Four - including Addison Dionne and Ariana Pantano
Visiting Rotarians
None
Happy Dollars
$ Unknown
Fines
None
Raffle
No Winner
Birthdays
Gary Hyde - was a member of the Club for three years in the 80's. He is now in the 18th year of his second stint. Gary asserts "there are things in your life you would change, but Rotary isn't one of them." He added that our Club is the best. Gary has served as the Club's Treasurer for many years now.
Paul Mikkelson - believes "Rotary is the greatest." Before joining the Avon-Canton Club, Paul was the President of the Hartford Rotary (1997-98). Tom Voorhees persuaded Paul to join Avon-Canton in the year 2000. "Rotary is a great program," Paul states, "and I love it."
Paul and his wife Ann live in Simsbury.
Ed Queirolo - is in his 10th year with the Avon-Canton Rotary. He describes the Club as a "great group of people." He adds "what the Club does for the community is great." Ed, who is involved in property management, lives in Farmington with his wife Nancy.
Happy Dollars
Gary Miller - President Gary started Happy Dollars by thanking Ann Clark for filling in today as Sergeant At Arms.
Salin Low - when she needed someone to pinch hit for her during a bell-ringing shift, quite a few Club members offered to help. Salin thanks them all.
Craig Buhrendorf - "made it through" his second cataract surgery. It went well. He should be all set.
Len Dunstan - gave a Happy Dollar to honor Ellen, one of today's guests.
Don Bonner - when Don and Mary visited their daughter in Yonkers at Christmas time, there was a big box for them to open. When they did, they found another daughter. Sarah had secretly come up from the Dominican Republic to surprise them.
Allan Nasson - shared that this would be his last Avon-Canton Rotary meeting. He has accepted a job that will place him in the Utah, Arizona and California area. Allan shared a few funny job interview stories. He thanked everyone for their support, especially the Club members who helped him find his next employment situation.
Sue Budde - January 4th was the second anniversary of DogStar Rescue, a non-profit dog placement organization that Sue is passionately involved with. Over 500 dogs were placed in the first two years. DogStar's goal is to place 400 dogs in 2016.
Linda Pendergast - has been e-mailing back and forth with Nancy Nation. Nancy is going to try an experimental drug to see if it will help her knees. If it doesn't, she will probably need to have both knees replaced. SEE BELOW FOR NANCY'S CALIFORNIA ADDRESS.
Bill Barnes - pointed out that, if you're at today's meeting, you have perfect attendance for 2016 so far.
Rollie Sterrett - recently was stranded in Chicago for three days because of inclement weather. Additionally, Rollie pointed out that, although he famously lost his Colgate-UConn women's basketball bet to Paul Mikkelson, the Colgate women scored more points against UConn than any other team has this season.
Ann Clark - reported that her family made it back from Scotland safe and sound. They were there at Christmas time to visit Ann's granddaughter who is attending college at Saint Andrew's. It snowed in Edinburg during their stay.
Tom Voorhees - fined himself $1 because he forgot to wear his Rotary pin. Evan Cooper and Phil Ferrari fined themselves for the same grievous offense. Tom also wished Allan Nasson well, and said that Allan will be missed.
Gary Miller - shared that he and Debbie spent a week in Baton Rouge, LA enjoying Christmas with their daughter and grandkids.
Announcements, Etc.
International Committee
The International Committee will meet Friday, January 15 after the completion of the Club meeting. See Craig Buhrendorf for details.
Nancy Nation's CA Address
69411 Ramon Road
Lot 370
Cathedral City, CA
92234
Message from Les - Hartford Wolfpack Hockey
Dear Rotarians:
It looks like we are planning to go to the Saturday, Jan. 30th game. The game starts at 7pm. We will have 30 seats reserved in section 116.
Tickets will be either $20 each or $23 each, depending on the total number of members who decide to go. This represents a $12 or $9 discount. I will also get $5 vouchers for discount parking.
I need to know who is going and how many will be in your party before Jan 25th, so I can give your name at the "Will Call" window.
We have also talked about dining out before the game. I have learned that dinner at the Coliseum Club is a buffet @ $19/person including tax, no gratuity.
The bill of fare includes Prime Rib, peel-and-eat shrimp, 3-4 salads, 5 hot items and, of course, dessert. I will need a head count to reserve tables so that we are all together.
This Friday I will pass a sign up sheet to get the number who are going to the game and/or dinner.
Thanks, and have a good day.
Les Zinner
District & Global Grants
In order for our club to remain eligible to participate in the District and Global Grants program we need to maintain a cadre of members that have completed the annual refresher training. Please review the following information. If you are available on either of the two dates and would like to know more about how we can access our Foundation donations to leverage club projects, please sign up for one of the webinars.
In order for Rotary Clubs to qualify for District and Global grants, two people from your club must be qualified by attending a Grant Qualification Webinar. This year we are combining the District and Global Grant qualification into one webinar. Attendance by 2 members from your club is part of the qualification process in order to apply for grants for the 2016-2017 Rotary year.
Attendees can register for one of two webinars: Tuesday, February 23rd from 7:00-8:30 PM or Thursday, March 3rd from 7:00-8:30 PM.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Eileen
Eileen Rau, PDG
District Foundation Chair 2015-2018
Club Website Advertising
You have probably noticed the advertisements on the upper left corner of the website. These advertisements help defray the cost of hosting and other services on ClubRunner.
The cost of an advertisement for one year is $100. If you are interested in advertising your business on the website, please contact me. You can provide a graphic, or I'll have one created that will link to all of your business contact information and website.
If you are already a website advertiser, please consider renewing.
Thank you and Happy New Year!!
Gary
Scheduling Speakers
Ike Eikenhorst is now scheduling speakers for March and beyond. Speakers are needed, but keep in mind that the third Friday of each month is held aside for club business. Remember, business pitches are not allowed. Otherwise, persons with interesting jobs, hobbies, charitable activities, etc. will be welcome to present their stories. Presentations must not exceed 20 minutes.
Rotary Pub Night
Our February RPN will be February 2nd, 4:30 - 6:30 pm at the Saybrook Fish House in Canton.
As you have heard a few times, RPN is all about socializing, networking and getting to know your fellow Rotarians and their guests better. Bring your spouses, significant others, partners, pen pals, friends, doppelgangers, fellow birdwatchers, prospective Rotarians, etc.
You may, of course, come and go whenever you want to. Should you wish to eat before, during or after RPN, there are plenty of choices.
Presentation
Bob Crawford, longtime radio announcer for the Hartford Wolfpack, was introduced by Tom Voorhees. The two met when Crawford was registering his two boys at an Avon-Canton Rotary Amber Alert session.
Crawford and the team moved to Hartford in 1997. With 19 years now in the books, the Wolfpack have been in the Capital City longer than the Whalers were.
Crawford detailed several points:
* The New York Rangers, the Wolfpack's "parent team," have already picked up the option to keep the Wolfpack as their minor league affiliate for the 2016-17 season. The Rangers have a yet-to-be exercised option for the following year as well.
* The XL Center is an aging building. A decision must be made soon to keep it as is, to renovate (working around scheduled events) or to build a new venue at a cost of $500 million. The University of Connecticut is exerting its influence to replace the old building with a "premiere facility."
* After several years of attendance doldrums, attendance spiked last year while the team made it all the way to the conference finals. Attendance is strong again this year. At the half point of the season, attendance is significantly ahead of last year. This augurs well for the future of hockey in the Hartford market.
* Because of a salary cap, National Hockey League teams need strong, young players whose salaries are much less than the salaries that veterans demand. There is much more emphasis on player development than there has ever been before. This benefits the Wolfpack greatly.
* Two young players currently in Hartford who have a very bright future are Brandon Shea and Ryan Graves. Both are defensemen.
Crawford asserted that he enjoys speaking before the Avon-Canton Rotary, an organization that he finds "very welcoming."
Wolfpack Hockey can be heard on the radio at WPOP, 1410 on the AM radio dial. The Wolfpack games, and all other AHL games, are streamed on the internet.
In The Mail
Jolly and Kurt Lux sent a Holiday card. On the front was a picture of five young Ugandans holding a sign that says:
THANK YOU
Rotary Club of
Avon - Canton
Jolly returned recently from her mission work in Uganda. The inside of the card says: With the help of your generous donations, we were able to complete the renovations to our level two health clinic, purchase and install our water tank, as well as provide 3000 children and their caretakers with basic medical care. The Guiding Light Orphans team, as well as those your donations have helped, send you their best sincere thanks for your continued support. Thank you!
Photo Credits
All photos from the meeting by Phil Worley
Photo of Nancy Nation by Phil Worley
Photo of Steve Martin courtesy of firsttoknow.com
Hartford Wolfpack logo courtesy of Hartford Wolfpack
Wolfpack game photo courtesy of courant.com
Global Grant Chart courtesy of Rotary International
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