090923

Free Style Rotary.   No program, no president, no point.   With President Bob and President in waiting Ed Neff  otherwise occupied, the meeting was left in the hands of Mike Gemma who rose to the challenge.  With nothing to accomplish he said, "hey let's eat and get out of here".

 

Chub Clement gives Mike Gemma pointers on how to end a meeting early.

   Chub reported attending his 60^th High School re-union, which was attended by 117 people.  Chub still has some of the stone tablets  used in those days.

Our visiting Rotarian was Ira Steinberg, who is now on his way back to Oberlin, Ohio, but thanked us for making him feel welcome and said he would be back in the Spring.   Our guest was Damon Palagi, who is on the membership track and will be one of us any day now.

Our information is a little fuzzy, but Earl Shaw is reported in Rhode Island Hospital and has undergone surgery.  If anyone has more detail please let us know.  For new members, Earl is an honorary member who served as our Sergeant at Arms for years and years.  Every week Earl arrived early, set up the room and collected the money.  He was service above self times ten.

Our anniversary list includes Jerry and Nancy Meyer who celebrate 51 years on September 27^th.   The membership expressed their sympathy to Nancy.

SERVE - Saturday morning at 7:00 at Christ Church-Post Road and Cedar.  Bob Sloan needs you.  Be there for service above self and earn a make-up.

Jane Boynton displayed a picture of Roffi, a 5 year old in the Dominican Republic whom we are supporting.  She explained that when a group like ours, or an individual, supports a child, the program is designed to benefit the entire community so the child's social status is not suddenly elevated to a different level than that of the community at large.

Chuck Sauer reported on a thank you letter from the MDA in appreciation of our $500 donation during the telethon.  During the broadcast they put up a "Rotary" star to make note of our gift, and gave us a lot of plugs.

More fame for the famous.  The Sloan's kids gave them some Red Sox tickets for their Anniversary, then showed up in the adjacent seats for the game.  During the game their names and a message of congratulations came up on the jumbo-tron.  The crowd went wild.

Beth reports Rocky Hill is celebrating a 75^th Anniversary.  A fund raising event includes a $50 raffle ticket with a drawing for a car, two weeks in Hawaii and a diamond pendant as the first, second and third prizes.  Only 600 tickets will be sold with the drawing set for October 5^th.

George Popella presented Wil Yoder a pin with two ruby chips, signifying his total of eight Paul Harris Awards.  Wil is on track to be a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation, which represents 10 donations of $1,000.  We have one donor in the club, Andy Erickson.   One hundred and ten club members over the years have become Paul Harris fellows.  A number are multiple donors, bringing our total of awards to the 200 range.