Rotary Club of Norwich, CT
October 15th, 2025
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Steve Martin
Invocation: Gary Young
Fellowship: Ray Baribeault
Birthdays: Jeff Brining – 10/18 and Ryan Telford – 10/15
Anniversaries: None
Guests: Ivy introduced Caleb and Nancy introduced Clare Silva
Visiting Rotarians: None
Ray’s fellowship was a series of funny puns that were well received!
“My search to find a new house at the end of a cul-de-sac has come to a dead end!”
Membership Minute:
Stan Lucas reported that RI has come out with a series of new member videos that outline what Rotary is all about and all have a better understanding of Rotary’s mission.
Announcements:
November 7th is the Trivial Pursuit Tournament to benefit Madonna Place. Join the Rotary team!
From October 1st to October 29th is the “Crush It for Inclusion Can Challenge” between Putnam Rotary and Norwich Rotary in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month! All donations will benefit the ARC Eastern Connecticut. Bottles and cans only. Bring to Rotary on Wednesday’s! Barry says as of now Norwich is winning, but Putnam plays tough and will certainly finish strong. Collect your bottles and cans from you home and business! Winner receives Bragging Rights, Proclamation Banner and Community Pride!
October 29th is the morning to deliver the dictionaries to the schools. Please volunteer your time if you can and help with deliveries. 10am at 34 East Town Street the yellow UCFS building is the meeting place. Contact Jen Granger.
Liberty Bank will be matching our Happy Dollars .25 cents on the dollar for this year’s Thanksgiving Challenge. Suggested donation is $50.00 per member if you can be that generous. The drive will be 6 now through mid-November. Thanksgiving and gift cards will be purchased for the residents of Schwartz Manor and the Colchester food pantry.
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.
Happy Dollars: Jen Granger
Jen gave a thank you to all who have volunteered to deliver dictionaries on October 29th. The more the merrier as it’s good to have teams of 2 or 3 go to each school. The kids love to meet Rotarians!
Bill Champagne gave for the Turkey Challenge. He also added that the service for Lottie was really nice. It was long however. If any who didn’t attend and would like to see the service, go to YouTube and type in “Lottie B. Scott Service. Bill said there is a great tribute one hour and twenty two minutes in if you want to fast forward. Also, Church and Allen Funeral Home has posted a full obituary on their website that Lottie wrote herself. Congressman Joe Courtney will also be submitting a tribute to Lottie in the Congressional Record.
Andy Grant said that he’ll be leaving soon to head south to visit his grandchildren. Then he’s heading out west for the winter.
Steve Martin had a good time at the Mohegan Sun Arena watching the UConn Woman’s Basketball team playing a pre-season game. They won of course! Steve also had a good time at the Thompson Speedway.
Andy Nollman gave for the Thanksgiving Challenge. He had good time celebrating the Jewish holidays that included camping, helping his parents move and will finish off with a Patriots game this weekend.
Mike Matera wished Jeff Brining a happy birthday. He said they both have children that are 13 years old. He attended Lottie’s service with his son Jonathan. He also took a trip to Chicago and while there he spoke to his mom on the phone and she informed him that she was planning on spending $7,000 to get bats removed from her attic. Well, it was a scam. She had no bats but she had the good sense to hell her son before she spent the money. Beware of scammers that prey on elderly people.
Nancy Gentes welcomed her guests from Madonna Place and looked forward to hearing what they have to say as they are today’s program.
Mary Richardson gave $50.00 for the Thanksgiving Challenge. She also told a tale of going to her 50th high school reunion in New Jersey. While there she tried to visit her dad’s grave but the stone was covered over, so she’ll try again another time. She went back to her old neighborhood as well. The reunion was fun and she had a room for the night on the 11th floor if the Hilton where the reunion was held. All was fun until the fire alarm went off and she had to walk 11 flights of stairs in her jammies. Thankfully no fire!
Margarida Martins-Querido said that the Maritime Festival that she ran was a huge success and attendance was over 10,000 people. The laser show was a big hit. There was lots of public speaking involved and by the time she was finished organizing the event she was a pro and it felt good to give back to the community. After that event she and her husband took a trip to France for 3 weeks. While there she visited family and he old neighborhoods. She had fun showing her husband all the places where she grew up.
Barry Shead gave and said he enjoyed Lottie’s service as well and she would have loved it. He said Bill Champagne did a great job with the eulogy. He thanked everyone who has brought bottles and cans for the challenge against the Putnam Club. Current score is Putnam 311 – Norwich 690! Next week Alison will have the ARC van at the parking lot at the end of the meeting for collection on cans and bottles!
Gary Young gave $50.00 for the Thanksgiving Challenge.
Stan Lucas told a story of his daughter Anna attending a jewelry show in New Hampshire where she slept in her car. Not uncommon to do during those shows.
Pat Marshall said she is pretty tired as she has been filling in for 3 employees who have been away over the past 2 weeks.
Auction: No Auction today.
Lottery: Pat Marshall
Gary Young, Bill Champagne and Roz Etra drew cards, but could not find the Ace! Steve Martin won Barry’s ARC Cookies!
Program: Today’s program was Claire Silva, Executive Director of Madonna Place. She gave a presentation covering all the programs that Madonna Place offers the community. For more detailed information log on to https://www.madonnaplace.org/
The meeting concluded with Bonnie Johnson reciting the 4-Way Test at 1:13pm.