Rotary Club of Norwich
July 15th, 2020
Location-Courtyard by Marriott
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Keith Caplet
Fellowship: Barry Shead
Birthdays: None
Anniversaries: None
Guests: Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom (via Zoom)
Barry gave a pandemic “Words of Wisdom” fellowship with a few quotes like “Raising Teenagers is like trying to nail Jello to a tree”, “Wrinkles don’t hurt!” and “Growing old is mandatory, however growing up is optional!”
Announcements:
President Mary Richardson had the following announcements:
*Mary was happy to announce that President Elect, Jim Konrad has landed a new position with Journal Enquirer in Manchester as Executive Editor! Hopefully Jim can remain a member of the club.
*Nancy Gentes gave a report on behalf of the Grants Committee outlining new procedures for applying for Norwich Rotary Grants. Applications will be accepted annually from January 1st thru May 15th. Review will follow and awards will be distributed in July.
*If you know of anyone who would be a good speaker at one of our Rotary Meetings contact Bob Farwell or Kevin Wickless. Speakers can be done virtual as well if needed.
*The Sunshine committee co-chairs Erin Gizio, & Nancy Gentes are looking for suggestions of Rotarians who may be shut in or ill and are in need of a visit. If you have any suggestions please contact them.
Mary Richardson announced that the Presidential Club Project for her year will be supporting the Give-a-Goat Project for the Haitian Health Foundation! A canister will be at the head table for donations. Goats are $150.00 a-piece and can support a Haitian family with milk, meat and they can breed their goat to insure a better quality of life for the future. Let’s all support this great project and purchase lots and lots of goats!
*Gary Young announced that the Golf Committee is moving ahead with the golf tournament in September and will be contacting members who have participated in the past for their continued support. Expect a call!
*Mike Cooney is working on the website to be able to accept semi-annual dues payments. He’ll let the club know when it’s all set to go.
Happy Dollars: Andy Grant:
Andy gave to congratulate Kevin Wickless on his recent engagement!
Mike Gordon was visiting his Brother-in-law recently in Lenox, MA and said that his wife purchased a 1st edition book by author Edith Wharton in a used book store. It ended up that the dog eared copy of the book was a special copy of a first edition that had a mistake in it. The $20.00 purchase ended up being worth $4,500.00! Mike was also happy to announce that his house in Norwich sold and the check cleared!
Keith Caplet was happy that his 2 grandchildren who live in Texas are healthy!
Susy Hurlbert gave to say she’s happy that Connecticut is still one of the safer places around with Covid-19 in check for the time being.
Mayor Peter Nystrom was happy to say that a good friend of his was tested for Covid and the test came back negative!
Barry Shead gave to say he was grateful to make the meeting seeing that he has been working at H&R Block and today was the tax filing deadline and the office was mobbed but he made the meeting anyway!
Roz & Joel Etra were happy to be joining the meeting via Zoom and Roz has been playing golf to tune up for the Rotary Tournament in September!
Kevin Wickless gave $50.00 for Mary’s Goat Project!
Kathryn Tracey said that coins are in short supply these days due to the pandemic and her branch of Berkshire Bank is happy to accept any coins you wish to turn in!
Jim Daly shared an article for the director of the CDC stating is everyone would just wear a mask for 4-8 weeks we could flatten out the virus curve hugely!
Suki Lagrito gave $20.00 for Mary’s goats and an extra dollar for Mike Cooney and his technical skills!
Bill Champagne said his wife Patrice who owns the Montessori Discovery School was fortunate to have received PPE money.
Mike Cooney relayed a story about his kid’s obsession with Pokemon.
Auction: Gary Young auctioned off a package of Topps Baseball Cards (unopened and still like new) that could contain some very valuable limited edition cards. After some spirited bidding Andy Nollman was high bidder at $50.00!
Lottery: Nancy Gentes was the first to draw and indeed drew the Ace of Spades! Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner! Congratulations Nancy!
Program:
Mary Richardson & Mike Cooney presented a video of an NFA Student who was one of the finalists in this year’s District 7980 4-Way Test Speech Contest.
Respectfully submitted,
Bob Reed – RONE Reporter