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ClubRunner
Bulletin Editor
Larry Haber
Getting to Know our Members
Getting to Know Bob Cave

Bob Cave was born in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up in West Hartford. He received his electrical engineering degree from Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, he accepted a job with Connecticut Natural Gas and later became the Assistant to the President. Bob moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to take a senior management position with Berkshire Gas Company. Later in his career, Bob spent many years in Washington, DC as President of a natural gas trade association. In 2004 he returned to Connecticut and started a new venture - remodeling homes. To date, he has “flipped” twenty-two homes in our area.

 

During a college summer break, Bob met his wife Jane while they were both working for the Town of West Hartford. They have three children and five grandchildren. Bob and Jane enjoy traveling, especially to Colorado, Florida and Massachusetts to visit their grandkids.

Bob has been active in many civic groups. He is a founding member of the Rotary of Avon-Canton and is a past President and Paul Harris recipient. He was the first President of Avon Dollars for Scholars and President of the Pine Grove Nursery School in West Avon. He restarted the Seniors Job Bank in West Hartford and was its President for several years. He donates his time and assists the NESC (National Executive Service Corps, a non-profit consulting group) in our area. Bob is active on several church committees and is the President of his homeowners association.

Bob’s grandfather was the Chief Engineer for Fuller Brush for forty years. In addition, his grandfather built the Selden Automobile in Hartford in 1908, when it was the automobile manufacturing capital of the world.

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Speakers
Apr 12, 2019
Using Outdoors to Connect to Youth
Apr 19, 2019
Apr 26, 2019
Responsible Development for Nod Road
May 03, 2019
Electric Vehicles:A Primer
May 10, 2019
Universal Healthcare Foundation
May 17, 2019
Guatemala Global Grant
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
Nicky Wood
Using Outdoors to Connect to Youth
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Report
April 5 29, 2019
 
Members Present: 37 plus 14 Interact Members
 
Make-Ups: None  
Guests: Our speaker - Jenni French and Avi Smith Rapaport
Prospective members - Lauren and Yvonne Gardner
Visiting Rotarians: Bill Neagus - Rotary Club of Farmington
Happy Dollars: $19
Raffle Winner: Phil Worley - $20
 
Birthdays
 
Connie Thamm - Not Present
 
 
 
Happy Dollars
 
 
Ann Clark guesses that she is the only one from the committee to survive the Taste of the Valley.  She reported that it was fun evening and she is sure that Josh and Colleen would want to thank everyone who helped in anyway.
 
Salin Low put in 5 Happy Dollars.  Two of the for the 2 games she saw in Albany last weekend and 2 of them because she is sure we will be playing in 2 more games and 1 is for the National Championship she is sure we will be having by the end of the weekend.  Editor’s Note  :-{
 
Bob Cave noted that he has flipped a couple of homes, 24 by the way.  His current one is a lot of fun because he has his grandson working with him. 
 
Bill Neagus, visiting Rotarian from the Farmington Club, is seeking support for their big fund raiser, a dine and dance which will be held at Farmington Gardens on April 13.  It is a sit-down dinner and a dance to the tunes of the Shaded Soul Band.  See Bill or visit their website, if you’re interested in tickets, which are $75 each.  Dine 'n Dance.
 
Linda Pendergast, who is heading off to Puerto Rico on a mission trip, also noted that 2 UConn senior women won some outstand awards and she like Salin are counting on them to do well.
 
Peter Vignati just joined Planet Fitness and was surprised to see them bringing in pizza for members.  He was told, if he came in the morning, they had bagels.  When Peter gave them a strange look, the reply was “don’t you like carbs?”
 
Gary Miller was happy to have Yvonne and her daughter Lauren joining us as prospective members. 
 
Bill Neagus put in a sad dollar as their club just recently lost 2 members, one yesterday, when Norm Ballard died after a brief illness as well as their oldest member who died at 96.
 
Phil Mikkelson first complimented Kevin Case on down for the students this morning.  He also noted the passing of David Hoyle at 33 years of age.  He was the most smiling person you would ever meet.  He was married with no kids and was in charge of the largest coaching program in the state of CT.  Phil saw him just a week ago and Monday he was out riding his mountain bike and never made it.  Probably a heart attack.  The story was that he had previously been seen at Yale and was scheduled to be seen at Hartford Hospital next week.  The point is if you think you have a problem, don’t put off dealing with it.  Phil noted that he almost put off his medical appointment where they found the cancer and now 2 years later, he seems to be cancer free.
 
Rollie Sterrett will be on a plane tomorrow to the Bahamas for his annual bone fishing trip.  He promises us that he will return with over 200 fishing pictures.  (Editor’s Note:  I am sure we are all looking forward to this.)
 
Craig Buhrendorf had a good week in NC where he is finalizing the purchase of a 24’ foot Jet Boat. Jean will be having her radiation treatment for the next 3 weeks.  They will go back down to celebrate that being finished after that.  It will be about 6 months to know if it has been successful.
 
President Mike, wanted to thank Heather Pantano in advance, for covering his duties next week.
 
Announcements
 
President Mike reported that we received a thank you letter from the African Education Partnership for the $561 donation which was raised through passing the hat at a meeting.
 
Calendar of Upcoming Events
 
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.
 
June 10th: Canton Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Tournament at the Farmington Woods Golf Club. Contact Gary or Sue Budde for more information or visit the Chamber's website for registration: Canton Chamber Golf Tournament
 
September 9th: Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Golf Club of Avon. Please contact Gary Miller if you are interested in working on one of the golf committees.
 
Specical Presentation
 
Fourteen members of the Canton High School Interact Club attended this mornings meeting and briefed us on what they have accomplished.
  
The president of the Canton Interact Club, Alex Lederman who is  a junior,  presented the following information to update the club on their activities.
 
As you all may know, last year they were able to hold a weight lifting competition raising almost $400 dollars for the Rushford Treatment Center. This was to specifically help with the opioid addiction crisis.
 
This year, they have stepped up our game all across the board. To start off, the membership size has increased from 5 to 44, with about 20 very active members.
 
On November 26th- 30th they held an art fundraiser where people could donate art supplies to our boxes set up around the school. The art supplies that they collected were donated to the Rushford Treatment Center in Avon to help with their Art therapy classes.
 
Throughout this week they also held an art competition. The artwork created had to do with stopping addiction, and many great pieces of artwork were submitted.  The three winners of the competition had their artwork displayed at the treatment center.
 
On December 8th, 5 members of our team along with our club advisor Ms. Traub, participated in an event called "Footwear With Care." This is a fantastic Hartford based charity that serves the homeless population by providing shoes, socks, and basic necessities. The event had over 100 volunteers and they were proud to participate from our school. This event was also a great bonding experience for our rotary team members.   By the way the next Footwear With Care event was Saturday morning at Yard Goats Stadium where more than 400 homeless  men, woman and children were expected  to attend.
 
Finally the club has been working for months on an Opioid Epidemic Panel Discussion,  that will be taking place on April 29th in our school auditorium at 7:00pm. We have 5 guest speakers, including the Canton Chief of Police and the Chief administrative judge for criminal matters with the Connecticut Superior Court.  We have three main goals in mind. These three goals are:  1.  Increasing awareness of the opioid crisis in Connecticut. 2.  Educating our residents on what actions can be taken to fight against the epidemic, and 3, learning how we can help lower the risk of opioid addiction in our community.
 
Induction of New Members
 
None today
 
 

Community and International Service Grants
 
 
Gary Roman from the Community Service Committee presented a check for $250 to Kevin Case who accepted it  on behalf of the Canton Substance Free Graduation Party .
 

 
Presentation
J e n n i  F r e n c h
Director of Communication
 
 
Watkinson School, Hartford's oldest independent school for grades 6-12/PG, annually sends a team of volunteers to the La Romana region of the Dominican Republic. While there, they partner with the Good Samaritan Hospital, an organization that was begun in large part through the support of Rotary International.  The land the Good Samaritan Hospital is on was donat­ed by Central Romana (the largest sugar manufacturer) through  Rotary contacts from MA. The Rotary Club of Abington, MA. donated the money to develop the site and architectural  plans for the hospi­tal building itself.  Here in CT, the Wallingford Rotary Club has been giving scholarships to town teenagers to go on the trip ($500 each) since 1997.  The Wallingford Rotary Club also funded the establishment  of the pediatric center at the Good Samaritan Hospital, partnered with other Rotary Clubs in CT and the US to establish the biosand water project (now thousands of biosand water filters out in the bateyes and  in the barrios) sent the first ambulance to the Good Samaritan Hos­pital, helped coordinate many shipments of hospital beds and equipment  (from Gaylord Hospital), a generator to power the hospital, and more, established the "Mandes Cocina'' (the first kitchen and cafeteria at the hospital) to help feed patients who can't afford their own food, etc. The Mandes Cocina is named in honor of Past District Governor Ellen Mandes (from Wallingford), who donated, raised funds, supported matching funding, and traveled to the DR to be part of the dedication.

The scope of the volunteer work includes daily mobile medical clinics, constructing hurricane proof houses   food and shoe distribution, and projects at a local school (community garden, building a playground, cafeteria and classroom construction).
Watkinson School will send it's 10th annual service-learning trip to La Romana in November of 2019.  If you'd like to know more about the trip or get involved, check out stories on the team blog, see a video recap of the 2018 trip, and/or contact Jenni French.
 
 
 

 
Mail Bag
 
None today
 
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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