East Haven Connecticut has received a considerable amount of unwanted press in the past several years, some deserved and some not. Absent from the steady stream of bad press is any reporting on the mountain of good work that the East Haven Rotary Club does in their community and there is plenty.

The East Haven Rotary Club has been an important active community partner since 1939 and in March they will celebrate their 75th Anniversary. The Club has 22 active members that are pretty evenly mixed between men and women. Bob Parente is the Club President and Stacy Piccirillo is the President-elect.

A sampling of the good works and deeds done by the East Haven Rotary Club includes:

• Recognizing a Student of the Month with $100 prize
• Honoring outstanding students with $1,000 scholarships
• East Haven Rotarians serving Thanksgiving Dinner to East Haven residents at the East Haven Senior Center on Thanksgiving Day. Club members will also be providing dinners for East Haven families that would prefer to dine at home rather than at the Senior Center.
• Annual “Breakfast with Santa” on Saturday December 14th
• Annual “Breakfast with Easter Bunny”
• Recognize outstanding Police and Firefighters
• Annual Clothe the Children program
• Actively participate in Amber Alert

Big things happen in this small club. In 2007 the Club donated the Gateway Fountain in the center of Town, which was a major project for them. The fountain on Main Street is located at the beginning of the downtown business district. This fountain continues to be an enduring symbol of the Club’s good works, stop by an ready the plaque on it.

The East Haven Rotary Club meets for dinner each Thursday evening at the Twin Pines Diner, attendees can choose from the breakfast, lunch or dinner menu. Apparently the Twin Pines Diner has been rated the best Diner in Connecticut. So the combination of friendly Rotarians and some good breakfast hash should be more than enough to encourage anyone to want to attend, I will be back!!