Club Meeting June 7, 2016

 

Jay Presser opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the recitation of the Rotary Four-Way Test. Scott Seabury gave the invocation and led the club singing of “God Bless America”.

 

Dale Baker, Joe Blake, Blair Childs. Jed Dery, Gregory DeSantis, Frank DiGennaro, Gail Handley,  Luis Lee, Don Miner, Jack Muska, Paul Pace, Ken Pascoe, Jay Presser, Charles Roumas, Scott Seabury,  Nancy Viggiano and Tami Zawistowski. Attendance: 49%   17/35

 

Announcements: Jay Presser announced the Rotary Foundation annual collection drive has been successful from its members and thanked everyone who participated. Jay also reiterated that the Paul Harris Dinner will be held June 28, 2016 at Suffield By The River.  Menu selection in advance was again passed around, and collections of $25 per attendee have begun.

 

Don Miner also mentioned that 25 former Paul Harris awardees have also been invited to attend.

Paul Pace wished to publicly thank Nancy Viggiano and The First National Bank of Suffield for their generosity as Lead Sponsor of the Packard Golf Tourney this upcoming August.

 

Scott Seabury stated the venue for Dan and Allyson Kehoe’s farewell on Sunday June 12 is changed to the Ambulance building at 1230 pm. Frank DiGennaro inquired if the Rotary Club was going to do something official and celebratory for them. Jay responded the board will take it up expeditiously, as the family’s departure is forthcoming.

 

Guests: Gayle Demko (guest of Dale Baker)

 

Program: The Rotary Student of the Month presentation was delayed until June 14 due to family request. Instead, Jay Presser asked Charles Roumas to inform the members about the District 7890 Conference he attended on May 14 in Agawam. MA. Over 200 Rotarians from Western MA and CT were warm and welcoming, and they listened to a keynote speaker on Service Above Self, and the setting of our district goal of raising $1MM this year for the Rotary Foundation. Charles was pleased to see many new younger members this year, particularly from Springfield MA and Hartford CT. Breakout training sessions were held for specific officer positions, and Charles attended Secretary training.  There was also a very useful class on 100 ways to recruit new members. Charles had relayed this data and the complete program agenda/details to President Jackie Guzie. Luis Lee commented we all need critical focus on increasing our local membership, identifying folks and inviting them to meetings.

 

Lastly at the conference, the District Governor was eager to enroll students in the 2016 RYLA Day on June 4th. Suffield did make the deadline to send a high school sophomore to this leadership training event.

 

Birthdays and Anniversaries:  Tom Modzelesky and Jack Muska celebrated birthdays. Luckily for Tom M. in his absence, only Jack received a birthday serenade from the members. The club also recognized the wedding anniversary of Tom and Jane Sullivan.

 

Blue Ticket Winners:  Jay Presser had the winning blue ticket, with sides won by Dale Baker and Luis Lee.

 

Queen of Hearts:  Luis Lee had the winning ticket, but did not select the queen. Next week’s drawing $370+.

 

Adjournment: Jay Presser adjourned the meeting with Scott leading “My Country Tis of Thee”.