Norwich Rotary Club
December 7th, 2022
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: Mary Richardson filling in for Susy Hurlbert
Invocation: Former Norwich Rotarian Rev. Cal Lord
Fellowship: Nancy Gentes
Birthdays: Erin Gizio-December 12th
Anniversaries: Joel Etra-None
Visiting Rotarians: Cal Lord – Westerly, RI
Guests: Mary Richardson introduced Debbie Kievits
Nancy asked in 2011 what holiday traditions fellow Rotarians liked. She read some of the answers from that time and we tried to guess which Rotarians favorite traditions they were. Some were guessed correct. Rotarian quotes back then came from Stan Lucas, Larry Fowler, Gary Young, Bill Champagne, Matt Isenburg, Joel Etra and Kim Brunelli.
Announcements:
*Mary Richardson had the following announcements:
*The United Way had a few Rotarian’s from our club along with volunteers from the morning club to pack food boxes on December 2nd at their facility
*A total of 739 coats were distributed from the club for the needy in our area.
*Mary Richardson & Andrew Nollman want to hear from you regarding the Nominating Committee and succession for officers and Board Members of the club.
*Rotarians are encouraged to please invite prospective members for lunch and introduce them to the world of Rotary.
*The club will be looking for speakers. Should you know of an appropriate guest speaker contact Bob Farwell or Kevin Wickless.
*Kindness gardens are now available for purchase on the Rotary Website. $150.00 for small, $250.00 for large and $500.00 extra large
Happy Dollars: – Jen Granger
*Jen reported that she was happy to be back at the club meeting as she had a very busy November as her assistant left and she had to hire a new one. She also said this was the start of her 11th year at the helm at UCFS and she joined Rotary shortly after that.
*Nancy Gentes wondered if the club was interested in doing a “Yankee Swap” again this year for the holidays.
*Cal Lord was happy to be visiting the Norwich club and was happy to see so many old friends.
*Bill Champagne welcomed our guest speaker Samayira Smith, from the CT Historical Society and told a story of his wife Patrice volunteered cataloging files at the society years ago. He also welcomed Cal back to the club.
*Mike Matera said this will be his 20th year helping the Tommy Toy Fund buying toys and storing them until distribution. He gave kudos to State Trooper Ron Adams for securing 11 pallets of toys from Walmart. He said it will go a long way to bridging the shortfall of toys and funds this season.
*Kathryn Tracey said it was great to see her son sing acapella at his group at his college. She’s also be serving prime rib for her holiday dinner.
*Andy Nollman welcomed Cal back. He also said to please consider the President Elect position for the next 2023-2024 Rotary year after Mary. His wife Lona’s birthday is coming up and he has hired a chef to come to their house and prepare a special meal for the occasion. Andy also bought some sleepwear for Lona for the holidays that are pajamas with 3 cats on the front. He then realized that Lona has 4 cats and will have to reorder the gift. He followed up with “Anybody need any pajamas with 3 cats on them?”
*Susy Hurlbert said Ernie was currently at her office assembling a standing desk to replace her traditional desk to help with her hip issues.
Auction:
Andy Nollman auctioned off a bag from ARC containing 2 bags of cookies and 2 t-shirts. Jim Daly paid $20.00 for the prize when Andy did the bidding for him!
Weekly Rotary Trivia: Jim Daly filled in for Terry Congdon and read 3 questions that nobody knew the answers to. It’s time to make a better effort to read The Rotarian magazine in the future.
Lottery: – Kathryn Tracey
Bill Champagne, Cal Lord and Jim Daly drew cards to no avail!
Program:
Bob Farwell introduced Samariya Smith, Community History Project Manager from the Connecticut Historical Society Museum and Library. Samariya spoke about their project to collect oral histories from the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to gather 100 oral histories from Hartford, New Haven and Norwich communities. They hope to wrap up the project by August 2023. More information on this very interesting project can be found at https://chs.org/
Bonnie Johnson led the Club and all recited the 4-Way Test and the meeting was adjourned at 1:05pm
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Reed – RONE Reporter