Rotary Club
of East Hartford
High Gear
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
Sage
ClubRunner

Volume 1 | Issue 40

 
Two New Members in Pipeline
Under a partially sunny or partially cloudy sky (depending on your perspective) we gathered at the Ridge for our weekly fellowship.
 
President Bill got our attention when he clicked the microphone on. He sounded like he was speaking from the planet Mars. Mary rushed to fix the sound issue. As good soldiers, following the leader’s command, we joined in singing the Rotary Song (not one of our strong suits) followed by the Pledge-of-Allegiance. Thank God, the latter does not require any vocal skills.
 
Kevin Kickery’s invocation on world peace and understanding was timely in response to the recent event in Syria. His message was heartwarming and motivational.
 

The buffet lunch spread consisted of fried noodles with veggies, a version of General Tsao’s chicken, crisp rolls with vegetable filling and salad.

Dessert brought me back to my high school geometry class. Perfectly shaped isosceles triangular chocolate brownies were decorated with tan colored arcs and s-curves. My sincere apologies to Euclid.

Marc Glass introduced our guest, Eric Judge, a member from the Rockville Club who will be joining our club in June. George Agnelli introduced our other guest, Dana Olmstead, an artist and a pastor, who has attended a few of our meetings and is soon to become member.

Thanks to all of us who were instrumental in bring two potential new members. Despite our singing inadequacies, we did not shy away from following Art and George in their perfect lead-in to the Welcome Song.

Lots of Praise for UConn Women's BB
Our own Happy Jack smiled all the way to the podium to deliver the Sergeant-at-Arms Report.
  • Bob Buettner paid for his 73rd Birthday, with a request for no singing, wonder why, and a successful Paul Harris event last week.
  • Marc Glass paid for a successful Paul Harris event, Phillies being in the first place and his name being included in the pool of District Governor Nominees.
  • George Schoen, Art Bradbury, Jack Martin and Neil Cunningham paid for the great year for the UConn Women Huskies.
  • Kevin Kickery paid for the club singing to his wife at the Paul Harris event. Did I get it right? I was not there.
  • Jenn Jones and Ned Lynch paid for leaving early. You might ask for a refund because I did not see you leave. Ned Lynch also paid for the undefeated Boston Red Sox.
  • Bill Saunders paid for “just because”………  We will leave it like that. Sounds better.
  • Anwar paid for his retirement last week. Rumor has it that 400 people lost their jobs because he retired.
  • Dan Firestone and Jack Sayers paid because Anwar retired.
Caring moments provided us a glimpse of our Rotarians, present and past, and how their loved ones are doing. Herb Barall is not doing as well but a quick visit will be a nice gesture. Betty Russell is feeling well enough to attend the Ladies Lunch today. John Horne had a surgery last week that lasted 12 hours. Did miss how Susan Hansen’s son Brendan is doing.
 
Hope Firestone reminded those who are going on the Mystery Ride tomorrow that the large motor coach equipped with comfort station will leave the parking lot of the Ridge at 5:15 PM. If you miss the bus, call Hope on her cell phone 860-930-3476. She will immediately dispatch an Uber to bring you to the place of Mystery. Just kidding about the Uber.
 
President Bill made the following announcements:
  • President Bill will attend the meeting at the West Hartford Rotary Club on Monday April 10 at noon at the Pond House Café. Our club will be making a $4,000 donation to Global Grant for Eye Clinic in India.
  • Paul Harris ceremony last week was attended by approximately 100 people and was a successful event honoring three worthy Rotarians, Lionel Lessard, Kevin Kickery and Marc Glass.
  • 25 students have signed up for the Job Shadow Program to be held on April 24, 2017.
  • President Bill awarded Paul Harris pins to Anwar and George Agnelli.
  • President Bill believes he might have misplaced the front door key to the Ridge.
Dan Firestone, last week’s raffle winner, picked Ticket # 891. Larry Hangland graciously accepted the winning from Ceil Collins.
Shelter Boxes Making a Difference

Peter Klock provided us an informative perspective into Shelter Box. Started by Tom Henderson in the UK in 2001 with only 100 boxes, the count reached 1,000 boxes by 2004. Our Club became part of the effort in 2005.

The “kit” is mainly for assistance overseas to help victims of natural as well as manmade disasters. They came also handy during Katrina to help folks right here in Louisiana.

The program has evolved with time and now caters to victims based on their specific needs. Among many examples, I was particularly impressed by story of this one village, deep into Myanmar, where Shelter Box “kits” help rebuild the lives devastated by a natural disaster.

Shelter Box, most recently, is helping folks in Colombia where unprecedented rains have caused massive damage to lives and properties.

Since ShelterBox was founded, Rotary has responded to over 270 disasters and humanitarian crises in more than 95 geographic locations and provided emergency aid for well over one million people.

 

Anwar Hossain 

 

 

 

 

Please add mailservice@clubrunner.com to your safe sender list or address book.
To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here.
To forward this email to your friends, click here.
To view our privacy policy, click here.
 
ClubRunner
905.829.5299
102-2060 Winston Park Drive, Oakville, ON, L6H 5R7
 
ClubRunner is a registered trademark of Doxess Technologies Inc.
© 2016 ClubRunner. All Rights Reserved.