High Gear, April 17, 2013
.jpg)
One of the advantages of walking in the back door at the “Ridge” and through the kitchen is that you get to see the little chalk board with the menu of the day, which means that you do not have to ponder over what you have been served. And when it is a buffet, as it was today, you get to pick and choose, and, if you have translated the menu into classic French cuisine in your mind, you can make for yourself a most elegant luncheon. Today’s “ingredients” included Sicilian Chicken, a vegetable chili, pasta with sauce, risotto, sausage and peppers, tossed green salad with a choice of dressings, rolls, butter, the usual beverage, all followed by strawberry shortcake. (I would have a difficult time translating all that into French, believe me.)
Based on the weather, we could have had a cookout—it was just under seventy degrees, and the sun was lovely, bright, warm. The “noon” runners were out in full force. What a truly fine day!
President Sheryl rang the bell, and asked us to have a moment of silence for those killed and injured by the bombs at the Boston Marathon. She then offered a beautiful litany of things that we can do and things which we do to make the world a better place, to truly make a difference: We support clean water, sanitation and safe cooking standards in Guatemala; we support literacy through our Bookmobile and our Dictionaries for the third grade kids in East Hartford; we support the education of youth, both here and abroad, through STEM education, PACE Schools (India), Seeds of Peace, job shadowing, Career Days and High School Scholarships; we support healthier lives through Polio Plus, Mother/Baby AIDS, SOAP projects, donations of food, fuel, and Koats for Kids, and support for new generations through the “Y”. Wow! We do a lot, and it all comes back to thank and bless us.
The Welcome Song was directed by Dan Larson and Glen Peterson.
Jack Martin was Sergeant-at-Arms. 
Bob Buettner paid because he had two granddaughters with him for the day. Herb Barall had some happy thoughts—his grandson was home safely—I think he’d been in the Boston Marathon. Larry Hangland paid for no pin—you can buy a replacement for not much more than he donated. John O’Connor wants us all to push sales of the Big Ducks. Hope Firestone had a birthday, which was numberless; we all sang. Jack Martin paid because he and Mary had had a delightful trip to New Orleans to watch that great basketball game. Dan Larson paid for an unheard reason and Ruth Sheehan for a Boston moment.
Announcements: Brian Liss is mounting an email campaign to bolster Duck sales. George Schoen has sold two books of tickets in one week, and Sheryl has sold four and a half books in the same time.
Special: The Gently Used Book Campaign: over five million books have gone to needy communities over the years. The latest: 15,000 books to an Indian Reservation in Arizona. One of today’s guest was David Mador, the Reader to Reader Executive Director.
Can you imagine living in a community with no books? We collected 339 books and donated $340 to help with the additional literacy programs throughout the world.
Marty Finn, one of our Assistant Governors, and leader of the GSE team soon to travel to Turkey, was with us. Golly, he was complimentary—he said “you guys are a standard by which other clubs should be judged.” For the coming year, he wants us to be truly engaged in Rotary, to help change lives, to build membership, and to share with others just what Rotary is all
about.
District Conference in Rhode Island: one week away. And remember, on May 10th, we have the Rock Cats Game. The GSE Team fromTurkey arrives that day also.
Announcements: Glen Peterson, regretfully, has submitted his resignation. Tim Coppage, President of the East Hartford Chamber of Commerce has applied for membership. The Senior Citizens Ball is all set—twenty-six of our members will be running that show. And the Gazette will have it all on the Front Page. Pay for your Rock Cats tickets by next week’s meeting. School Business Partnership Day is coming up.
Mary Martin announced that today was National Bookmobile Day! Ours will be at the “truck stop” on Roberts Street on May 22nd, there will be a ribbon cutting at 8:00 a.m. , and the two clubs in India who have helped fund it will be joining us via Skype. All Rotarians are invited to attend.
Scholarship Committee meets next week, half past eleven, before our regular meeting. And the Raffle was won by Guest Jan Sayre!
Our speaker today was Past District Governor Dick Borden, member of the Manchester Club.
Dick is a delegate to the Rotary Council on Legislation. He shared with us, in written form, about ten of the proposals, out of literally hundreds, which will be voted on when he is in Illinois April 21st to the 26th. Some of the proposals made a lot of sense; some were almost off the wall. That’s one of the great things about the democratic process—you get to consider proposals, hopefully in an intelligent manner! Dick led us in a very good discussion over many of the points.
Until next week—Dan Russell