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Building An Enclosure For Healing Meals: A Troop 274 Eagle Project
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Reinventing Healthcare, One Systm At A Time
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Club Information
Rotary of Avon-Canton - Founded 1973
Avon-Canton
Service above Self
Fridays at 7:30 AM
via Zoom
Avon, CT 06001
United States of America
DistrictSiteIcon
District Site
VenueMap
Venue Map
 
December 25, 2020
Merry Christmas!
No Meeting
 
January 1, 2021
Happy New Year
No Meeting
 
January 8, 2021
Robert Bessel
1st Selectman, Town of Canton
 
Meetings will be held on Zoom. 
Watch for an email from the club.
We are now using a recurring ID, etc.
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Report 
 
Members Present: 32
 
Visiting Rotarians: Paul Mikkelson  
Guests: Speaker-District Governor Mark Glass, Rick & Chris Heath, Jayden Kaplan
Happy Dollars Moments: More valuable when they are shared
Raffle Winner: No Raffle. No Winners. No Losers.
 
Fines: We were all fine today!
 
Birthdays:
 
Recent, current and upcoming birthdays
 
Dec 9th: Rick Heath
Dec 17: Yvonne Gardner
Dec 19: Ann Clark
Dec 21: Michael Mezheritskiy
Dec 24: Tom Voorhees
Dec 25: Chuck Joseph (absent today)
Jan 02: Gary Hyde (absent today)
Jan 02: Jolly Lux (absent today)
 
 
Yvonne Gardner celebrated her birthday December 17th. Her husband made some serious Brownie points that day by making Yvonne both breakfast and dinner that day. What a guy! Yvonne feels blessed to have Rotary in her life and is proud to be a part of it.
 
Ann Clark enjoyed her birthday on December 19th and is thankful that she has had a connection to her work all throughout this year. She's managed to stay busy and feels she has much to be grateful for. She thanks God for her job, which gets her out of the house and hopes to see everyone in person in the new year.  We hope to see you soon too Ann!
 
Mike Mezheritskiy a.k.a Misha joined Rotary in 2018 and continues to enjoy being a member. The best part of his birthday is that he gets to share it with his daughter who was born the same day. His kids think he "works" for Rotary, which with all that Mike has done in the Club, he surely has. He is happy for all that we do for others, locally and in the wider world.
 
Tom Voorhees gave up celebrating birthdays when he realized they made him older. Instead he celebrates the anniversary of when his birthday would have been. As a 40-year member of the Club, Tom noted that only Bill Barnes and Rollie Sterrett have been members longer than he has. It remains for him, a great Club, with which he has a lot of fun. he's ready to get back to normal, as for him, "Zoom just doesn't cut it!" We're with you on that Tom, and the sooner the better!
 
Rick Heath had to miss a few recent meetings due to the unfortunate necessity of attending a 3-day golf event in Florida. The Club tried to send condolences and would have sent flowers or planted a tree or some such thing, but Rick was out on the back 9 and unreachable. Rick noted that for both he and Chris, this Club has "ruined all other Clubs" for them. Apparently other Clubs are not as much fun or are made up of some rather dull folks or something. Wow, we must be doing something right! Rick also has a special place in his heart for Rotary as that is how he met his bride Chris.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Happy Moments
 
Lisa Barrell-Matt was happy that her son Tyler is home for Christmas, after having been away for over a year with the U.S. Navy. She finds herself cooking up a storm as Tyler has sorely missed her cooking and is enjoying some TLC from his Mom! He's here for just a short time, and then near the end of the year, he's back to Newport News and the "Silent Service" with his submarine.
 
Alicia Canning is grateful that the tests she's had after her recent surgery all came back with good results, indicating she won't need followup chemotherapy medications. She reports she will need some medication, but not one with unpleasant side effects.
 
Gary Miller is looking forward to resuming his service with the Ski Sundown Ski Patrol later this week.
 
Bill Barnes will not be going to Stowe, Vermont this year due to the pandemic situation but is grateful to see all of us, even if only virtually.
 
Scott Nardozzi is happy that the Huskies sports teams have resumed playing and the little bit of "normal" that, that represents.
 
Rollie Sterrett (accompanied by Salin Low) announced they are working with the Rotary District Foundation Committee to obtain a scholarship for West Point Senior Cadet George Pavlakis of Avon. Cadet Pavlakis, upon graduation hopes to be granted orders allowing him a year to study for a Master's degree in "Peace & Conflict Resolution" in Munich, Germany. Cadet Pavlakis intends to study the use of technology to pursue peace. Upon graduation he will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, which includes a modest salary and benefits, but in order to be allowed to pursue a course of study before assuming his active duty role, he must secure a "prestigious scholarship" from a "recognized organization." Apparently Rotary qualifies which is where we come in. The scholarship need not be large, and he was very honest in indicating he only needed a minimum award, simply to qualify for the opportunity. The U.S. Army's requirement for a graduating cadet to pursue a degree is acceptance into a program and the so called prestigious scholarship. The Army will cover his relocation and all other expenses. Salin and Rollie will lead the effort to assist Cadet Pavlakis.
 
Kershwin Singh reported he was job searching after a recent Pfizer restructuring resulted in the layoff of a fifth of their staff attorneys. He regards his plight as a mere "bump in the road" but explained the need to interview required he had to miss some of our recent meetings. We are all rooting for you Kershwin!
 
Chris Heath was sympathetic, noting that when the former Mylan Laboratories of Morgantown, West Virginia closed, 1500 employees lost their jobs. Pfizer had bought the company then downsized. [I gather that Chris was one of them.-Ed.]
 
Paul Mikkelson wished everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! He shared that he's reading a good book on keeping a positive attitude, "The Untethered Soul." In the book, readers are encouraged to identify three good things they've experienced each day, and Paul shared that attending our meeting was one of his this day. Thank you Paul!
 
 
 
Guest Jayden Kaplan, pictured here with his mother Rotarian Katelyn Kaplan, were not just happy for a moment, but for the entire meeting!
 
Announcements
 
Alicia Canning offered a series of announcements. She recently telephoned our beloved Sean Blacker who returned the call and indicated he is doing well, despite his diagnosis. Alicia played a recorded voice mail of Sean who said "I'm doing very well" and "I'm blessed to have friends and family like you guys." Hearing his reference to Rotarians as being like his family was an emotional moment for all. Scott Nardozzi chimed in to say "That's Paul's #2" referring to Paul's intention to identify three good things he experiences every day.
 
Alicia also noted Joann Santiago was back in the hospital and shared a text message Joann had sent her which said, "Thanks everyone for your calls, cards and thoughts." Joann had developed a blood clot after having contracted the coronavirus and has had sever abdominal pain as a result. The Club plans to continue bringing her prepared meals once she's home. For the moment she remains at St. Francis hospital.
 
Alicia reported on an idea Tom Voorhees had shared at the Board meeting, which is that members of the Board reach out to members we haven't heard from or seen in a while and let them know they are still valued and wanted. The board will divide up the names and get that done.
 
Alicia spoke to Lou Daniels after his recent presentation and he indicated he plans to rejoin. She also has heard from Jimmy Ssekawaabe who told her he plans to return in January.
 
Don Bonner reported Eleni DeGraw told him that the owner of Dom's Coffeee in Avon wants to join us.
 
Scott Nardozzi reported Capri will return when things settle down with her work and that her husband John, who took a bad fall was recovering well from his injuries.
 
Alicia implored all those present to let our absent members know they are missed.
 
Christine LaMadrid reported she will attend "P.E.T.S.", the Rotary president-elects training program in the spring.
 
Phil Ferrari reminded participants to patronize and support those local businesses that supported us through our golf tournament and T.O.T.V. as we shop this holiday season.
 
Don Bonner reported we've raised $1250.00 for the Salvation Army, but with our goal at $1750.00, we still have more work to do. Remember also that the Club will match up to $1,575.00 this year. Send checks to Don so he can account for the total to match. Rollie Sterrett added that he'd heard a major donor will also be matching all donations to the Salvation Army up to some multiple of a million dollars. All the more reason to donate now!
 
 
Induction of New Members
None this week.
 
Awards
None this week.
 
Community and International Service Grants
None this week.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PRESENTATION
 
District Governor Mark Glass
Rotary District 7890
 
President Alicia Canning introduced our District Governor, Mark Glass. In addition to currently serving as District Governor, Mark is a Paul Harris Fellow, Chairman of the Rotary Insurance Committee and a Rotary major donor. He was born in Philadelphia, attended college in New Jersey and is an avid Philadelphia sports team fan. He has seen all the Philadelphia teams compete in, and win, their respective championships. He and his wife Laurie have been married 40 years and have 3 daughters and one son, all adults now. He enjoys travel and sports.
 
Mark made a series of comments and then invited questions from participants. Below are those comments:
 
1. The pandemic has changed our operations so that our Board of Directors meetings have been solely virtual. Mark hopes that long term, they will recognize that virtual meetings cost less, so perhaps they'll continue in a hybrid format. They could meet in person just quarterly and then the remainder would be virtual. To be determined.
 
2. Jennifer Jones will soon become the first woman president of Rotary International.
 
3. Holger Knaack, the current RI president, is available to speak virtually to our club
 
4. At Mark's Club, the Rotary International UN representative will speak to his club virtually, from Madison Wisconsin.
 
5. A recent District-wide trivia night had nineteen participants, Heather Pantano came in third overall and won a $50 gift card from Amazon
 
6. On 1/20/2021 there will be a virtual foundation dinner, and the incoming RI president will be the speaker. Mark will be serving virtual dinners, (however you are responsible for washing your virtual dishes afterwards.) ;-)
 
7. A Multi-District conference will be held, April 30th - May 2nd at the Cape Codder hotel in Hyannis, Massachusetts. It may be Zoom, hybrid or in person, TBD.
 
8. Rotary P.E.T.S. ( encompassing 8 districts, over 6 nights) and "pre-PETS" will be held virtually. Christine LaMadrid will participate.
 
9. It is apparent that many Clubs will continue as hybrids, even after the pandemic is concluded.
 
10. Free snow is available at Mark's house. Pick up as is, where is. ;-)
 
11. Mark is pleased to soon become a PPDG, a "past pandemic district governor."
 
12. To line up RI speakers, contact Sara Speccy at RI. (Our Club officers will follow up.)
or contact Mark Glass directly at: dgglass2021@gmail.com
 
As there were no questions and our meeting had run long, Alicia wished all of us all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you all next year!
 
 
 
Special Announcements
None this week.
 
Mail Bag
President Alicia Canning announced we'd recently received a thank you letter from Bryan Nurnberger, vice president of Simply Smiles , thanking us for our donation to their organization, and also noted that the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3272  in Avon, also known as the Gildo T. Consolini Post, published an article in their newsletter thanking us for our recent $525.00 donation to the VFW.
 
Photo Credits
Scribe's screen grabs, and a few special favorites from your editors files!
 
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?