Pledge, 4-Way Test: President Nancy Morin
Prayer: Mary
Raffle Winners: Jan T, Sheila, Bill O
Card Game Winner: Jan P
Happy Bucks:
CR for the chili, NM for our guest, Guest Peter Emanuel thankful for being here, JP winning cards, MD we're in the home stretch for the Wine Tasting! BO for UCONN women's basketball success
Program: Author Peter Emanuel, Jr., a history teacher at The Williams School, spoke about his book COURSE CHANGE which is the story of the whaleship, Stonington from New London. The name of the ship was the The Stonington had been out to sea hunting whales for more than 3 years when it was time to return to port for resupply of food and supplies in San Diego, CA in 1846. The crew learns that the United States was at war with Mexico and Sand Diego was under siege by Mexican forces leaving inhabitants no escape route but by sea. In response, the Stonington's captain allows them to take refuge aboard his ship, thus beginning the first step in what would become the Stonington's months long tour of duty as a member of the US Navy's Pacific Squadron. Much research went into this book, taking many twists and turns, revealing new information the deeper Peter dug. The ships logs were invaluable and detailed leading Peter in many directions exploring many subplots which led to his choosing the title of the book. For example the logs contained information on the diverse crew which included a stow-away from another ship. Following his presentation, Peter signed books for those who purchased one. The book is available on Amazon and Kindle.
4-Way Test Speech Contest: Chip Adams has been coordinating the process and we are now getting ready for the finals which is April 26 at the Old Saybrook High School 9am to 12pm.
Lauren Herrera from Old Lyme was our 4-Way speech contest participant. She attends the Science magnet high school in Groton and is a sophomore. Lauren worked diligently with our OS Rotary team and gave a very strong speech!
Please sign up for this district event.
Chip is also working on RYLA (weekend in May) and the World Affairs seminar (1 week) at Carroll University in Wisconsin.
Wine & Beer Tasting and Silent Auction
Marty spoke about our event and since we are in the "homestretch" we all need to finish with sponsors and auction items and concentrate on selling tickets. The deadline for sponsors is Friday March 28 and the deadline for auction items is Wednesday April 2. Its hard to say how many tickets are sold and how many free tickets for sponsors will result in people attending. Kathy Callinan said that online ticket sales will stop Wednesday April 2. No one will be turned away at the door but its helpful to pre-sell them. To date we have 71 sponsors. Peter has been working on the auction and kept up with organizing and making sure the signage is complete. Kathy needs 4 helpers for the check-in and check-out functions. Others will be needed for other jobs the night of the event. Thanks to Pam McCauley and Shireen Aforismo who helped out decorating the hall in the past. Please try to plan on helping this year by showing up at Saybrook Point at 11am. Auction items will be moved from the Pavilion to Saybrook at that time.
Rotary Day of Service, May 17: Joan Winters is asking for 24 people (at least) to participate. We'll be covering 4 locations - 2 in Old Saybrook, 1 in Old Lyme and 1 in Westbrook from 9am to 1pm gathering food items.
Nancy reported that the Chamber Chili Fest netted about $37K, mostly from sponsors, which allowed donations of $6K to 3 different charities.
Next meeting: April 2: Guest Speakers: Martha Hoffman and Mike McGuire - Wells in Uganda; District Governor Robert Friend, District Updates
April 9 Meeting: Student of the Month/Fine Arts, Saybrook Point R&M, 7am
April 16 Meeting: 12 pm, VFW, Annual Meeting/Presentation of the Budget
April 23 Meeting: 12 pm, Business Meeting - Setting Club Goals 2025 – 2026
April 30 5th Thursday of the Month – Social at The Highliner III in Westbrook
