ATTENDANCE – There were 20 Farmington Rotarians in attendance, plus Daniel Rodriguez, a visiting Avon-Canton Rotarian.
ANNOUNCEMENTS – Mike Cheshire reported that the funeral for Joe Howard, a former member and owner of Apricot’s Restaurant, was Standing Room Only (SRO) at St. Patrick’s Church. In addition to the full parking lot at the church, cars parked on Main Street stretched from the church all the way to the fire station, he said.
Diane Kennedy reminded members who have not yet donated to the Rotary International Foundation to please do so.
Mike Cheshire added that the next meeting with the Farmington Alternative High School will be May 14.
RAFFLE – Patty Strazzulla had the winning ticket, but pulled the queen of heart from the deck of playing cards instead of the ace of spades and therefore lost the $10 pot (Bob Festa won a $220 pot the week before so we’re starting anew).
HAPPY BUCKS – Donations were made in honor of our speaker, Joe Howard, the return of Joe Voves from back surgery, both the Red Sox and the Yankees, spring, and a visit to Joe Voves by his grandson and great-grandson from the Czech Republic, Tomas and Tomas Voves Jr.
SPEAKERS – Lori Wyrebek, coordinator of Farmington continuing education, provided us with an overview of the self-sustaining program that promotes life-long learning to residents not only to Farmington, but also to Bristol, Avon, Burlington, Harwinton, West Hartford, etc.
She explained that the continuing education program has 1,700 classes with an enrollment of 4,700 per semester.
Many of the classes are for enrichment. For instance, there are classes in home and garden, arts and crafts, bookkeeping, culinary, various foreign languages, sign language, CPR and first aid. It also sponsors trips to places like Ground Zero in New York City, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.
Other classes, Lori said, are mandated by the state Board of Education, including English as a Second Language, and various high school equivalency courses.