WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBER – Ashlee Shilosky was inducted into the Farmington Rotary at Tuesday’s meeting. Ashlee works with Augusto at Insurance Provider’s Group. A big welcome to Ashlee!!
GUESTS – Francie Brown, Tim Smith, Kate Grady-Benson, Dena Martinelli, and visiting Rotarian Robin DiNicola from the Avon/Canton club.
ATTENDANCE - We had 17 Rotarians and 4 guests at Tuesday’s meeting.
HAPPY BUCKS – Happy Bucks were donated on behalf of the speaker and to our newest inducted member, Ashlee!
MEETING UPDATES –
- Mike Cheshire inducted Ashlee with a wonderful presentation, touching upon the mission and objective of Rotary. Ashlee was also presented with a new member plaque, and her Rotary pin by Elizabeth. She is officially the youngest member of our club! Thank you to Augusto Russell for sponsoring our newest member.
- Elizabeth is still looking for more volunteers, specifically for the 12pm – 2pm shift, for our food drive on Saturday, October 26th at the Unionville Stop and Shop.
- October is Polio Plus month, all members are encouraged to make their donation of $33.00 to help our club make its goal of “Every Rotarian Every Year. You can visit the www.myrotary.org website to make your online donation, or if you prefer to pay by check we will make sure you are credited properly.
- Mike Cheshire thanked Phil Chabot for volunteering as a mentor for the kids at the ALT School on Monday, October 21st. Phil will be mentoring on the interview process, and how to quit a job with integrity.
- Dave Barrett updated the club on our upcoming club social scheduled for Wednesday, October 30th, 5:30 – 7pm, to be held at Tunxis Country Club. We will NOT be having a regular lunch meeting on Tuesday October 29th in lieu of the Wednesday social. Price per person will be $11.00 for light fare/no alcohol, and $16.00 per person for light fare/2 drink tickets.
SPEAKER – Kate Grady-Benson introduced her lifelong friend, Francie Brown, and invited Francie up to share her walking adventures with the club. Francie shared her experience and pictures of the 500 mile walk she completed in 2014 in Camino de Santiago, Spain. Her 500 mile walking adventure began at the head of the trail in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, and ended 5 weeks later, over 500 miles, at the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Francie with her backpack and walking sticks, along with her childhood friend, walked for over a month and shared several of her beautiful pictures from her journey. She talked about the significance of the Camino de Santiago ‘scallop shell’. These shells, or symbols of the shell, were found all along the 500 mile trail and served as a trail marker for the pilgrims. She showed pictures of several of the inexpensive places to sleep, eat and rest your bones. She also highlighted how wonderful the people of the country were leaving food and drink along the trail, and calling out blessings on the pilgrims as they walked by…”Buen Camino”!!! Francie has now completed four ‘walks’, two in Spain, one in Portugal and one this past spring in Italy.