Neponset Valley Sunrise Rotary Club makes a splash

The 24th annual Neponset Valley Sunrise Rotary Club (NVS) Duck Race launched hundreds of ducks into the Charles River at Marie Louise Kehoe Park in Dedham last week.

While the current drought has affected the water levels and the Charles’ flow, that didn’t stop the hundreds of residents from all over the Neponset Valley from having a good time.

Rotary Club President and Impact Norwood Program Coordinator Bob Blood said he recently took over the organization. He said the work has been something else, and he was happy to see the turnout and participation in the annual event be so high.

“This is fantastic, all these people here,” he said. “We’re having a blast right now. We’ve got a front-end loader full of ducks to throw into the river.”

The duck race itself ran into problems, as the drought affected the current and the ducks’ path, but that didn’t stop everyone from trying. The race was, overall, a success, as well as the fundraiser. Blood pointed out that everything at the event was free and provided by the Rotary.

Blood said his time with the Rotary has been busy, but very productive for the region.

“It’ll be a year in July; it’s been going very well and we’ve done a lot of successful events so far,” Blood said. “We’ve donated thousands in scholarships to the Blue Hills Regional School, and we also sponsored two kids for the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy. Kids go out to Fitchburg University to learn leadership skills. We also had a very successful comedy night a couple of weeks ago, which was a lot of fun too.”

Blood added that the group will be celebrating its 25th year of existence with a little party at Gemma’s in Norwood on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m., so mark your calendars. He also said he wanted to thank the day’s volunteers for pitching in.

“I want to give my many thanks to Nico Arranz for coordinating the Norwood High DECA students who came and volunteered to help today as well as Mike Sheehan of Blue Hills Regional Technical School for coordinating and bringing students from Blue Hills as well. Additionally a huge shout out to Ashton Minton of Bellingham who did a fantastic job as ‘Donald Duck.’”

Former NVS head Kevin Hallinan said he was happy to see the day turn out as it did, and said while he’s not in the driver’s seat anymore, he’s glad the Rotary’s mission of helping the community is continuing.

“This is our 24th year, and it’s just great to see so many people here supporting us,” he said. “I see a lot of returning faces and a lot of new faces all the time – probably because it’s for kids – but it’s just great. Everything here is donated and everything is free, and all the proceeds go to the organizations that we support, including food pantries, centers for domestic violence, anywhere where we can help out.”

The Rotary meets weekly at the Norwood Four Points Sheraton at 7:30 p.m. For more information on the group, go to https://www.nvsrotaryevents.org

Resident Nancy Lyons said this was her first such race. She said she heard about it online, and was excited to see the drop.

Advertisement

“It seemed fun,” she said. “This is adorable. There is an entire front-loader full of ducks!”

Resident Fernando Calero said he was in Dedham for the Flag Day Parade before the race.

“And we just saw the float and said we’d go check it out,” he said. “The Rotary Club, they do a great job and they’re totally friendly. We’re having a great time.”

Resident Ben Tuttle said he likes the Rotary’s mission, and thought this was a great way to support the group.

“It’s family friendly and everything’s free, which is impressive and surprisingly nice,” he said. “I like it.”