Growing up, Kathleen Beaudreau-Amaral said she watched her parents modeled community service as a Boy Scout Troop leader and the “quintessential PTO mom,” and from a young age, she too kept herself involved in the community.

“I always felt compelled to be in service,” Amaral said.

For the last approximately five years, Amaral has been a member of Dartmouth’s Rotary Club and on Thursday, June 20 she was made the club’s president.

Amaral said the Dartmouth community has only become more valuable to her as it continues support her family, especially her son who has disabilities.

“I've always been open minded about service and being so grateful for what the community has done for my family and my son,” she said. “That just amplifies the reasons why I want to give back.”

She encouraged other community members to join the Rotary.

“We all share in our commitment to the community,” Amaral said. “It's always about service. It's always about friendship. It's about crossing lines — accepting others’ thoughts and ideas. It’s about diversity, integrity and leadership. And so I'm hopeful that I can move forward and really build upon what [Richard Arruda] has done through his leadership.”

Carl Alves, Rotary assistant governor for Dartmouth, highlighted Richard Arruda who is stepping down from the president position.

“I so admire you,” Alves said. “I didn't know you before you entered the club, but I so respect you and all that you've accomplished.”

Alves emphasizes Arruda’s willingness to help people, focus on safety and how straightforward he is, adding he enjoyed serving under him.

In regard to the Rotary overall, Alves said he has recently been thinking about how important the organization has been to him.

“Life is fragile and it's about service and that's what rotary is about,” he said.

Like Amaral, he encouraged others to join and highlighted the Rotary’s liaison for the new “Rotary Service Squad,” Audrey Kertscher, Dartmouth High School Student Council president.

Alves said the service squad’s goal will be to engage more of the youth in community service at Dartmouth High School, Bishop Stang High School and Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School.

“Our future is young,” Alves said, adding how excited he was for the ideas Kertscher has already shared.

“We're going to be doing more and bigger things, and it starts here,” he said. “I'm so proud of the folks that are doing this work.”