Norwich Rotary Club
August 2nd, 2023
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: Mary Richardson
Invocation: Gary Young
Fellowship: Nancy Gentes
No Rotarian Birthday’s or Anniversaries to report this week. Mike Matera brought a guest John Sullivan of Serv-Pro. Nancy delivered a humorous fellowship of “One Liners.” A couple of the best received were one by Elizabeth Montgomery “Why would Sea World have fish on their snack bar menu…. I may be eating a slow learner!” Also one from Rodney Dangerfield “When I was a kid we moved a lot….. I always found my parents!”
Announcements:
Golf Committee member Gary Young said golfers, volunteers, sponsors and auction items are still needed. If you want to volunteer contact Erin Gizio and look for details at the end of this newsletter for information. Andy Grant got a Gold Sponsor for the event-Grampy’s Charities. Auction items will be featured at next week’s meeting for early bidding. There will be no regular meeting that day. If you have a speaker for a weekly meeting that you wish to schedule contact Alexis Kahn or Kevin Wickless and a meeting can be scheduled. Mike Matera reported that there will be an Amber Alert sign-up at UCFS at the Edward & Mary Lord location on August 10th from 1 to 3pm. Also Amber Alert’s will be at The Healthy Living Expo on September 9th 10-2pm and the Celebrate Cultural Diversity Event. Need 2 volunteers to assist in signing up children. Also, on Saturday August 5th at 8am the Haitian Health Foundation is looking for volunteers to help load a container. Any Rotarian who can spare a couple hours to help would be greatly appreciated. Nominees are being sought for a number of awards at the Celebrate Cultural Diversity Event on September 18th. Contact President Mary for applications.
Membership Minute: Stan Lucas
Stan said he will be addressing the Board next week to get approval for holding a cocktail party at his house at 280 Broadway in Norwich on September 13th at 5pm. The plan is to have cocktails at 5pm and an informational meeting at 6 on the avenues of service in Rotary. Members are encouraged to bring a prospective member and invitations will also go out to current members who are dormant and disengaged with the club and remind them of our purpose. The plan is to have no noontime meeting that day. Stay tuned for further details pending Board approval.
Happy Dollars: Andy Grant
*Andy started things off saying he’s happy to have his daughter and her children visiting. He also gave thanks to Andrew Nollman for cigars!
*Bill Champagne said 52 years ago he moved to the Norwich area. He said back then the Indian Leap property of about an acre was on the market for $22,000. There were no bidders at the auction, so the city took possession. After years of courting the Mohegan Tribe, the state and city all 3 got behind a project to make that land into a Heritage Park for about $2 Million in funds. The ground breaking will take place next week and take about a year to complete.
*Barry Shead is selling Rubber Duck Race tickets to benefit the ARC for $5.00 a duck. Barry also said he had a great vacation last week with his wife taking a trip to Tennessee that featured stops in Gatlinburg, Smokey Mountain State Park, Knoxville and Nashville. He also stopped off at Antietam, Maryland and toured the famous battlefield where one of the bloodiest battles took place during the Civil War.
*Andrew Nollman said he is very unhappy with Ticketmaster as the app did not work correctly for a concert he attended over the weekend. Also it was not so easy to retrieve his Patriots tickets. Not happy!
*Mike Matera went out on his boat Saturday with his son and his son tubed from Mystic to Napatree Point behind the boat. Sunday was a work day doing his lawn as well as his parent’s lawn. Unfortunately he ran over a bee’s nest in the ground and got stung 15 times! He was thankful that his son did not get stung as it was not fun.
*Stan Lucas is planning a Marine Corps reunion with many of the soldiers he served with in Vietnam. The reunion will be in New England this time and visits to the Coast Guard Acedemy, Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium and a possible tour of the newest nuclear submarine, the (SSN-795) Hyman G. Rickover.
*Gary Young thanked Stan for his service in the Marines. He also said welcome to our guest John Sullivan. He was sporting a really sore shoulder and back after helping a friend out of his chair last Wednesday at Rock the Docks. Lots of pain! Gary also said that woman speak an average of 22,000 words a day and men only speak 7,000!
*Mike Cooney will miss next week’s meeting as he is taking his son Matt to camp next week. He has also played in a number of golf tournaments lately at some really nice courses with fancy golf carts!
*Susy Hurlbert had something to say about Gary’s figures on how many words a day men speak compared to woman. I think her comments alluded that woman are smarter!
*Mary Richardson welcomed John Sullivan to the meeting and was happy to report that both the black snake and the huge black beetle are gone from her office. Now that have a raccoon to deal with! Never dull at Mary’s office!
Weekly Auction: Andrew Nollman was given a Gold Sponsor Golf 4-some for the Donny Marshall Celebrity Golf Tournament that Kathleen Stauffer donated on behalf of ARC. It is a $2,000 value and after some spirited bidding Andy Grant took it away for $400.00! Gary Young also had 14 Sea Unicorn Tickets that Stan Lucas bought for $30.00!
Lottery: Barry Shead
Bob Reed, Gary Young and Andy Grant drew cards and the Ace of Spades is still safe. Andy Grant still came out a winner as he won Barry Shead’s ARC Cookies!
Program: There was no official program this week. However President Mary held a “Pop-Up” service project to donate school supplies to put into children’s back packs.
President Mary called upon Bill Champagne to lead the club with the 4-Way Test and the meeting was adjourned at 1:07pm See Below for important Golf Tournament Information!
THE ROTARY CLUBS OF NORWICH ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 – NORWICH GOLF COURSE
VOLUNTEER NEWS!!
IF NOT FOR FRIENDLY AND WILLING VOLUNTEERS THIS ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT WOULD NOT EXIST. TO THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED IN THE PAST – THANK YOU! TO THOSE WHO ARE SIGNING UP FOR THE FIRST TIME – WELCOME ABOARD. THIS BRIEF NEWSLETTER WILL HELP EXPLAIN THE VARIOUS VOLUNTEER DUTIES AND PROVIDE OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
SOME OF YOU HAVE ALREADY RAISED YOUR HAND TO VOLUNTEER ON SEPTEMBER 6, BUT TO MAKE SURE WE KEEP THE NUMBERS STRAIGHT AND ARE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE, PLEASE – ANTYONE WHO WANTS TO VOLUNTEER – TAKE TIME TO DO THE FOLLOWING:
SEND AN EMAIL TO VOLUNTEER CAPTAIN ERIN GIZIO egizio@preston-ct.org AND CC TO GARY YOUNG, COMMITTEE CHAIR rgaryyoung@att.net. IF ANY QUESTIONS ARISE YOU CAN CONTACT ERIN AT 860-230-8006 OR GARY AT 860-608-3674. PROVIDE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION AND MAKE SURE YOUR EMAIL CLARIFIES “I CAN STAY ALL DAY” – OR “I CAN ONLY STAY UNTIL______”, OR “I CANNOT ARRIVE UNTIL _______” NOTE: ANYONE WHO SENDS A VOLUNTEER EMAIL AFTER WE HAVE REACHED OUR VOLUNTEER LIMIT WILL BE PLACED ON A LIST AND INVITED TO VOLUNTEER IN CASE SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO WITHDRAW
REGISTRATION, PUTTING CONTEST, SILENT AUCTION, SALE OF RAFFLE TICKETS ALL START AT 9AM…SO, PLEASE ARRIVE AT NORWICH GOLF COURSE FOR A QUICK VOLUNTEER MEETING AT 8:30. ALL VOLUNTEERS WILL BE PROVIDED COFFEE AND PASTRIES TO START, A BOX LUNCH – AND IF YOU ARE STAYING TIL THE END, A GREAT TASTING BUFFET AT END OF PLAY.
NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: 20 +/- AND WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED
- ONE VOLUNTEER AT REGISTRATION TABLE TO HELP PAULA AND HER MOM
- TWO VOLUNTEERS AT PUTTING CONTEST
- ONE VOLUNTEER TO SERVE AS GUARDIAN OF SILENT AUCTION AND RAFFLE ITEMS
- EIGHT VOLUNTEERS: TWO AT EACH OF THE FOUR PAR 3 TEE OFF AREAS
- EIGHT VOLUNTEERS: TWO AT EACH OF THE FOUR PAR 3 GREENS
VOLUNTEER DUTIES:
- REGISTRATION TABLE: ASSIST PAULA AND MOM BY MAKING SURE ALL GOLFERS RECEIVE A GOODY BAG; MAKING SURE ALL GOLFERS ARE REMINDED OF PUTTING CONTEST; MAKE SURE ALL GOLFERS ARE OFFERED A CHANCE TO PURCHASE RAFFLE TICKETS – AND POINT OUT THAT SILENT AUCTION AND RAFFLE ITEMS ARE ON THE DECK JUST OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT; HELP MAKE SURE ALL GOLFERS ARE OFFERRED A CHANCE TO PURCHASE STRINGS/MULLIGANS. RAFFLE TICKETS WILL BE 10 TICKETS FOR $10 OR AN ARMS LENGTH FOR $20. MONEY FROM SALE OF RAFFLE TICKETS SHOULD BE TURNED OVER TO JIM DALY. PURCHASED RAFFLE TICKETS ARE TO BE HANDED OVER TO VOLUNTEER WHO IS GUARDIAN OF SILENT AUCTION AND RAFFLE ITEMS ON THE DECK
- PUTTING CONTEST: STARTS AT 9AM – ENDS AT 9:50AM. 3 PUTTS FOR $10. MEASURE ANY PUTTS THAT GET CLOSER TO HOLE THAN PREVIOUS PUTTS; WRITE DOWN NAME/PHONE NUMBER AND DISTANCE TO HOLE FOR EACH CLOSER PUTT UNTIL WE END UP WITH A WINNER. WINNER SPLITS THE POT WITH ROTARY. IN THE EVENT OF A TIE, ROTARY STILL KEEPS 50% AND REMAINING 50% IS SPLIT EVENLY. WHOEVER IS HANDLING THE MONEY – TURN IT OVER TO JIM DALY ALONG WITH WINNER INFO WHEN CONTEST IS OVER. NOTE: GOLFERS CAN PUTT AS MANY TIMES AS THEY LIKE AS LONG AS THEY KEEP PAYING THE $10 FOR 3 PUTTS.
- GUARDIAN OF SILENT AUCTION AND RAFFLE ITEMS: THE EASY PART IS KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS DURING TOURNAMENT PLAY. DURING PLAY ONE WINNING RAFFLE TICKET WILL BE DRAWN FOR EACH RAFFLE ITEM. WINNING TICKET NUMBERS WILL BE POSTED ON RAFFLE POSTER. NOTE: WHEN TOURNAMENT IS OVER THERE WILL BE A SHORT INTERVAL WHEN GOLFERS CAN CONTINUE TO BID ON SILENT AUCTION ITEMS – AT WHICH TIME THEY CAN REVIEW RAFFLE POSTER AND CLAIM THEIR PRIZE. IT WILL ALSO BE YOUR JOB TO REVIEW SILENT AUCTION BIDDING SHEETS TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE ARE WRITING DOWN THEIR BIDS, THEIR NAMES AND THEIR PHONE NUMBERS AS LEGIBLY AS POSSIBLE. AFTER BUFFET, ALL BIDDERS WILL CHECK TO SEE IF THEY HAD THE HIGHEST BID – AND WINNERS WILL PAY FOR THEIR AUCTION ITEM WITH CASH, CHECK OR CREDIT CARD
- VOLUNTEERS ON THE COURSE – TEE OFF AREA. YOUR JOB WILL BE TO THANK FOLKS FOR PLAYING TODAY AND SELL THEM A “HIT THE GREEN” TICKET FOR $5. IF A GOLFER WHO HAS PAID THE $5 LANDS HIS DRIVE ON THE GREEN, HE RECEIVES A TICKET AND WILL BE ENTERED INTO A DRAWING – WINNER SPLITS THE POT WITH ROTARY. TICKETS AND MONEY SHOULD BE HANDED OVER TO JIM DALY AFTER PLAY IS OVER. NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO A GOLF CART FOR BATHROOM BREAK IF NEEDED
- VOLUNTEERS ON THE COURSE – AT THE GREEN: YOUR JOBS WILL INCLUDE: 1) GIVING A THUMBS UP WHEN A GOLFER LANDS HIS DRIVE ON THE GREEN(THIS WAY THE VOLUNTEERS AT TEE OFF AREA WILL KNOW TO HAND OUT A “HIT THE GREEN” TICKET); 2) THIS IS SUPER RARE – BUT KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANY HOLE IN ONE; 3) EACH PAR 3 HAS A “CLOSEST TO THE PIN” PRIZE – SO, MAKE SURE GOLFERS WHO LAND CLOSE TO THE HOLE MEASURE THEIR DISTANCE TO HOLE AND WRITE DOWN THEIR NAME/CELL PHONE AND DISTANCE IF IT IS CLOSER THAN PREVIOUSLY RECORDED DISTANCE. A POSTER AND TAPE MEASURE SHOULD BE AT EACH GREEN; 4) THANK THE GOLFERS FOR PLAYING TODAY. YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO A GOLF CART FOR BATHROOM BREAK IF NEEDED
THANK YOU!!