Category Archives: Community Service

Rotary & Liberty Bank Drive – Another record breaking year!!

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Rotary/Liberty Bank Food Drive Results

The 29 Connecticut Rotary Clubs participating in the Rotary / Liberty Bank Food Drive  raised: $145,605.08 topping the previous high from last year of $121,303.21!!!

Here is a link to the Press Release by Liberty Bank

The Liberty Bank Foundation added $36,421.27 in matching funds—25 cents for every dollar raised–for a grand total of: $182,026.35 – a 20% increase over last year’s record!

East Hampton Rotary raised an unbelievable $33,903.87 before the match – much of it from the annual Turkey Plunge in Lake Pocotapaug.  Way to freeze for a good cause!

East Hampton Turkey Plunge

East Hampton Turkey Plunge

Middletown Rotary was #2 with $11,786.80, thanks to fundraising efforts by Rotarians, branches in Middletown and surrounding towns, and the fundraising of the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project.

Niantic Rotary Food Drive

Niantic Rotary Food Drive

Niantic Rotary came in #3 at $11,673.94, a 90% increase over last year!

Wallingford Rotary was fourth at $11,367.95, a 29% increase from 2012.

Bristol Rotary Club made a GRAND entrance to the drive this year, finishing fifth overall, with $10,578.58.

Stonington's Turkey Drive

Stonington’s Turkey Drive

Three clubs more than doubled their fundraising this year:  Chester, North Haven, and Old Saybrook.

Congratulations to Liberty Bank and all of the participating Rotary Clubs as all efforts, small and large, go a long way to helping people  in need over the Thanksgiving Holiday!!

Results provided by Liberty Bank

Chester Rotary Club hosts their Annual Recognition Dinner

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The Chester Rotary Club held their annual recognition dinner at the Camp Hazen this past Tuesday night where they recognized dozens of community leaders and provided substantial financial support to over a dozen organizations in their community.

The Chester Rotary Club has 22 members who are all actively engaged. The Club does an amazing amount of ambitious events for a Rotary Club their size including; The 4th of July Annual Road Race, Longest Running Lobsterfest in the District and Womanless Beauty Contest. Earlier readers of Chester blog postings may recall that Chester Rotary is the home of PFC = Performance, Fun and Cohesion. Their Rotarians work hard, raise a considerable amount of money and then do an amazing amount of good in their community and the world, all while having fun. They do so as a cohesive group that enjoys each others’ company.

The dinner event was attended by about 100 people who had the pleasure of watching each of the Club members recognize the following groups:

  • Motley Scholarships
  • Shoreline Soup Kitchen
  • Chester Parks and Rec
  • Tri-Town Youth Services
  • Bikes for Kids
  • Chester Backpack Program
  • Early Chilhood Council
  • Camp Hazen
  • Chester Parks & Rec
  • Chester Hose Company
  • Barzilian American Youth Cultural Exchange
  • Boy Scout Troop 13
  • Chester Food Pantry
  • Community Fund

The Club also presented 2 Paul Harris awards; including one to Rotarian Susan Wright and Paul Indorf was recognized by the District for joining the Paul Harris Society and his generous support of The Rotary Foundation. President Ron Woodward gave a moving story which included typical amazing things that Susan Wright does on a daily basis and cleverly ended each anecdote with ‘the she always does the right thing, the Susan Wright thing’.

Branford Rotary Club hosts 7th Annual Veterans’ Day Luncheon

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For the seventh year in a row the members of the Branford Rotary Club celebrated Veterans’ Day by hosting a luncheon at the Italian-American Social Club in Branford for the following honored guests:

  • Members of the Branford VFW Memorial Post No. 10186
  • Members of the Branford American Legion Sundquist-Corcoran Post
  • Members of the Blind Rehabilitation Unit – WH Veterans Hospital
  • Members of the Branford Rotary Club who served in the military

The luncheon recognized dozens of men and women veterans who served in all branches of the US military and were deployed in a variety of campaigns including Operation Desert Storm, the Korean conflict, European theater of WW II, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Normandy invasion.

Monetary gifts on behalf of the Branford Rotary Club were distributed by Nelson Bernabucci, Y2c-WWII, Rotary Luncheon Chairman, to:

  • Commander Elliott Hastings, Branford Veterans of Foreign Wars
  • Commander Rich Hansen, Branford American Legion Post #83
  • Coordinator Michael Rose, Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center

Nelson Bernabucci at 88 years young, is the unsung hero of this annual event, he was instrumental in launching it and has been the catalyst behind running it for the past 7 years.

Musical entertainment was provided by Rotarian Jack Srebnik and his band as well as by Branford High School “Music Makers” under the direction of Cathy Ann Roding. It was a nice touch closing with “Imagine”, I appreciate that.

Branford Rotarians served a sit down lunch to the veterans, did all of the setup and cleanup and baked the deserts. It was all hands-on-deck for this large scale event that was perfectly executed in just under 1.5 hours. A perfect example of Service above Self.

AMBER Alert ID Registration @ Big E by Connecticut Rotary Clubs

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Amber alertMany Connecticut Rotary Clubs are working together in partnership with the Amber Alert Safe-Child ID program at the Eastern States Exposition (The Big E) in West Springfield, MA from Sept 13-29, 2013.

Rotarians and volunteers will staff the Amber Alert ID booth taking photos of children and entering their information into an encrypted nationwide database.

Amber Alert, an early warning system to help find abducted children, is a voluntary program in which families register their children under the age of 18. Parents or guardians of participating children receive a wallet-size, plastic card with a picture of the child, a unique Amber ID number and only the minimal information needed to identify the child. The information is encrypted and stored in a secure data base available for use only by law enforcement agencies in the event a child is abducted.

Amber card front & back (Derby-Shelton Rotary)

Source: Derby-Shelton Rotary

AMBER stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response and was created as a legacy to nine-year old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and then brutally murdered. The AMBERAlert System started in 1996 when Dallas-Fort Worth broadcasters partnered with local law enforcement to develop an early warning system to help find abducted children.

The Following Connecticut Rotary Clubs are volunteering their time, talent and resources at the BIG E this year:

  • Avon-Canton
  • Clinton
  • Hamden
  • Meriden
  • New Haven
  • Madison
  • Niantic
  • Orange
  • West Hartford
  • Woodbridge

Other D7980 Rotary Clubs that participate in Amber sign-ups outside the Big E include:

  • Danbury
  • Derby-Shelton
  • East Hampton
  • East Haven
  • Fairfield
  • Guilford
  • Middletown
  • Milford
  • North Branford
  • Norwich
  • Ridgefield
  • Seymour-Oxford

Disclaimer: Sorry if I missed your club, kindly let me know and I will add you to the list.

Source(s): Clinton Rotary, The Canton News, Derby-Shelton Rotary and The Interweb

8 Rotary Clubs come out to support Newtown Connecticut in the Labor Day Parade

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iPDG Brian put up the ‘Wheel Signal’ about a month ago for area Rotary Clubs to participate in Newtown’s Labor Day Parade and he received marching support from eight Rotary clubs including; Newtown Rotary Monroe Rotary, Danbury Rotary, Ridgefield Rotary, Ridgefield Sunrise Rotary, Trumbull Rotary, East Hampton Rotary and North Haven Rotary (hopefully I didn’t miss any).

Over 100 community groups marched in the parade (or rode in a cool yellow car) today through on and off rain and the occasional threat of a thunder boomer. The weather didn’t seem to thin the crowds a bit as parade viewers were out in big numbers in full support of Newtown Connecticut.

The Newtown Rotary Club was kind enough to select yellow as the color for their 75th Anniversary shirts as they know what this DG knows; Yellow is the Happiest Color!!! It even helped to offset the fact that we were marching behind the Lions, perhaps we will be in front of them next year. Our own iPDG Brian Amey, Newtown Rotary Club, was one of the key committee organizers of the Newtown Labor Day Parade today. Brian was keeping duty at the end of the parade and wasn’t fortunate enough to get one the yellow shirts. For some reason he was wearing a lime color shirt.

From the community outpouring today it is clear that Newtown is a town on the mend. Jennifer and I were happy and honored to be part of this event today.