Category Archives: Official DG Visits

Official Visit #48 – West Haven Rotary (Check out their promotional video)

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The West Haven Rotary Club is strong in many areas but they are especially known for being the leading Club in Vocational Service in District D7980 for the past 10+ years. Not resting on their laurels in Vocational service, their efforts are always evolving. Their video (below) is an example of these continuing efforts as it is carefully designed to educate the community on Who West Haven Rotary is and What they do. President Jason Crockett has even offered to educate and assist other D7980 Clubs on how to go about producing their own promotional videos as part of West Haven’s commitment to Vocational Service.

Check out the promotional Club video that the West Haven Rotary Club has produced.

I grew up in West Haven Connecticut, which is contrary to my joke yesterday that no one from West Haven ever grows up. All of those years sitting in my private chair in the Principal’s office apparently turned out to be good District Governor training.

Visiting the West Haven Rotary Club is always like coming home in a sense as the members are down to earth and funny as heck. They are seasoned practical jokers that rib and abuse each other, as well as any guests in the room, in good natured fun.

This Club has membership in the mid 50’s (size not age) and has a very active community presence, some would argue a force, since 1930. They are always looking to add quality members to their Club that will compliment and enhance their efforts in the West Haven Community.

The West Haven Rotary Club meets at App’s on Captain Thomas Boulevard on Wednesday afternoons for lunch. Always a good lunch and a good time. Bring happy dollars and a sense of adventure.

Official Visit #47 – Middletown Rotary Club (A Vibrant Club)

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The Middletown Connecticut Rotary Club is an extremely active lunch Club with over 65 members that is being led by President Garry Mullaney (upper left) this year. President Garry must be having the time of his life as President with the group of  dedicated and friendly Rotarians in the Club.

The weekly meetings are lively and spirited with plenty of positive energy in the room. It is pretty obvious that members of this Club like being around each other. They do seem to have a disproportionate number of members with the name Pat for some reason.

Middletown Rotary - What we do

Middletown Rotary – What we do

This Club is engaged within their community and the world on many levels including:

  • Ongoing participation in the City of Middletown One Book Program
  • Recent participation in the following International Projects: Mexico Water, Children of the Andes, Ecuador Water and India Cataract
  • Polio Eradication support
  • Host an annual awards ceremony to recognize deserving community members that have demonstrated outstanding community service
  • Thanksgiving Food drive with Liberty Bank
  • Dictionary Project for 3rd Graders
  • Sponsoring (2) active Interact Clubs
  • Awarding Scholarships
Middletown Rotary - Who we are

Middletown Rotary – Who we are

Club members are long standing generous supporters of The Rotary Foundation and actively utilize the grants funding available in the Foundation for International Projects.

The Club has a solid ‘Go-forward’ leadership plan with Trish Witzky-Lambert actively serving as President-elect. Trish has developed and implemented a Mentoring Program for new members that is designed to increase retention.

Middletown Rotary also has a very good public facing messaging strategy with their up to date website and Facebook page, they publish an informative weekly newsletter and maintain a very easy to understand ‘What We Do’ card (above right) with the reverse side focused on membership ‘Who We Are” (left). The Club is also in the process of putting together a short promotional video.

The Club also gets the importance of fellowship. In Late August Gary & Pat Gomola hosted a Lobster fellowship at their home which was attended by over 70 people.

The Middletown Rotary Club meets at the  First & Last Tavern @ 220 Main Street in Middletown on Tuesdays for lunch. A visiting Rotarian really couldn’t go wrong doing a make-up at this Club.

Official Visit #46 – Housatonic Valley-Greater Danbury Rotary Club

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This Monday evening was spent with a small group of Rotarians at John’s Best Restaurant in Brookfield CT. The Housatonic Valley-Greater Danbury Rotary Club (formerly known as Brookfield Rotary) took on a new name when they merged with the Danbury Sunrise Club several years ago. Visiting Rotarians and guests matched the number of Home Club Rotarians in the room last night.

This small Club (with active membership in the single digits)  does a number of interesting things including having an annual recognition dinner for outstanding police and firefighters in the community, leads the district in the education of Tic born illnesses, hosts an annual luncheon for seniors, recognizes outstanding students and gives out scholarships.

Past District Governor Julie Reppenhagen and Past Assistant Governor Jeff Kass both call this club home.  Jeff Kass is  the current Club President.

The Housatonic Valley-Greater Danbury Rotary Club meets at John’s Best Restaurant in Brookfield CT on Monday evenings.

Official Visit #45 – Orange Rotary Club

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The Rotary Club of Orange Connecticut was chartered just before the Apollo 11 landed on the moon (or were they?). Despite being a relative newcomer amongst Rotary Clubs, this Club has a rich track record of being an important community and global partner.

They give out scholarships, actively run an Amber Alert ID program, recognize outstanding community leaders, generously support the Rotary Foundation, give out dictionaries to all of the 3rd graders in town, participate in Operation Warm (coats for kids), support Oklahoma Tornado Relief, sponsor an Interact Club and they recently donated a Van to the Town of Orange for the Senior Center.

Besides being excellent Stewards of their community, a good number of the Orange Rotarians are actively engaged in district and international roles. This is a group of Rotarians that knows how to give back. For instance:

  • Trish Pearson is the District Conference Chair and a member of numerous committees
  • Glenn Pearson is a District Leader in Youth Services
  • Lynda Hammond is the Gift of Life Chair and District International Chair

The Orange Rotary Club supports their charitable giving through member contributions and their fundraisers. They typically run 3 annual fundraisers:

  • Rose Sale
  • Dinner Auction
  • Lobster bake – They are one of the ‘Lobster 7’; that is one of 7 Clubs in our district that currently holds an annual Lobster Fest/Bake. Can you name the other 6?

 Plus they added a new event to their line-up this year; The Thanksgiving Turkey Trot

The Club is always looking to add quality Rotarians to their membership ranks and is looking to create more awareness for the important role which they play in their community.

Orange Rotary is a Friday lunch Club that meets at The Racebrook Country Club, which affords very nice views of the golf course, friendly Rotarians and a pretty decent lunch. I’ve visited this Club 4 times in the past several months so there must something to it, come and see for yourself.

Official Visit #44 – Tribury Rotary Club

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Tribury Rotarians

Tribury Rotarians

The Tribury Rotary Club covers the towns of Woodbury, Southbury and Middlebury Connecticut. This is a realively small club with 20 members that was established in 1972 but like most Rotary Clubs they do a considerable amount of activities for the size of their membership that includes:

  • Sponsoring a 200+ member Interact Club @ Pomperaug
  • Running the Taste of Tribury
  • Running an annual Art Show
  • Running an annual The 3rd Grade Dictionary Project
  • Celebrating Woodbury Earth Day Celebration
  • Being avid supports of The Rotary Foundation
  • Awarding (6) $1,000 Scholarships away to eligible High School Students
  • This year the Club is adding a Halloween Pumpkin Carving event to their lineup
President Roberta Massey

President Roberta Massey

President Roberta Massey’s focus this year is to:

  • Have more fun focused events each month
  • Try to piggyback onto other Town Events
  • Create better awareness for the Tribury Rotary Club in the community and with the Stakeholders connected to their very large Interact Club
  • Possibly start a 2nd Interact Club
  • Increase Membership

The Tribury Rotary Club is the Home Club to Past Assistant Governors (PAG’s) Vincent Ganci and Ron Webb.

The Tribury Rotary Club meets each Thursday for lunch at the Juniper Restaurant @ 1383 Whittermore Rd in Middlebury.

Official Visit #43 – Naugatuck Rotary Club

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The Naugatuck Rotary Club pulled out all of the stops for the Official District Governor visit yesterday as nearly half the club dressed in yellow, they presented me with a decorative blanket from their town and they even sang my favorite song, Imagine.

The Club meets in the lower level of the Naugatuck Portuguese Club in a private room that is perfect for Rotary meetings which was recently done over just for them by the Club. At a time when many Clubs are shuffling around between meeting places the Naugatuck Rotary Club seems to have landed very nice long-term digs.

The Club has a long history of being very active in the community, the district and the world. Here are some of the things that the Club does:

  • Wine Tasting fund raiser for Rotary Charities
  • Group Study Exchange with team from India
  • Bicycle Race in Downtown Naugatuck
  • Golf Tournament
  • Literacy Program
  • Bookshelf Program
  • Project Graduation
  • Kids Christmas Party
  • Citizen of the year award
  • The Rotary Foundation
  • Naugatuck is the Home Club of PDF Rupi Rupwani and of District Youth Exchange Chair Jennifer Merrill

Like many of our Rotary Clubs the Naugatuck Rotary Club is in the process of adding younger members to their membership ranks. Looking around the room that is immediately obvious by the mix of ages. The Club has ambitious aspirations to add quality members to their membership in the coming year(s) as part of their ‘Go Forward’ plans.

President Jeanine is having a great time leading her Club and it shows, she is focusing on all of the things that will help her club thrive for many years to come. She has a strong succession plan in place with Cathie Mauritz as President-elect and Matt Fortney as President-Nominee.

The Naugatuck Rotary Club meets for lunch on Wednesdays at the Naugatuck Portuguese Club @ 110 Rubber Avenue, Naugatuck, CT. It’s a great group of Rotarians and certainly worth the visit to enjoy the strong Rotary fellowship. I am looking forward to returning.