Category Archives: Official DG Visits

Official Visit #24 – Wilton Rotary Club

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It is always a pleasure visiting the Wilton Rotary Club as they are a friendly group of hardworking Rotarians that meet at a great venue, are well organized with meetings are always fun to around.

The Wilton Rotary Club is a very active mid-sized club with 37 members which does a considerable amount of projects in their community and supports important causes internationally including:

Wilton Projects

The Club has a pretty good handle on communications; especially with their website, which is clean and informative and features all critical information about the club front and center. They also publish an informative weekly newsletter called the Drummer which keeps members informed of club activities including their calendar of events. All issues of the Drummer are available on their website.

The annual upcoming Carnival is one of the Wilton Rotary’s main fund raising activities. It will be held near the Wilton High School tennis courts on Route 7 from Sept 20 through the 22nd.

President Paul Burnham has started a weekly fellowship called Monday at Marly’s where a group of members and friends are welcome to join him for some relaxing conversation, drinks and dinner. Marly’s in Wilton is where the club meets on Friday’s for their lunch meeting. Lunch meetings always have a definite ending time but not so fellowships on Monday’s.

Join President Paul for either a fellowship on Monday nights or at their regular meeting on a Friday for lunch at Marly’s in Wilton.

Official Visit #23 – Westport Sunrise Rotary – A Happy Yellow Place!!

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The Westport Sunrise Club came out in full force yellow this past Friday for the Official Visit with many of their members donning yellow attire. I was also presented with a large yellow duck, a duck race t-shirt and a stylish yellow carrying bag. Nice touch Westport Sunrise.

Westport Sunrise Wine Tasting 2013

Westport Sunrise Wine Tasting 2013

The Club will celebrate their 25th Anniversary in November, they were a spin off club from the Westport lunch club back in 1988. At the time the Westport lunch club had 107 members, today the two clubs have a combined membership of about 160 members pretty evenly split.

The Westport Sunrise Club has 2 primary annual fundraisers:

  • The Great American Duck Race (held in June each year)
  • The 24th Wine Tasting Event annual will be held on October 25th at The Great Hall,
    Christ & Holy Trinity Church in Westport – the club proudly presents excellent food, international wines, music, and outstanding camaraderie of attendees, guests and supporters

The club generously supports the following charities and programs:

Westport Sunrise Charities and Service Programs

Many members of the Club are active in the district, the zone and with Rotary International. Roy Fuchs heads up the 4-way test contest, Dennis Wong (President-elect) is involved with Peace and Polio programs, Eric Zelinksi is part of the District Finance Committee and John Hendrickson is a Assistant Governor of Area 2.

This club and it’s members are very engaged in Rotary, the community and world affairs. This club is a model of continuous improvement as they are always building on their ‘lessons learned’ and trying new things.

The Westport Sunrise Club meets on Fridays at 7:30 a.m. at Bobby Q’s Restaurant, 42 Main Street, Westport. They have a tasty breakfast and a great deal of fun. Stop in and see them!!

Official Visit #22 – New Canaan Rotary – New Members & Paul Harris recognitions

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The New Canaan Rotary Club is an active, vibrant mid-sized club with 52 members including it’s two newest members, Lisa Oldham and Valerie Connelly, which were inducted on Thursday Sept 5th.

The meeting yesterday was twice as special as Rotarian Robert Avery was awarded his first Paul Harris recognition and Mike Hobbs was awarded a Paul Harris recognition with a rubie, which means that this is Mike’s 7th Paul Harris recognition (his first, plus 5 sapphires and now his first rubie) with each recognition representing at least $1,000 being contributed to The Rotary Foundation.

IMG_7382It’s all hands on deck for the New Canaan Rotary Club as they complete preparations for their 28th annual Lobsterfest which will be held Sept 20 & 21st at the New Canaan Historical Society on 13 Oenoke Ridge Road (Route 124).  They are planning for record crowds at this years event with all proceeds to benefit New Canaan and International Communities.

The New Canaan Rotary Club actively supports the community including the following local organizations:

  • ABC – A Better Chance
  • American Homefront Project
  • Day Care Center of New Canaan
  • Getabout Van
  • Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang
  • Horizons
  • Meals on Wheels
  • NCHS Interact Club
  • NCHS Post-Prom
  • NCHS Scholarship Foundation
  • New Canaan Baseball
  • New Canaan Cares
  • New Canaan Historical Society
  • New Canaan Library – Salant Room
  • New Canaan Nature Center
  • New Canaan Red Cross
  • New Canaan Senior Center
  • New Canaan YMCA
  • New Canaan Youth Options
  • Pacific House, Stamford, CT
  • Pegasus Riding Programs
  • Summer Theatre of New Canaan

In June, the Club  co-sponsored the New Canaan Pop Up Park with the theme for the weekend being “Water,” and finding a solution to deliver clean drinking water all over the world. Bringing potable water to the far reaches of the Earth is a global effort of Rotarians and an issue that the Club is very concerned with.

The New Canaan Rotary Cub generously supports The Rotary Foundation and participates in the District Managed Grants program.

The New Canaan Rotary Club meets in a private room for lunch on Thursdays at the Roger Sherman Inn at 195 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan, CT. It is a fun group of Rotarians and always a nice meeting to attend.

Official Visit #21 – Seymour-Oxford Rotary Club

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The Seymour-Oxford Rotary Club is a highly respected and integral part of the community fabric in the Valley and has been since 1928.

The Club awards an annual $500 Service Above Self Scholarship. Each year the  Club sponsors the Service Above Self Essay Contest. Contestants have 250 words to explain what service means to them, and to describe their personal experiences in service. The contest is open to residents of both Seymour and Oxford regardless of the high school they attend. The scholarship winner is the applicant whose essay is ranked the highest among the Rotary Club review panel. (source)

The Rotary Club of Seymour-Oxford annually recognizes community first responders in their community who go above and beyond the call of duty at a special annual recognition dinner.

The Club also does an annual Dictionary Project where they distribute dictionaries to all of the 3rd graders in two schools. They are also actively involved with Amber Alert as they frequently participate in registration drives, such as at the Big E.

The membership of the club generously supports The Rotary Foundation and is keenly in tune with Rotary’s PolioPlus efforts.

The Club meetings are well organized (see photo of place mats above), informative, fun and inviting . This is a group of Rotarians that clearly enjoys the friendship and fellowship of each other.

The Club is currently conducting a fundraiser that involves selling Seymour Holiday Ornaments and they are preparing for their big Candy-Apple sale that is coming up in about 2 weeks.

The Seymour–Oxford Rotary Club meets for breakfast on the 1st and 3rd weeks each month at the Sandwich Man, Rt. 67 Klarides Village in Seymour on Thursday mornings at 7:15 am.

Official Visit #20 – North Branford Rotary

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Assistant Governor Robert Friend and President Jerry Tilton

Assistant Governor Robert Friend and President Jerry Tilton

The North Branford Rotary Club generally bubbles up to the top of the district in most of the award metrics as they are a small club with giant ambitions that is incredibly good at documenting the amazing things that they do. The back story on the North Branford Rotary Club is that just about a dozen years ago the club had about 6 members and through determination and the hard work of successive leaders they hit a membership high of 30 members last year before attrition knocked a few off of that number. Still it’s pretty amazing if you consider the club went from 6 members to 26 in a dozen years.

The club is very active in all 5 areas of service and The Rotary Foundation. Their list of accomplishments is long, the following is a sampling of the highlights:

  • EREY (Every Rotarian Every Year)
  • Typically win the Governors Citation most years
  • They grow and maintain their membership
  • Actively involved with RLI, ShelterBox, WASRAG
  • Hold easter egg hunts, clothing drives for kids, host a senior picnic
  • Financially support Food Banks
  • Were leaders in an international borehole project in Uganda
  •  Support the Haitian Health Foundation
  • Support PolioPlus with substantial donations
  • Support an Interact Club
  • Provide Scholarships to outstanding students
  • Participate in District Managed Grants in support of literacy
  • Generously give to The Rotary Foundation
DGE Mukund and Laima Nori (the newest member of North Branford)

DGE Mukund and Laima Nori (the newest member of North Branford)

Additionally, The North Branford Club has nominated Mukund Nori to be District Governor in 2014-15.Mukund took time out from his busy DGN/DGE training back in June to marry Laima and just last week Laima joined the club as North Branford’s newest member, she was President of the Norwalk Club last year.  The club is also the home to Past District Governor Paul Burns, who is stepping back into the leadership role this coming year as club President.

The North Branford Rotary Club is generously supporting the PDG Rick Benson’s Kenya project with a $500 contribution.

North Branford 50-50 Raffle Tent

North Branford 50-50 Raffle Tent

Like the North Haven Rotary Club, The North Branford Club knows that wine is the glue that holds everything important together. As such, their annual major fundraiser is a Wine Tasting event in November at Woodwinds in Branford (more to follow). The members do know how to let their hair down and have some fun as they did back in August with their 50-50 raffle at the North Branford Potato and Corn Festival.

The North Branford Rotary Club meets at one of my favorite restaurants; Nataz Restaurant at 2025 Foxon Road, North Branford, CT   06471 for dinner on Wednesday evenings. The meal is one of the best, great fellowship, BYOB Beer or Wine and if you are extremely lucky Hope Looney will be providing deserts the evening that you attend.

Official Visit #19 – Wallingford Rotary Club

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President Mark Davis

President Mark Davis

There is no doubt as to what is happening here today!!

There is no doubt as to what is happening here today!!

The Wallingford Rotary Club (of Connecticut) is a mid-sized club with just over 60 members and a long and storied history that dates back to 1923.

The Wallingford Club has always known how to have fun at their meetings as happy bucks suddenly turn into 15 minutes of roaring Improv Comedy. Today there was considerable mention of Wine, Beer and Gun events during the meeting that quickly became fodder for many derivative jokes.

The club is very actively engaged in many fund raisers that support their community projects and charities.

Projects that the club is engaged in include:

  • Amber Alert
  • United Way Day of Caring
  • Purple Pinky
  • 8th Grade Essay & Speaking Contest
  • High School Citizen of the year

Some of the fundraisers include:

  • 5k Road Race
  • Wine Tasting @ Gouvia’s
  • Celebrate Wallingford Soda/Water Sale
  • Golf Tournament
  • Fashion Show
  • …and there are rumors that they may bring the Chicken BBQ back some day (please do)

Even though the club has 61 members they aren’t resting on their laurels as they have a full membership committee that is looking to 1) Retain members through engagement and 2) Attract new members which compliment the club. Recently the Wallingford Club did a special recognition luncheon that recognized members with over 25 years of service, which was a resounding success.

Evidence of Red Sox Nation (John Mattingly)

Evidence of Red Sox Nation (John Mattingly)

Wallingford / Meriden dividing line

Wallingford / Meriden dividing line

The club actually meets on the Wallingford/Meriden town line that is the fabled location of the imaginary purple line that divides Yankee fans from Red Sox’s Nation in our district.

1/2 of the Restaurant, il Monticello, is in Wallingford and the other 1/2 is in Meriden. Today we were in the Meriden side as witnessed by the Red Sox attire being donned by member John Mattingly.

President Mark Davis is highly organized and he maintains a detailed calendar for the club so that everyone knows what is going on. He is also paying attention to the public relations needs of the club by giving more attention to the newsletter, social media and club related press in the community.

The Wallingford Rotary Club meets at il Monticello 577 South Broad St, Meriden, CT   06450 on Wednesday’s for lunch, it is a fun group to drop in on for a make-up.