We had three guests, including our guest speaker: Janet Pearson, a florist, the owner of Eden’s Florist on Main Street, a guest of Nick Cecere, and the Reverend Garlen Taylor, a guest of Steve Jacoby.

 

Though we had a relatively low turnout, Sergeant-at-arms Dan Firestone reported a “good day” and read an impressive list of those making it so. Aside from the usual no pin, late and early leavers, we were able to celebrate a very special birthday with Jay Stewart.  She is 92!  Others celebrating recent birthdays are Nate Quesnel, Ned Lynch and Art Bradbury, again?

 

Since November is Foundation Month around the Rotary world, today we also celebrated the 100^th anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, with a special cake, President Bill proudly and carefully carried around to each table before it was cut into generous slices served with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Marc Glass and Nate Quesnel attended and reported on the dedication of one of the eleven buddy benches our club has donated to East Hartford schools. “Buddy Benches,” a movement begun in Pennsylvania, eliminate loneliness and foster friendship by providing a safe space for students to sit when they need a “buddy” to play with.  They brought us very special thank you art given the club by the students.

 

President Bill shared Susan Hansen’s report on the Goodwin College turkey drive. Twelve frozen turkeys were donated plus $450 in cash.  Apparently each dollar donated will provide 2 ½ meals for folks helped by local food banks. 

 

Bill also read a note from Chickie Amberg thanking the club for its support of the recent Women’s Club fundraiser, a fashion show, the group’s one fundraiser which is used for scholarships they provide residents of East Hartford.

 

Mary Martin is the force behind our club’s “adopt a family” efforts.  She reported volunteers are needed to act as Elves by shopping for Christmas gifts for the two families we have “adopted.”  Each Elf will be given information about the age, gender, and wishes of two children, then asked to shop for those two children.  Elves save sales receipts in order to be reimbursed by the club.  Contact Mary Martin (860) 633-6657 to sign up.  Mary needs at least 5 or 6 elves; she did have some volunteers at the meeting.

 

President Bill reiterated his very positive experience attending a recent meeting of the Interact Club at CIBA.  They are an enthusiastic club, in existence for eight years, and still being advised by Rachel Buck.  They will be helping us ring the Salvation Army bell for four Saturdays in November and December.  Sign up sheets were at the club again today; slots are still available.  Contact Jack Sayre if you are interested in helping with this annual effort but have not yet signed up.

 

Marc Glass reminded members of the membership committee there would be a one-hour (happy hour) meeting at Savvi’s on Main Street Thursday, November 17^th, beginning at 5:30.  This is critical to our ongoing efforts to build club membership, including the plan to start a satellite club this year.

 

Bob Buettner, co-chair of the club social committee, reminded us there will be a wine-and-cheese fellowship gathering just prior to our regular meeting on November 23^rd.  President Bill added that our featured speaker that day will be the Reverend Al Turner.

 

In caring moments, Nick Cecere noted that his two buddies, Mo Moshovos and Herb Barall, have continuing health issues preventing them from attending our recent meetings.  He suggested giving Mo a call.  We also noted that Frank and Ceil Collins were not at the meeting, since Ceil was having cataract surgery.  All were missed.

 

With his usual careful planning, President Bill managed to have the raffle (Peter Klock won) and move on to our speaker before 1 PM. 

 

Sue Klock introduced Carol Toomey, a past governor from our neighboring district in middle Massachusetts, who is currently serving Rotary as the Zone 32 End Polio Now Coordinator.  Carol is responsible for sharing the news of polio eradication efforts with clubs as distant as Bar Harbor, Maine, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

 

Carol has been the owner of Action Unlimited, publisher of twenty community weekly newspapers, for 46 years.  She began her talk by telling us about her parents, both of whom were handicapped, and especially describing her dad’s limitations which resulted from his having paralytic polio at the age of eighteen months. 

 

One of the inspiring messages she shared was the power of “one” in Rotary, i.e.  one person’s idea, when shared and spread through Rotary, can have global consequences. 

 

That is the case with Rotary’s adopting an effort to eradicate polio from an area in the Philippines and developing what has become PolioPlus. 

 

Carol was very clear about the challenges the eradication effort faces in the three endemic countries but also very upbeat about elimination of types 2 and 3 of the polio virus, which has led to major changes in vaccination efforts. 

 

She wound up with a very enthusiastic message about attending this year’s Rotary International Convention, June 11^th through 14^th, in Atlanta, Georgia.