Category Archives: Fellowships

Stamford Rotary Club Celebrates their 90th Anniversary in Grand Style

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The Stamford CT Rotary Club celebrated their  90th Anniversary last night in grand style with a highly personalized, five course wine dinner at the Royal Green restaurant at Sterling Farms, 1349 Newfield Avenue, Stamford. It was a spectacular fellowship event that was attended by Rotarians, family members and friends which truly showed the enduring spirit and heart that this club has.

The Stamford Rotary Club has been undergoing a slow but steady revolutionary change in adapting the way that the club operates to be in sync with current times. Not the easiest of tasks if you consider that the Stamford CT Rotary Club was chartered back in 1923 as part of  Rotary International District #1.

The Anniversary event was fun, friendly, welcoming and very well organized by Event Chair Arisleyda Riehl and her committee. A casual observer can always gauge the energy in the room by the amount of conversational noise and the positive energy in that room was considerable. The event ended around 11 PM and many people milled around for awhile afterwards enjoying each others’ company, nobody was running for the exits here.

It was fabulous to see my good friend and mentor Ernie DiMattia  and his wife Susan last night. Ernie was District Governor in 1990-91, the last year that we were district 798 and my second year in Rotary. I learned many important lessons from Ernie while he was DG including; the clubs are the most important component in Rotary, always be kind and that Rotary shouldn’t be political. This year as DG has been especially nice for me in that I’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with Ernie in his home club of Stamford.

If your Rotary Club is planning an Anniversary Celebration then consider borrowing a page from the Stamford Rotary Club’s playbook with an event like this. These can be great fellowship events that bring Rotarians, family and friends together.

Stratford Rotary Short Beach Fellowship

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The members of the Stratford Rotary Club know that it can’t be all work and no play, so play they do. Last night the Stratford Rotary Club held a waterside fellowship picnic at Short Beach in Stratford Connecticut.  Short Beach is another one of those hidden gems in Connecticut that is within 20 miles of my house which I had no idea was there. Near-home discoveries like this are one of the biggest benefits of the DG job.

There was plenty of good times, good food and great family fun last night as over 50 adults and children attended. Besides having a very nice clean beach and a comfortable pavilion, the venue has a very large playscape for kids to explore. Immediate Past President Chris Pia was leading the way on the beach with a new game of skill involving throwing a frisbee into a can.

Jennifer Bassett was giving President-elect Pat Gallagher and her husband lessons learned about her Rotary training experience including proper waving techniques. AG Ann Brignola and Joe were in attendance and enjoying themselves. Ann was happily bragging about and showing photos of the new Star in their family.

President Bill O’Brien is having a great time leading his club this year and we both commented on how fast that the time is flying by. Many of members of Bill’s family were in attendance last night including his sister Joan who recently gave a program on Feng shui to the Stratford Rotary Club. Joan’s talk calibrated the balance of this already high functioning club that knows…happy Rotarians are Engaged Rotarians.

Leadership Picnic on Solomon Island in East Hampton

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Dr. Jack and Jan Solomon graciously hosted a nice Rotary District 7980 leadership get together in East Hampton this evening. It was a perfect weather night on the water for an informal gathering that was short on business and long on fellowship. The event was attended by the Gov Track, some PDG’s, many AG’s, some FAR’s, East Hampton Rotarians, friends, spouses and partners.

AG Ann Brignola did a nice job organizing the event while Barbara Moore and Andrea Spaulding provided the bulk of the food for the evening and Ray Moore was the master griller. Everyone brought a dish or desert and Mukund brought everyone’s favorite chocolate cake from J Cakes in North Branford.

Many thanks to all that turned out and a special thanks to the Solomon’s and the East Hampton Rotary Club.