Alas, what, oh what, have we come to? The once proud East Hartford Rotary Club has been reduced to a two term president clanging on an empty pot to start a meeting. This abomination in place of our stately, sonorous liberty bell. Such is the ignominious sting of the Covid -19 pandemic. But, like the good Rotarians we are, we suck it up and keep on truckin’.
Alex Wisz steps into on-deck circle
Ruthie “The Goya Bean Eater” Sheehan provided a thoughtful invocation complete with references to the Four Way Test and the Rotary motto. This was followed by our 19 meeting participants standing for the Pledge. President Bob introduced Andy Fleischmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nutmeg Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and our guest speaker today.
We then welcomed Connor Martin to full membership in our happy band. Connor oversees Grounds and Food Services at Goodwin College and is a member of the East Hartford Town Council. Introduced to Rotary by Dan Larson, Connor should have much to contribute to our future as a club. Welcome, Connor.
And in other good news, Alex Wisz has agreed to assume the position of President Elect and to succeed two-timer Bob Buettner as club president next Rotary year. Now we are looking for a candidate to succeed Alex in the 2022-2023 year.
Paul Harris recognition on tap July 29th
Our speaker on July 22nd will be Rotarian Mike McGovern who heads up the Rotary Leadership Institute.
On July 29th, the meeting will be held at the One Wood Pub at the East Hartford Golf Club. This will be a 9 a.m. breakfast meeting and breakfast sandwiches will be on the menu. Cost is $15.00. Seating is limited to 15 Rotarians, so if you want to attend in person, please notify Wes Willett as soon as possible. (Weston.willett@gmail.com). Attendance by Zoom will also be available. At this meeting, we will be recognizing our 2020 Paul Harris Fellows, who missed out on a formal induction dinner back in April.
On the project front, we will be participating in the writing of greeting cards to the residents at Riverside Health Center. The Club will pay for cards and postage and a mailing list will be forthcoming. Contact Bob if you would like to augment the volunteers committed thus far.
The Greater Hartford Marathon has converted to a “virtual race” for this year so our traditional water station is not needed. Volunteers who have had this on their calendar for many years are invited to gather in Neal Cunningham’s living room that morning to consume donuts and toss half full water cups at Neal as he passes from the kitchen to answer the front door and back.
On the other hand, the Rotary in Motion 26-mile event in Manchester is determined to proceed in a close to normal fashion. Our water station in Wickham Park is still a go at this point. More to follow as we get closer to October 3rd.
Firestone's neighbor doing good stuff
Anwar Hossain introduced our guest speaker today, Andy Fleischmann. Andy is a West Hartford resident and neighbor of Dan Firestone who spend 14 years in the Connecticut General Assembly. In his role with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Andy oversees an organization that began in NYC in 1904 mentoring homeless boys on the streets of the city and has grown to mentoring boys and girls across the world.
The Nutmeg chapter began in Middletown in 1966 and now covers 132 of Connecticut’s 169 towns. The rest are covered by a chapter based in Fairfield County.
The main objective of the program is to provide young boys and girls an adult figure who can provide a role model and a mentor as they grow into adulthood. 80% of the participants are in single/no parent households and 75% are living below the poverty line. These children experience lots of trauma in their lives including one in eight who have a parent in jail.
The adult volunteers are committed to spend 6-10 hours a month in working with the kids and studies have shown that 97% of participants have shown increased self-confidence and improve academic results after one year in the program. The adults who stay with it often make life-long friendships with the kids and remain important parts of their lives as they move to become self-sufficient adults themselves.
The Covid-19 crisis has impacted the interactions between kids and mentors, but the group has developed multiple strategies to address these challenges. This is a great and worthwhile program and we thank Andy for his interesting presentation.
See you next week from my home office thanks to the wonders of technology. Remember, masks on, six feet apart and wash your hands often.
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