Pledge: Pres. Kathy Callinan
Prayer: Gerri Lewis
Song: Bill McLaughlin
Brents Card Game Winner: President Kathy
Sergeants Report: Rick Beck
Raffle Winners: 2 guests, Ed Pinn, Marty
Happy Bucks (Note from here until Thanksgiving all happy bucks collected go to the Liberty Bank fund which provides Thanksgiving meals for those in need): Lots of bucks for the students and all the guests, Paul was happy to be around and visiting the club and promoted the First Church pumpkin patch, Brent told a story and paid $2, Kathy was happy to have won the card game and all her winnings for all the students, Charlie R was happy to share a table with Mo, Larry and Curly, lots of bucks for the beautiful day!
Announcements:
Thursday Oct. 22: Annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser for HEAT at Firemans Field, $10pp or $20pp if you stay for Vin McElhone who will perform his nightclub comedy act. He's a very funny guy!
Thursday Oct. 15 Meals on Wheels: Pete Zucco
Saturday Oct. 17 Deep River Rotary Octoberfest, $75pp
Thursday Oct 29 Chamber of Commerce Business Expo - Let Gerri know if you can come out and help with our booth. Lets have a presence which can help with new membership and general PR for the club.
Nov 8, 1PM District Foundation brunch. $50pp - the club will pick up the expense if you'd like to attend. Place is Woodwinds in Branford. Contact Gerri
Outreach Business: Gerri
The Estuary Meals on Wheels is in need of insulated bags for delivering meals. The club approved money for the purchase of 20 bags at $30 each ($600).
Students of the Month - English
Glen got things started by saying this is our 26th year of honoring students in this way. For their academic achievements the club awards each one a check for $25 and donates $25 to Polio Plus in each students names. Glen went on to talk about Polio Plus, a longstanding Rotary International program whose goal it is to eradicate this terrible disease. As of Oct. 7, there have been only 61 new cases of polio reported worldwide so we're almost there. 48 of those cases are in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Once again, the 3 students of the month were outstanding for their academic achievements and participation in school activities outside the classroom. Carmen Borca-Carrillo from Westbrook HS was described as articulate and creative, studying honors and UCONN level courses and not just in English. Carmen is originally from Argentina which makes her accomplishments even more impressive. Carmen attended the World Affairs Seminar in June. Adina Ripin from Old Saybrook HS is a National Merit Scholar and has great writing skills. Kathryn Fanelli from Lyme-Old Lyme HS is active in sports and service clubs. Kathryn actually wrote a book on cyber bullying telling girls how to deal with this online problem. She is interested in pursuing a career in law.
L-R: Carmen, Adina, Kathryn
Following the SOM program, we had a discussion led by President Kathy, about increasing membership. One idea is to create a database of donors and keep them informed on club activities. Another idea is looking at the venue to try to make meetings more appealing. Many prospective members balk at early morning breakfast meetings having meetings for lunch and dinner (or perhaps not a full dinner) can help reach more people. The club is stagnant and needs new blood to sustain itself. We need to think outside the box.
The meeting was ended with the club reciting the 4-way test.
md
