On the project front, we will be participating in the writing of greeting cards to the residents at Riverside Health Center. The Club will pay for cards and postage and a mailing list will be forthcoming. Contact Bob if you would like to augment the volunteers committed thus far.
The Greater Hartford Marathon has converted to a “virtual race” for this year so our traditional water station is not needed. Volunteers who have had this on their calendar for many years are invited to gather in Neal Cunningham’s living room that morning to consume donuts and toss half full water cups at Neal as he passes from the kitchen to answer the front door and back.
On the other hand, the Rotary in Motion 26-mile event in Manchester is determined to proceed in a close to normal fashion. Our water station in Wickham Park is still a go at this point. More to follow as we get closer to October 3rd.
Anwar Hossain introduced our guest speaker today, Andy Fleischmann. Andy is a West Hartford resident and neighbor of Dan Firestone who spend 14 years in the Connecticut General Assembly. In his role with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Andy oversees an organization that began in NYC in 1904 mentoring homeless boys on the streets of the city and has grown to mentoring boys and girls across the world.
The Nutmeg chapter began in Middletown in 1966 and now covers 132 of Connecticut’s 169 towns. The rest are covered by a chapter based in Fairfield County.
The main objective of the program is to provide young boys and girls an adult figure who can provide a role model and a mentor as they grow into adulthood. 80% of the participants are in single/no parent households and 75% are living below the poverty line. These children experience lots of trauma in their lives including one in eight who have a parent in jail.
The adult volunteers are committed to spend 6-10 hours a month in working with the kids and studies have shown that 97% of participants have shown increased self-confidence and improve academic results after one year in the program. The adults who stay with it often make life-long friendships with the kids and remain important parts of their lives as they move to become self-sufficient adults themselves.
The Covid-19 crisis has impacted the interactions between kids and mentors, but the group has developed multiple strategies to address these challenges. This is a great and worthwhile program and we thank Andy for his interesting presentation.
See you next week from my home office thanks to the wonders of technology. Remember, masks on, six feet apart and wash your hands often.
Doug Willett
On the project front, we will be participating in the writing of greeting cards to the residents at Riverside Health Center. The Club will pay for cards and postage and a mailing list will be forthcoming. Contact Bob if you would like to augment the volunteers committed thus far.
The Greater Hartford Marathon has converted to a “virtual race” for this year so our traditional water station is not needed. Volunteers who have had this on their calendar for many years are invited to gather in Neal Cunningham’s living room that morning to consume donuts and toss half full water cups at Neal as he passes from the kitchen to answer the front door and back.
On the other hand, the Rotary in Motion 26-mile event in Manchester is determined to proceed in a close to normal fashion. Our water station in Wickham Park is still a go at this point. More to follow as we get closer to October 3rd.
Anwar Hossain introduced our guest speaker today, Andy Fleischmann. Andy is a West Hartford resident and neighbor of Dan Firestone who spend 14 years in the Connecticut General Assembly. In his role with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Andy oversees an organization that began in NYC in 1904 mentoring homeless boys on the streets of the city and has grown to mentoring boys and girls across the world.
The Nutmeg chapter began in Middletown in 1966 and now covers 132 of Connecticut’s 169 towns. The rest are covered by a chapter based in Fairfield County.
The main objective of the program is to provide young boys and girls an adult figure who can provide a role model and a mentor as they grow into adulthood. 80% of the participants are in single/no parent households and 75% are living below the poverty line. These children experience lots of trauma in their lives including one in eight who have a parent in jail.
The adult volunteers are committed to spend 6-10 hours a month in working with the kids and studies have shown that 97% of participants have shown increased self-confidence and improve academic results after one year in the program. The adults who stay with it often make life-long friendships with the kids and remain important parts of their lives as they move to become self-sufficient adults themselves.
The Covid-19 crisis has impacted the interactions between kids and mentors, but the group has developed multiple strategies to address these challenges. This is a great and worthwhile program and we thank Andy for his interesting presentation.
See you next week from my home office thanks to the wonders of technology. Remember, masks on, six feet apart and wash your hands often.
Doug Willett