Norwich Rotary Club
April 10th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Gary Young
WE’RE NOT TRYING TO BE SARCASTIC, NOT TRYING TO BE CLEVER
BUT LORD, THIS COUNTRY NEEDS YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER
ALL THE FIGHTING, DIVISION, RANTING AND RAVING
BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT THIS COUNTRY IS WORTH SAVING
SO WE GIVE THANKS FOR HELPING US DO GOOD
ALL AROUND THE WORLD AND IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
HELPONG US TO BE KIND AND HUMBLE
AND PICK OTHERS UP WHEN EVER THEY STUMBLE
AND THANK YOU MOSTLY FOR JUST BEING YOU
HELPING US TO BE THANKFUL AND FAIR IN ALL THAT WE DO
BEING A BENEFIT AND TREATING EVERYONE AS A FRIEND
AND THANKS FOR YOUR LOVE-A LOVE THAT WON’T END
NOW LET’S GIVE THANKS FOR THE USUAL STUFF
FOR THE FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP ALWAYS MORE THAN ENOUGH
AND UNTIL WE GET TOGETHER AGAIN
LET’S PRAISE THE LORD AND SAY AMEN
Fellowship: Barry Shead
Birthday’s: Steve Martin – April 16th
Anniversaries: None
Guests: None
Visiting Rotarians: None
Barry’s fellowship began with congratulations to the UConn Men’s Basketball team on winning the National Championship. He also noted Catlin Clark for breaking the all-time college basketball scoring record. She surpassed Pistol Pete Maravich’s record of 3,667. He did not that Pistol Pete scored all those points with only 3 years playing varsity and before the adoption of the 3 point line and shot clock.
Membership Minute: Paul Gaffney was happy to see such a big attendance at last week’s meeting and for the induction of 5 new members. He urged members to spread the word to all friend and associates on all the good Rotary does in our communities. It’s amazing how many people have no idea about Rotary and the positive influence it makes all around us. Keep the train rolling and invite anyone to a Rotary meeting if you think they have the heart to do good and enjoy the fellowship that Rotary provides.
Announcements:
President Mary had the following announcements:
President Mary said there are Committee sign-up sheets show all who are currently serving on a committee. Please sign up for any committee’s you wish to serve on. Certainly you can serve on more than one!
The Whisky, Wine and Cigar event is back again on May 1stat Bella Fiore. Tickets are now more than half sold. Get yours now and don’t be left out! Edwin Muenzner, CPA has signed on as the Food Sponsor! Tickets are on sale now $75.00 per person. This will sell out!
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 are requested to help out on that day. 8:30am start!
Our area has a couple finalists in the 4-Way Test Speech Contest. April 20th will be the finals!
Native Son/Daughter Lunch will be on June 5th. Four finalists will be reviewed after today’s meeting and a recipient will be chosen.
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: Rodney Green
Rodney followed Barry’s fellowship comments on Pistol Pete Maravich pointing out that Pete was so far advanced for the times he played basketball. Pete invented the “No Look” pass that sometime even faked out his own players.
Mary Richardson said she met with a client earlier in the day and she had her 1st Starbuck coffee at the meeting. The beverage was huge and fancy and she still hade half of it left in her car!
Paul Gaffney was happy for the UConn Basketball team winning the championship. His wife won the pool! He also noted that it been 5 weeks since her hip replacement. He also had happy dollars for the 5 new members being inducted!
Pat Marshall said the probate for the woman she spoke of last week went well. She noted she was a little tired at work yesterday as she stayed up to watch the UConn game. She said she saw a piece on Channel 3 that Scot Haney being interviewed about an Old Lyme Rotary event. She also had car issues with her Jeep emitting a strange noise. She took the advice from a few friends and brought the Jeep to Mario at Lisbon Tire to take a look. Mario took the keys and gave the Jeep a test drive. Pat suddenly realized that her dong and pocket book also took a drive with Mario! Mario is an honest guy as the Jeep, pocket book and the dog all were returned and Pat ended up with new brakes! Problem solved!
Gary Young said he and Romer will have 3 booths at the flea market in Salem this weekend. Come by and if you mention “Rotary” or “Service above Self” you will get a discount!
Andrew Nollman was happy to report that he picked up his parents at the airport and parking was an issue for the first time. While riding home on I-91 he took the HOV lane seeing as he had his parents in the car. No ride is ever dull as a motorcycle zoomed by in that lane soon followed be police cars not far behind. A mike or 2 up the road the cop’s got their man!
Barry Shead was happy to see Mandy back at the weekly meeting after being away on leave with some health issues that are thankfully solved! He thanked Mary Richardson for a badge clip she provided seeing as his new badge had none. He also said he is looking forward to going on a cruise to Bermuda with his wife. She has suggested Champagne and chocolate covered cherries to celebrate when they arrive. Barry said he’s better start saving up now!
Mike Cooney was happy to be at today’s meeting. He said that the last couple meeting he has missed were due to the phone ringing right before he was ready to leave for Rotary and what should have been a brief conversation turned out to be a long conversation. Mike also told a story of a new Cub Scout in the troop he leads that is rather clingy. He learned for the boy’s grandmother that the hour or two he spends with the scouts is the happiest of the week as the boys home life is somewhat difficult. Mike also shared a story of when he worked in the sports department at Northeastern in 1999and had an impromptu conversation with UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoon the day after he just won the National Championship.
Roz Etra was at Old Tymes and had some world class pancakes! Thanks Rodney! She mentioned that she recently spoke with former Rotarian Laura Hobart. She didn’t realize Laura was a former member. Roz also said that both her daughters reported that last week’s earthquake was felt big time as they both live and work within a shot distance of where the wake took place in New Jersey.
Susy Hurlbert gave happy dollars for Mary Richardson saying shes in the 7th inning of her Rotary Presidency and will soon be done! She also gave to say welcome back to Mandy and that she look fabulous!
Weekly Auction: Kathleen Stauffer. Barry Shead was happy to give a generous check from Kathleen for the auction!
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Susy Hurlbert, Andrew Nollman and Mary Richardson could not find the Ace of Spades. Pat Marshall won Barry’s ARC cookies!
Program: No program today.
The 4-Way Test was led by Bonnie Johnson and the meeting was adjourned at 12:55pm.