High Gear, September 18, 2013
It was a bright, cool, beautiful mid-September day on the Ridge. The attending members were active and engaged, with much afoot, as we finalized plans for Monday next’s Golf Tournament. While sponsors and raffle prizes are still needed, we have almost a full contingent of golfers and things are coming together. More of this to follow.
President George called us to order and was pleasantly surprised that Art Bradbury was ready with a thoughtful invocation. No guests today so we dispensed with the Welcome Song. The lunch plate contained pot roast, mash potatoes and, for the second consecutive week, Brussels sprouts. Must have been a sale on them at Costco. No
one at our table ate their sprouts but we all devoured the chocolate cake served for dessert.
The Sergeant At Arms report was brief today, with Dan Firestone reporting on birthdays for President George and Janice Freschlin. Brian Liss paid because he is participating in a “Warrior Dash” on Saturday. This apparently involves five miles of climbing walls and running thru mud and other uncomfortable activities. It’s great to be young. Not to be outdone, well, maybe just to remain in the game, Dan Firestone is participating in a 40 mile bike ride on Saturday as well. (Neither will be swinging a golf club or much of anything else on Monday.)
As to announcements this week, Chuck Clarke rose to tell us that our annual Coats for Kids event will take place on Sunday, September 29th at 8 a.m.
President George announced Board approval of a new member, Mike Costa, the local manager for Farmington Savings Bank who will join our troupe at the next meeting.
Doug Willett offered a last chance to sign up for the upcoming Fireside Chats. He will be assigning all those who have not indicated a choice to a session and will be sending out an email to all members.
Neal Cunningham indicated that the Water Station could still use a couple of more volunteers to be sure that the runners are overly hydrated when they stop into Andersen Jewelers to use the bathroom. If you can’t navigate the on-line registration, show up anyway.
President George will be handing out I-Pads to Mayberry School on Tuesday morning.
Steve Jacoby announced that our Job Shadowing Day will be on October 23 and he is looking for volunteers to host one or two EHHS seniors at their place of business that day.
And Bill Saunders, Mr. Rotary Golf Tournament himself, asked those who still have raffle prizes to donate to call him before tomorrow night so he can pick them up to be processed. Or in the alternative, they can be dropped off at Yvette Roming’s office by close of business on Thursday.
In the Caring Moment section, Bob Wood reported that old friend, Don Cramer, has recently lost a foot of his colon to cancer but is in good spirits and will be home in New Hampshire by the weekend.
Dan Russell won the raffle this week but Raffle master Jack Martin was unable to deliver the money for a few minutes. Seems he forgot where it was. First he tried to blame Mo Moshovos, who is certainly not above pocketing the envelope but it turns out it was in Jack’s back pocket all the time. Once his senior moment passed he was able to hand it over.
Our program today was a two agenda item Club Assembly. First President George reviewed
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the Charitable Giving portion of his proposed 2013-2014 budget and Sheryl O’Connor and Brian Liss followed up with a presentation of the 2013-2014 Strategic Initiatives for the Club and a discussion of Membership Development. The three major Initiatives are: Membership Development, Community Partnerships and Increased Foundation Giving. These topics will be at the center of our Fireside Chats so please review them on our website prior to attending your chat.
That’s all for now. With the Yankees in the toilet, the Giants 0 for 2, and the hapless Huskies about to host the #14 team in the country, it’s getting hard to even turn on the TV these days. Women’s basketball can’t start soon enough.