Bill Saunders was at Evergreen Crossing with his iPad so that we could all see the in-person meeting venue that is being explored. It looked like a nice theater setup. They can support up to 150 people, so we would have ample area for social distancing. There is a theater screen available to project Zoom for those that would be remote. Wi-Fi is available, masks required, and they would check everyone’s temperature as they arrived. Best of all it would be free! However, there would be no food allowed inside the room. Let Bob know if you would attend if we tried a meeting there.

 

District Governor Marc Glass talked about Event Groove, the online fund-raising platform that Rotary is sponsoring. The platform is very flexible. You can do fundraising events such as raffles, sweepstakes, walk/ride/telethons, crowdfunding, sales, and auctions. The Westport club has already raised over $130,000 using the platform. Going online for fundraising expands the target audience across the entire planet, instead of just our personal friends, families, and neighbors. President Bob had an option to join a virtual Bingo game that a Rotary club in South America is running when he looked at Facebook that morning. We will be exploring the platform as we go forward. Expect a presentation of what it looks like and what it can be used for at a future meeting.

Announcements:

 

·         Koats 4 Kids took place last Sunday. We spent about $1,700 on coats for needy East Hartford children. Attendance was down significantly from previous years due, we believe, from the kids not being in school and bringing notices home to their parents. Future years we will look to be more proactive in marketing the event ourselves, rather than relying on Social Services.

 

·       Due to the small turnout at K4K, we had excess money in our budget. We will be depositing another $1,200 into the Liberty Bank account, to go to food related causes. Liberty will kick in an additional $300.

 

·       East Hartford’s Trunk or Treat event at Rentschler field will take place this Saturday. Our club will be handing out 500 bags of candy.

Our speaker today was Stacy Gray. She is the Business Development Manager at Take 2, Inc. Take 2 is a company that facilities the proper disposal of e-waste. Things like computers, monitors, printers, and cell phones among other items. The company also provides data destruction services for individuals and businesses that want to ensure that the hard drives they are discarding do not have any data left on them.

 

She informed us that in Connecticut there is a law that manufacturers that sell their items in the state are required to pay for the proper recycling of the products. Municipalities are required to provide free and accessible recycling to residents for electronics. For East Hartford, this means you can go to the Transfer Station and drop off your electronic items without having to purchase a permit. Just tell the person at the entrance that you are dropping off electronic items and they will let you in. Take 2 also sponsors recycling events and have in the past done so with Rotary clubs for fundraising.  Stacy offered the companies services if we want to hold such an event. If you would like more information about the company, you can go to www.take2recycle.com or send an email to info@take2recycle.com.

 

That is all for this scribe. Until next year sometime….

 

Wes

 

Next Weekly Zoom Meeting:

 

Topic: East Hartford Rotary Club

Time: Wednesday 11/4/2020 11:45 pre meet. 12:15 Meeting

 

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