Norwich Rotary Club
January 17th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: Mary Richardson
Invocation: Barry Shead
Fellowship: Susy Hurlbert
Birthday’s: Stan Lucas – Today!
Anniversaries: None.
Guests: Molly Bruno’s guest was Margarita Martens-Querido.
Visiting Rotarians: None.
Today’s fellowship Susy called upon club members from around the room to reveal what pet-peeve’s they have about what other people do and things that we do that upset other people. It generated much laughter and revealed the more personal side of everyone!
Membership Minute: Stan Lucas: Stan inducted Norwich Rotary’s newest member Paul Gaffney! Welcome to Norwich Rotary Paul and we look forward to you serving our community and club!
Announcements:
President Mary announced a communique from Norwich Rotarian, Dr. Manny Kadish’s daughter Rebecca that Manny is turning 100 on February 2nd! She asked that members send cards and well wishes to him c/o The Cottage at Stoneridge, 186 Jerry Brown Road, Mystic, CT 06355.
Next week we hope to induct new members Ryan Telford and Steve Martin.
The club is looking forward to participate in this year’s Norwich St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 3rd. Mike Goldblatt will lend one of his Classic Cars and members are invited to march behind and represent Rotary!
The 4 Way Speech Contest will take place on April 20th.
The Whisky, Wine and Cigar event will be back again and Andrew Nollman will have details forthcoming, but the date will be May 1st.
The Rotary “Day of Service” will be May 18th. Last year over 11,000 meals were packaged for the Gemma Moran- United Way Food Center. This year Area Rotary Clubs hope to package double that number! Mark your calendar now to donate a few hours of your time.
The Native Son/Daughter Lunch is scheduled for June 5th. Submit a candidate and you can find an application on the Rotary website.
Members are encouraged to fill out a donation form and donate to the Rotary Clock Project.
If you know of a speaker for one of our meetings please contact Kevin Wickless or Alexis Kahn to get on the schedule.
Happy Dollars: Nancy Gentes
Nancy welcomed all our guests and wished Stan Lucas a Happy Birthday! Nancy was also excited that the UConn Men’s Basketball team is now ranked #1 in the country! The last time they achieved a #1 ranking was in 2009 and since then they have won 3 National Championships!
Stan Lucas gave $20.00 to say he was happy for the UConn Basketball team and they’re a superior team due to perseverance. He’s happy to be celebrating another birthday saying that only 1 out of 3 of his generation lives to age 79! He also welcomed Paul Gaffney to the club.
Bill Champagne said that his wife and he complement each other with their pet-peeves and they have been married 52 years! He gave $52.00 to honor the occasion! He also corrected erroneous reports that he has only been a Norwich Rotarian 11 years. How about 39 years! He reminded everyone that Martin Luther King was only 34 years old when he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington D.C..
Barry Shead wished Stan happy birthday and welcomed Paul to the club. Barry is now the General Manager of the ARC Micro-Businesses. Barry will also be participating in a Comedy Show at the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam. The theme is “Out with the Old and In with the New!” He joked he’ll be first on stage as he’s probably the oldest taking part!
Gary Young wished Stan a happy birthday and welcomed Paul to Norwich Rotary.
Rodney Green said he was connected with family members that are still alive. His family came to Rhode Island back in the 1600’s, then moved to Canada and in following years re-entered the USA and headed south. He have been given his family’s genealogy that goes way back on his mom’s side.
Susy Hurlbert said she was happy to be a part of this club. Ernie finally got the COO on his new house. She happy for him but said they will have to live apart for a little while. Her new hot tub will take the sting out a bit!
Molly Bruno wished Stan a happy birthday and welcomed her guest Magarida to the meeting. She was stuck in Washington D.C. last week coming home from a conference in bad weather, but it gave her and Susy Hurlbert a chance to tour a few good museum’s there. She is also happy to be inducted President of the Realtor’s Association on Friday and it will be a big event!
Mike Goldblatt wished Stan a happy birthday and welcomed Paul to the club.
Bob Reed is happy for the UConn Men’s Basketball team achieving a #1 ranking and is going to attend tonight’s game. It should be a crazy time in Storrs as its $2.00 beer night and all the students are back from break. He wished Stan a happy birthday and said that MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech is played every MLK Day on WICH.
Margarita Martens-Querido said she learned English while living in France listening to Martin Luther King’s speeches.
Weekly Auction: Rodney Green auctioned of a blueberry pie! After some spirited bidding Kathryn Tracey was the high bidder at $25.00!
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Jen Granger, Margarida Martens-Querido and Mary Richardson all drew cards and could not find the Ace of Spades! Barry’s Cookies will be double next week!
Program:
No Program today.
The 4-Way Test was recited by all and the meeting was adjourned at 1:11pm