Category Archives: Official DG Visits

Official Visit #9 – Norwalk Rotary Club

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President Brian, New Member Rebecca and DG Rick Bassett

President Brian, New Member Rebecca and DG Rick Bassett

The Norwalk Rotary club has been a very active partner in the community since 1929 supporting various community service projects and being a prominent vendor at the Norwalk Oyster Fest. They distribute dictionaries to all Norwalk 3rd graders each year and have helped fund the library in a Charter School in South Norwalk

The club is currently working on a TRF VTT Global Global for Early Childhood Development Training in Sierra Leone.

Much has changed since 1929 (understatement of epic proportion) including the membership and potential membership demographics of the city. The city of he Norwalk has undergone a transformation from being a manufacturing hub to being a service based economy like many parts of the US. The gradual economic shift has had a negative impact on club membership. President Brian Falkowski, President-elect Chris Cooke and the board are committed to leveraging the 6th largest population in Connecticut and growing the membership of the Norwalk Rotary club in the coming years. They took the first step today by inducting a new member.

The board is also committed to expanding and honing their public relations efforts to streamline communication and stakeholder messaging. More fellowships are also on the horizon.

The Norwalk Rotary club meets at lunchtime on Wednesdays at the Norwalk Inn. They are a very nice group of Rotarians which makes this an ideal place to drop-in for a make up.

Official Visit #8 – Devon Rotary Club

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President Jason Jenkins

President Jason Jenkins

The Devon Rotary Club is made up of a membership of about 55 ‘Early Riser’ Rotarians that meet at the Bridge House on Wednesday mornings. The club was established in 1966 and is a model for what Rotary International uses as a ‘Vibrant Club’.

The village of Devon is a neighborhood of the city of Milford, Connecticut. It lies on the southwest corner of the city bordering Long Island Sound and the mouth of the Housatonic River. (Source)

It is evident that fellowship is at the core of what this club is all about as I experienced first hand during their ‘happy/sad’ fine session this morning.

The Devon Rotary club is very successful financially in part to their two annual major fundraisers; The Harley Davidson Raffle and The Octoberfest event.

The club just passed the $1 million mark in gifts to the community (read more here) as they generously support; Literacy Center of Milford, Beth El Shelter, Boys and Girls Club and Bridges Mentoring program to name just a few. They also award about $20,000 per year in scholarships to Milford students from their club foundation.

Devon Rotary is also an active participant in The Rotary Foundation (TRF) by striving for $100 EREY gifts to the foundation while running District Managed Grant and Global Grant projects with foundation funds.

Drop in on the Devon Rotary club for breakfast on Wednesday mornings at the Bridge House Restaurant – 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford, CT.

Official Visit #7 – North Haven Rotary

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Full Disclosure: The North Haven Rotary club is my home club, which means that I couldn’t go with a stock speech at my own club as the members have heard it all before.

Instead the talk was highly customized with my institutional knowledge of the club and focused on the many accomplishments of the club including them having a clear leadership succession plan as well as recognizing the many Rotarians that are involved with Vocation, Community, International, Youth Service at the club level, the district level and the RI level.

The North Haven Rotary club has several major fundraisers each year the largest are; Wine & Roses and The Pancake Breakfast in additional to running food booths at the concerts on the green and other various events.   The club generously supports and contributes to many non-profits each year.

The North Haven Rotary club has grown it’s membership from about 20 in the late 1990’s to 46 members today through a deliberate and consistent multi-pronged retention and recruiting effort which involves fellowship, working at events, public relations, family with wine being the glue that holds it all together.  While Past President Ralph Cook has been an excellent Membership Chair over the past 5+ years in bringing quality members in the front door, the rest of the club has cemented the deal by ensuring that they stay.

President Debbie Volain is off to a great start and has a well defined roadmap of where the club will be going this year. She’s already proven that she can roll with the punches by having an unexpected Inbound Youth Exchange student dropped in her lap without notice and handling it like a true professional. Debbie is working closely with President-elect Nick D’Ambrosia as they plan for the Wine & Roses event on Sept 29th.

Visit the North Haven Rotary club on Tuesday mornings at the Breakfast Nook in North Haven and be sure to bring your happy bucks with a good story.

Official Visit #6 – Waterford Rotary Club

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President Cathy Newlin

President Cathy Newlin

A warm and welcoming turnout at the Waterford Rotary Club today for the official District Governor visit.

The club generously supports: The Waterford Public Library, The Waterford Police Citizen’s Academy, The Waterford ‘Rotary’ Gazebo, The Waterford Fire Service as well supporting The Rotary Foundation. The club also awards about $3,000 in student scholarships each year from their foundation.

The Waterford club is beginning to focus on club fellowships (family picnics) as a way of cementing the relationships between members and their families as they prioritize membership in the coming year. They are also planning on ramping up their speaker lineup by inviting donor recipients and adding member classification talks once a month. All-in-all, an exciting time to be a Waterford Rotarian under President Cathy Newlin‘s leadership.

Manly Church (Past President ’08) has been named as President-elect and will take the reigns from President Cathy Newlin on July 1, 2014.

The Waterford club meets at Filomena’s Restaurant at 262 Boston Post Road, Waterford, CT   06385 on Mondays for lunch. Drop in and do a make-up there sometime.

Official Visit #5 – Norwich Sunrise Rotary

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You have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat the Norwich Sunrise Rotary Club as they meet at 7 AM on Monday mornings. They are the first meeting of the Rotary week in D7980 and the only breakfast club that meets on Monday’s. Besides the normal formalities, the club meeting kicks off with amusing stories and jokes by one of their members (this week it was Mike Jewell).  It’s a great way to liven things up and start the meeting on a high note.

Every 5th Monday the club gets together for an evening fellowship to mix things up a bit.

This club is often referred to as ‘The Builders Club’ as many of their members are trade contractors which very often put their time and talent to good use in community projects such as a recent garage demolition with the Norwich Rotary Club.

The Norwich Sunrise Rotary club is a relatively new club as it was founded in 1998 and currently has 28 members. President Jim Troeger and his board are committed to building on membership and gaining greater club awareness through increased publicity this coming year.

The big fundraisers for the club are: The Annual Duck Race (held each May) and the Golf Tournament (held Sept 4th this year).

Early Riser? Then visit the Norwich Sunrise Rotary club on Monday mornings at the Courtyard Marriott in Norwich (just off of exit 82 on I395). Too early for you? Then visit/like their Facebook page by clicking here

Official Visit #4 – Westport Rotary Club

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President Tony Riggio - Engaging Rotary and Changing Lives!!!

President Tony Riggio – Engaging Rotary and Changing Lives!!!

AG John Hendrickson promoting Westport's Lobsterfest

AG John Hendrickson promoting Westport’s Lobsterfest

President Tony Riggio is off to a great start in this new Rotary year as the Westport Rotary Club is firing smoothly on all cylinders adding new members, evaluating new meeting places, forging new working relationships with the Westport Sunrise Club, exploring the possibility of engaging in hands-on international projects and getting ready for their biggest fundraiser; their Lobsterfest on Sept 21st.

The Westport Rotary Club, a Tuesday luncheon club, launched the Westport Sunrise Club 25 years ago increasing the combined Rotary membership of the 2 clubs from 107 to about 160 Rotarians.

The Westport Rotary Club is known for philanthropy and providing hands-on project leadership both locally and internationally, including supporting 33 local organizations with over $50,000 in donations last year. (Source Wesport.Patch.Com)

The Westport Club also focuses well on club service with a deliberate membership program, public relations and leadership succession, Steve Lewine has already been named as President-elect.

Come out to their Lobsterfest on Sept 21st and say hello, Jenn and I will be there. Did I mention that they have yellow t-shirts for the volunteers?