Hi folks. I just got the best news! Rotary Old Saybrook has $1,443.43 to date in our Rotary/Liberty Bank Turkey Drive account! Rotarians' Happy Bucks, OS High School, Kathleen Goodwin School and the OS Board of Education all participated in this drive among others. ...and this is before our match!! Thank you to Kathy for chairing, Amber & Jan & Glen for selling the most turkey legs!
If you want to participate in the photo, be at Liberty Bank tomorrow (Tues) at 4:00 p.m. Thanks!
Tonight, 11/25 at 7:00 p.m., Middle School is our Annual Town Meeting. Vicky Duffy is going to be honored, so come on out and applaud Vicky.
Last week, Alan Hurst, past district governor, came and made a presentation about the Rotary Foundation. A lot of you were learning things for the first time. I'm so glad the lightbulb went off....Foundation is a wonderful and huge part of Rotary.
"We are now accepting applications for the Rotary International 2014-2015 Global Grant Scholarships. This $30,000 scholarship is for graduate study at a foreign university beginning Fall, 2014. Clubs do not provide any funding for these scholarships, they just need to identify and pre-interview candidates prior to submitting the application to David Wolfe, our Scholarship Chair. The candidate's study must be in one of Rotary's Six Areas of Focus: Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution; Candidates must demonstrate academic excellence, a commitment to the proposed area of study, and have strong interpersonal skills. They must be either a permanent resident or a student resident within the District 7980 areas of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties." Marty is back from Scotland and reported that he played St. Andrews with his son! Welcome back Marty!
The Chamber Annual Meeting & Dinner is Thursday, December 5th. If you would like to attend, let me know. I will be going. Rotary is a member of The Chamber.
FYI, Stan Niemerski's brother-in-law passed away so he is back and forth to New Jersey these days. That is why we haven't seen much of him. We're thinking of you and Emmy, Stan. Bob Antoniac is back and looking as fit as ever. He read a thank you note from Matt Rubin who is on the board of HEAT for our contribution of $3,000. The HEAT dinner was a resounding success as well! Brent announced that he had a heart attack after our meeting last week and he just had a stent put in "between meetings"..... I must say you know how to bounce back Brent!
Let's see, what else is going on??? We will be having a joint evening meeting with Essex Rotary at The Estuary on Tuesday, January 28th. In the meanwhile, start thinking "ROTARY WINE TASTING & AUCTION." We're booked at Saybrook Point Inn for February 7th (Friday night)...dance floor and all. PLEASE PRAY FOR NO SNOW!
We've invited Stu, Kelly and Marilyn to our Holiday dinner December 18th at The Hideaway but Stu and Marilyn can't make it. Going to bed in a different "time zone"
Please bring your checks ahead of time to pay for dinner BEFORE December 18th. Thank you.
Warm The Children is winding down now....thank you to all that shopped...it kinda gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling doesn't it....
The Old Saybrook Education Foundation (OSEF) is having their annual auction and "Sock Hop" on Friday, March 21st at the Saybrook Point Inn....SAVE THE DATE
Guess that's all for now, folks. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving...but first, see you Wednesday! g
Gerri Lewis, President Rotary Club of Old Saybrook FAR District 7980
Work: 860-447-0331 Cell: 860-304-2947 Home: 860-388-9944
Pledge: Glenn
Prayer: President Gerri
Welcome Guests: Alan Hurst, past district governor, presented "Rotary Foundation".
Song: Bill McLaughlin
Brents Card Game Winner: Tie between Angus and Glenn another card pulled and Angus was the overall winner
Sergeants Report: Kathy Callinan
Raffle Winners:Kathy, Alan Hurst & Ken Roach
Happy Bucks: Many happy bucks for the Turkey drive, happy to see Bob Antonic back, Marty happy he had a great vaction trip in the oversees visiting his son, Warm The Children ,Sad dollar for Brent who had stent surgery following the meeting of November 13th, Kathy happy to say that so far Liberty Bank has raised over $43,000. for the Turkey Drive,Glenn happy he collected over $200.00 in his store and overall.
Announcements:
Gerri welcomed back Bob Antoniac and Marty. Gerri reminded everyone of the Holiday dinner, December 18th at the Hideaway Restaurant, The Annual Chamber dinner December 5th at Saybrook Point Inn,The Torchlight parade Saturday, December 14th, more detail at our next meeting.
Gerri stated our Interact Advisor, Kate along with the Westbrook Interact group are doing a can drive in Westbrook with all proceeds going to the Phillipines.
Bill went over the schedule for the Meals of Wheels volunteers through the end of the year.
Bob Antonic read a Thank you letter from the Town of Old Saybrook for the donation of $3000.00 for the winter heating program.
Guest Speaker:
Alan Hurst, past district governor, spoke about getting more out of our membership utilizing Rotary Foundation and all it has to offer. How we must get involved, get connected, create new ideas and put them into action to be a successful organization. Alan touched base on applying for district and global grant money which "free" money from the foundation and the areas of focus which are; peace and conflict prevention, disease prevention & treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy and economic and community development. He touched base on annual funding and every Rotarian are encouraged to contribute to the fund every year. Be recognized and be proud to support. The Paul Harris fund is one way to contribute and there are many others. Alan spoke about the Foundation District awards which are ongoing and recognize recipinets for their efforts with certificates. ans well as other distinguished service awards.
Handouts of the Foundation were provided for reveiw.
Gerri adjourned the meeting at 8:00am
Respectfully submitted
Sandra Miller
A Letter from our President:
And to add to that, I just received an email from Rick Benson, Chairman of the Rotary Foundation, and I quote as follows:
Disease Prevention and Treatment;
Water and Sanitation;
Maternal and Child Health;
Basic Education and Literacy
Economic and Community Development.
I have forwarded that email to all the schools and hopefully we will have student(s) to interview and recommend. I'll keep you posted.
We're glad all is well, Brent and Sandi.
..this is where our great breakfasts come from ladies and gentlemen. .....Kelly and husband may be joining us though. ....please don't forget to sign up. So far there are 25 of us and don't forget your grab bag gift! Bring guests if you wish....everyone is invited!
Hey, we just received our funding for the Tachiman, Ghana grant. Bill McLaughlin is heading up a grant for computers for our Acton Library now. We're making good use of our District Rotary Foundation this year folks!
Sad news....Robyn Walonski, a Deep River Rotarian, who worked at Liberty Bank has passed away from cancer. She fought this horrible disease for a long time with dignity. She has a young family of two children. Please pray for her family. 
gerri_lewis@yahoo.com
