The meeting will be held on Zoom.
Watch for an email from the club.
We are now using a recurring ID, etc.
Sergeant-at-Arms Report
Members Present: 35, Total Present: 40
Visiting Rotarians:Paul Mikkelson, Simsbury Club
Non-Member Guests:
Steve Hornstein (potential new member - awaiting return to in-person meeting for induction)
Lydia Tedon, Sean Riley, Ashley Born (speakers from Gifts of Love)
Happy Moments:More valuable when they are shared
Raffle Winner:No Raffle. No Winners. No Losers.
Fines:None today.
Birthdays:
Lisa Wright 2/3 absent
Deb Korner 2/5absent
Don Bonner2/5has been a member of Rotary for more than 20 years. Don has had a pretty good year, a new grandchild , got some paintings done, reached out and found some old friends from art school. He thanked everybody for their friendship, which he really appreciates.
Larry Sullivan 2/5 has been a member of Rotary for 37 years. After last years birthday, he stopped counting!
Happy Moments
Sue Budde let us know that Sunday will be her dad's 80th birthday. Her sister and family are coming up from PA to help celebrate. She is also celebrating that her step-daughter is having a son, today, with a planned C-section and she is thrilled to be a grandmother twice.
Gary Miller was up in VT for two great days of skying. the weather was good and the skiing was wonderful. Tuesday and Wednesday's are great days to go because everybody seems to forget that the mountains are open. They will be going back on Tuesday and Wednesday for another visit.
Bob Cave went skiing as well and thought he did pretty good for having not skied for many years. Bob noted that he had to sign a waver, probably because he wasn't wearing a helmet. Members of the club vociferously advised him not to do that again.
Dale Bronson shared with us his feelings about his "second birthday" on February 6, 2013 which is the day he go his life-saving transplant. In 2007, he was told that he had an incurable disease and 6 years to live. Here he is now in 2022 still alive and feeling that he is a very blessed person.
Chris Lamadrid is traveling to FL to see her sister and family that she hasn't seen since before the pandemic. Looking forward to the warm weather and seeing a grand nephew that she has never met. She is going to their home in Coral Gables and then down to Key West.
Heather Pantano wanted everyone to know that their house is finally free of Covid. Her son Sal brought it home from pre-school and infected everyone but AJ. He is only 4 and was the only one not fascinated because of his age. Thankfully, symptoms were mild and all have now made a full recovery and no longer need to isolate.
Paul Mikkelson wished happy birthday to Larry and Don, was glad Heather is doing well and even though Dale is a Yankee's fan, Paul wished him well. He reported that his up at Stratton. He indicated that it has been a big disappointment, because they were advertising how great it was and there is only about an inch of snow at the base. He also wanted to wish Phil good luck with his upcoming knee surgery.
Announcements
Chris Lamadrid wanted us to know that Bill Barnes wife is currently in UConn Health being evaluated for some complications she is having with her long standing heart disease. Bill asked that this be shared with the club and that we keep her in our prayers.
A reminder that the Canton High School Interact Club willhold an open mic night on Wednesday February 9th, at the Maple Tree Cafe in Simsbury, Proceeds will benefit the clubs service projects and also support GLO. All are welcome!
Sue Budde introduced our 3 speakers this morning, all of whom are Board Members for Gifts of Love. ASHLEY BORN is Board President. She currently works as a Senior Consultant for Carr, Riggs & Ingram. She is a resident of Avon who initially was a volunteer for the Weekend Backpack program before returning to work. LYDIA TEDONE is a long time Board member. She is a resident of Simsbury where she is Chair of the Simsbury Board of Education and and also Chair of CREC Boar SEAN RILEY who is a resident of Simsbury. He currently works for Kelley Management Consulting as Vice President of Client Delivery and Practice Management.
The presenters decided do engage with the club in a lively question and answer session rather than stick to there more formal presentation. The roots of Gifts of Love, 30 years ago, was the realization that even in our affluent area, there were children who go to school hungry. The primary focus for Gifts of Love are working individuals and families who are having problems making ends meet. They kept working throughout the pandemic because of the work of a dedicated small group of staff and community volunteers.
Gifts of love was established in 1989 with a mission of neighbors helping neighbors. At that time, it provided temporary emergency assistance to those individuals and families experiencing financial and personal crises. From there, the organization has grown so that today, they areserving 5,000 clients in 30 Connecticut communities in the Greater Hartford region. The people that Gifts of Love serve are a population that has become known as the ALICE demographic. This stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. Since they are employed, their employment status disqualifies them from Federal assistance programs, but these folks still struggle to provide for their family’s basic needs.
Gifts of Love provides monthly support through a food pantry, a clothing closet, and a housewares room. They also have a program for energy assistance grants.
The Food Pantry focuses not only on basic food essentials, but the option to have highly nutritional foods as well. They have instituted a program entitled SWAP which stands for Supporting Wellness at Food Pantries. The foods are categorized based on their nutritional value, which assists clients with selections. Gifts of Love also offers them organic produce from their farm in Simsbury, during the spring and summer months. This program is designed to mitigate the chronic diet-related diseases that disproportionately afflict those on food assistance.
One of their signature programs is a Weekend Backpack Program which they have done for the last 13 years. Every town in CT has children who are going hungry. The Weekend Backpack Program has grown steadily since its inception, and they now serve over 300 students and their families in 8 school districts. Children in need who receive free or reduced cost meals while at school, suffer from hunger in the nearly 70 hours between Friday afternoon and Monday morning. This program fills that gap by supplying a weekend bag with enough food to feed a family of four, with healthy and easy to prepare meal ingredients.
Gifts of Love also works closely with their clients to secure financial stability and sustainability. They offer guidance and referrals to experts and agencies that can assist with budget planning and financial security.
While the focus has been on helping to meet tangible needs, their underlying main missions is providing emotional support to those experiencing a life crisis. Providing comfort and hope, a hand up and not a hand-out, has been part of our overall mission and defines the organization.
Special Announcements
None this week.
Mail Bag
Photo Credits
Scribe's screen grabs.
Technology Credits
Zoom platform management expertise by Mike Mezheritskiy.
Editor's Notes
Submission Deadline: Members are kindly encouraged to submit all materials for each week's Early Riser as early as possible. Please note that some editions may be published and distributed as early as the Saturday following our meetings, and during those weeks further contributions to the Early Riser will be included in the subsequent week's edition.
“The FOUR-WAY TEST of the things we think, say or do”:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all Concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
, got some paintings done, reached out and found some old friends from art school. He thanked everybody for their friendship, which he really appreciates.
