High Gear, August 21, 2013
With President George on vacation, President Elect Brian Liss rang the bell for the first time today. In a typical Rotary show of support, the membership promptly stood up and walked out the doors. Even Brian’s wife, Chris, and two sons, Patrick and Brady headed for the exits. Brian noted that he expected the hazing to begin next year when he officially dons the medallion of office. What he learned is that this Club likes to take advantage of its first opportunity.
Anyway, order was restored, folks returned to their chosen seats and the meeting began. PP Sheryl O’Connor provided a brief and thoughtful invocation and the group queued up to the buffet table. London broil, Mac and Cheese, Sausage and Peppers, salads and rolls quickly moved from serving trays to plates. Washed down with a spot of iced tea and topped
with a cookie, no one left hungry.
Once the meal was consumed, the introduction of guests ensued. Roger Belledeau from Merritt Printing was introduced by Sheryl who noted his contributions to our Bookmobile Project and the outstanding work his company did on the decals and printing. Also joining us were Mike Costa, VP of Farmington Saving Bank here in town and Charlie Wilber, a guest of Brian Gorman. And in the family of Rotary category we were graced with the presence of the aforementioned Liss family and young James, about to enter first grade in Rocky Hill sitting next to his proud Gramma, Pat Gately. Jack Martin and Alex Wicz lead the Welcome Song.
Sergeant at Arms Dave Amberg is still getting his sea legs in this new role, but he shows great promise as a collector of fines. He nailed a bunch of us for “no pins,” a bunch of others who needed to “leave early,” a couple of us for “no badges” despite the fact that he, himself, proved unable to extract our badges from the badge tray, and finally Gil Wishart for his 82nd Birthday. Mercifully, Gil requested silence. To trump walking out on her husband at the start of the meeting, Chris Liss added to his discomfort by willing her phone to ring right in the middle of Amberg’s report. She paid as well.
On a much more serious note, Art Bradbury rose to inform us that his six week old granddaughter has lost her battle with health problems existing since birth and has passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with Art and Charlotte and their family as they deal with this heartbreaking news. Marc Glass is facing another surgery next week on that pesky ankle, so keep him in mind as well.
At this point President Elect Brian called Doug Willett to the podium for a special presentation. Doug and Diane are being recognized as Major Donors to the Rotary 
Foundation. The Willetts make an annual donation to the Foundation and over the years their contributions have qualified them for this recognition - a handsome paper weight and two Paul Harris label pins studded with a diamond chip. Doug expressed his pride in being a Rotarian and in being a small part of the important work of the Rotary Foundation.
Announcements were two today. Bill Saunders said he needed only three words this week –“Players, Sponsors, Raffle” to get his point across and then proceeded to add dozens of others to embellish his plea. Yvette Roming added her desire to see raffle prizes crowding her out of her office space in the near future.
Doug Willett announced the annual Fireside Chats will begin September 30 and run through October 10th. Up to six chats will be scheduled, needing six hosts and six discussion leaders. The passing of the clip board yielded four hosts and six leaders, so we need two more volunteers to host (Jacoby, are you reading this?). The Empress graciously raised her hand to enable Doug to move from a one man band to a one man/one woman band by volunteering to handle any and all assigned tasks to make the Chats successful. We are off to a good start.
Herb Tischofer won the raffle. Like the old days at the gas station, he put the cash in his back pocket.
Dan Firestone introduced our speaker today and what an exceptional speaker she was. Mary Collins is an accomplished writer and educator (currently a professor at CCSU) and she is a woman on a mission. Far too many people and far too many kids are not keeping active enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Her talk today was about the causes of this self-injurious behavior and the many, many simple, easy to do steps we can take to improve our health and physical well- being. Among her more startling conclusions of her research is that the onset of wide spread organized sports for kids actually leads to less active movement from children rather than more. 
These organized activities have led to a “if it’s not organized, I’m not going to get up and move” mentality among the young. She also noted that moderate exercise can lead to a 50% reduction in instances of dementia. You have to be active to create new neutrons in your brain. And she warned that due to lack of physical activity, the present generation may be the first in history that does not live longer than their parents. Powerful stuff. It was compellingly presented by a woman who believes passionately that it does not have to be this way and who outlines several positive steps we can all take in her book, American Idle, which was available at the end of the meeting. Lots of food for thought today. Chew on it while out for a walk.
Good meeting, Brian. And good portends for the future.