Norwich Rotary Club
June 12th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Rodney Green
Fellowship: Ray Baribeault
Birthdays: Molly Bruno!
Anniversaries: Mike Matera – 22 years!
Guests: Kelly Whipple introduced Kiana O’Brien. Our guest speaker MaryLou Gannotti from Alzheimer’s Association
Visiting Rotarians: None
Ray’s fellowship was another round of his famous puns! Here’s one! “I got ripped off at the binocular shop. They must have seen me coming!”
Membership Minute: Ryan Telford encouraged everyone to keep up inviting friends and acquaintances to a meeting. Stan might even bonus you $100.00! I think he was joking but who knows! Stan told President Mary to order 20 new Membership Welcome Packets so get to work!
Announcements:
President Mary had the following announcements:
The Native Son/Daughter Lunch on June 5th was a huge success and Susy Hurlbert did a stellar job as Mistress of Ceremonies for the event!
****The Rose Garden luncheon HAS BEEN CANCELLED due to the Public Works being on holiday in honor of Juneteenth Day. Next weeks meeting will be at Bella Fiore as usual. ****
On June 20th from 1 to 3pm there will be a meal packing event at the United Way/ Gemma Moran Food Center in New London.
The Rose Arts Festival will be on June 29th. Consider volunteering a couple hours at the Rotary tent that day along with our friends from the Sunrise Club and the Rotary Community Corps!
Nancy Gentes reported that the Grants Committee proposed authorized $5,000 in grants to area organizations which the Board approved.
The club received 2 grants for the Rotary Winter Coat Project! $1,500 from Eastern Federal Bank and $1,000 from the Chamber of Commerce.
Anyone knows of a Rotarian who has been ill, please let the Sunshine Committee know.
September 9th will be this years “Celebrate Cultural Diversity” event. Mark your calendars now!
Please bring spare clean egg cartons and give them to Bonnie Johnson.
If you know of a speaker for one of our meetings, please contact Kevin Wickless or Alexis Kahn to get on the schedule.
June 26th will be our Change of Command Ceremony!
September 4th will be the Annual Golf Tournament! Brochures are at check-in at our noontime lunch. Go get sponsors and golf teams! Mark your calendar now!
Happy Dollars: Jen Granger
Jen said the UCFS Annual Golf Tournament at the Stonington Country Club will take place on June 24th! Come golf for a great cause. Jen also said she lost a bet with her family because she thought UConn Head Coach Danny Hurley would take the job with the LA Lakers. Sorry to lose the bet, but happy he’s staying in Connecticut. She is also grateful that furniture has been moved back to one the of the UCFS locations that was flooded out earlier this year.
Stan Lucas has praise for the job Susy Hurlbert did at last week’s Native Son Award Luncheon!
Susy Hurlbert welcomed our guests. She sqaid there will be a ribbon cutting at the new ECAR location in the Industrial Park on June 12th from 4 to 5pm. The first 100 guests who attend will receive a ticket to that evenings Norwich Sea Unicorns game!
Andrew Nollman said he enjoyed his camping vacation last week with his wife. Great weather! He’s also going to leave tomorrow for California for a family wedding. Andy said he got a really nice hotel room off the wedding site with a great ocean view so he and Lona can have some peace and quiet when they want!
Gary Young thanked all members who have served as president in the past for their dedication. He is also getting a haircut tomorrow so he will no longer be in the running for the Stan Lucas “Look-a-Like” contest!
Andy Grant thanked Rodney for serving as our next president. He also thanked Rodney for catering his 4th daughter’s wedding this coming weekend! He also said it was only $10.00 to take his bike on the train from New London to New Haven!
Steve Martin said he enjoyed playing the recent Hartford Healthcare Golf Tournament last week. He told Jen that he’ll commit to the UCFS tournament!
Rodney Green thanked Mike Matera and his sister Susan for all the great landscaping they surprised him with at Olde Tymes!
Weekly Auction: No Auction this week.
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Steve Martin, Rodney Green & Mike Matera could not find the Ace of Spades!
No Barry’s Cookies this week!
Program: President Mary introduced MaryLou Gannotti, Development and Program Manager for the Connecticut Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. MaryLou gave a very interesting talk about how she became involved with the Alzheimer’s Association and all the great services they provide. She explained how important proper brain health is and that Dementia and Alzheimer’s are not exactly the same thing. There is help out there for people suffering from the condition as hell as the people who have to care for them. For more information log on to www.alz.org/CT
The 4-Way Test was led by Bonnie Johnson and the meeting was adjourned at 1:04pm.