The changing weather pattern of New England was visible today in the form of a misty and cloudy day. Despite the weather, 21 of us were present including a number of Halloween guests, five of them in scary pumpkin faces, Mr. Skeleton in a seat, and last but not the least the mechanical giant spider making a sudden unexpected leap that surprised us. Luckily, we did not have to feed them.
The bell struck, which promptly got us to our feet to sing the Rotary Song followed by the Pledge-of-Allegiance. Yours truly, doing double duty as the High Gear writer and the invocation giver was called to the podium by President Bob. The theme was to help others and defend the rights of all citizens and residents.
We headed to the lunch table without our esteemed guests. Lunch from Congress Rotisserie consisted of roast chicken, corn, salad and cookies. Filling in for Ned, Dan Firestone served the cookies around each table.
President Bob rang the bell to start the second part of our Halloween themed meeting, thanking Ceil for the decorations. The announcements followed next.
- Happy Jack made the observation that today is the first anniversary of George Agnelli’s passing.
- Polio Plus envelope was making its round for donations.
- Foundation Dinner will take place at Chez Joseph in Agawam on November 7 and will honor, among others, our own Jim Watts.
- Next Board meeting will take place on November 12.
- The Ridge is not available during the evening until the end of November. So Fireside Chat needs to take place as previously announced on November 13. Main topic of discussion will be the future of the club.
- D.G. Mark Brady will be the Guest Speaker on November 20. Let’s show our support by attending.
- Cheese-and-Wine will be served before the meeting on November 27. A check will be presented to EHPD the same day.
- Debbie Bain will be our guest speaker on December 4. She will talk about how to navigate through the health insurance maze.
- Mr. Xin, an exchange teacher, will speak to us about Chinese culture on December 11.
- Jack Sayre indicated that based on the number of volunteer hours pledged, the club can do three days of bell ringing. The dates are December 7, 14 and 21, all Saturdays. He provided three signup sheets.
- Jackie is back into Hartford Hospital.
- Jim Fallon is recovering from knee replacement surgery.
- Frank Collins is recovering from a successful surgery.
- Calling Hours for Jean Roland will take place at 10:00 AM at Rose Hill, Rocky Hill followed by the service and burial at 11:00.
Dan Firestone, our SAA for the month, provided the following report:
- Art paid for something!!!
- Bob Buettner paid for Happy Halloween.
- Ceil paid for Frank’s successful surgery.
- Dan Firestone paid for surviving the attack by one of our guests, the mechanical giant spider.
- Marc’s son is in Los Angeles for the Breeder Cup.
- Larry Hangland paid for something he might have done wrong.
- Steve Jacoby for being late and for his club anniversary.
- Dan Larson paid for another “sunny day” and glad that tonight is the last night of the World Series.
- Dick McCarthy—Go Nationals.
- Bob Wood is rooting for the NAATS
Neil won the regular raffle while Dick McCarthy took the flowers home.
October is Polio Plus month. Marc gave us an update. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the three countries where polio has not been eradicated. In 2018 there were 12 reported cases of polio while in 2019, 76 cases were discovered. The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation continues to match 2 for 1 in donations. Efforts need to continue before the world can become polio free.
Wes Willett is scheduled to write High Gear next month.
Your scribe: Anwar Hossain