Our History

 

Rotary of Toms River was officially chartered as Rotary Club Number 7731 on March 23, 1951. There were 26 charter members, many of whom had served in WWII.

 

Two hundred Rotarians from 25 New Jersey Rotary Clubs, attended our official Charter Night dinner on April 21, 1951, and our local sponsoring clubs were the Rotary Clubs of Seaside and Lakewood. Distinguished guests from the Rotary Club of Hamburg, Germany honored The Rotary Club of Toms River as the “Newest Rotary Club in the world”; and saw Clyde Slocum installed as our first President.

 

Since our inception we have supported international projects including the Netherlands Relief Fund, Klothes for Korea, and funded an international Rotary Graduate Scholarship (which enabled Robert Gasser, who later to become an Ocean County Freeholder) attend the University of Hong Kong, and Robert Lee to pursue advanced studies in South America. The club hosted a Rotary Exchange Student from Sweden, Ulf Sarner, who lived with Manny & Janet Hirshblond, andThe Rotary Club of Toms River was responsible for bringing internet service to schools in St. Petersburg, Russia through a Rotary Grant.

 

On a local level; our club helped raise significant funding for the establishment of Community Medical Center, The House of Hope, provided funds to help build the first clubhouse for the Toms River Little League, helped create public walking trails around Bey Lea Golf Course, provided  hands-on construction at Castle Park, upgraded the exterior of Oceans Harbor House, helped to construct a provisional training center at Brookville, and worked to improve the conditions at Citta Boy Scout Camp.

 

The Rotary Club of Toms River, and its members responded to the devastating crisis of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 by contributing funds to purchase construction materials that helped rebuild the Island Heights First Aid building, the Seaside Park Fire Company, and The Little Egg Harbor Community Center. We helped subsidize the purchase of appliances for families in Union Beach, donated the funds to help St. Paul’s UMC to purchase food for the meals of 600 people per day for months, paid for the installation of new gas lines and electrical upgrades for the stoves at St. Paul’s UMC, provided funds for Visitation Church to build a downstairs bathroom and helped purchase an ATV to help in the clean-up of debris from our shoreline. We also donated a large number of gift cards for those residents needing clothes, food, and personal necessities.

 

The Rotary Club of Toms River continues to support the Rotary International Polio Plus program, Shelter Box, and Rotary District 7505 Gift of Life Foundation.

 

Our support of organizations and community endeavors is unwavering as we look forward to our 70^th anniversary in 2021.