Stony Brook Rotary helps with ‘Million Mask Challenge’

By Chris Cumella

The Rotary Club of Stony Brook is lending aid in a community-involvement project designed to help those in need of face masks to receive them.

Hope Kinney, president of the club and branch manager of Investors Bank, oversees the Rotary and plans to distribute masks to organizations in the area that include local businesses, schools and more.

The Million Mask Challenge has been orchestrated by Rotary International, an  organization designed to aid in community outreach and assistance. Stony Brook Rotary is just one of 35,000 clubs globally with over 1.2 million members. With the clubs’ combined efforts, the goal is to distribute a million masks worldwide.

“We picked up our supply of 4,000 masks [recently] when the Rotarian groups of the New York area met together in Hicksville,” Kinney said. “We’re going to give to the local library, the churches, temples and anybody else in the community that is interested.”

The main focus for distribution plans to revolve around local businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and those people who are more at risk. 

According to Rotary’s vice president, Jeannette Merola, the process will be door-to-door style. Through the efforts of 20 volunteers, deliveries will be made to those in need in St. James, Setauket and Stony Brook as soon as Saturday, Jan. 23.

“I have 1,000 masks in my room ready to go,” Merola said. “This whole thing is meant to encourage and foster the ideal of community service and to give back.”

The Rotary Club of Stony Brook meets every other Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at Stony Brook’s The Bench. The Million Mask Challenge is one of many volunteer opportunities offered. Kinney has encouraged those interested in visiting the club’s website at www.stonybrookrotary.com, showing up to meetings and asking any questions.

For some members, the Rotary is a constant commitment for the sake of others. This includes Dan Berger, outreach and public relations manager, who has worked as the team’s PR for the past 14 years following his days first volunteering with the organization as far back as the 1980s.

“One of my great early memories was one of our fundraisers at the Stony Brook horse show next to Old Field Club,” Berger said. “I spent the day making hot dogs and hamburgers for people — it was a lot of fun.”

The Rotary Club of Stony Brook shares the goal of aiding those in the community while remembering those who were part of their past deeds. It has been some nine months since the passing of George Rehn, who devoted 40 years to Rotary and served as district governor and president of the club.

Kinney was appointed president of the club in July and has made an effort alongside her colleagues to keep Rehn in heart by helping the community with campaigns such as the mask challenge.

“He lived and breathed being a Rotarian,” Kinney said. “He always had nice things to say about everybody, and he would be very proud of us and the achievements that we’re working toward.”