Alicia Canning was raised in Providence as one of seven children. It was there that she started her career at age sixteen with McDonald’s. In the years that followed, she took business courses at a junior college and met her former husband, a fellow McDonald’s employee.
In 1979 Alicia (pronounced “ah-LEE-shah”) received her degree in Hamburgerology at Hamburger University in Chicago. From 1982-1995 she lived in New Jersey. In 2000 she and her husband became owner-operators of McDonald's franchises in Windsor and South Windsor, Connecticut. They subsequently added franchises in Canton, Granby, Simsbury and Torrington. Alicia ran the Canton McDonald’s from 2009 to 2015, after she and her husband parted ways.
Alicia lives in Canton with her ten year old dog Mollie, a bichon havanese mix. She has three daughters: Stephanie, who works for the Center for Disease control, recently moving from South Africa to Atlanta where she lives with her two children - Jackson (age three) and Riley (age one and a half), Shannon who teaches in Hartford and lives in Canton with her three children - Chloe (age five), and twins Lucas and Lilly (age one and a half) and Sarah who is getting her real estate license and lives in Bristol with her two children - Louisa (age three) and Theo (age one and a half).
Alicia is currently an elementary education substitute teacher in Canton. She has been very active with Rotary and is currently Sergeant-at-Arms. In addition she will be next year’s Senior Luncheon Chair and has been involved with Interact, Amber Alert and the golf outing. She likes to travel and actually went bungee jumping while visiting her daughter in South Africa. Above all else though, she considers her grandkids to be her proudest achievement.
Steve Morris was born in a Navy hospital at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Since his dad was an anti-submarine helicopter pilot, he and his family moved around quite a bit. Steve has been in Connecticut since the 4th grade however, and he graduated from Simsbury High School. Steve attended the University of Rhode Island where he played football and received a BA in Psychology and UConn Storrs where he received his Masters in Public Administration.
Steve’s career supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities began at FAVARH in 1987, where he worked as a job coach. He continued his career in 1998 with a stint at Sarah, Inc., a similar agency in Guilford, CT and returned to FAVARH in 2006 as its third Executive Director.
Steve has two children - Sydney, age 28, who recently located to Raleigh, NC and Wes, age 23, who is finishing school in Keene, NH. He enjoys hiking, camping, yoga, and adventure travel along with psychology, physics, religion and spiritual studies. Most of all, he loves working at FAVARH and helping to make a difference in people’s lives. Steve lives in Burlington with a fellow Rotarian, the lovely and brilliant Cherie’ Walton. He says he hates cleaning bathrooms and that he is a better than average chef, and a pretty good writer.
Guests: Brenda Sullivan, Jim Voorhees, Rauf Majidian (prospective member, guest of Jimmy Ssekawaabe)
Visiting Rotarian: none
Happy Dollars: $ 5
Raffle Winner: Gary Miller
Birthdays
There were two, but they were celebrating elsewhere.
Happy Dollars
After entertaining nonstop grandkids since July, Gary Miller was happy to be headed to Nantucket.
Jimmy Ssekawaabe was happy to be at the meeting.
Larry Sullivan was happy that there were 178 golfers signed up for the Golf Tournament.
President Michael was happy that Salin Low and Gary Miller covered for him the previous week so he could go on vacation.
Alicia Canning gave a "sorry" dollar for teasing Rollie Sterrett so much.
(Not the happiest crowd ever. Surely we'll be happier after the tournament.)
Special Action
Rollie Sterrett, chair of the By-Laws Committee, summarized the committee's work, which began in February 2016. Members Salin Low, Tom Voorhees, Bob Cave, Larry Sullivan, and Alicia Canning met with Rollie to update the 2003 By-Laws and the 2004 Constitution. The major update was approved by the club on May 19, 2017. In updating the Constitution, it became necessary to make additional changed to the By-Laws. Most of the Constitution is dictated by RI. However, there is some discretion in the area of member attendance at meetings. RI's standard is 50 percent required attendance. However, our committee, at the suggestion of Past President Don Bonner, has amended this requirement to language which says that members are "encouraged and expected to attend meetings as often as possible." In addition or in lieu of attending meetings, members are to be involved in a minimum of two Rotary activities per month. When those activities are other than weekly meetings, it is the responsibility of the member to notify the Sgt-at-arms of the member's participation in order to receive a makeup for meetings missed. The club approved the new By-Laws and Constitution.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Saturday, September 29: Celebrate Avon Day. Steve Harris announced that the organizers have decided to show a movie around 6:00 p.m. They want our booth to stay upon a bit longer than we have in the past, so Steve will need 16 volunteers for all the two-hour shifts during the day.
FAVARH Committee Meeting - August 31: Dale Bronson reminded members that the committee meets on the last day of every month. He encouraged all members to attend.
Carrie Firestone announced a meeting of a group organized by Eleni Kavros Degraw - 100 Women Who Can - on Thursday, August 30, at 7:00 p.m. at North House. The group which now includes 187 members decides to sponsor a charitable organization each quarter and every member writes a check for $100 for that charity. All women in the community are welcome.
Awards and Community/International Service Grants
Nothing to report today.
Presentation
Mary Jo Conti
The Secret Weapon of Golf
Bob Cave introduced the speaker, Mary Jo Conti, to discuss how to relieve stress in our lives. She first became interested in hypnotism when she wanted to quit smoking and went to see a hypnotist. It worked. She quit smoking and went on to become a certified hypnotist. She has worked with various insurance companies in the area and has also made presentations a St. Francis Hospital and the Bone Center of Hartford Hospital. Hypnotic techniques can reduce stress, decrease the need for pain medication after surgery, and maybe even improve one's golf game.
She talked about the mind-body connection. When this connection is functioning, the most important shot is the one the golfer is about to take. That focus is about staying in the moment, something called mindfulness these days. The pros work on this through meditation. Hypnosis is really about being in a relaxed state where the conscious and subconscious mind are relaxed and open to suggestions. For hypnosis to be effective the subject must be willing to be hypnotized, must be able to visualize new behavior, and must believe in the process.
Mary Jo asked for three volunteers. the willing subjects, Colleen Grasso, Rollie Sterrett, and Don Bonner, hed pendulums over a circle divided into quadrants. Mary Jo instructed them to be aware of the pendulum moving up and down then left to right, over and over. She said the pendulum moved because the subjects imagined the movement, which is called ideomotion. Thought can have a physical effect on the body when the imagination gets involved.
The chart on the left depicts the various states of mind. The Beta state is our waking state. Dropping into the Alpha state allows the subconscious to be open to suggestions. In this state the person is not critical of ideas. The brain responds to the dominant idea and does not understand the negative. For example if a person is told "Don't jump in the lake," the response would presumably be jumping in the lake, assuming this is a reasonable thing to do. The mind in the Alpha state focuses on what the subjec wants to happen, not what he/she doesn't want to happen. Regular, relaxed breathing can help move into the Alpha state. Visualization of the desired outcome takes advantage of this state and increases the possibility of achieving the desired outcome
Mary Jo told the story of a pilot who was a P.O.W. in the Vietnam war for several years. When he played his first round in his home course after being released, his score was the same as before his captivity. His explanation: he had played that course hundred of times during his imprisonment, visualizing every hole, every stroke. His mind was in shape even though his body had suffered.
Mail Bag
Nothing in the mail bag.
Photo Credits
Photographs courtesy of Phil Worley unless otherwise indicated.
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?
ollie Sterrett, chair of the By-Laws Committee, summarized the committee's work, which began in February 2016. Members Salin Low, Tom Voorhees, Bob Cave, Larry Sullivan, and Alicia Canning met with Rollie to update the 2003 By-Laws and the 2004 Constitution. The major update was approved by the club on May 19, 2017. In updating the Constitution, it became necessary to make additional changed to the By-Laws. Most of the Constitution is dictated by RI. However, there is some discretion in the area of member attendance at meetings. RI's standard is 50 percent required attendance. However, our committee, at the suggestion of Past President Don Bonner, has amended this requirement to language which says that members are "encouraged and expected to attend meetings as often as possible." In addition or in lieu of attending meetings, members are to be involved in a minimum of two Rotary activities per month. When those activities are other than weekly meetings, it is the responsibility of the member to notify the Sgt-at-arms of the member's participation in order to receive a makeup for meetings missed. The club approved the new By-Laws and Constitution.
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