese for bilingual families. Because Service Above Self, it turns out, has no zip code.
Each year, Rotary also hosts its Citizen of the Year dinner, honoring a community member who exemplifies Service Above Self. Held at Silver Spring Country Club, the event directly benefits the club’s scholarship and grant programs. This year’s honoree was Pete Nichols, a retired science teacher from Ridgefield High School who now volunteers with more than a dozen local organizations focused on conservation, public safety, housing, and community outreach.
The Rotary Club of Ridgefield is always looking for new members. The group meets weekly in the garden house at Keeler Tavern, and three out of four meetings per month feature a guest speaker. While Rotary once required weekly attendance, the club recently updated its bylaws to better reflect the realities of modern life, and this is no longer an absolute requirement.
“Service Above Self” isn’t just Rotary’s motto—it’s the club’s operating system. And in a town like Ridgefield, where the people who show up tend to really show up, it makes a certain kind of sense that a group like this has spent the last 85 years quietly, deliberately, endlessly making things better—not just for the citizens of this community, but for people around the world.
To learn more about Ridgefield Rotary or get involved, visit ridgefieldrotary.org.