Norwich Rotary Club
May 8th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Gary Young
JUST WHEN YOU THINK EVERYTHING IS GOING TO HECK
AND YOUR LIFE SEEMS LIKE ONE BIG SHIPWRECK
DON’T TRUST YOUR COMPUTER OR ANY HIGH TECH
JUST CALL ON THE LORD AND HE’LL HUG YOUR NECK
IT’S AMAZING WHAT WE PUT OUR TRUST IN THESE DAYS
WE BELIEVE FAKE NEWS AND WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SAYS
WE TRUST KINGS AND PRINCES, MEN AND HORSES
OUR BANK ACCOUNT, OUR JOBS AND OUR COLLEGE COURSES
BUT I’M HERE TO TELL YOU THERE’S A BETTER PATH
FILLED WITH LOVE AND FORGIVENESS INSTEAD OF HATE AND WRATH
Y’ALL KNOW THIS ROAD I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT
THE ONE WHERE THERE IS NO WORRY OR DOUBT
AND TO CALL ON THE LORD-NO NEED FOR A CELL PHONE
JUST GET ON YOUR KNEES AND TRUST HIM ALONE
NOW LET’S GIVE THANKS FOR THE USUALL STUFF
FOR THE FOOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP ALWAYS MORE THAN ENOUGH
AND UNTIL WE GET TOGETHER AGAIN
LET’S PRAISE THE LORD AND SAY AMEN!
Fellowship: Andy Grant
Birthdays: Kevin Wickless – May 14th
Anniversaries: None
Guests: Our Guest Speaker Caryn Mitchell from “Stand Up for Animals.”
Visiting Rotarians: None
Andy’s fellowship was a story of a man that his daughter has dated for quite some time. While skiing he pulled Andy aside and actually asked him for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Chivalry is not dead! Good man!
Membership Minute: Stan Lucas urged members to wear their Rotary pins daily. It’s a great way to start a Rotary conversation with someone that may ask what the pin represents. Wear it to a meeting and you can double your chances in the weekly lottery! With so many new members coming into the club he’s thinking that a Rotary Talent Show might be a fun and good idea to do again!
Announcements:
President Mary had the following announcements:
The Whisky, Wine and Cigar event was a big success! Andy Nollman reported that the event netted $5,000.00!
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! 22,000! Mark your calendar now to donate a few hours of your time at the (NEW LOCATION) United Methodist Church in Gales Ferry. 11 Rotarians from our club have signed up to help out on that day, but there’s always room for more! 8:30am start!
There will be 2 inductions at next weeks meeting. Jayne Ryan and James Hyman.
Native Son/Daughter Lunch will be on June 5th. The Norwich Rotary Clubs and the Norwich Woman’s City Club are proud to announce the 2024 Norwich Native Son is filmmaker Andrew Gernhard of Synthetic Cinema International, LLC. Tickets are $40.00 per person and can be purchased here: https://www.norwichrotaryevents.org/event/norwich-native-son-award-presentation-honoring-andrew-gernhard-2/
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.
Anyone knows of a Rotarian who has been ill, please let the Sunshine Committee know.
Anyone with spare clean egg cartons please give them to Bonnie Johnson to give to St. Francis Hospital. She brought cookies as an incentive to reward donors. Don’t forget to bring your clean egg cartons when you are finished with them!
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.
June 19th will be our Rose Garden Luncheon.
June 26th will be our Change of Command Ceremony.
September 4th will be the Annual Golf Tournament! Brochures should be ready next week so you can go get sponsors and golf teams! Mark your calendar now!
June 27th Madonna Place will be holding a fundraiser “Music That Matters” featuring the band SUGAR at Jonathan Edwards Winery. To buy tickets @ $45.00pp here’s the link: https://musicthatmatters2024.eventzilla.net/e/2138608715
The Board has approved the membership of Jayne Ryan-2nd posting.
Happy Dollars: Nancy Gentes
Nancy had some “What was I thinking?” happy dollars as she has accepted Chairmanship of the District 7980 Grant Committee! Big job that we all know she’s up to the task! Well done Nancy!
Roz Etra had happy dollars to say she is happy to be back after a two week absence to visit her daughters in Philadelphia and New Jersey for the Passover holidays. Roz also said she has been busy lobbying in Hartford for many good causes before the session comes to a close. She also shared a story of taking her ailing computer to the shop to get fixed. The computer tech realized that Joel was his 5th customer when he opened his store in 1999. Unfortunately upon getting the computer home there are still some issues.
Mike Matera had dinner with an old friend from Denver recently. He also said that this year will be his 20th year heading up the Annual Tommy Toy Fund. The 1st year $87,000 was raised for the cause. As of now $27,000 has been raised, so there is a need for additional fundraising to take place.
Rodney Green was happy that his Great Granddaughter visited last week. He also shared a story that was printed in the New York Times on Presidential Candidate RFK, Jr. who said he used to have a worm in his brain that has eaten away a good portion. Can’t make this stuff up!
Andy Grant had $50.00 happy dollars to say he’s happy to be back in Connecticut after spending the winter in Utah.
Alexis Kahn shared that she has attended a number of woman’s business conferences in the past couple weeks. She has also joined a group called Woman’s United to raise money for United Way.
Jen Granger gave to say she was happy to be back. She also reminded people that there will be a Pancake Breakfast fundraiser at Billy Wilson’s Aging Still coming soon. There is a gentleman who raises money to take black students to tour colleges that they are considering applying to. Many of these colleges are located throughout the country.
Margarida celebrated her birthday last week in New York City! She also was happy to say that her children are fortunate to lead secure lives. She and her husband lived an uncertain life of being refugees until settling in America.
Kathryn Tracy was happy to share that her daughter who attends Eastern CT State University won a solo singing competition! Her other daughter is graduation from Syracuse University later this month!
Stan Lucas told a funny story of one of his female guests at his annual pilgrimage to Tuckerman’s Ravine who had frozen feet and warmed them up on another hiker’s sweaty stomach. Upon sharing the story at dinner that evening, the wife of the guy who had the accommodating stomach was less than thrilled!
Gary Young was one of the hiker’s at Tuckerman’s Ravine and he said he only made it about ¼ of the way up! Stan usually has some Payday chocolate bars to reward hiker’s but Stan’s dog Stella ate then while they were hiking!
Weekly Auction: 4 Tickets to the Madonna Place “Music That Matters.” was presented. After some spirited bidding between Steve Martin and Andy Grant, Steve won at $300.00! Andy then matched the $300.00 for another set of tickets!
Lottery: Kathryn Tracey
Ryan Telford, Andy Grant and Bill Champagne could not find the Ace of Spades!
Program: Today’s guest speaker was Caryn Mitchell from “Stand Up for Animals.” Stand Up For Animals (SUFA) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that is passionately committed to the welfare of all animals, especially those in our local community and area animal shelters. We rely solely on fundraising, grants, and donations from generous individuals, businesses, trusts and foundations. During December of 2023 SUFA expanded the low cost clinic housed in the Westerly Animal Shelter to 4 days per week. SUFA offers wellness exams, vaccinations, neuter/spay surgeries and dental care. SUFA hosts several fundraisers during the year to support our services which include support of local animal shelters and rescues, to provide financial support to families in our community that have pets and incur medical pet expenses, to maintain our monitored Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) program for community cats and to provide a low cost animal clinic.
The 4-Way Test was led by President Mary and the meeting was adjourned at 1:10pm.