SPRINGFIELD — The Rotary Club of Springfield has installed Oscar Mena De Leon as its 2024-25 president.
Mena De Leon, who was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Springfield, is the youngest person to serve in this role for the Springfield Rotary Club. Upon graduation from high school in 2014, where he was voted ‘most likely to succeed,’ he also received the Outstanding Vocational Student of the Year award signed by the state Senate for Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy.
He is an insurance agent with Comparion Insurance Agency, a Liberty Mutual Company, and is a first-time dad.
As president of the Springfield Rotary Club, Mena De Leon said he plans to concentrate on two of Rotary’s areas of focus — basic education/literacy and the environment — to help promote the well-being and success of youth in the community.
“Reflecting on my childhood — and this is bittersweet, as it’s my 10-year [high-school] reunion this summer — I want to make sure that the next generation has the support, resources, and habitable/sustainable community they need for a long, purposeful and healthy life,” he said. “We have a saying in Rotary: we are better together. I say, if not us, then who will?”
This promises to be an exciting year for the Rotary Club. Springfield Rotary, in cooperation with the Basketball Hall of Fame, sponsors the Service Above Self Luncheon to honor local and national figures for their charitable work. It has become the largest business luncheon in the area, and this year’s event will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12.
Springfield Rotary also offers monthly volunteer opportunities and distributes grants, averaging $10,000 per year, to local charities. To learn more about becoming an individual or corporate member, visit www.springfieldmarotary.org.