Rotary Club Holds Annual Beefsteak Dinner

Close to 400 people made their way down to the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville to support the Rotary Club of Sayville's annual Beefsteak Dinner. Local Rotarians – including president Jim Folks – were serving their traditional menu of clams-on-the-half-shell, sliced filet mignon with a secret sauce and corn on the cob.

The event, which has been held annually since 1952, is the largest fundraiser of the year for the club, with almost all of the proceeds going toward its community programs. They include: The Sayville Food Pantry; Camp Pa-qua-tuck; Hospice Programs; Relay for Life; Splashes of Hope; The Gift of Life Program; The Rotary Foundation; Foreign Student Exchange; The Long Island Maritime Museum and more.

Locally, the Rotary Club is involved in projects such as the Spring Town Clean-Up; Homecoming Parade; Rotary Pet Parade; Sayville Summerfest and Rotary Student of the Month Awards. "The Rotary Club is also involved with local Cub Scout troops, animal rescue leagues and reading programs," said Vera Esposito, who has been a Rotary member since 1989, the first year the club let women into the program. She added that her husband was against letting woman into the Rotary Club, but she received support from local members in Patchogue to join.

Gift baskets, filled with wine and other prizes and raffles were also part of the event, put together as part of members' dues for the year. "Every year this wonderful community event attracts anywhere from 300 to 400 people," said Folks, who has been with the Rotary Club for five years and serves as president this year. "All of the funds raised here today go toward our many programs – such as Gift of Life that helps children from other countries come to the U.S. to get live-saving surgeries."