[From the 2026 Home & Lifestyle Magazine]
Rotary’s Motto in Action
The Rotary motto, “Service Above Self,” drives our membership to do good things in our own community as well as for communities around the world. Our membership shares a love of Saratoga with a strong desire to make it better for everyone who lives here. Weekly club meetings not only encourage camaraderie but provide opportunities to network with local business leaders and learn more about our community through a series of scheduled speakers. Rotary welcomes new members at any time.
The Rotary Home & Lifestyle show makes it possible for the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs to financially support our community’s 501(c)(3) organizations as we strengthen community spirit. The Club expects to raise $85,000 from this year’s event. Over the course of the year, these proceeds are re-distributed to community organizations, educational scholarships and international humanitarian projects.
Rotary Supports Local Non-Profits
Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs donating $1,000 to ShelterBox USA.
The Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs makes monthly and annual financial gifts over the course of each year:
• Monthly Gifts: Every month the club makes charitable contributions to worthy non-profit organizations in amounts ranging from $100 up to $5,000. We eagerly accept letters describing your organization’s needs to fund items other than operating costs. Please include specifics on how Rotary can help. On average, Rotary supports local organizations by giving over $30,000 to over 30 charities each and every year!
• Major Gifts: The Club awards a Major Gift biennially, typically ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, to area organizations seeking to complete a specific project. Please visit our website to learn more and apply!
Criteria for these donations are explained on the club’s website at saratogaspringsrotary.org
You may also get general information at the Rotary booth on the main floor of the Home & Lifestyle Show.
Rotary Supports International Relief Efforts
Part of Rotary's mission involves donating to world disaster recovery efforts and improving life for citizens in developing countries. The Saratoga Springs Club sent Shelter Boxes for war refugees in Syria and typhoon victims in the Philippines, funded well construction in Rwanda and supported Pure Water for the World.
ShelterBox USA
Rotary Supports Education
The Saratoga Springs Rotary Education Foundation honored high school seniors with $100,000 in college scholarships in 2025
The Saratoga Springs Rotary Education Foundation raises funds to give financial scholarships to deserving high school seniors who plan to pursue additional education. The Foundation (SaratogaSpringsScholarships.org) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization which partners with the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs to award scholarships. The Saratoga Springs Rotary Education Foundation awarded $100,000 in scholarships to 15 local students.
One-year scholarships ranged in amounts from $2,500 to $6,000. In addition, one high school senior is selected to receive our Presidential Scholarship. The winner of this award receives $5,000 per year for four years for a total of $20,000. The winner of the Presidential Scholarship for 2025 is Carol Wang who is attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in Computation and Cognition.
The 2025 Presidential Award winner Carol Wang.
Join Rotary!
Membership in the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs offers an excellent opportunity for Saratoga area businesses and individuals to make new friends while making a positive impact on the community and the world. The more than forty members of the Club meet three times per month and host regular social events at local Saratoga restaurants. Contact us at
Rotary realizes that people are busy and may not be able to attend every meeting. Obviously, the Club encourages good attendance. The more involved you are the more you will learn about all the wonderful things we do. Involvement in our Rotary-sponsored community efforts as well as participating on Club committees will further prove we believe in our motto, “Service Above Self.”
We invite prospective members to join us for a meeting or an evening gathering. Just show up and introduce yourself. Also check us out at saratogaspringsrotary.org and on Facebook & Instagram. Please stop by the Rotary booth at the show to speak to a Rotarian and get your questions answered. Individual and corporate memberships are available.
Rotary International
Did you know you can travel to almost every part of the world and find a Rotary Club? Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves.
Solving real problems takes commitment and vision. For more than 110 years, Rotarians have used their passion, energy and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects. From literacy and peace to water and health, we are always working to better our world, and we stay committed to the end.
Rotary members believe we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues. Rotary International’s 35,000+ clubs work together to:
• Promote peace
• Fight disease
• Provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene
• Save mothers and children
• Support education
• Grow local economies
• Protect the environment
We provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.
Rotary Works to End Polio
For more than 30 years, Rotary has been working to eradicate polio. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Rotary has reduced polio cases by 99.9% since its first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. We’ve helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.
Today polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, but it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Rotary Supports your Community
Here is a sampling of the many organizations supported by The Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs.
Rotary Celebrates Service
Senior Citizen of the Year, Patricia Temple was awarded $1,000 by the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs to her charity of choice – Olde Saratoga Seniors Club.
2025 Senior Citizen of the Year Award
Annually, the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs’ Senior Citizen of the Year award honors a Saratoga County resident, aged 65 or better, who demonstrates the Rotary principle of “Service Above Self.”
Patricia Temple of Schuylerville, NY was chosen by the Saratoga Springs Rotary Club as their Senior Citizen of the Year Honoree for 2025
A graduate of Schuylerville High School, Class of 1967, Pat earned her associate’s degree in accounting at Adirondack Community College, 1983.
She was married to Thompson F. Temple. They have two children and four grandchildren. She worked as a bookkeeper in Saratoga Springs while attending Adirondack Community College and worked for the Town of Halfmoon for 15 years until she retired in 2011. The following year she started working part-time for the Town of Saratoga where she is still employed. She started her own business, the Patricia Temple Tax Service, in 1990 that serves approximately 250 clients and 15 businesses.
Active in her community, Pat has served as the Treasurer for the General Schuyler Rescue squad until they merged with Wilton Emergency Squad, on the Wilton Emergency Squad Board of Directors, and as the Former Treasurer for Schuyler Hose Company. She currently is Treasurer for Olde Saratoga Seniors Club, Bookkeeping for Greater Schuylerville Area Youth Center and works as an advocate for Schuylerville Public Library and Schuylerville Central School District.
The Senior Citizen of the Year receives $1,000.00 from the club to be given to the charity or non-profit of their choice. Patricia has chosen the Olde Saratoga Seniors Club to be the recipient of this donation. Please join us in congratulating her on this honor.
If you know a Saratoga County senior whose volunteer service is exemplary, please consider nominating them for this award. Nominations are due this spring, and forms can be found on the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs website, at saratogaspringsrotary.org. The award, which includes a donation to the Saratoga County non-profit organization of the honoree's choice, will be given at the club's spring meeting.