History of the Rotary Club of Kenosha - West:

When Morton Frost and Emory McNeil approached Al DeSimone to organize a new Rotary Club in Kenosha in 1971, it set into motion one of Kenosha's most active service clubs. For the next 34 years and right up until today, Rotary West has been providing community services and activities to benefit local, national and even international causes.

The new club was spirited by the Rotary Club of Kenoshain commemoration of their 50th anniversary. By recruiting DeSimone, the success of the club was a foregone conclusion. DeSimone gathered 34 charter members as the club was officially inducted into Rotary International on December 30, 1970. Membership today is 65.

DeSimone was elected to the prestigious position of District Governor of Rotary District 627 (predecessor to today's District 6270) during the Rotary year 1975-1976.

Rotary is founded on four avenues of service - international, community, vocational and club service. In 1974 the club won an award from Rotary International for a project they had sponsored in Leon, Mexico. The club contributed $10,000 to the Leon School for mentally and physically handicapped children and also delivered a fire truck to the community.

Kenosha-West has a long history of involvement in Rotary's student exchange program, sponsoring both outbound students to many different countries as well as hosting inbound students from as far away as France, Belgium, Finland and Thailand.

Funds for Rotary-West's community service projects have been raised in a number of ways through the years. In the early days, the club sponsored a corn and brat roast. The club's annual Softball Tournament at Lincoln Park evolved from that. The tournament is Rotary-West's largest fundraising initiative, with over $40,000 raised annually.

For the past several years, Rotary-West has also led District 6270 in total number of tickets sold for the annual Super Bowl raffle.

In the area of Community Service, besides raising and distributing funds to a wide variety of organizations and causes, Rotary-West participates in other community activities. These include the Salvation Army's annual Kettle "bell-ringing" campaign, and the Christmas toys for needy children campaign organized by the Kenosha County department of Human Services.

Rotary-West is also the naming sponsor of the Boys and Girls Club annual Gourmet Food and Wine event and their inner-city Basketball league.

Vocational service by Rotary-West consists of organizing and conducting a Shadow Day program for area high school students, at which the high-schoolers identify an area of employment interest and spend time with Rotarians and others in that field of work.

Club service is the avenue which provides opportunities for social and fellowship activities within the club. These include the annual Charter Night celebration, Changing of the Guard, a Christmas Party, golf league and many other activities.

The Rotary Club of Kenosha-West prides itself today on continuing the proud tradition established by Al DeSimone and the other charter members. "Service Above Self" is the Rotary motto and at the Rotary Club of Kenosha-West it is adhered to enthusiastically.