The West Haven Rotary Club held their 26th annual auction last Saturday night at Westwood’s Italian American Club. Just over 175 people attended the festive event and enjoyed great fellowship, fabulous food and drink and a very large selection of live and silent auction items.
President-elect Kathleen Wielk announced that the West Haven Rotary Club is working with the West Haven Board of Education to bring Nook 3 – 4 tablets to every fourth grade classroom in the City.
About 15 young facilitators from Youth Services came together today at the Homewood Suites in Stratford today to plan for the upcoming RYLA event which will take place at the end if this month at Camp Hazen in Chester. RYLA participants will sleep in cabins, engage in team exercises, enjoy a bonfire, make new lifetime friends, grow, learn a considerable amount about inequities in society and presented team projects.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is a leadership development program run by our district. While participants can be any age, our typically events focus on High School students. RYLA events are typically 3 days long and include presentations, activities, and workshops that cover a variety of topics, including:
More information on the RYLA program can be obtained by <clicking here>
The Westport Sunrise Rotary Club held their annual Paul Harris Recognition Breakfast this morning at the Westport Inn with a very large crowd attending. The Club dedicates a special meeting to honor Club members and Community Leaders with Paul Harris Recognitions as a special way of saying Thank You for their dedicated and tireless work in bettering the community and the world.
Clubs take very different approaches to giving recognition but this format (very similar the one that Wallingford Rotary does with member anniversaries) seems to be one that is worth emulating as it is very appreciated by Club members and guests.
4 Members of the New London Rotary Club have joined the Paul Harris Society this year by agreeing to make annual gifts of at least $1,000 per year to the Rotary Foundation.
Last Week Michael Stryker and Sander “Alex” Marku were admitted into the Paul Harris Society.
The Paul Harris Society (PHS) is our district’s recognition program for Rotarians who wish to support The Rotary Foundation in a more substantial way each year. The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotarians and friends of Rotary who annually contribute $1,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation (the Annual Programs Fund, PolioPlus, PolioPlus Partners, or Humanitarian Grants). Jim Satterwhite, Paul Harris Society Chair, is tireless in his efforts to maintain and grow the membership of the PHS as he has a great appreciation for the good that The Rotary Foundation does.
Gerry Tom and Mark Spinnato also joined the Paul Harris Society earlier this year but were recognized on May 8th.
New London Rotarians appreciate the good work which is supported worldwide by our Foundation.
Our District Conference / Assembly wrapped up this past Sunday at the Mystic Marriott in Groton. 455 attendees participated in our combined event from May 2nd – 4th that included a community service project, a Paul Harris Luncheon, A Beatles Tribute Night, informative Plenary Sessions, A District Training Assembly, many well deserved awards and recognitions, a Kentucky Derby race with a hat contest, a House of Friendship, a 4-way test speech contest, great fellowship, fabulous food and drinks as well as an paralleled level of energy and excitement.
An event of this size and scale was a colossal undertaking which was pulled off by a pretty remarkable team that included: Jennifer Bassett, Totney Benson, Ann Brignola, Nick Casella, Nick D’Ambrosio, Chris Johnson, Jim Lang, Phoebe Leask, Doug Lisk, David Marchesseault, Mark Minotti, Mary Minotti, Dale Moore, Laureen Morley, Laima Nori, Mukund Nori, Glenn Pearson, Trish Pearson (Chair), Ellen Pollack, Julie Reppenhagen, Nancy Riella, Pat Rupwani, Jim Satterwhite, Pat Todd, Geraldine Tom, Debbie Volain, RoseMarie Bello (Conference Coordinator) … and the majority of the North Haven Rotarians!!
My sincere thanks and gratitude goes out to all of these hardworking volunteers plus the Rotary Clubs and Rotarians that not only attended the event but supported it by taking out sponsorships, donating raffle prizes, participating in the Plenary sessions and dancing up a storm during the BritishMania show.
Recognition Wall of Fame
The Presidents of our 61 Rotary Clubs in District 7980 worked diligently to achieve their stated goals this year and all of the Clubs accomplished some pretty amazing things for their communities and the world that we live in.
We left goal setting up to each Club rather than being prescriptive on the goals that we , the district, wanted them to achieve. Our district leadership team worked closely with each Club and monitored their progress towards their goals. This process kept everyone alert and engaged during the entire year.
The successful efforts of our Clubs and their Rotarians were recognized on the ‘Wall of Fame’ at our District Conference this past weekend with personalized super-sized awards (2.5′ x3.5 ‘) that acknowledged the unique accomplishments of each of our Clubs.
Please take a few minutes to scan through each of the following Club recognitions and you will be blown away by the amount of good that our Clubs do. It will certainly be easier to answer that question “What does Rotary Do?” the next time that you are asked.
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