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Russell Hampton
ClubRunner
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Bulletin Editor
Salin Low
Getting to Know our Members
Getting to Know Jennifer Gonzalez
Jenny Gonzalez was born in 1970 in the small country town of Perry, Florida, where her parents grew up. They moved to Tallahassee when she was four and she grew up with her brother Jon who is seven years older.
 
Both of Jenny’s parents were hard workers. Her mom was in business administration first in the medical field, then thirty plus years at an environmental law firm until her retirement two years ago. Her dad was a proud Vietnam veteran who had a 32-year career with the Postal Service. He retired early and enjoyed a life of leisure until he was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away three years ago. He was always working on cars, boats, and home improvement projects. In retirement he enjoyed spending time on my cousins’ farm in Alabama bailing hay, feeding cows, hunting, and fishing. His family misses him dearly.
Jenny met her husband in high school through friends they had in common, dated briefly during her junior year, and stayed in touch. When Larry graduated from the University of Florida out of the school of journalism, he moved back to Tallahassee to work. He looked Jenny up, and they decided to get married a month after dating. Jenny had been working at Holland and Knight Law firm as a file clerk and runner until they married a year later in December 1994. This past December they celebrated their 25th Wedding anniversary.
 
Jenny and Larry moved to Storrs, Connecticut once Larry was accepted to UCONN’s MBA program in 1995. Jenny worked in retail until he graduated, then spent a year matriculating into the CT college system at MCTC. She then applied and was accepted into the BFA program at UCONN. She was able to go to school full-time and completed a Specialized Concentration in Photography, Sculpture, and Ceramics. Larry and Jenny both graduated in 2000. He completed his law degree from UCONN, and she received her BFA.
 
She worked a few years after graduation as a Manager of the Non-Profit Women’s Exchange in West Hartford Center and went on to work for Capital Properties, first as a leasing agent for a residential property in Rocky Hill, later transferring to a West Hartford property as assistant property manager. She also began her Master’s program at CCSU. An artist at heart, she finished an MS in Art Education in 2007 with a concentration in Ceramics. She felt lucky to have studied with the best professor in her concentration and with one of the most talented students, who is still a good friend. She has had three art shows: a thesis show at Art Space in Hartford, a group show at Art Space with a painter, furniture maker, ceramicist and photographer, and another at the Farmington Library with three other ceramic artists.
 
Jenny started flying as a contract flight attendant for a small charter company out of Bridgeport and did sub-contracted flights for Netjets and Starflite International while she was finishing her Master’s program. In 2009 she secured a full time position with Travelers Aviation. She and her husband never thought that they would both end up working in the insurance industry, especially with Jenny in such a non-traditional role.
 
Larry and Jenny are very proud that their achievements have come about through their own efforts. They don’t have any children, but they are the happy to be aunt and uncle of seven nephews and one niece that they visit on trips to Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. They have two spoiled miniature dachshunds, Daisy and Oscar, who bring great joy to their home life. Their first fur-baby child was a Bassett hound named Marlee who was part of their family for the first 16 years of their marriage.
 
Jenny and Larry have been lifelong Thoroughbred horse racing enthusiasts and have a small stake in a NY breeding partnership and a couple of race horses with friends. Through their small interest they own perhaps a few horse hairs at most. This passion and their need to find a meaningful way to spend free time brought them to Shepard Meadows Therapeutic Riding Center. Jenny is on the fundraising committee and acting as Gala Chairperson, and Larry is VP on the Board. They still enjoy mucking stalls and feeding horses on the weekends as well as giving tours and acting as volunteer mentors.
 
Jenny is happy that Heather Pantano invited her to join Rotary. From the very first meeting she felt like she was home. She looks forward to getting to know all the members and working together to raise money and do good things for the community and beyond. 
 
Read more...
Speakers
Jun 12, 2020
Being a Rotary Scholar
Jun 19, 2020
For All Ages
Jun 26, 2020
Canton Historian
Jul 03, 2020
Jul 10, 2020
President's Installation Dinner
Jul 24, 2020
Mediators Beyond Borders
View entire list
Executives & Directors
President
 
President Elect
 
Immediate Past President
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Sergeant-at-Arms
 
Foundation Chair
 
Membership
 
Board Member-at-Large
 
Board Member-at-Large
 
Asst Treasurer
 
Interact Chair
 
EarlyRiser Presentations
A Promise to Jordan
The Annotated Guide to Ending Polio
Club Information
Rotary of Avon-Canton - Founded 1973
Avon-Canton
Service above Self
We meet Fridays at 7:30 AM
Avon Old Farms Hotel
279 Avon Mountain Rd.
Avon, CT  06001
United States of America
DistrictSiteIcon District Site
VenueMap Venue Map
 
 
April 3, 2020
Guatemala Water Project
Rick Lawrence
 
This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. 
watch for an email from Heather. 
There will not be a meeting on April 10 due to Good Friday.
 
Watch the presentation via our
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Report
 
Members Present: 33
 
Visiting Rotarians: Craig Buhrendorf, Chris Heath, Rick Heath  
Guests: Kershwin Singh
Happy Dollars: Only virtual currency
Raffle Winner: No virtual tickets
 
Fines
None.
 
Birthdays
 
Ike Eickenhorst's 70th birthday was March 15. He joined Rotary in 1991 and was president in 1996-97. He has been coordinating the club's speakers for the last several years. Our virtual singing wasn't any better than the in person version.
 
Don Rossler's birthday was March 25. He was probably very sad to miss our musical good wishes.
Happy Thoughts
 

Lauren Gardner was congratulated on her engagement to Justin Lipe. Everybody was very happy for her.

 

Sue Mitchell has her mother who is 99 living with her and healthy and she's happy about that. She's also happy that a horse is being adopted at Shephard Meadows and that there is a new rescue horse coming. Sue warned members to be careful to protect against COVID 19. She recommended cleaning off shoes after a trip to a grocery store, etc.

 

Kershwin Singh was happy to be part of the meeting. He is in sheltering in place with his wife and three daughters. They are fostering two puppies, so he had to take them out at 5:30 a.m. and will do continue to do so about 10 times a day.

 

Gary Miller was happy to get out of the house yesterday. He went with wife Debbie to Millerton New York and they went to Sharon to see the raptors. It was nice weather and there were no humans closer than six feet.

 

Sue Budde was happy that it was Bill's 60th birthday on Friday. He was still asleep when she joined this meeting. The party was canceled but a friend might join them for some sort of get together.

 

Craig Buhrendorf joined the meeting from North Carolina. It was going to be in the 80's for the next three days so he and Jeane were going to get out into the boat. They were doing a sort of Animal Safari. He thanked Mike Mezheritskiy for helping him to set up a Zoom meeting for his North Carolina Club.

 

Bill Barnes mentioned that Gary and Debbie would have gone through Lakeville on their way to Millerton. His first work after retirement was a part-time position at the Lakeville Methodist Church. One day this week he went all the way to Simsbury to see the park and bridge and come back again. He thinks the Zoom meeting is a great idea,

 

Dale Bronson misses his grandchildren, and they clearly miss him. Last Wednesday his grandson Lucius called him in spite of his autism, which makes it hard for him to use the telephone. He didn't say much, but the call itself was a great gift.

 

Katelyn Kaplan was happy that many people are using the trails at the Roaring Brook Nature Center. She enjoyed seeing neighbors she hadn't known before.

 

Gary Hyde was happy that tax returns can be deferred by 90 days and that quarterly payments are also deferred.

 

Announcements
 
To be Rescheduled:  Service project in collaboration with Roaring Brook Nature Center previously scheduled on April 4 and 5, weather permitting. Rotarians and girl scouts will pair and build an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant trail at the Roaring Brook Nature Center. 
 
Cancelled: Hartford Wolf Pack, scheduled for the evening of April 4th.
 
7/10: Rescheduled President's Installation Dinner at Golf Club of Avon.  Details to follow.
6/??: Rotary Pub Night will be held at President Heather's new home
9/14: 37th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Golf Club of Avon
 
Induction of New Members
 
None this week.

Awards
None this week.
 
Community and International Service Grants
None this week
 
PRESENTATION
 
Jolly Lux
Vocational Training at GLO
Trip to Uganda
COVID-19 is causing problems everywhere. Uganda had, at least by last Friday, 10 cases of the GLO cannot give medicines for seizures because of the pandemic. This is very hard on those with seizures. GLO had to get six students to their homes in a hurry. The government is very strict about travel, and there is enforcement of the lockdown which sometimes involves police brutality
 
Jolly used a power point presentation to tell us about her February 2019 trip to GLO in Uganda. The emphasis of this trip was to train young girls and give them skills to support themselves and their families.
 
 
The girls trained were hand selected for this course, which was actually an introductory course, in order to determine who would be able to get further training. Various skills were taught, including soap making, sewing menstrual kits, and making chalk for schools. Fifteen girls started the course, but some had to drop out. Some of those who completed the course will train subsequent students.
 
 
One skill learned was making reusable menstrual kits. Lack of such supplies often keeps young girls from attending school. Making these kits helps the students to learn how to sew, as well as improving the community.
 
 
Another skill taught was how to make bar and liquid soaps. This soap can be used in the menstrual kits, as well as being a product to sell. Production of soap required learning about materials and the cost of production. Safety procedures were very important, because acid is involved which can cause burns.The soap is sold in two locations.
 

The students also learned to do bookbinding.

And chalk making. This helps in schools that still rely on blackboards because they don't have any modern technology.

Beyond learning to make products, the young women are being empowered to take care of themselves and to be leaders in their communities.

Engineering students from UCONN also helped to teach the young girls.

And graduation after two weeks sealed the experience.

Jolly thanked the club for its support for this trip and for many of the projects which have allowed GLO to grow.


Special Announcements
None this week.
 
Mail Bag
None this week.
 
Photo Credits 
 
 
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?