Rotary Club of Norwich, CT
October 8th, 2025
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: President Steve Martin
Invocation: Cara Westcott
Fellowship: Ray Baribeault
Birthdays: Paul Blanchard – 10/11 and Ryan Telford – 10/14
Anniversaries: None
Guests: Stan Lucas introduced his soon to be inducted Rotarian daughter Ana Lucas
Visiting Rotarians: None
Ray’s fellowship was a series of funny puns!
“If the lettuce display falls over, heads will roll!”
Membership Minute:
Everyone please keep up the focus on new members. Bring prospective members to a lunch meeting and always keep Rotary top of mind when speaking to business associates and friends.
Announcements:
October 15th meeting bring diapers for the Annual Madonna Place Diaper Drive.
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: Cara Westcott
Cara gave bucks for going up to Vermont and New York to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary. She and her hubby spent time at White Face Mountain and Lake Placid where the 1980 Olympics were held. She gave Bonnie Johnson a nice bottle of wine for her boat. Caca said she’ll soon be leaving for Lancaster, PA to visit relatives and then on to London to meet with her daughter!
Kevin Wickless gave $20.00 for Andy Grant as he had to leave early. He also congratulated Andy Nollman on the Patriots big win over the weekend.
Ray Baribeault gave $40.00 for the Thanksgiving Challenge. He also had his first training course for his recent judicial appointment. He said he has a new appreciation for all the hard work the court staff does.
Bill Champagne said he will have a busy Saturday coming up. The service for Lottie Scott will take place at 10am at the Kelly Middle School. He will then be conducting a Walktober Tour at 2pm.
Susy Hurlbert gave $440.00 for the Thanksgiving Challenge. Susy told Cara that her late husband competed in the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid. She will be visiting her sister soon in Vancouver for Canadian Thanksgiving.
Steve Martin said he played in the Laura Seder Golf Tournament and Rodney’s Chestnut Street Playhouse Golf Tournament. Next week he’ll play the Great Neck Tournament.
Paul Gaffney said that he was happy that Stan Lucas filled in on his team in the golf league he plays in. Since Stan joined they went from 8th place to 4th place!
Nancy Gentes reminded members to play in the Trivial Pursuit Tournament. The Rotary team has traditionally done well in the past. It’s a big fundraiser for Madonna Place so please come and support it.
Barry Shead gave $20.00 in honor of his wife Brenda’s birthday! Reminded all to bring their bottles and cans in for the “Crush it for Inclusion Challenge against the Putnam Rotary Club. We’re ahead at the moment!
Gary Young said he enjoyed playing in Rodney’s golf tournament last week and is looking forward to the Trivial Pursuit Tournament!
Roz Etra thanks all involved in making the Celebrate Cultural Diversity event a huge success.
Auction: Mary Richardson auctioned off a number of Norwich Rotary banners from when Linda Salifia was President. $10.00 apiece. Mary, Andy, Cara and Kevin all bought one!
Lottery: Bill Champagne
Andy Grant, Keith Caplet and Kevin Wickless drew cards, but could not find the Ace! Susy Hurlbert won Barry’s ARC Cookies!
Program: No program today
The meeting concluded with Bonnie Johnson reciting the 4-Way Test at 12:45pm.