Pictured are: President Jeff, and Tiel Students Mette-Mylene, Marloes, Marieke and Robert
Tiel Students Give a Glimpse Into Dutch Life
Since 1977, the Rotary Club of Norfolk has sponsored a summer youth exchange with a Rotary Club in Tiel, The Netherlands. We have alternated years sending teens between Norfolk and the Netherlands ever since.
Thanks to the leadership and coordination of Dr. Diane Wallach, this summer two Rotary clubs in Tiel sent four students to Norfolk – all of them children of Rotarians. Chip Vogan picked them up in Washington, D.C. this past weekend and delivered them to their Norfolk host families, including the Searings, Wallachs and Bockheims whose teens visited Tiel last summer.
At the July 18 club meeting, Tiel Students introduced themselves noting that they have looked forward to the exchange for many years and that most of them had older siblings who were exchange students:
Robert, 17, attends hotel business school (like college), plays bass guitar, helps his dad with carpentry and builds small things, and enjoys skiing. In Tiel, he lives with his parents, brother, sister, and two dogs.
Mette-Mylene, 17, studies history at a university. She enjoys photography, wind surfing, and sailing. This summer she is teaching wind surfing and sailing to Dutch students. She also coaches field hockey coach, is in a band, and enjoys music. Her family includes her parents, brother and sister.
Marloes, 18, is in a pre-university school and plans to study medicine. She enjoys hanging out with her dog and friends and has helped birth sheep on her friend’s farm. She lives with her family, brother and sister and enjoys partying, where she says she’s legally allowed to do at home since she is 18.
Marieke, 16, has one more year of pre-university (high school). She enjoys skiing, field hockey, and walking the mountains of Austria. She lives with her parents, sister and brother.
The students provided history of Tiel, one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands whose mascot is "Flipje", a raspberry.
Tiel was a significant trading town in the 10th century. Recently, archeologists found a burial mount from 4000 BC, similar to Stonehenge, that is considered the oldest solar calendar in the Netherlands. During World War II, bombings hit Tiel hard causing structural damage. The town is bordered by the Waal river and the Linge river and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. Floods have led to dikes surrounding the town to prevent future flooding.
The students are impressed that everything in the United States is big, including the size and volume of grapes in grocery stores and meal portions in restaurants. They love the idea of free drink refills with their meals.
In The Netherlands, floor numbering begins with zero, so they are baffled we start with 1 for the first floor. Coming from a country that has more bikes than people, they are surprised to not see many cyclists on our roads and are confused by American bike hand signals. They are also dumbfounded by the abundance of stop signs here and the lack of roundabouts. They notice that patriotism is rampant with U.S. flags everywhere, but are surprised at how easy it is to buy a gun here in comparison to their country’s many gun restrictions. The students also have noticed our summer heat!
The Meeting
Jim Tucker introduced Rotarians with guests:
Dianne Wallach noted Tiel hosts Eleanor Wallach, Katie Searing, and Noelle Searing came to the meeting to support the visiting students.
President Jeff Wells brought his neighbor Dr. Bruce Johnson.
Chick Robison brought Peter Schmidt, new CEO at Norfolk Botanical Garden (who is being voted on for membership).
President Jeff encouraged members to sign up for committees.
Jeff Ryder from Virginia Stage Company received his Blue Badge and spoke about how many members of his family are Rotarians.
Past President Mark Shaw, director for membership, encouraged members to share what Rotary does and help build membership. He suggested exploring what industries are we missing in our club.
Vice President Dave Duncan introduced this year’s program’s committee, and noted they are already hard at working planning future club speakers.
Past President Sigur Whitaker, foundation chair, noted our club won a foundation award at the District Awards and presented Paul Harris Fellow pins to:
Marilyn Gowen
Rob Sult
Mark Shaw
Chick Robison
John Searing
Alan Nelson
Sally Hartman
Randy Garrett
Bob Ash
Fines and Happy Bucks
Barb Lipskis – Welcomed her 11th grandchild and also paid a congratulatory fine to Jeff Wells for winning the Golden Rotarian award at the District Conference
Joe Massey couldn’t resist giving happy bucks to let everyone know, after we sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It”…that he’s happy even if just can’t show it.
2023-23 District Governor Kenny Janes (right) presents Jeff Wells the Golden Rotarian award.
On July 15, Rotary District 7600 honored Rotary Club of Norfolk President Jeff Wells with the Golden Rotarian award. It honored him for being actively engaged in Rotary for 35+ and embodying Service Above Self. Here is an excerpt from President Jeff's nomination submitted by Past Club President Sally Hartman with supporting letters from 2022-23 President Laurie Harrison and past District Governor John Padgett, who described Jeff as "a Rotarian's Rotarian":
Jeff Wells is an active Rotarian who leads by example through community service and constantly promoting Rotary. As the 2023-24 president of the Rotary Club of Norfolk, Jeff leads his third Rotary Club. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Paramus and Rotary Club of Ridgewood, both in New Jersey. Jeff became a Rotarian at age 22 and a Paul Harris Fellow at age 26. He is a Rotary Foundation Major Donor and has made sure that all his family members are Paul Harris Fellows.
When relocating his architectural firm to Norfolk in 2015, Jeff immediately joined the Rotary Club of Norfolk and became engaged. As in his other two clubs, while climbing the leadership ladder he has been secretary/treasurer, vice president of programs and president-elect. He also has led impactful community service projects.
As president of Norfolk Rotary Charities last year, Jeff oversaw annual grant awards of more than $30,000 to dozens of area nonprofits. In 2019, he co-led a major Rotary District Grant project that revitalized the Hunton Y – a social service Y in one of Norfolk’s poorest neighborhoods. He rallied Rotarians around the Y and helped secure a $25,000 District grant to install a commercial kitchen and renovate a room for a children’s library. This led to the Y having capacity to daily feed 250 children and older residents breakfast and lunch during the pandemic’s first year. His efforts helped the Norfolk club win the District’s 2020 Rotary Connects the World Award in 2020 for its work.
In 2022, Jeff spearheaded his club’s participation in Norfolk’s December holiday parade. He built and drove the float and drummed up enthusiasm for a new event that even reluctant club members enjoyed. He also lined up all speakers for 2021-22 meetings and ran audio-visuals at meetings. He co-chaired the club’s 2022 golf tournament that raised $5,000 for Polio Plus. Jeff participates in all club community service projects -- cleaning streets, organizing toys for the Salvation Army, packing backpacks for food-insecure children, landscaping the zoo and stage company prop warehouse, and serving beverages at fundraisers.
Jeff is a hands-on leader. In New Jersey he led Rotarians in building playgrounds, planting trees and creating a park for a special-needs home. Starting in 1999, he traveled to Haiti every six months (more than 30 times) with Rotarians to help build schools, homes and medical facilities for an 800-child orphanage. He filled a bus with medical supplies and shipped it to Haiti and also brought a wind turbine to provide electricity at the orphanage. In 2020, Jeff traveled to India to help build a playground and install educational software at an orphanage.
Jeff’s enthusiasm for Rotary is contagious. He is always recruiting potential Rotarians and regularly brings friends, neighbors and colleagues to meetings. In February, he spearheaded his club's Membership Month that encouraged members to invite guests to meetings. By March at least five February visitors had joined the Norfolk club.
At the district level, Jeff worked for two years with Rotary Youth Leadership (RYLA) and attended many district trainings and annual conferences. He previously was active in his New Jersey district.
Even after more than 40 years as a Rotarian, Jeff remains an engaged and proud Rotarian always ready to serve.
