Norwich Rotary Club
April 17th, 2024
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Mary Richardson
Invocation: Mandy Crispim
Fellowship: Nancy Gentes
Birthday’s: None
Anniversaries: Kathryn Tracey – 4/17 – 5 Years!
Guests: Kathryn Tracey introduced John O’Sullivan from Serv-Pro
Visiting Rotarians: None
Nancy’s fellowship was about Key West, Florida from which she just returned from holiday. Key West is the southernmost city in the contiguous United States and the westernmost island connected by highway in the Florida Keys. It’s a place with lots of history as well as diversity. Some of the most notable people who have made Key West their home are Ernest Hemingway who was also famous for his Key West Cats that have 6 toes! Former Red Sox Pitcher Bronson Arroyo lives there. Key West has had a military presence since 1823 and has a Naval Base there. Key West declared itself a micro-nation as a sarcastic secession of the city of Key West, Florida, from the United States on April 23, 1982 because residents felt neglected from the rest of the US. Thus was the birth of the “Conch Republic.” Key West has more bars than any place in the United States. 175 bars do business within a mile stretch of the city. Chickens and Roosters enjoy free run of the place and are in abundance!
Membership Minute: Ryan Telford urged all current members to recruit at least one new member and double the size of our club in the up-coming year. It can be done, just ask someone!
Announcements:
President Mary had the following announcements:
The District Assembly will be taking place in New Haven and any member who would like to attend please contact President Mary and she can give you details. District Training Assemblies are a great way to learn more about Rotary and network with other area clubs and learn of their activities in all avenues of service.
The Whisky, Wine and Cigar event is back again on May 1stat Bella Fiore. Tickets are now more than 2/3 sold. Get yours now and don’t be left out! Tickets are on sale now $75.00 per person. This will sell out! Buy your tickets THIS WEEK! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/norwich-rotarys-whiskey-wine-and-cigar-event-tickets-792031346077
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 have signed up to help out on that day, but there’s always room for more! 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. The Norwich Rotary Clubs and the Norwich Woman’s City Club are proud to announce the 2024 Norwich Native Son is filmmaker Andrew Gernhard of Synthetic Cinema International, LLC. Tickets are $40.00 per person and can be purchased here: https://www.norwichrotaryevents.org/event/norwich-native-son-award-presentation-honoring-andrew-gernhard-2/
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!
Special Presentation: President Mary and Bill Champagne called Lottie Scott up to the front of the room to present her with a Paul Harris Fellow +2 for all her work and dedication to our community over her many years in the club. Congratulations Lottie!
Happy Dollars: Mike Matera
Mike Matera welcomed Kathryn’s guest John O’Sullivan. He joked when he asked John to come he said he couldn’t, but when Kathryn asked….well! Mike said he and his son took a trip to New York City by train in to Grand Central Station. His son chose to visit the Intrepid Museum that is a WWII aircraft carrier turned museum located on the Hudson River in Midtown Manhattan. One of the Space Shuttles is on the deck of the carrier for viewing! His son loved the visit even though the sights and sounds of a big city can be somewhat intimidating. Mike finished by saying the only bar he was kicked out of was in Key West, Sloppy Joes!
Gary Young said he served at the Naval Air Station while serving in the Navy many years ago and agreed Key West is a wild place indeed! He gave fellow Rotarian Andy Grant’s Ace Hardware for recent excellent service he received. He apologized if anyone stopped by last weekend’s flea market as he and Romer decided not to go due to the bad weather. He will be set up there on July 6th instead. Gary congratulated Lottie and said he has known her since he was 7 years old.
Barry Shead gave happy dollars to congratulate Lottie. Barry mentioned he has not been kicked out of a bar in Key West, however he did get kicked out of one in Rhode Island once!
Bill Champagne had happy dollars for Lottie on her much deserved Paul Harris Award. He had a beautiful framed facsimile of her profile on Wikipedia. He said on April 26th she will also be honored at the Otis Library and a section of the library will be named in her honor. He also mentioned Miss Lottie’s Café and Keyboardist Rufus Davis. Bill said he has enjoyed driving Lottie to Rotary.
Pat Marshall said she has never been thrown out of a bar, however she was once thrown out of a Killingly High School basketball game for some overzealous cheering or jeering at the referees. Pat also told members of the importance of making eye contact when speaking to people. Always stay positive and smile when speaking to anyone. Even her dog Quincy made an impression on a 90 year old woman who was made to feel happy and loved when Quincy looked into her eyes while she was petting him.
Jeff Brining just returned from a vacation at Coco Beach. While in the area he visited the Kennedy Space Center and viewed a Space Shuttle while there. He also enjoyed snorkeling at Key Largo and was amazed at how clear the water was. He could see wreck divers far below him it was so clear. He finished up with saying his arm was twisted by his daughter into coaching softball this spring! He knows he’ll enjoy it however!
Susy Hurlbert congratulated Lottie. She also gave Mike Goldblatt kudos for his kindness giving Lottie his Tuskegee Airman hat so she could give it to a good friend of hers that she knows would love it.
Mike Goldblatt said he has never been thrown out of any place over his lifetime! Credits good parenting! He said the Key West “Conch Republic” succession in 1982 was really brought about because they wanted to smoke pot legally! He also congratulated Lottie on her PH+2!
Andrew Nollman gave to congratulate Lottie. He also reported he’s so glad tax season is over! He and his wife will be taking a camping trip this coming weekend to celebrate!
Kathryn Tracy said her dad served in Key West while in the military during the Cuban Missile Crisis. She was also proud that her daughter was inducted into the Honor Society at her university.
Lottie Scott had happy dollars to thank everyone for the best wishes and appreciated the honor and attention. She said she is thankful for all her friends and especially Bill Champagne for being so helpful to her!
Weekly Auction: Ryan Telford. Ryan has 3 games with a retail value of $60.00. After some spirited bidding Stan Lucas took the games home for $40.00!
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Ryan Telford & Lee Walter, Jr. drew cards to no avail. Paul Gaffney then found the Ace of Spades! Paul generously donated his winnings back to the club! Mandy Crispim won Barry’s ARC cookies and shared them with everyone!
Andy Nollman was the high bidder at $40.00 for a 4-Pack of Sea Unicorns tickets donated by our guest speaker Lee Walter Jr.
Program: Barry Shead introduced Lee Walter, Jr., General Manager of the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Lee gave a rundown of what to expect for the upcoming season of the area’s Futures League team. This will be the 30th season of baseball at Dodd Stadium and each home game will have a theme from each year there has been play at the stadium. Right now there are high school games being played at the stadium and he expressed how exciting it is for high school athletes to play at that venue. The Futures League All-Star Game will be played at Dodd Stadium on July 22nd. Host families are still needed to house the players. Sponsorships are also available and to contact him if you or your business are interested. He stressed that the stadium is available for any event the community may have and they are open for any and all ideas and inquiries. Next year’s season is up in the air as the City of Norwich has made an announcement that the stadium may be put up for sale for a private investor to purchase to leave as a sporting venue or be torn down for other uses. Let’s hope it stays a stadium and we keep the Sea Unicorns for many seasons to come.
The 4-Way Test was led by Bonnie Johnson and the meeting was adjourned at 1:10pm.