Beautiful day, great fellowship, chicken marsala with berries in a liqueur sauce.  Who could ask for anything more?  Maybe a few more members in attendance would be nice.  We did get to see some not-so-familiar friendly faces:  Pat Gately back from Florida, Sonny Waldo had returned earlier, Boy Scout Brian Gorman, and Goodwin Gadfly Guy LaBella.

 

Steve Jacoby, with a nod to Passover beginning later this week, presented our Invocation.  President Marc recognized our only guest, Pastor John Caldwell, operating in the capacity of professional caregiver for our esteemed Gil Wishart.  Then the Prez tapped Pat G. and Brian G. to be the Welcome Song duo.  Woe to anyone returning after a long absence.  You best know the words to the song!

 

Sergeant-at-Arms Happy Jack Martin was happy to have returned, somewhat the worse for wear, from enjoying the UConn Women’s Basketball victory in Indianapolis.  He let us know that Bob “Boutonniere” Buettner celebrated a HUGE birthday and paid a fine accordingly.  There were a bunch of no pins, no badges, and early leavers (Brian Gorman, Neal Cunningham, Ruth Sheehan).  Susan Hansen made a very happy contribution to honor her 2^nd Club anniversary and to be able to report that the health of her son, Brendan, is moving in the right direction.

 

CPA Dan Firestone coughed up some moola to celebrate Hope’s birthday and to revel in the fact that tax season is officially ended.  Ned Lynch dropped some cash in the pouch because he has already been to Fenway twice only to watch the Red Bums drop two.

 

And there was the usual confusion surrounding the on-going “Battle of the Bozos” between Dan Larson and Happy Jack.  Dan approached Jack at the podium with 55 cents.  When asked why that amount, the answer was, “your I.Q.”.  It would be mean if it wasn’t so funny.

 

Nick Cecere brought us news from Loren “Andy” Andreo:  Andy and former member Reverend Roger Nicholson share the same birthday (#88) and so, as is his tradition, Andy contributed $176 to our Scholarship Fund.  Hats off to you, Andy, and thanks for your permission to sell Duck Race tickets at Plaza Liquors this year.

 

Announcements:  Membership Committee – you have a meeting at Dan Larson’s office Thursday (probably the day you are reading this!) at 5 p.m..  Dan’s office is at 351 Main Street.  The former . . . well   . . .  never mind.

 

The Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the EH YMCA at 770 Main Street on Monday the 25^th.  All members are invited to attend.

 

April 29 is the District Conference; May 7 is the Mystery Bus Ride to . . . ; and May 11 is the District Assembly for in-coming officers and any member who wishes to attend. 

 

Gil Wishart, with an assist from Kevin Kickery, is working on this year’s Rotary District 7890 “End Polio Now” baseball night scheduled for Saturday, June 4.  There is a change-up being pitched.   This year we will continue to gather at the New Britain stadium but we will be cheering on the New Britain Bees, since the Rock Cats are no longer.  The pre-game picnic begins at 5:05 p.m., parade of Rotary Club banners takes place on the field at 5:45 p.m., and the game begins at 6:35 p.m.  Picnic and game ticket cost $22 each with $4 from every ticket going to support the “End Polio Now Campaign”.  Contact Gil or Kevin to sign up and pay.  It’s a good family event for the kids and grandkids.  Fireworks held after the game.

 

Susan Hansen was formally pinned as a Paul Harris Fellow Plus Two in recognition of her generous contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Her Paul Harris pin contains two sapphires.

 

Deputy Raffle Mistress, Ceil Collins, made sure her hubby Frank picked the winning ticket today.  Yeah, I know, it’s all on the up and up.

 

With the playing of the Benny Hill Show theme (those were the days!), guest speaker Alex Wisz launched into our Duck Race program.  Alex put together a fun and informative slide show.  Here are some of the factoids you missed:  The Duck Race is one of only two fund raisers we hold each year.  All the proceeds go to support our charitable service projects.  What are those?  Well, the list includes Scholarships, Coats for Kids, Bookmobile, iPads for students, Raymond Library computer classroom, Senior Citizens’ Prom, and the support of local youth sports leagues, just to name a few.  We hope to raise between $17,000 and $20,000 with this effort.  But it takes YOUR effort of selling at least 2 books of tickets per member.  Past Duck King George Agnelli is well on his way to being crowned Duck Emperor this year.  He already handed in 6 books of sold tickets! 

 

Alex has set up a number of locations up and down Main Street where we can sell our own tickets and maybe more.  These include the American Eagle Credit Union, Augie’s & Ray’s, Anderson Jewelers, and Plaza Liquors.  Sign up lists for times to sell will be going around.

 

Mary Martin praised the behind-the-scenes work done by Peggy Schoen.  She enters the data on every ticket sold into our master database.  No small feat that!

 

Duck Race this year is Sunday, June 12 at 2 p.m. on the Hockanum River at Labor Field.  Sell, sell, sell!!!!

 

Quack,

Empress of the World (Mary Martin)