Rotary Club of Norwich
May 12th, 2021
Location-The Courtyard & Zoom
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Gary Young gave a very inspiring invocation as always!
Fellowship: Nancy Gentes
Birthdays: Kevin Wickless – May 14th & Mary Ellen
Anniversaries: None
Visiting Rotarians: None
Guests: Guest speaker David Wallia from Troop 4 in Norwich
Nancy quizzed the club with trivia featuring subjects as music, movies, TV & Sports.
Announcements:
*Mary Richardson had the following announcements:
*It’s “Older American’s Month” for May. Just sayin’!
*If you know of anyone who would be a good speaker at one of our Rotary Meetings contact Bob Farwell or Kevin Wickless. Speakers can be done virtual (ZOOM) as well if needed.
*President Mary suggested members take up Susy Hurlbert’s challenge and invite guests to our meeting even though we a Zooming the meetings. We should still invite guests.
*Gary Young reminded us that the Rotary Golf Tournament will be on September 1st.
*The Madonna Place Trivia Challenge will take place on April 30th. Norwich Rotary has two teams entered, The Nerds and the Know Nothing’s!
*Jim Daly and his Nomination Committee will have a full report soon.
*The 2nd $2,000.00 grant was approved for the Diaper Project and the first installment of 25,000 diapers will be distributed to Madonna Place and St. Vincent DePaul. The 2nd installment will go to TVCCA and Thames River Family Program.
*A Thank You note was received from the Otis Library for the clubs sponsorship of their recent lecture.
*Also another Thank You note was received from Madonna Place for the club’s $1,000.00 donation in support of the Music that Matters program.
*The annual Rotary Golf Tournament will be on September 1st. Gary Young says the committee is looking for Auction donations and he will be bringing in the “Putting Machine” to weekly meetings to raise a few bucks as well. He and Barry Shead will also be preforming their “Red Sox vs. Yankees” skit as well.
Happy Dollars: Nancy Gentes
*Nancy started things off with saying she had a great Mother’s Day weekend visiting with her grandchildren.
*Jen Granger had a great Mother’s Day spending it with her mom!
*Andy Nollman picked up his parents at the airport for their stay up north for the summer season and he said he did not get into one battle with them yet! There is a family gathering on Sunday however, so who knows! Andy was also looking forward to the Patriots announcing their season schedule later this evening.
*Kevin Wickless had happy dollars for today’s speaker from Troop 4! He also said that he was in Philly last weekend and finally saw some “Live Music” and it was wonderful! Also, things are certainly getting back to normal as the traffic home was much, much heavier than this time last year. Especially in New Jersey!
*Bill Champagne gave $125.00 for all the past Happy Dollars he has owed since the meeting went virtual. He was also looking forward to tossing the baseball with his grandson later in the day.
*Barry Shead had $10.00 Happy Dollars for is wedding anniversary on Monday. He said they will be watching their granddaughter. He then reminded us of “Older American’s Month!”
*Mike Cooney will be celebrating his 9th wedding anniversary this week. He also said his kids are now back playing T-Ball. Last time they played they were 3. Now they are 5 and have some catching up to do!
Auction: Gary Young filled in for Stan Lucas who could not make it. One of Stan’s wooden hobby horses was on the auction block. Bob Reed was high bidder at $50.00.
Lottery: Bob Reed, Gary Young & Mary Richardson (for Lottie Scott) drew cards to no avail.
Program: Mike Cooney introduced David Wallia who is a member of Boy Scout Troop 4 in Norwich and is in the 5th grade. He is managing a project to buy oxygen generators for India where the Covid has been especially bad. He and his troop have raised $200.00 so far and will be working with a Rotary Club in India to facilitate distributing the generators when enough money is raised. A jar was promptly passed around the room for members to pitch in.
Mary Richardson led the club with the 4-way test and adjourned the meeting at 12:50pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Reed – RONE Reporter