Category Archives: Club Visits

Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden speaks at Fairfield Rotary’s 11th Celebrity Luncheon

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Dwight ‘Doc’ Gooden spoke at the Fairfield Rotary Club Celebrity Luncheon today in front of a crowd of over several hundred people. It was an open engagaing Q&A talk with no punches held where ‘Doc’ discussed his baseball career and his battles with rehab.

 

Gooden is a four-time MLB All-Star, and three-time World Series champion. He won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award in 1984, as he led the league in strikeouts, and won then the NL Cy Young Award and a Triple Crown in 1985. While a member of the Yankees, Gooden threw a no-hitter in 1996 the day before his father passed away.

Gooden retired in 2001 after he was cut by the Yankees in spring training, ending his career with a record of 194–112.  After retiring, Gooden was repeatedly arrested for drug and alcohol-related offenses. He served seven months in prison in 2006 for violating his probation by using cocaine.

On August 1, 2010, ‘Doc’ was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame along with Darryl Strawberry, Frank Cashen, and Davey Johnson.  In  2011 he was part of the of the reality show, Celebrity Rehab. with Dr. Drew. Gooden told the crowd that he has been clean and sober since 2011.

Westport Rotary Celebrates their 90th Anniversary

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The members of the Westport Rotary Club celebrated their 90th Anniversary during their regular weekly meeting this past Tuesday.

Westport Rotary arranged for a Gala Charter Night at the Westport (now Birchwood) Country Club on March 26, 1924 although the actual charter date is March 7, 1924.  In the midst of a blinding snow storm the Westport Club was launched officially. Ninety-eight Rotarians came from all over this part of the state, 25 of them from Greenwich, the Sponsoring Club.

64 years later the Westport Rotary Club would sponsor the Westport Sunrise Club. Today the combined membership of the two Westport Rotary Clubs exceeds 160.

The West Haven Rotary Amigos receive DG Pardon

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The Three Amigos are a group of West Haven Rotarians (Rick, Roger and Gary) that have over 120 years of service combined in the club. They are known for being fun loving and big time practical jokers. After being absent for several meetings in a row President Jason Crockett created this video to give it back to them a bit.

After receiving some rather hefty fines during Happy/Sad bucks this past week the 3 Amigos provided a ‘Peace Offering’ to President Jason Crockett in the form of the missing Club Bell.

The 3 Amigos have been searching for the Bell since the Official DG Visit to their Club back in October when the clandestine operation “Find Baby Jesus” was launched. The secret operation had the Amigos using unconventional search techniques to find the missing Club Bell. The operation was code named to parallel  related pranks that occur during the holidays each year when hundreds of ‘Baby Jesus’ figurines go missing from nativity scenes. President Jason was initially reluctant to wave the fines until it was pointed out that he missed the 1 hour session at NE PETS last year entitled ‘Defending Your Club Bell’.

DG Pardons were granted to the 3 Amigos and President Jason who all agreed to play nice for the next week or so until the next bid practical joke is conceived.

The Club Bell is now back safe and sound under the care and custody of President Jason, President Jason is now being considered for membership in the Amigos group,  a single meeting record of over $400 in happy/sad fines was collected and over $500 was pledged to the Rotary Foundation by the Amigos and other club members.

Non-stop laughing at this meeting, you never know what will happen during a West Haven Rotary meeting.

 

Ledyard Rotary Green & White Dinner Dance

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The Ledyard Rotary Club held their Annual Green & White Dinner Dance to raise money in support of the Wes Johnson Memorial Scholarship; a scholarship given to a Ledyard high School student who exemplifies the endearing characteristics of Wes Johnson. The dinner event featured a nice dinner provided by Pasta Vita of Old Saybrook, a 50/50 raffle, a silent auction, a DJ and dancing. Many members of the Ledyard Rotary Club as well as friends, family and community members turned out for the event.

Joan Parris from VTT presents Sierra Leone trip to North Branford Rotary

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Joan Parris recently returned from Sierra Leone as part of the Vocational Training Team (VTT) which was sponsored by the Norwalk Rotary Club. Joan Parris, Ronnie Katz,  Florence Falkowski,  Eugenia Chinsman and Dr. Cynthia Barnett departed for Sierra Leone on Jan 11, 2014 and returned January 28th. The VTT project took place at the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology and the Baana Prepatory School in Freetown, Sierra Leone with an emphasis on basic education and literacy.

The Norwalk Rotary Club is hosting a VTT Team Presentation on March 12, 2014 at The Norwalk Inn & Conference Center at 6:30pm for those who are interested in learning more about this amazing journey. Your can reserve your spot through their Facebook Page or emailing President Brian Falkowski  at Brian.Falkowski@fnfg.com

Branford Rotary awards (2) Paul Harris+1 and inducts a new member

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It was a busy morning at the Branford Rotary Club today as they awarded Rich Shanahan & Tricia Bohan Paul Harris +1 recognitions for their generous support of The Rotary Foundation and inducted Joe Criscuola as the newest member of their Club.

The Branford Rotary Club generously supports the Rotary Foundation as the strive to be an EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year) Club. They proudly display their honored Paul Harris Recipients on (2) banners during their meeting. The Club recently was a District Managed Grant for their support of the Playground in Stony Creek.

Congratulations to Rich, Tricia and Joe on being honored and welcomed.