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.