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Russell Hampton
ClubRunner
ClubRunner Mobile
Bulletin Editor
Salin Low
Speakers
Aug 09, 2019
Aug 16, 2019
Guiding Light
Aug 23, 2019
iDevice
Aug 30, 2019
Haitian Water Project
Sep 06, 2019
Amber Alert
Sep 13, 2019
A Promise to Jordan
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
The Annotated Guide to Ending Polio
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 of America
DistrictSiteIcon District Site
VenueMap Venue Map
Upcoming Meeting Speaker
The Rev. Tom Furrer
 
KATERI MEDICAL SERVICES in Nigeria
 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Report
March 22, 2019
 
Members Present: 42
 
Make-Ups: None  
Guests: Brenda Sullivan; Carol Fitzgerald (New Horizons) & Jake Bompastore (Cherry Brook Health Care); Jeff Borges (Guest of Sue Budde and prospective member: Joe DiNicola (son of Robin, home from college).
Visiting Rotarians: None
Happy Dollars: $30
Raffle Winner: Don Bonner - $40
 
Birthdays
 
Don Rossler lived in Stamford and Monroe when he was young. He went to Indiana to college and came back to CT for dental school. He met his wife Nancy through Rotary when she was with some bank that has disappeared in the last 20 years. They have twin sons who are about to finish high school and proceed to college. His dental practice is in Hebron. He was president of the club in the 90's and was involved in the Estonia project when the club sent medical equipment to that country. He returned to the club in the last few years and enjoys being involved again. Happy Birthday, Don
Happy Dollars
 
Gary Miller was headed to the Basketball Hall of Fame to meet up with his wife in Springfield.
 
Craig Buhrendorf gave $5 to tell some important stories. His wife Jeane closed on the sale of her dental practice the day before the meeting. They had kept the negotiations quiet so as not to upset her patients. She was fortunate to find a 33-year old woman with a wealthy father who could buy the practice. They plan to celebrate this week in North Carolina. However, they ran into a significant curve ball. Jeane discovered a lump on her neck at Thanksgiving. The lump was biopsied surgically. They went to the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, where it was determined that it was malignant, non-Hodgkins lymphoma related to the tonsils. There was also a second surgery in January. They found out that there are many types of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Some are indolent, meaning not aggressive. The doctors thought this was Jeane's case, and she could do nothing other than check on it periodically. Jeane decided she wanted to be more proactive and received mild doses of radiation. There is now good news that the cancer is in remission. Lots to celebrate, for sure!
 
Peter Vignati was happy that the UCONN women's basketball team was going to be in the NCAA. He and his wife are headed to Hilton Head this week to enjoy some warm weather.
 
Natasha Haims was happy that her 14-year old granddaughter was 14. Since her daughter is a single mom, Natasha is especially close to her. They were headed to NY on Saturday to celebrate.
 
Margaret Shea-McCarthy was happy to be at Beanz for the meeting.
 
Salin Low was happy to be back after two weeks in Palm Springs, San Antonio, and St. Louis. Amazingly, the place she visited that had had problems with flooding was Palm Springs. It rained so much on Valentine's Day that a great deal of debris had washed down from the mountains and resulted in a number of closed roads.
 
Tom Voorhees was happy that his wife Mary Ellen had cornered Chuck Joseph at Rotary Pub Night because he didn't have her favorite corned beef. Chuck got her the corned beef, and the Voorhees bought it all.
 
Announcements
 
 
Josh Gillooly, who is heading up TOTV  with Colleen Grasso, said that much of the event details are well in hand. There will be music by MassConnfusion. There are a number of food vendors and several beverage vendors. The auction promises to be very good with consignment items and various baskets. New this year will be a bottle toss. They can use 30-40 bottles of wine or spirits. (Vodka is good). Ticket sales seem to be lagging, so do your best to sell yours. They need tickets for will call, so if you have not sold your tikets, please bring them to the meeting on Friday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rotary Foundation chairman, Joanne Santiago, seeks nominees for our annual Community Paul Harris Fellow recognition. Please contact Joanne or any of the Rotary Foundation Committee members with your suggestions. We typically honor 2-3 citizens each from Avon and from Canton.
 
Gary Miller is seeks a few members to purchase Rotary website ads, at the excellent price of $100/yr. This funding supports our use of ClubRunner software and our website subscription. The ads cycle every few seconds at the upper left-hand corner of the website and are a good way to promote member businesses. Contact Gary if interested.
 
 
Calendar of Upcoming Events
 
March 30th: Tastes of the Valley will be held Saturday, March 30 at 6 PM. 
 
May 3rd & 4th: The Rotary District 7890 District Conference will be held May 3rd to 4th  at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Danvers, MA. Five districts including 7890 will be represented. The event starts with the Rotary Foundation luncheon on Friday. For a full schedule and registration information follow this link: District Conference Registration
 
May 16th: Rotary Night at Hartford Yard Goats, Thursday May 16; Game time 7:05 PM. Contact Paul Mikkelson for details.
 
Induction of New Members
 
None today
 
 

Community Service Grants
 
 
 
 
Paul Mikkelson presented $1,000 to New Horizons for a new van to help get to medical appointments and such needs. New Horizons was created to provide appropriate housing for individuals who were wheelchair-bound. In the 1950's and 60's, many of them lived for years in New Britain Memorial Hospital. In 1986 New Horizons Continuing Care was established in Unionville and gave these individuals a real home.
 
The check was presented to Carol Fitzgerald who is Chief Financial Officer at New Horizons and to Jake Bompastore who is Administrator of Cherry Brook Health Care. The two organizations are part of the same company. Jake told the club that there would be plaques in both locations to thank our club for their contribution.

 
Presentation
Kim Morrison
Beanz - An opportunity for FAVARH clients
 
 
(Kim Morrison with partner Noelle Alix and daughter Megan)
 
 
 
The breakfast was wonderful!
 
And the small tables encouraged mingling
 
 
Kim Morison told the club about her progress from working in the hotel business in Vermont to thinking that working with pasta would be good and that the Farmington Valley would be the right place. Thus New England Pasta was born 25 years ago in Canton. Later the business moved to Avon Village. Kim married and Megan was born 20 years go. Knowing that Megan had special needs, Kim was ready to throw in the towel. But she persevered. Soon the business moved to Route 44 in Avon, next door to Deep Water Fish Company, where they held forth for twelve years. They needed more space, which the health inspector also encouraged., so they moved to their current location about five years ago.
 
The food business was changing, and there seemed to be another time to question whether it was time to be done with it - at least the cafe that was part of the new location. People were in a hurry for lunch and the format with wait staff seemed to go too slowly. In her personal life Kim was dealing with the coming end of Megan's educational support. Noelle Alix was part of a group of moms with special needs children. She was an energy lawyer who had moved from Manhattan, largely because her middle daughter Kate had Down syndrome. They were concerned about their daughters' and others with intellectual disabilities who have a very difficult time getting jobs. Such individuals have an unemployment rate of 80 percent. They thought food preparation and sales could offer opportunities to these folks.
 
Kim know that she couldn't run both the Pasta Cafe as it was configured and develop Beanz as a new sort of endeavor. What became clear was that a cafe which employs approximately 50% intellectually disabled individuals was very exciting to many people in the area. In November 0f 2017 Kim and Noelle worked out a time line for their new restaurant. In June 2018 they met Susan Johnson whose son has cerebral palsy. She, too, wanted to open a cafe for those with special needs. Together they began fundraising for new equipment for the cafe. Special equipment is needed to accommodate those who are differently abled. Later Omar Coffee came in as a partner in the project.
 
Now they have 3 employees special needs. Among them is Nick Sinacore who works five days a week for 4 to 6 hours. He says it's like a family, and he is so personable that customers want to be there when they can visit with Nick. The whole feeling of the place has changed. There is no wait staff. Counter service works fine. The area has been reconfigured to emphasize comfort, and people seem to stay much longer. The new cafe had a boost from established foot traffic from the Pasta Company. There has been good support from the community, and business is growing beyond the Pasta Company clientele. Beanz is open 7-5 Monday through Friday and 8-5 on Saturday.
 
There are thoughts about expanding this effort. Two women from Minnesota have contacted Kim and Noelle and want to create a similar operation. The plan now is to go slowly in order to get things right. Our visit seemed to confirm that they are on the right track.
 
 
 

 
Mail Bag
 
Len Dunstan sent a note of thanks for the kindness and support from members after his mild stroke. He seems to be recovering well and hopes to be back at Rotary soon.
 
Photo Credits 
Photographs courtesy of Phil Worley unless otherwise noted.
 
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.
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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?