(Not So) Early Riser Newsletter (Jan 13, 2023)

Salin Low
(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)

Jun 09, 2023

No Meeting-Installation Dinner

Jun 16, 2023

Father Collins Anaeche, ST. Patrick's

Aid to Haiti

Jun 23, 2023

Elaine Chagon

African Education Partnership

Jun 30, 2023

No Meeting

July 4th Weekend

Jul 07, 2023

Rick Lawrence

Guatemalan Water Project

Jul 14, 2023

Kershwin Singh

Live Life to the Fullest

View entire list

President

Chris Lamadrid

President Elect

Luke Violette

Secretary

Colleen Grasso

Treasurer

Gary Hyde

Immediate Past President

Alicia Canning

Membership

Peter Vignati

Sergeant-at-Arms

Deborah Stanwood

Rotary Foundation

Joanne Santiago

Board Member-at-Large

Ike Eickenhorst

Board Member-at-Large

Gary Miller

Interact Chair

Michelle Traub

Rotary of Avon-Canton - Founded 1973

Service above Self

Fridays at 7:30 AM

Golf Club of Avon

160 Country Club Road
Avon, CT 06001
United States of America

Fax:

(860) 760-6364

Send Email to Club

All meetings are hybrid both in-person and Zoom available

District Site

Venue Map

January 13, 2023

Carl Ficks, J.D.

Wellness for Wealth

The meeting will be held both in person and via Zoom.
Watch for an email from the Club for Zoom access and

please note we use a recurring ID for your convenience.

Members Present: 28 (In person); 5 (Zoom)
Visiting Rotarians: None
Guests: Joe Raycraft, Speaker
Happy Dollars: $77
Raffle Winner: Gary Hyde
Raffle Prize: $20

Birthday

Bob Cave gave $50 for his 50 years with Avon-Canton Rotary - Only Founding Member still with the club. His dad wanted him to be born before the end of the year. They even had a New Year's Eve party to celebrate his birth. Unfortunately Bob didn't come until January 5, and his dad lost a tax deduction. He talked about the founding of the club which started with 22 members from Simsbury. It was a lunch meeting at first, but it was decided that a breakfast meeting would work better for members to get to work. Membership dropped to 8. He was proud of the club for being one of the first in the area to admit women; for starting Dollars for Scholars in the two towns; for working with the Senior Job Bank; for donating a freezer to the Canton Senior Center; for our work with FAVARH. He's just proud to be part of Rotary. Happy Birthday, Bob! Thanks for reminding us of our history.

Paul Mikkelson, who was on Zoom, said that things are good with him. His grandson Tommy, who has cystic fibrosis and had serious health issues when he was born, is doing great. Now he has a little sister who also has cystic fibrosis, but she is doing well so far. Happy Birthday, Paul. You will always be part of Avon-Canton Rotary.

Happy Dollars

Bill Barnes was also happy to be a 50-year Rotarian. He joined in Bridgeport first, then came to Avon-Canton in 1977, when Bob Cave was president. He was in the Bristol club for a few years, then found his way home again. He told those present at the meeting that they had perfect attendance for 2023, since it was the first meeting of the year. Now don’t blow it.

Lauren Gardner was happy to pass out flyers for the upcoming pasta dinner to support the Focus Center for Autism. A graduate of Focus is hosting the event, which is on January 22 from 3:00 to 7:00 at the Bad Dog Brewing Co., 117 Water Street, Torrington. Members are encouraged to attend or to donate so that other alums of Focus are able to attend.

Steve Horenstein flew on Avelo, an airline on which he will never fly again. He was supposed to return New Haven, but the plane was diverted to Bradley, and it was damaged while landing. He had to go to New Haven to retrieve his own luggage and car. No one had any information to help. When he got to New Haven, no one knew where the luggage was. Finally he found it in a room with no security, realizing anyone could have walked off with it. What a nightmare

Cherie Morris was happy to see Katelyn Kaplan and son Jaden. She was also happy to report that Jaden will have a little sister in March.

Lou Daniels was happy as a Providence College fan that his team had beaten the UCONN Husky dogs by 12 points in a recent men’s basketball game.

Tom Voorhees volunteered that he, like Bob Cave and Bill Barnes, has been in Rotary for 50 years. He first joined in Morris Plains, NJ, which was also a morning club. When they let RI know that their meetings would be for breakfast, they got some pushback. Rotary only had lunch and dinner clubs up until then. They started a new way, and Avon-Canton has carried on the tradition.

Ann Clark was happy to be going on her annual women’s retreat at Holy Family Monastery. It’s a fun retreat, and she expects to be in a better mood afterward. After so many years, she has become a sort of chaperone for the younger women.

Announcements

Heather Pantano and Cherie Morris will be running the silent auction for the TOTV. They are looking for restaurant or theater gift cards among other items. They are hoping to get the items sooner rather than later, in order to be able to take a break before requests for the golf outing. Contact Cherie or Heather about gifts. If you want to make a donation, you can make the check out to the club and indicate Silent Auction on the memo line.

Joanne Santiago is responsible for clearing restaurants for TOTV with the health department. No restaurants have requested the paper work so far, and we need the restaurants for the May 6 event. The restaurants can also get the forms on the Farmington Valley Health Department website.

Calendar

January 13 - Membership Committee Meeting

January 17 - 5:30 - Board Meeting at Dish n Dat

January 24 - 5:00 - TOTV Meeting at Dish n Dat

May 6, 2023 - Tastes of the Valley at Golf Club of Avon.

Induction of New Members

None this week.

Awards

None this week.

Community and International Service Grants

None this week.

Joe Raycraft, SBA

SBA Services to the Business Community

Rollie Sterrett intended to introduce our speaker, Joe Raycraft. However, Rollie couldn’t be at the meeting, so President-elect Luke Violette got the honor. He reminded newer members that Joe is a former member of the Avon-Canton Rotary. He has more than 25 years of financial experience, much of it with various banks in the area (consolidation, anyone?) In addition he served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

Joe said he had thought of naming his presentation “I’m here from the govt and I’m here to help.” He is with the Small Business Administration (SBA) which works to make the American dream come true for small businesses and entrepreneurs. They do this through 3 C’s:

Capital – help small businesses obtain loans; SBA guaranties make it possible to obtain loans, etc. $300 million with SBA guaranties in 2022.

Counseling – retired executive program works with small businesses on ways to improve their businesses, as well as how to improve their access to loans

Contracts – U.S. government is the largest purchaser in the world. SBA can help make the company connection with the government. There are set asides in government contracts that are meant for small businesses to qualify.

The SBS has had a bigger role since the pandemic. Some of that has involved direct lending which typically takes place in some sort of disaster. The PPP loans were meant to help small businesses stay alice. There were also loans to help shuttered arts organizations. CT received $14.5B in such loans. In fact they processed the equivalent of 14 years of loan volume in 14 days, obviously with easier underwriting than usual. In addition to their usual involvement, they have also been involved in micro lending - $1M to $5M for small businesses. There has only been a slight decrease in lending due to increases in interest rates and the slowdown in the economy. Small businesses are generally borrowing at 10% interest. This worries them less than the impact of inflation.

The SBA was established in 1953 during the Eisenhower administration. It was an effort to relieve the strain on small businesses after World War II. It was the first agency to be headed by a cabinet level individual and was seen as a way to strengthen the general economy. It is an agency which continues to advocate for small businesses.

Thanks to Joe for helping us to understand the SBA better and to realize its positive impact on our economy.

Special Announcements

None this week.

Mail Bag

None this week.

Photo Credits

Gary Miller

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?