East Hartford Rotary Club
 
High Gear
 


Volume 80 | Issue 39 / October 1, 2025

 

 

High Gear – Wednesday October 1, 2025
Goodwin University, Admin Bldg. 417 Main St., East Hartford. CT

 

Noon – President Rob rang the bell and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test.

For the invocation, Anwar Hossain offered an inspirational message encouraging us to appreciate Rotary’s providing opportunities to serve, share friends, and in our daily lives to live our motto of Service Above Self.

Our guest, who is about to become a Rotarian, Shakira Acevedo, led the troops to our buffet lunch.

· Mediterranean salad

· Chicken, broccoli, lemon pepper cream over penne

· Pizza with mozzarella

· Focaccia bread

Sue sold raffle tickets during lunch. Each member was limited to purchasing a max of $5 for 3 tickets, and everyone was energized since we were down to 6 cards!

After lunch, Rob mentioned various upcoming service opportunities. He encouraged all members to bring him new, fresh ideas for our club.
This month, in addition to Rotary in Motion and the water station for the Hartford marathon, the date for Koats for Kids at Burlington Coat Factory on Silver Lane will be Sunday, October 26th, from 8 to 10 AM.
Keep an eye out for email from Rob which includes a complete list with relevant links.

Moving the membership process along, an info session was held for both Shakira Acevedo and Angelica Sharma at Marc’s office on Tuesday, September 30th. Rob is the proposer. He, Guy and Marc participated.

Rob’s trivia contest centered on Google facts about the month of October, e.g. the jewel of the month is the opal and the name derives from its name on the Roman calendar.

Anwar’s efforts to schedule engaging and informative speakers for our meetings is much appreciated. Be aware that during the month of October, scheduled speakers are Dr. Sal Menzo, Superintendent of Goodwin Magnet Schools, on October 8th, and Angelica Sharma, on October 22nd, who will be informing us about Tara Homes. Angelica is a proposed new member and hopefully will be inducted later this month.

Caring moment: Maura Callahan is being diagnosed for a serious illness. If you would like to send Maura a note, her address is 56 Linwood Dr., East Hartford, CT 06118. Bob Buettner’s family should also be kept in mind as Bob’s sister-in-law is seriously ill.

We moved from the serious side of our meeting to the craziness of our seemingly unending “Catch the Ace of Spades” raffle. The winnings have now reached $950. Jim Watts’s won step one. Unfortunately, in crucial step two Jim picked the Jack of Spades NOT the Queen. So, next week, we’ll be at it again with only five cards left in our deck!

Rob rang the bell at 12:59, ending a fun and informative meeting.

Submitted by Sue Klock, scribe for this week.

 
East Hartford Rotary Club
 
High Gear
 


Volume 80 | Issue 40 / October 8, 2025

 

 

High Gear – Wednesday October 8, 2025
Goodwin University, Admin Bldg. 417 Main St., East Hartford. CT

 

Noon – President Rob rang the bell and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way
Test.

For the invocation, Ray Maselek reminded us in addition to fellowship, significant benefits of Rotary membership include many opportunities to serve others while engaging in our shared commitment to making the world a better place and respecting the dignity of all people.

Anwar introduced our guests today. Dr. Salvatore Menzo, who will be enlightening us about Goodwin University’s Magnet School System. He also introduced Drew Firestone, here as the guest of our longtime member, Dan Firestone. A third in-person guest was Angelica Sharma, from Tara Homes, who will be our guest speaker on October 22nd. Shakira Acevedo joined us via Zoom.

Our guests were invited to lead everyone to lunch. Guy mentioned today’s choices were chicken Milanese, arugula salad, penne carbonara, cheese pizza, and by special request of our club president, focaccia bread.

Ray sold raffle tickets, and there was no shortage of five dollar bills ready since our Catch the Queen of Spades game was down to five cards. How could anyone lose? Pay attention to the not-so-grand finale at the end of these notes.

After lunch, digging into the weeds, or Google, for October trivia, Rob left many of us baffled. Regardless, the brightest among us--Anwar, John and Drew--managed to provide answers.

Anwar introduced our speaker, Dr. Salvatore (Sal) Menzo, the Superintendent of Goodwin’s Magnet Schools. Despite having been here only 2021, Dr. Menzo has shown the benefit of his many years in leadership roles elsewhere. During the last four years, he has led the efforts to have this district to be recognized as the first public school district associated with a private university in the country. This was definitely a program not to miss, since his achievements are hard to summarize. If you did miss it, please ask Rob to share the Zoom recording.

Caring moments: Ray mentioned he will not be at the next couple of meetings, since he wife will be having surgery just prior to the 22nd.

We moved on to the craziness of our seemingly unending “Catch the Ace of Spades” raffle. The winnings are now over $970. Jack Sayre won step one. Unfortunately, in crucial step two his sidekick, Bill, did not pick the Queen of Spades. So, next week, we’ll be at it again with only four cards left in our deck!

Rob rang the bell just after 1 PM, ending a fun and informative meeting.

Submitted by Sue Klock, scribe for this week.

 
Please add mailservice@clubrunner.ca to your safe sender list or address book.
To view our privacy policy, click here.
 
ClubRunner
102-2060 Winston Park Drive, Oakville, ON, L6H 5R7