President Bill rang the bell with consideration for those ears closest to the bell, sounded muffled to us at the farthest table, but loud enough for us to jump to our feet and participate in the Rotary Song and the Pledge-of-Allegiance.

 

Ruth Sheehan gave a thoughtful invocation with the central message of caring, sharing and service above self.

 

We then marched to the buffet table with a spread of baked mashed potatoes with cheese topping, sweet baby carrots, sole stuffed with crabmeat, bread and salad. A delicious cookies platter was self-serve in the meeting room.

 

Guests, Bev Saunders, who just returned from a wonderful family trip to Spain, Randy Anagnostic from Rockville Rotary Club and Randi Saboski, President of Rockville Rotary Club were treated to an enthusiastic rendition of our signature “Welcome Song” lead by John and Sheryl O’Connor.

 

Chuck Clarke shared with us caring moments about Herb Tischofer who is recovering from a kidney surgery.

 

Dan Firestone, our Sergeant-at-Arms for the month, reported a decent fine collection from early leavers (Chuck Clarke and Nate Quesnel), late comer (none other than his better half), George Schoen for no pin and a birthday, Alex Wisz for no pin no badge, Ruth Sheehan hoping for Red Sox winning tonight, Kevin Kickery for Marc’s golf lessons fund, Marc Glass paying double for Kevin’s back surgery fund, and our Sergeant-at-Arms himself for his 12-year old grandson for an accolade in soccer.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Koats-for-Kids on Oct 2. So far 100 folks have signed up.

 

Randy from Rockville is looking for a foursome for their Golf Tournament.

 

So is our own George S. who is also looking for foursome for our tournament.

 

Fireside chat planning has commenced. All Hosts and Leader spots are filled. Sign-Up sheet for participation will be circulated next week.

 

The Hartford Marathon Water Station project is on October 8, 2016. No need to fiddle with the less than user friendly website for registration. Folks who have volunteered before, if they add their names to the sheet that Neal Cunningham  circulated today, will be registered by the folks managing the cyber abyss.

 

First meeting of our Satellite Club will be held on Sat 9/17 at 6:00 PM. Notify Marc if you want to attend and of any guest(s) accompanying you.

 

Susan Hansen introduced Maggie Taylor from Goodwin College as our first scholarship recipient for this year.

 

Happy Jack Martin had Bob Wood, last week’s winner, pull the winning ticket. Jack handed the sealed envelope with an undisclosed amount to Jim Watts. Hmmm!! Didn’t Jim recently win two consecutive raffles? Rules Committee please take note.

 

Our guest speaker was Mike Cavanaugh, UConn’s Head Hockey Coach. He enlightened us about himself and the program through an informal Q&A session.

 

We learned that his Dad was a football coach. Mike was born in Queens, grew up in Long Island, and lived in Boston for the last 20 years before accepting the job in CT.

 

He advised there are 23 players in the program, they do not spend a lot of time travelling for games and players are coached not only about the game but their lives after they leave UConn.

 

We also found that he believes in treating people fairly, building character and telling players never to forget their roots.

 

Anwar Hossain