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Carlisle Sunrise Rotary Club - The Beginning

A group of six pioneers guided by Mr. Buzz Coho, pictured at left, began to consider the formation of a second Rotary Club in Carlise, PA in March of 2003. Mr. Coho, at the age of 90, had previously guided the creation of ten clubs to full chartered status. The Tuesday morning meeting tradition began at this time as the team worked to determine whether or not there was enough interest to form a second club. The initial meetings were held in the Comfort Inn in Carlisle. Rotarians from the West Point-Highland Falls Club and members from the existing "noon" time club brought a wealth of Rotary experience to the team and very quickly determined that the concept for a new club was viable.

The breakfast format was a desireable alternative for those who had considered Rotary membership, but could not make the noon meetings. Local business and military leaders stepped forward when informed of the iniative and by July 2003, fifteen members formed a provisional club. Kevin Cogan, a past president of the West Point-Highland Falls Club became the first president and the journey to obtain the Carlisle Sunrise Rotary Club Charter began.

An ambitious schedule was created to reach chartered status as soon as possible. Buzz Coho pushed the group to meet required milestones, the most ambitious of which was reaching 25 members. As the group grew, a change of venue for meetings was also recognized. Jeff Goss, proprietor of the Market Cross Pub, was approached and agreed to provide a hot breakfast for the group.

As the club continued to work towards the 25 member milestone, a program schedule was established to bring focus to the club's meetings and service projects were initiated both in support of noon club projects and new service inititatives tackled by Carlisle Sunrise Rotarians. The club participated in a park clean-up with the noon time club, picked up sponsorship and maintenance responsibity for a "tot lot", served as shoppers in support of Carlisle's annual "Warm the Children" initiative, assisted the noon club with Salvation Army "bell ringing" and even helped with the sponorship of a Rotary Exchange student from France.

November 2003 is a key milestone for the club. On November 11, 2003, Mr. Jeff Goss was our program speaker and at the conclusion of his talk announced that he would be our 25th member. With the help of Buzz, paperwork requesting our Charter was sent to Rotary International and the approval of our Charter was signed on December 1st, 2003 creating Rotary Club #63878, a mere 8 months after conception.

Buzz Coho, with his mission complete was honored as an Honorary Charter Member and badge box #1 is forever reserved for his badge. In eight months, Buzz logged over 6,000 miles of travel to support the creation of the Carlisle Sunrise Rotary Club.