Rotary Club of Norwich, CT
April 15th, 2026
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE:
Presiding: President Steve Martin
Invocation: Rodney Green
Fellowship: Nancy Gentes
Birthdays: Steve Martin – April 16th
Anniversaries: Kathryn Tracey – April 17th – 7 years!
Guests: Kevin Wickless introduced Mike Cummings, Joanne De Louis & Tony Altenoi. Also in attendance was our guest speaker Liz Connelly.
Visiting Rotarians: None
Nancy’s fellowship was about the origins of old expressions we all have heard, but did not know where they came from. “Bite the Bullet” came from war surgeries when the doctor gave a wounded soldier a bullet to bite down on while doing painful treatments. “Blue Blood” come from old aristocratic people who had fair skin and the veins showed through their skin. “Ear Mark’ came from livestock being tagged on their ears.
Announcements:
The Whiskey, Wine and Cigar Event will take place once again this year on May 6th at Bella Fiore. Tickets are on sale NOW and can be purchased at https://www.norwichrotaryevents.org/ the goal this year is 80 attendees and $6,000.00 raised. Please consider supporting this event by buying a ticket, inviting a friend and be a sponsor! The event is already over half sold out!
Native Son/Daughter luncheon will be coming up. Stay tuned for an announcement on date and recipient.
Rotary Day of Service is May 16th so mark your calendars and help pack meals at the United Methodist Church in Ledyard.
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.
If there is a Rotarian who is sick or going through a tough time let the Sunshine Committee know and contact Mary Richardson or Nancy Gentes.
*Reminder* as a courtesy to our guest speakers, guests and fellow members, Rotarians are strongly asked to silence all electronic devices during meetings.
Membership Minute:
Happy Dollars: Andy Grant
Andy Grant was happy to announce the arrival of a new granddaughter on Saturday!
Andy Nollman is happy that April 15th has arrived and things will hopefully calm down at the Rose City Financial. He’s looking forward to a weekend of camping with his wife to relax! He’s most happy that he was able to secure a couple of seats to Metallica for their upcoming tour. It’s a hard ticket to get. The Whisky, Wine & Cigar event is now 65% sold and a few weeks away. Get your tickets now!
Michael Vaz thanked the club for the sponsorship for the April 30th event for Thames River Program.
Steve Martin gave happy dollars for the great weather and for all the great golf to come in the near future.
Michael Cummings said he was the executive chef at the Coast Guard Academy for a number of years and has now is in the process of starting a Community Kitchen in Norwich.
Nancy Gentes gave a short explanation of what Happy Dollars is all about to educate our guests and members who might not know where the money goes.
Barry Shead had some good news and some bad news. The good news was he caught a 13½ trout over the weekend! The bad news was the fly rod that he used was his father’s rod and it broke in the process.
Margarida Martins-Querido was very happy the weather is finally changing for the better!
Auction: No Auction.
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Our guest Liz Connelly, Keith Caplet and Bonnie Johnson drew cards to no avail. Cookies went to Rodney Green.
Program: President Steve introduced our guest speaker Liz Connelly from Thin Line Peer Support. For many years, mental health has been stigmatized by those in our professions as a sign of weakness and this cannot continue! In our lines of work, we see the worst of humanity while still having to maintain a balance on the job and with our lives outside of the job. By providing peer support, it is our goal to help our peers maintain that fragile balance. As the name implies, our primary goal is a peer-to-peer resource for anyone who suffers a stressful or traumatic event. These events are not limited to on-the-job incidents and will differ from person to person based on their past experiences as well as time spent in the field. For more information log on to https://thinlinepeersupport.org/
The meeting concluded with the club reciting the 4-Way Test at 12:55pm.
** Looking for volunteers to serve on The RONE committee. Contact Bob Reed (bobr@hallradio.net).**