Norwich Rotary Club
March 20th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President-Elect Rodney Green
Invocation: Gary Young
SEEMS LIKE ALL HUMANS HAVE THIS CONDITION
THAT WHAN GOD SPEAKS-WE REFUSE TO LISTEN
WHEN HE SAYS “GO NORTH”-WE HEAD SOUTH
WHEN HE SAYS “SPEAK UP”-WE CLOSE OUR MOUTH
WHAN HE TELLS US TO STAND-WE FALL FLAT ON OUR FACE
WHEN HE SAYS “GO FORTH”-WE STAY IN ONE PLACE
WHEN HE SAYS “KEEP IT STEADY”-WE ROCK THE BOAT
WHEN HE SAYS “YOURS WILL COUNT”-WE RESUSE TO VOTE
WHEN HE SAYS “DO MY WILL”-WE SAY MAYBE TOMORROW
NO WONDER THIS WOROLD IS FILLED WITH SO MUCH SORROW
BUT GOOD NEWS-GOD HAS GIVEN US EACH A CHOICE
AND THINGS WILL BE BETTER IF WE OBEY THAT SMALL VOICE
THE ONE THAT SPEAKS TO US FROM DEEP INSIDE
THE ONE THAT SAYS LET THE LORD BE YOUR GUIDE
NOW LETS GIVE THANKS FOR THE USUAL 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: Barry Shead
Birthday’s: None
Anniversaries: None
Guests: Cristin Bullin. Cristin has been approved for membership by the Board. If any member has objection, please let any Officer or member of the Board know. 1st Posting.
Visiting Rotarians: Our guest speaker Gary Decker from New London Rotary
Barry began fellowship with a story behind the tune by Looking Glass “Brandy.” He said it was playing in his head that morning and brought to light that the same year that song came out in the 1970’s, Barry Manilow had a big hit called “Mandy.” It was supposed to be called “Brandy” but Looking Glass beat him to the punch so he had to change the name! Barry then continued to give the history of the NCAA Basketball Tournament seeing as the “Big Dance” is starting this week!
Membership Minute: Paul Gaffney said that the Membership Committee recently met and came up with a few ideas to get the club more visible in front of groups of people attending community events and educate the public on what Rotary does and why one would want to belong. Tables at fairs and Rose Arts Festival should be considered.
Announcements:
President-Elect Rodney had the following announcements:
The Whisky, Wine and Cigar event will be back again on May 1stat Bella Fiore. Edwin Muenzner, CPA has signed on as the Food Sponsor! Tickets are on sale NOW! $75.00 per person.
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! Mark your calendar now to donate a few hours of your time at the (NEW LOCATION) United Methodist Church in Gales Ferry. 10 Rotarians from our club are requested to help out on that day.
The Native Son/Daughter Lunch is scheduled for June 5th.
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! Mark your calendar now!
Happy Dollars: Mike Matera
Mike wished UConn Men & Women Basketball team’s good luck in the upcoming tournament’s! He also noted that Jerry Lowney was featured on Channel 3 to speak about the current civil unrest in that country.
Bonnie Johnson again made an appeal for egg cartons and the cookies will continue to come.
Bill Champagne told an interesting story of being in New York City with his wife. She needed to be in the city for a medical procedure and the vibe in the city is certainly different than it used to be. He hired a car to take them both back to the Air B&B from the hospital. The driver did not speak English, took way too long to drive a couple blocks and then got pulled over by the police for having an unregistered vehicle, no license or insurance. Needless to say he did not pay for the ride.
Pat Marshall said she played basketball in high school. Back then it was a 3 on 3 game. She had a nice weekend visiting her son and grand kids in Boston and took them out to dinner. The next day she took her other son’s kids out to Frank Pepe’s in New Haven.
Andrew Nollman gave $10.00 Happy Dollard to welcome our guests. He wished his mom a happy 81st Birthday! He encouraged member’s to share the Whisky & Cigar Event on social media to spread the word.
Mike Cooney said he missed the last few meetings as either his kids were sick or he became sick from the kids being sick! Happy to be back! He took his daughter to a UConn Softball game over the weekend and she had a blast. She saw them all again following the game as after a win they all go to the UConn Dairy Bar for ice cream! Lot’s of photos and autographs!
Gary Young said his nephew Dan has collected egg cartons for him. He also promoted Ben Lathrop’s “Vet’s Helping Vet’s” golf tournament coming up on June 26th.
Roz Etra gave $20.00 from the Girl Scout cookies she sold at last week’s meeting! She also had a story of playing basketball on the first woman’s team at the University of Hartford back in 1969-70! She was enrolled at the prestigious Hart School of Music and she was recruited! The3 first year they went 0-6. The second year 6-1 with Roz winning the final game by hitting 2 foul shots with only seconds left!
Mandy said she will miss a few weeks meetings as she will be having some surgery.
Barry Shead said he played center in high school on his basketball team and his game hi was 17 points. One of his best assists came when he choked on a piece of gum he was chewing on and inadvertently passed the ball between his legs for another player for a score.
Weekly Auction: Lottie Scott gave $20.00 to the auction.
Lottery: Barry Shead
Steve Martin, Kathryn Tracey and Pat Marshall could not find the Ace of Spades. Bill Champagne won Barry’s ARC cookies!
Program: Today’s program was New London Rotarian Gary Decker from “Win Moves Coaching.” Gary is a Certified Professional Coach, Speaker and Business Leader. He has more than 35 years of experience and has led and empowered numerous teams, leaders and individuals across Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Legal, Communications, Innovation & Development, Supply Chain and Sales & Marketing. He spoke of 7 types of leaders and employees. Gary helps leaders and good leaders become great!
The 4-Way Test was led by Bonnie Johnson and the meeting was adjourned at 1:14pm.