The Rotary Club of Royal Palm Beach met Thursday, Jan. 30 at the Pirate’s Well in Royal Palm Beach. It was the last meeting to be held at the Pirate’s Well. As of this week, the club will meet at Hilary’s Restaurant in the Royal Plaza on Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. This is not only a new meeting venue, but a change to the day of the week as well.
At the meeting on Jan. 30, the club heard a report from the Tribute Committee that has been busy organizing the upcoming tribute to the Town-Crier newspaper. Chairman Dan Splain advised that the date of the tribute has been changed to Saturday, May 2, remaining at the Royal Palm Beach Cultural Center. The change was made to avoid conflicts with other events previously scheduled in the Palm Beach County area and will permit more public officials to attend the tribute as the Town-Crier celebrates its 40th year of service to the people of Palm Beach County.
New member Steve Gazzillo, a well-known entrepreneur, was formally inducted as a Rotary member. Rotary President Dan Morales introduced the guest speaker for the meeting. Bob Margolis, former mayor of Wellington, now serves as marketing and development director of the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches. Margolis shared the history of the Young Singers and the opportunities that the group has provided for the youth in Palm Beach County.
Young Singers was established by several music educators in Palm Beach County, including Shawn Berry, Michael Yannette and Connie Drosakis. Each of the founders has extensive experience in music for the young voice and enjoy local and national recognition for their accomplishments. They envisioned a children’s choral organization that would not be constrained by school boundaries, religious affiliations, racial bias, socio-economic barriers or funding cuts to arts education.
This dream was realized during the summer of 2003. The first choir season began with 79 singers in grades 4 through 12, assigned by grade level and ability to two choirs. Young Singers has grown from this grassroots concept to a force in the choral community. They have performed locally, nationally and internationally. The Young Singers are in its 17th year as Palm Beach County’s premier community-based children’s choir, based at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, with 300 singers from all parts of the county.
Margolis is a prime example of retiring to action. He had a long and successful career as a product manager for Procter & Gamble, was an elected official in Wellington for many years and now uses his talent and expertise to assist one of Palm Beach County’s premier youth performance groups. His life story exemplifies the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self.”
For more info., visit www.rpbrotary.org.
