Goodwin University, Admin Bldg. 417 Main St., East Hartford. CT

Noon – Past President Bob rang the bell and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test.

For the invocation, Sue Klock read Maya Angelou’s poem Peace.

Two guests joined us -- Barton Darney from Trinity Academy, accompanied by a member of the school’s board.

Lunch looked as though it was enjoyed by all. Unfortunately, we missed having Guy with us to describe what was on the menu, and I was busy bringing boxes into the room for a project we would be working on after our program and did not hear what was offered. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it.

After lunch, Bob ran through upcoming club commitments and events. We will look forward to Rob’s return from his escape to Florida when he can tell us more details about our plan to get together at Villa Louisa in Bolton for a holiday party shared with other groups. There will also be a regular club meeting that Wednesday, December 10^th, when we have a program scheduled featuring Interval House.

Jack Sayre reported his sign-up for Salvation Army bell ringing at Cabella’s is going well. This year we will be ringing on December 6, 13 and 20, from 9 to 5 each day. Highly recommended that volunteers arrive a few minutes ahead of the hour they are to ring the bell.

Bob mentioned that the Veterans BBQ at the Senior Center went smoothly last Wednesday, November 5^th, though he mentioned that some volunteers were no-shows.

After those announcements, Anwar introduced today’s speaker, Barton Darney, the Development Director for the Trinity Academy. This was a very enlightening talk about a small private K-4 school in Hartford. This school, which now meets in the Emmanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, is entirely tuition free. Attendance is first-come, first-served, and though the school’s aim is to provide quality education for underserved families, a financial statement is not required for families to apply. Currently there are 32 students, with the aim to max out at 50. Though Barton has been with the school just three years, she is very enthusiastic and persuasive about its ability to change students’ learning. She mentioned that their students typically move on with tuition assistance to some excellent middle schools and New England prep schools. Their students are now entering colleges, including Yale, Trinity and Princeton, as well as UConn.

All good things must come to an end. After a very informative Q &A session, Bob thanked Barton and closed the meeting.

We moved along to the service side of today’s get together, adding our Four-Way Test stickers to the inside of 528 thesauruses. The dictionaries are on the schedule at the end of next Wednesday’s regular meeting. Worth noting that Barton remained and pitched in to help with the project. Most of us were out the door by1:30 PM.

A huge thanks to Bob, aided by Barton, Peter and Sue, Anwar, Jack, Marc, Jim, Ceil, George, Dan, Neal and Angelica. I apologize if I left out any of those who put in the extra time working on this project.

Submitted by Sue Klock, this week’s scribe.