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Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
Bulletin Editor
Salin Low
Speakers
Aug 31, 2018
Spirithorse Therapeutic Riding Center of Canton
Sep 07, 2018
#changethescript for our community
Sep 14, 2018
TBD
Sep 21, 2018
Digital Lens Grinding in the Optical Industry
Sep 28, 2018
New Tax Law
Oct 05, 2018
Korean Spirit & Culture Promotion Project
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
 
EarlyRiser Presentations
GLO Fall 2017 Mission Trip
Eastern Europe Trip to Vienna and Prague Presentation
Avon Village Center Project Presentation
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
DistrictSiteIcon District Site
VenueMap Venue Map
Jim Tully & Leah Moon
Autism Families of Connecticut
August 10, 2018
Sergeant-at-Arms Report
August 3, 2018
 
Members Present: 31
 
Make-Ups: None  
Guests: Michael Humphrey (guest of the speaker)
Visiting Rotarian: None
Happy Dollars: $ 18
Raffle Winner: Tom Voorhees
 
Birthdays
 
None celebrated (or acknowledged) this week.
Happy Dollars
 
Sue Budde was happy that her son had a job interview with one of his top choices for employment, especially since the job offers benefits. She was also happy that the Outreach Committee of West Avon Congregational Church would be working on Habitat for Humanity house in Hartford on September 29.
 
Paul Mikkelson was happy that Fresh Market had placed an ad in our golf book. He also reminded everyone that the ad deadline is this Friday, August 10.
 
Joanne Santiago put in a dollar for Nancy Nation thanking everyone for help with the pencil boxes (Ann Clark concurred that it was a great crew.) Joanne was also happy to be going to a wedding of one of daughter Laura's friends in Los Angeles.
 
Craig Buhrendorf had been in North Carolina working on his and Jeane's recently purchased home. He visited a Rotary club there and heard from a member who had attended the Rotary International Convention. The speaker focused on Interact and the push for more clubs to support Interact
 
Don Bonner was happy to see Alicia Canning's tan. Alicia was happy that she got that tan, at least in part, taking her granddaughter to the beach.
 
Gary Hyde had been to Washington DC to attend a conference put on by the IRS. The more fun part of the trip was getting a chance to stay with a niece.
 
Tom Voorhees was headed to Saratoga Springs for the races.
 
Rollie Sterrett has developed a leg fixation. He was glad Arnie Goldman had featured those limbs in the last issue of the Early Rise. He's sure that he would compete very well with Matt Damon or Brad Pitt in the legs category. (He might not do as well in the swimsuit competition.)
 
Announcements
 
Les Zinner announced that he could put in an order for Rotary shirts before the golf outing. The cost is $27. Contact Les at the meeting or at leszin@mac.com to order a shirt.
 
Peter Vignati's wife sent thanks for the good wishes during Peter's illness. He will be having surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
 
Kathleen Parr thanked people for help providing items for the auction. They still need more things both for the silent auction and for the raffle. They are putting together baskets and could use some nice bottles of wine.
 
Once again, this is the last week to get ads in the golf book. The club has made some serious commitments and the proceeds of the golf outing are the biggest contributor to those commitments. We are also hoping to get at least 30 more golfers to play on August 27.
 
Calendar of Upcoming Events
 
Monday, August 27:  Rotary of Avon-Canton Annual Charity Golf Tournament
 
Saturday, September 29: Celebrate Avon Day. Steve Harris for details
 
Awards and Community/International Service Grants
 
 
Foundation chair Joanne Santiago presents a Paul Harris + 4 pin to Chuck Joseph. This represents $5,000 in total contributions by Chuck and by the club to honor Chuck for all the service he has done in the club and in the community. Well done, Chuck!!
Presentation
 
Patrick Raycraft
Devastation and Generosty in Puerto Rico
 
 
 
 
 
Patrick Raycraft, a photographer for the Hartford Courant, was introduced by brother Joe. Patrick was a Peace Corps volunteer in 2005 in the Dominican republic. His focus at the newspaper is on the Latino community. He lives in Frog Hollow in Hartford.
 
In November 2017 Patrick and Vinny Vella, a reporter for the Courant, accompanied a group of four men from Hoffman Audi in East Hartford for a trip to take relief supplies to family and friends in Puerto Rico. According to Patrick, the trip was eight days of "Service above Self." The four men (Eliot Matos, brothers Jimmy and David Velasquez, and Joan Ortiz) work for Hoffman and convinced the company to allow a drive to collect donations for Puerto Rico which was devastated by Hurricane Maria. They collected donations at many auto dealerships in the area and collected enough to fill two shipping containers. These went by train to Jacksonville, FL, and then on a freighter to Puerto Rico. The supplies in the containers were intended for family members of Hoffman employees which represent a significant Puerto Rican contingent.
 
There are 72 municipalities in Puerto Rico, and Patrick thinks they hit almost all of these municipalities to deliver aid, since Hoffman's employees have family spread across all of Puerto Rico. However, the goods were given to families in need who were not necessarily families related to Hoffman employees, because there was so much need. Eliot Matos, the leader of the group, has a brother in law, George Ayala, in the furniture business who was able to donate the use of vehicles to deliver the goods. The base of operations was his furniture warehouse. As it turned out, the place that Patrick and Vinny had reserved had no water or electricity, so they joined the crew in staying with George. They usually had a good breakfast before they went out for a long day. One day they were out by 7:00 and did not return until the next morning at 9:00. Fortunately the gas stations were open, but the roads were terrible. And the group didn't always know how to get to the remote locations, so they needed help.
 
 
The crew is giving a generator to a woman who is a taxi driver in Puerto Rico and helped them find some of the locations of family members. Since some of the addresses were in high crime neighborhoods, the crew was appreciative of her help. This was especially important when families were suspicious of the visitors and needed reassurance that they were truly there to help.They discovered that the woman's husband needed a ventilator which required power. She had been powering it with her vehicle. The generator would now make this unnecessary. In addition to delivering generators to a number of families, they took water and water filtration systems, which were essential, since most of the water facilities in the country had been destroyed.
 
The logo above with the Puerto Rican flag was created to show that Connecticut and Puerto Rico are similar in side although so different in resources. The Courant ran a multipart series about the trip, which is a reminder of the level of devastation and the amount of need still in the country. The series can be found at www.courant.com/puertorico. The damage isn't so obvious froman airplane, but on the ground the devastation is still apparent.
 
 
Mail Bag
 
We received a note from Hilda Sand who attended the Seniors Luncheon in Canton and appreciated the food and the service. It was a fun event, and it's good to know it was apprecaited.
 
Photo Credits 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Worley unless otherwise indicated. (This week's photographs were taken by Les Zinner.)
 
Editors 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?