yearbook_of_president_Mike_Riege's second terml

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We were in remarkably clear singing voice this week and were even complimented by our guest speaker, Dr. Leslie Dunner. I figure if a professional conductor thought we sounded good then that's really worth mentioning; and we did all that without Michelle!

We sang, in melodious voice, Happy Birthday to John Silsby.

There were two anniversaries to announce, but neither Fred Keith (April 1) nor Lee Vincent (April 5) were in attendance, so no serenading for them.

Three Rotarians were congratulated for completing attendance milestones; Nolan Nixon, 1 year; John Silsby, 2 years; and Pete Lampasona, 41 years!

We had previously announced Pete's milestone back in February when it occurred. But, Pete, being the world traveling retiree, had not been present to hear it.

Announcements:

Senior Dinner at the Noank Senior Center, April 18; volunteers needed.

District Assembly in Meriden, April 23; all 2009-2010 club officers and board members expected to attend. All Rotarians are welcome.

Auction: Thanks again to all Rotarians, friends of Rotary, local business who contributed product and to all who bid on items for helping to make the 2009 auction a success.

We are still tallying up results from the auction, but it looks like somewhere between $11,000 and $12,000 gross receipts. When we have a firm handle on the exact amount and more importantly the net proceeds we will let you know.

Dave Stryker introduced Ms Isabelle Singer of New London Rotary who in turn introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Leslie B. Dunner. Dr. Dunner is one of the six finalists to be the new conductor for the Eastern CT Symphony. He gave us all a fascinating portrait of how he came to be a professional conductor, a look at his past life and some of the work he is involved with today. The Eastern CT Symphony Orchestra makes a significant contribution to the cultural makeup of Eastern CT and are well worth checking out if you have not already done so.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of March 24th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

None of our birthday boys were in attendance this week so birthdays were not celebrated. We did serenade Diane Thomas whose wedding anniversary is March 26. Happy Anniversary Diane.

Bob Perry and Nolan Nixon received Rotary Four Way Test Ball-point Pens for completing thirteen weeks of perfect attendance. Nolan commented that gee, this is the fourth one in a row he has received and shouldn’t he be up for a year pin. Good question, but no secretary in attendance so we couldn’t check the records to verify. We will find out the answer by next week and make it right.

No speaker this week due to club assembly.

Results of the Blood Drive: there were 51 or 52 units of blood collected at the Groton Regency Blood Drive on March 23, so I’d say it went very well. Thanks to all Rotarians who participated.

Amber Alert: we are trying to set up an Amber Alert registration for Monday April 27 at the early childhood development center in Groton probably from about 3:00 to 6:00 pm. Anyone interested and able to help us out please let us know.

Auction: Saturday is the big day; we have about $31,000 in product to auction off. Let’s all enjoy the auction, work hard to support it, bid early and often on lot’s of items. And, let’s have fun in the process.

I hope to see you all on Saturday.

Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of March 17th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Rotary Foundation Thought and Weekly Membership Minute were enthusiastically provided by Cathy Lathrop and Gina Kolodnicki respectively. I am convinced that their enthusiasm, belief in and support for the Rotary Foundation and Membership development will be shared by club members and both programs will flourish. Thanks ladies.

There were no anniversaries or current birthdays to celebrate this week. We did have a holdover birthday from last week; Dave Stryker had asked to delay for a week so that Michelle could be present to lead the singing. Michelle was unable to make this week’s meeting but the two Mikes, that is president Mike and guest speaker Mike Stryker were able to lead the group in suitable voice to serenade Dave’s birthday.

There were no years of service to celebrate. We did present a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-point Pen to John Silsby for completing 13 weeks perfect attendance.

Announcements:

Our next Red Cross Blood Drive is being held at Groton Regency Monday March 23 from 1:30pm until 6:15pm. All Rotarians are encouraged to donate blood; it’ll make you feel good.

District Assembly will be held April 23 at Sheraton Four Points in Meriden. All 2009-2010 club officers and directors are expected to attend; all are encouraged to attend.

Auction: auction date is rapidly approaching; March 28 is right around the corner. There is still opportunity to bring in product; yes we did ask that all products be turned in by March 17 but we will not turn anything away. Also there are still opportunities for folks to sign up to help work the auction; don’t be bashful, if you have ever wanted to be on live TV we have a spot for you! The online auction is up and running; check it out at www.grotonledyardrotary.cmarket.com. There are some neat things to bid on.

Training for bid takers; there are three opportunities for bid takers to receive training prior to the auction: 6:00pm Friday March 20 and 6:00pm Monday March 23 at Ed’s house (149 Buddington Road) and a final session at 6:00pm Friday March 27 at the Groton City Municipal Building. All bid takers should attend at least one session prior to the auction.

Our speaker this week was Mr. Mike Stryker, son of our own Dave Stryker who introduced Mike as speaker. Mike is a Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch in New London and a past president of New London Rotary Club. Mike gave a very interesting presentation beginning with a history listing of events that got us into the current economic situation and then discussed how the Rotary Four Way Test might have either contributed to the situation or prevented the situation; further discussion was held on how the 4WT might be applied to help us to get out of the current economic mess. Very Interesting!

Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of March 10th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

In President Mike’s absence, John had another practice session to prep for his upcoming presidency! After the pledge, RB who joined John at the head table led the club in a flat version of “America.” Dave Stryer offered invocation and also hosted our speaker Michelle Hamilton in Bruno’s absence. Thanks Dave!

Cathy and Gina did their typically great job of presenting the weekly foundation thought and membership minute. Gina offered the club a historic look at Rotary’s beginnings in 1905 in Chicago!

Dave postponed his birthday celebration until Michelle was present at a meeting. He was fined for his dubious outlook on the club’s singing without Michelle’s melodic voice heading the group.

Frank was honored for 13 weeks of perfect attendance!

John reminded Board Of Directors members of the District Assembly on April 23rd. John will be attending PETS later in the week. Hope continued her recruitment of members to work at the auction on the 28th. To date, Ed has downloaded $12,000 of donations to the club’s website and still sports memorabilia and other donations to add. John was interviewed on the Lee Elici Show on Monday thanks to Franks help.

Please continue to seek donations for our Auction!

John reported that the club is sponsoring another Blood Drive on Monday, March 23rd at the Groton Regency from 1:30-6:15 PM. He circulated the sign up sheet. It will be available for members on March 17th. Call John at 536-5686 if you’d like to sign up today!

RB filled in for Bruno as Sergeant-of-Arms and did his typically aggressive job of collecting fines and good and bad news dollars!!

Dave introduced the luncheon speaker Michelle Hamilton from Ledge Light Health District who spoke on the (GASP) Groton Adolescent Substance Abuse Task Force, which is composed of many community organizations and has worked for the past decade to reduce the use of drugs, alcohol and smoking amongst area teens!!

Have a wonderful Rotary Week!!! John Silsby

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of March 3rd, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

In President Mike’s absence, I chaired the meeting. Without Michelle to lead our song, RB started the club singing Pledge of Allegiance before we began “America.” Lee offered the invocation.

In light of our high profile speaker, we rushed through lunch. Because we had so many spouses and other guests, we broke the rules and had everyone in attendance introduce themselves. Gina encouraged membership growth. Though the agenda didn’t show any birthdays, Ed announced that we’d missed his birthday. For a buck, we sang him a resounding happy BD!

Mike Falk and Gina were honored for 13 weeks on perfect service. Bruno, Chief-of-Arms with a guard, collected for fines. John reminded the club members especially BOD members that the annual District Assembly will be held on April 23rd in Meriden. He also told club members that he’d be attending PETS Training in Nashua, NH from March 12-13. John strongly urged members to seek donations for the upcoming Rotary TV Auction. Ted updated the club on the latest plan for fund raising for the international project.

After rushing through good news and bad news, Dave won the raffle and quickly donated the $26 to the polio plus project.

RB hosted the speaker Jim Streeter from the State of CT Forensic Lab. Jim kept the members on the edge of their seats for almost an hour. Town of Groton camera person Monique taped the presentation for cable access channel 2.

Meeting was adjourned at 1:50 PM.

Don’t forget to collect for the Auction was John’s adjourning message!!

Have a good Rotary week, John Silsby

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of February 24th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

On a really sad note, we received word that one of our long time members,

George Letz, passed away on Sunday, February 22 at the age of 88.

Our prayers for comfort and encouragement go out to George's family.

We had club assembly this week and therefore no speaker. The principal business discussed during club assembly was, of course, the annual auction coming up on March 28.

New for this year will be the presence on an online component of the auction. For the first time ever, bidders will be able to go online to bid on many of the items we will have available in this year's auction, including some travel packages, sports memorabilia, and many upscale gift items. The online component will give us much wider exposure to potential bidders than is possible for the TV auction,

The biggest challenge and opportunity for the auction continues to be obtaining quality product donations to offer in the auction. That's where we need the most help from all our Rotarians and friends. So, please all Rotarians get out there, hit the bricks, call on merchants and bring in that product. Thanks in advance for all your hard work.

I'm on vacation, hope to see you all in about two weeks.

Enjoy Rotary and invite your friends to lunch, Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of February 17th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Attendance was fairly light this week, but we were graced by the presence of three visitors, one of whom is a prospective member.

There were no birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate this week.

Frank Winkler completed 4 years perfect attendance and received his 4 year pin.

Pete Lampasona has completed 41 years perfect attendance. Pete is off on a cruise or something, so we'll present him with his 41 year pin after he returns.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Dave Brown, was Mr. Charles Beebe. Mr. Beebe is Grand Master of the CT International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and a member of the Stonington IOOF Lodge. Charley gave us a short brief on the history of the Odd Fellows, what they do, some of the causes they support and a little of their history.

Odd Fellows were begun in a tavern in Baltimore with an original goal to visit the sick, comfort the widows and orphans, and bury the dead. To belong to the Odd Fellows, one must be of good character and believe in a Supreme Being.

Some of the causes and programs supported by IOOF are: Scholarships, Connecticut Eye Bank, Support the American/Asian Ophthalmology Association, SOS Children's Program, Fairview Home, The Arthritis Foundation, The Children's Organ Transplant Association.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the Odd Fellow may check out their web site at www.ioof.org/ .

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of February 10th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Rotary Foundation Thought and Membership Minutes were delivered this week by Cathy Lathrop and Ted Colburn respectively

Birthdays were announced for Bob Perry (Feb 6) and Diane Thomas (Feb 7). Neither one was in attendance, so no off key singing this week; maybe next.

Walter Brown and Bruno Giulini were both presented with Rotary Four Way Ball-point pens for completing thirteen weeks perfect attendance.

By way of announcements, the club did sponsor two Fitch Senior High School juniors to the RYLA conference on February 5 and 6. Both students had a very positive experience at the conference. We plan to have them as guests at a future meeting to tell us all about the conference.

Winner of the free lunch this week for bringing in the most products (dollar value) for the auction was Lea Doran. Way to go Lea!

There will be a club board meeting next Wednesday, February 18, at 8:00 am in the Council Chambers at the Groton City Municipal Building. All board members are requested to attend; anyone in the club is welcome to attend.

Our speakers this week were Ms Mary Pratt and Ms Sherri Arpin, representing the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society signature fund raising event in which about 3.5 million people participate each year across this great nation to show support for and give hope to cancer sufferers and survivors. The 2009 Relay for Life of New London County Shoreline will be held at Fitch High School, June 27 and 28. The relay will go for 24 hours from 11am to 11am. There are many ways to get involved including: form a team, help with planning, be a day volunteer, help with the concession, etc. Anyone wishing to volunteer may call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit the web site at www.relayforlife.org/nlsct.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of February 3rd, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Weekly Rotary Foundation thought and Weekly Membership minute were delivered by Cathy Lathrop and Gina Kolodnicki respectively.

RB Kent brought his bride of 46 years, Ginny, as his guest this week. RB is suffering with some very painful knees and so Ginny actually helps him stand up and get around.

Celebrating birthdays this week were RB Kent (Feb 1), Mike Riegel (Feb 1) and Ginny Kent (Feb 3). But, Ginny doesn’t want any one to know so nobody say anything. The club sang Happy Birthday, off key as usual.

Our speakers this week were Attorney Bud Harvey and Mr. Bill Kornegay representing the CT Windjammers Wheel Chair Rugby team. The Windjammers team was established in 1993 at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford and competes against teams from the Northeast and around the country. Bud is a volunteer and the team coach/trainer. Bill is a player. Wheel chair Rugby aka “Quad Rugby” is played around the world by athletes with disabilities such as spinal cord injuries, amputations, spina bifida and others. The term “Quad” comes from the fact that all of these athletes have disabilities affecting all four limbs; so most are quadraplegics or amputees. This is a heavy contact sport; four players from each team are on the floor at any one time. Each player uses a special wheelchair custom built to his (or her) size, specifications, position and function. These chairs cost around $4,000 each and last probably two to three years playing rugby. Bill brought his chair, which he had purchased just last year, and it was amazing how beat up the chair was after only a year in service; looked sort of like a hobby stock car racer that had been around the track a few thousand times. This is a very interesting sport and our two guests represented the team very well. Anyone wishing to learn more about Quad Rugby or to help them in anyway may contact Mr. Todd Munn at the Sports Association at 203 284 2772.

Auction: We need product, product, product. Remember, the Rotarian bringing in the most in donations each week will get a free lunch.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of January 27th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

This week we had the pleasure of inducting a new member into our club. Mr. Paul Kadri, Groton Superintendent of Schools, has joined Groton Ledyard Rotary. The induction was conducted by Lee Vincent. Paul’s sponsor, Jim Mitchell, presented Paul with his Rotary pin.

This week was a club assembly meeting and two major items of business were completed.

First: the club elected John Scott to serve as Club Treasurer for the 2009-2010 Rotary year. John’s name will be added to the list of officers and directors elected at our 30 December 2008 meeting. Thanks to John for stepping up to the plate.

Second: the club voted on and passed the revised bylaws put together by the by laws committee. These new by laws bring our club into alignment with the RI standard bylaws. Bylaws will be posted on the web site. Bylaws of G-L Rotary Club Rev 081.doc

Auction update: Donation forms were passed out at this week’s meeting. Now we are asking all Rotarians to hit the bricks and bring in donations for the auction. Letters to previous auction donors will be going out next week, informing previous donors of the upcoming auction, asking them to donate again and informing them that Rotarians will be calling on them for donations. This is the part of the auction where everyone can be involved; everyone knows at least one business that could be a potential donor. Blank donation forms are available for use when soliciting a new donor. Thanks in advance for your hard work in support of the auction. Beginning next week, the Rotarian who brings in the largest amount of donations (Dollars, not number of items) will get a free lunch.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Newsy Ramblings on priorities for the second half of our
Rotary year from our District Governor, Click to read it.

Richard B. (Rick) Benson, January 24, 2009 Click to Download it.

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Regular Meeting of January 20th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Attendance was light at this week’s meeting; I guess because folks were engrossed in watching the inauguration. At any rate, we still managed 23 Rotarians so we were slightly above fifty percent; no guests.

We sang happy birthday to Mike Falk who celebrated his birthday on January 16.

We presented RB Kent with a pin for four years perfect attendance. Way to go RB.

We passed out materials related to a coming bylaws change. As you all know earlier in the Rotary year we appointed President Elect John Silsby to lead a bylaws review committee chartered to make recommended changes to our club bylaws to bring them into line with RI recommended standard club bylaws. Materials passed out were (1) an outline of the committee’s recommendations (2) a copy of the current bylaws and (3) a copy of the revised bylaws. Those bylaws changes will be voted on at our next club meeting on January 27.

Our speaker this week was to have been a young man seeking recommendation from Groton Ledyard Rotary for an Ambassadorial Scholarship. He didn’t show up and efforts to contact him have been unsuccessful. So, we had no speaker this week and devoted the time to discussing the bylaws change and the auction.

Next week will be club assembly and we will induct a new member.

See you all next week and until then have a great Rotary Week, Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of January 13th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of ten guests this week, most of who were at the meeting to hear our guest speaker. So, I guess good guest speakers with interesting topics really do matter. More about the speaker in a minute.

I want to make a pitch for e-makeups! There are 14 authorized e-clubs in RI and they are a diverse mixture of foreign and US clubs. Any Rotarian may sign onto one of the e-clubs to make up a missed meeting. You must spend at least 30 minutes on the web site, read an article and answer some questions; you may also be asked to make a donation to the e-club (voluntary) of an amount equal to what you would have spent at a regular meeting. This is an excellent way for a busy Rotarian on the go to maintain perfect attendance and stay plugged in to Rotary. Check it out at http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/eclub_list.pdf. You will find a listing of the 14 e-clubs there; click on a particular listing and you will be taken to that clubs web site.

OOPS! I goofed. Last week when I announced the board members for next year, I neglected to list Bruno Giulini. He is definitely a board member next year and his name should be added to the listing: my apologies to Bruno.

The auction committee met this week prior to the regular club meeting and the meeting was mostly where we are today and what need’s to be done. Seven brave Rotarians showed up to participate in the committee. Good news, there is room for more so anyone interested please join us. The committee meets again at 11:00 am Tuesday January 20 at Groton Inn & Suites.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Bo Bohannan, was CAPT Bruce Derenski, USN. CAPT Derenski is former Commanding Officer of USS New Hampshire and he recently returned to the Groton area from Iraq where he served as Commander of Forward Operating Base Camp Bucca. You don’t hear much about Camp Bucca, but it is the largest detention camp operating in Iraq, housing at its peak some 22,000 detainees. CAPT Derenski showed a video of camp life and then delivered a very interesting power point presentation covering the operation of Camp Bucca and detailing how it had been taken from a disaster waiting to happen in 2007 to a model detention camp today. CAPT Derenski was awarded the Bronze Star for his tour in Iraq.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of January 6th, 2009

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Greetings and Happy New Year to all my fellow Rotarians. I trust you all had a joyous and relaxing Christmas and New Year holiday with family and friends. We enjoyed spending Christmas locally with kids and grandkids and then travelled to PA to spend New Years with friends.

So, what has happened since my last update?

On Tuesday December 16, we hosted 8 servicemen from the Submarine Base for Christmas Dinner. Each serviceman was introduced and then told us all a little about themselves, where they worked, where they were from, etc; a very diverse background.

On Tuesday, December 23, we held club assembly. The biggest order of business was the annual election of officers and board members. Results are as follows:

Officers for 2009-2010 are:

President: John Silsby

President Elect: RB Kent

Vice President: Lian Obrey

Secretary: Lea Doran

Treasurer: (open)

Directors for 2009-2010 are:

Ted Colburn

Lee Vincent

Paul Lapides

Diane Thomas

Gina Kolodnicki

Cathy Lathrop

Bruno Giulini

Yours truly, as immediate past president, will also serve as a director

On Tuesday, December 30, I was absent, there was no speaker and so another assembly was held. A lengthy discussion regarding planning for the annual auction was held.

Finally, it is 2009! Happy New Year again. We sang happy birthday to Frank Winkler (January 2) and in absentia to George Letz (January 5)

There were no anniversaries to celebrate, no years of perfect attendance and no 13 weeks of perfect attendance to announce this week.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Gina, was Kathy Payne, Reverse Mortgage officer at Putnam Bank. Cathy gave an informative talk and provided a nice handout that explained reverse mortgages in great detail. In essence, a reverse mortgage is a loan designed for seniors that allows them to tap into the equity that has built up in their home; no repayment is required until the borrower moves out, sells the property, or passes away; there are no monthly mortgage payments and no income qualifications. There are no restrictions on how the funds are used and proceeds are non-taxable. There are multiple options available for receiving payments from the reverse mortgage. There was a lot of interest in this topic and the Q&A actually took longer than the formal presentation due to the interest of Rotarians present. Anyone interested in more information may contact Kathy Payne at the Putnam Bank Loan Center 860-963-4953 x3011.

There will be an auction committee meeting at 11:00 am Tuesday, January 13. Anyone interested in helping to plan and organize this year’s auction is invited/encouraged/urged to attend. If you don’t participate, then you can’t complain about the outcome.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of December 9th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 31 Rotarians and guests this week, including one prospective new member, Mr. Paul Kadri, the new Groton School Superintendant.

We sang Happy Birthday to Pete Lampasona and Lian Obrey who both celebrated their birthday on December 5th.

Ted Colburn was presented with his pin for 13 years perfect attendance.

Frank Winkler was presented with a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-Point Pen for completing 13 weeks perfect attendance.

Ted Colburn gave an update on the international project being put together for Chikumbuso. We now have four partner clubs; New London, Groton-Ledyard, Stonington and Mystic, with two additional clubs considering joining the group. More information will be available soon on the details of the project. Stay tuned!

Our speaker this week, introduced by Dave Stryker, was Mr. Mark Barry, Director of Circulation and marketing at The Day. He gave a power point presentation about the new online version of The Day which is called Day e Paper. Shifting to electronic media seems to be the way to go for getting news in the future; print media is seeing an increasingly smaller piece of the pie as its market share going forward and newspaper circulation continues to shrink. On the other hand visits to the newspaper website, www.Theday.com, has increased 34% to 6.2 million page views per month. For more information visit the web site.

Have a great Rotary Week and remember we will be having Service Members from the Submarine Base as our guests next week, December 16. Also, given that December is Family of Rotary Month; consider bringing a spouse, significant other or another family member as your guest on December 23rd.

Club Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday December 17.

Again, have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of December 2nd, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

There were no birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate this week.

Ted Colburn has completed 13 years perfect attendance, but wasn’t present at the meeting this week (seems like it always works that way) to collect his pin; we’ll catch up with him when he returns.

Gina Kolodnicki, Pete Lampasona, and Diane Thomas all completed 13 weeks perfect attendance and received a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-point pen. Congratulations!

We received a really nice $500 donation to the club foundation from Bayberry Insurance this week. Cathy Lathrop presented the check; thanks Cathy and thanks Bayberry Insurance.

Our speaker this week was to have been Ms. Sherri Arvin from American Cancer Society, speaking on the Relay for Life. Unfortunately, Sherri was ill and not able to make the meeting. We hope she recovers soon and we will be able to reschedule. However, RB Kent brought a guest to the meeting this week, Ms. Stacy Haynes who is president of Groton Lyons Club. Stacy graciously agreed to fill in for the speaker and provided us all with a short briefing on what the Lyons club is all about. So our thanks go out to Stacy.

Following the meeting, RB Kent, Stacy Haynes and yours truly all motored over to the Groton branch of Liberty Bank where we had pictures taken by Dave Stryker presenting a check to a rep. from the Town of Groton for the food pantry.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of November 25th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

The weekly Rotary Foundation Thought was presented by Cathy Lathrop and all Rotarians are reminded that November is Foundation Month. All Rotarians are encouraged and requested to make a contribution to the annual fund as part of Every Rotarian Every Year; the goal is for each Rotarian to achieve Sustaining Member status by contributing a minimum of $100 to the Rotary Foundation annual fund.

Weekly Membership Minute was delivered by Gina Kolodnicki.

Fred Keith celebrated his birthday November 23; Fred paid $2.00 so the club would not sing. Happy Birthday anyway, Fred.

Frank Winkler was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow Award. Frank is most deserving of this recognition for his contributions and many years of service above and beyond the call of duty to Rotary and the ideals of Service above Self.

Each year, Thanksgiving week is one of the favorite meetings for Groton Ledyard Rotary and this year was no exception. We enjoyed the company of fourteen active duty military personnel as our guests this week. They were our guests for a traditional Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner and came representing the Submarine Base and several base tenant commands. Submarine Base Command Master Chief Ray Powell introduced each of the servicemen and then each serviceman told a little about himself, where he was from, where he is currently attached, and why he joined the Navy. The servicemen very much enjoyed the company of the gathered Rotarians; we are likewise grateful to them for their sacrifices in helping to ensure and maintain our security.

I wish you all to have very happy and safe Thanksgiving. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of November 11th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

It was good to be back in the saddle this week after missing last week’s meeting due to a whirlwind trip to the Midwest. The trip was to visit with my sister, who had been placed into hospice care. Good news is she is not as ill as everyone thought and we had a good visit.

We were honored this week to have as a guest, Mr. Fred Allyn, Mayor of Ledyard and a Ledyard Rotarian,

We wished Bob and Sue Ellen Perry a Happy Anniversary (November 22). Bob paid us not to sing.

Walt Brown was presented with his 47 year pin for perfect attendance. Again, congratulations to Walt; recall, we didn’t have the pin when Walt passed the milestone last month.

Also, congratulations to Gina Kolodnicki for completing 1 year perfect attendance.

This is the last week for the Thanksgiving Dinner Turkey Drive. We still need volunteers to sit at Liberty Bank on Friday and Saturday to help collect donations for the drive. Please come out and help for a couple hours. The times are 11am – 2pm, and 2pm – 5pm on Friday; 9am – noon on Saturday.

At our regular meeting next week, we will be presenting a Paul Harris Fellowship. Everybody try to attend the meeting and all Paul Harris Fellows be sure to wear your medals.

Our speaker this week was Ms. Sidney van Zandt, founding director of Groton Open Space Association (GOSA). GOSA was formed in 1967 to help preserve the Haley Farm and exists today to help preserve open space in the Groton area. Their web site is located at www.gosaonline.org.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of November 4th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Cathy Lathrop presented the weekly foundation thought, discussing the Paul Harris Fellowship and providing several examples of what Rotary International can do with a $1,000 donation. All Rotarians are reminded that November is Foundation Month and further that our goal for this year is $5,500 from Groton Ledyard Rotary Club. We can achieve that goal, but it will take every GL Rotarian giving at the $100 level and some giving above that level. Remember, $100 is less than $2 per week; please help us meet our foundation goal and Make Dreams Real.

Gina presented the weekly membership minute and I will quote a portion of her update:

Using Technology to enhance your club’s public image

"Rotary Clubs should strive to be creative and resourceful when it comes to electronic communication. A modern, sophisticated club Web site is a source of pride for existing members and promotes your innovative club to prospective members. Streaming video, digital audio, podcasts, and blogs on your site all add to its appeal. Consider embedding video clips form the YouTube Rotary International channel as well.

If your club does not have a member who is tech savvy or familiar with how to use new media, consult your local business directory to find a new media marketing professional in your community, and invite him or her to speak at a club meeting. Also think about inviting media professionals to your next prospective member information program. (For information on how to conduct these programs, see New Member Orientation: A How-to Guide for Clubs.)

While local news and Rotary club events should be the focal point of your club's Web site, it's also easy to add a fresh, up-to-date, international dynamic by signing up for RI's RSS feed. Find out about RSS feeds and how to sign up at www.rotary.org.

RI also has a free image library available for clubs. If you want to use a Rotary photograph for a newsletter or Web site, browse the images for something that suits your needs.”

Saturday November 8 will be the next Senior Dinner at the Groton Senior Center. Set up crew should show up about 3:00 pm and the serving crew needs to be there about 4:30. Dinner is served promptly at 5:00 pm. It’s lots of fun. Come on out. (Note from Ed... Someone please take pictures.)

Our speaker this week was fellow Rotarian Sharon Fortune. Sharon provided a description of the competition of Dog Agility, something that began in the1970s as a demonstration of dog’s natural abilities through an obstacle course. It spread to the USA in 1985 and is reported to be the fastest growing dog sport in the world. Dogs are timed as they move through a series of obstacles including various jumps of differing heights, A-frames, tunnels, see-saws, dogwalks and more. Sharon showed a video of her dog Shadow, a Shetland Sheepdog, going through the paces in multiple events. Amazing! Following the video, Sharon had Shadow actually demonstrate some of his many talents for the gathered crowd. All in all, it was a very interesting and informative presentation.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of October 28th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

In President Mike's absence, John chaired the club meeting on October 28th. After Cathy offered a Foundation Thought, Gina presented a Membership Minute. Though we didn't have any birthdays to celebrate, Glenn reminded the club that his anniversary was Saturday and asked the club to sing to him. Lori was honored for 13 weeks of perfect attendance.

John updated the club on the Thanksgiving Fund Raiser. The good news is that 6 baskets for the raffle fund raiser have been collected. The bad news is that club members haven't volunteered to fill all of time slots at Liberty Bank. More are needed. The best news is that RB presented a $3,000 check from the Lions Club to boost the fund raising effort!

John reminded club members that the Autumn Dinner at the Senior Center is coming up on Saturday, November 8th. More volunteers are needed. The sign up list was passed to the members.

He also asked club members to review the birthday and anniversary list to make sure its correct!

At the club assembly, John reported on his participation at the district meeting for club presidents. He told the club about a Visioning Process that the district is offering to interested clubs to help them develop a long term plan for their clubs. When the membership was asked if they were interested in participating, more than half the members raised their hands.

John also reported that in December the annual elections will be held for officers and board members. He indicated that the Nominating Committee had identified candidates for these offices and President Mike was making personal contacts to these members. John continued by reporting that the Bylaw changes will be voted on at this election. Club members Lee, Mark, Doug and Nolan have been working on them. In light of recommendations made by RI on revising club structure, the committee has been working to bring our club bylaws more into line with RI recommendations.

Have a fruitful Rotary week! John Silsby

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of October 21st, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Let me begin with an apology. I completely forgot to mention in my update last week that we inducted a new member at our regular club meeting on October 14. Please join me in welcoming Hope Toelken to Groton Ledyard Rotary. Hope is a mortgage loan originator at Putnam Bank in Gales Ferry.

We didn’t sing Happy Birthday to Lori Jalbert (October 21) or Richard Abston (October 15) because they both paid two bucks for us not to sing. Happy Birthday anyway. I also paid a dollar because we didn’t have Richard’s birthday on the list, even after he reminded me last week. DUH!

We also didn’t sing Happy Anniversary to Bill Miller (October 24) or Dave Stryker (October 28); same reason. We are a pretty discordant group when songbird Michele is not present.

Congratulations to Sharon for 13 weeks of perfect attendance.

The next Senior Dinner at Groton Senior Center will be held on Saturday November 8. If you’ve never participated in one of these you should give it a try, it’s lot’s of fun.

Our speaker this week was Abby DeMars, Executive Director at the DNA Epicenter. They are located in New London in a building they own on the campus of Conn College. DNA Epicenter is a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is “To promote the understanding of the science of life to people of all ages”. Their goals are “to offer hands on, inquiry-based bioscience professional development workshops, experiments and museum exhibits for students in grades k-12” and “to offer museum exhibits and educational seminars to educate the general public about current events relating to DNA”.

They focus on school groups and professional development workshops for educators. Most of their programs focus on middle school but they can handle grades k-12.

Abby had come prepared to provide a power point presentation of all the activities available but the AV equipment at Groton Inn & Suites was out of commission so she had to wing it. And, I would say she did a marvelous job. DNA Epicenter offers professional development workshops, week-long day camps covering a variety of science themed topics, facility rental for board/staff retreats and several one hour programs. They are funded through grants, gifts, donations, and state and federal funding.

To learn more about the DNA Epicenter, visit their web site at www.dnaepicenter.org.

Have a great Rotary week, Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of October 14th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

First this week, let me talk about the Groton Fall Festival. We enjoyed a very successful participation in the third annual Groton Fall Festival. The weather was outstanding; sunshine, no wind, mild temperatures all translated into huge numbers of people turning out for the festival. We sold out of cotton candy (must get more supply next year) and almost sold out of popcorn. At the Amber Alert booth, we registered 200 kids for Amber Alert ID cards. Thank you to all the Rotarians and families/friends of Rotarians who turned out to help at both booths.

Our remaining charter member, Walt Brown, has completed 47 years of perfect attendance. Congratulations Walt!

We enjoyed the company of several guests this week from the New London Rotary Club, including club president. Following our regular meeting there was a combined meeting of the two clubs international service committees to formulate plans for a joint project. The two clubs, hopefully joined by Mystic, the Stoningtons, Niantic and possibly others, will collaborate to work on a large support project for Chikumbuso. We also hope to involve area schools in helping raise funds for the project and will be seeking a matching grant from RI and the district. This is going to be big! More info to follow as plans are developed. Several Groton/Ledyard Rotary club members will be visiting the New London club on November 20 for another planning meeting.

We sang Happy Birthday to John Scott this week after he reminded us we had missed his birthday. The president paid the dollar for the secretary.

Our speaker this week was District 7980 Governor, Rick Benson. Rick asked the question “Is Rotary relevant? And of course, we know the answer; then he proceeded to rattle off some statistics such as 1.2 Billion of the world’s people don’t have access to clean water, 2.4 billion don’t have adequate sanitation,

1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day and 4.4 billion live on less than $4 per day. So, yes, Rotary is relevant.

The world spends $1billion per year on polio eradication; the USA spends $1billion in minutes.

RI president DK Lee’s theme for this Rotary year is Make Dreams Real for the world’s children by reducing child mortality. The world’s children are our children.

Governor Rick’s challenge to our club is to grow the number of sustaining members supporting the RI foundation: 1/3 of our members are currently sustaining members and that’s good news; 1/3 of our members have never given to the foundation, and that’s the bad news. Our goal for the foundation this year is $5,500 which is $1,000 more than we gave last year. We can do it!

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of October 7th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

There were 31 Rotarians and guests in attendance this week. One of the guests, Ms. Hope Toelken, is a prospective member and will be inducted next week.

For the Rotary Foundation Thought, once again Bo Bohannan reached into the trivia bag of questions about the Rotary Foundation. He picked a Rotarian to answer each question; if the Rotarian got the answer correct then Bo put a dollar in, if the Rotarian missed the question then the Rotarian put a dollar in. Five questions were asked and I believe Bo only had to contribute one dollar so we have a ways to go in our pursuit of RI Foundation knowledge. All the money collected from this activity goes into the Polio Plus box. By the way, Rotarians can opt out of the competition on a monthly basis for a payment of $5.

Birthdays: Doug Crandall celebrated his birthday October 7 so we all sang Happy Birthday to Doug. By the way, and this came up during announcements, Doug was planning to tie the knot (as in getting married) the next day, October 8. So, congratulations to Doug and his new bride.

John Scott was presented with a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-Point pen for 13 weeks perfect attendance, actually attained last week, but John was absent. And then later in the meeting he promptly drew a golf ball for missing last week.

Many thanks to Bo, Frank W., Bill J., Lea, Paul, Mike, Michelle, Lori, John Silsby, Diane, Ted and Doretta plus ten Interact Club members, Lori`s niece and nephew, and Paul`s daughter for all coming out to help with the beach cleanup on Saturday.

Dictionaries were presented to representatives of the third grade classes of all Groton Public Schools on Tuesday at the Summer Reading Challenge taping at Fitch High School. As you are aware, each year Groton Ledyard Rotary provides a dictionary to each third grade elementary school student in the Groton School District..

Reminder: this coming Saturday, October 11 is the 3rd annual Groton Fall Festival. Groton Ledyard Rotary has participated in every fall festival and this one is no different. We will be offering Popcorn and Cotton Candy for sale in one booth, and registering kids for Amber Alert notification in another booth. Please come out and support the Fall Festival.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Lea Doran, was Dr. Kim Peterson, DC of Inner Wisdom Chiropractic. Kim, a former registered nurse, switched to chiropractic a number of years ago. She showed a short video that would be considered by some to be controversial because it paints main stream health care in a less than favorable light. Obviously it was very favorable to chiropractic.

According to Kim, the real purpose of chiropractic is in dealing with the nervous system, working to get the pressure off and consequently people feel better. She says they don¢t cure anything. According to her, health is a condition of wholeness where all your body parts are working together; and what controls the body? Why the central nervous system does. There is a condition called subluxation, or misalignment of vertebrae, that causes all manner of real and perceived ailments. Get rid of the subluxation, symptoms go away and you feel better. She says, health comes from within and you heal yourself. Who knows? My doctors have pretty much always said if a chiropractor makes you feel better then go for it. You decide. You may want to check with your insurance plan before you sign up. Some plans pay for chiropractic; some don`t.

Have a great Rotary week and I hope to see you all Saturday the 11th.

Remember District Governor Rick Benson is visiting our club next week. Let`s have a good turnout for the DG.

Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of September 30th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Tyler Olsen from the Red Cross visited our club this week to personally thank Groton Ledyard Rotary for sponsoring the Blood Drive at Groton Regency on September 19. Tyler said that 50 usable units of blood were collected at that blood drive. An appreciation certificate was presented to the club.

We had a new twist on the Rotary Foundation Thought this week. Foundation Co-Chair Bo Bohannan conducted a quiz of selected Rotarians on Foundation topics and Rotary knowledge. A total of 5 questions were asked; for each correct answer, Bo put $1 into the polio plus box, for each incorrect answer the Rotarian missing the question contributed $1. This concept was well accepted by the club members present, so we will continue it for a while.

For the Membership Minute, Membership Chair Gina Kolodnicki asked four questions:

Why are you a Rotarian?”

“Why are you here each week?”

“Why do you continue to come to Rotary?”

“What prevents you from asking someone to join?”

Good questions; all of us should ponder these questions and work to fix whatever the answer to the last question might be.

We sang Happy Anniversary to John Silsby (October 4), slightly off key due to absence of our song leader.

Michelle Mencer and John Scott were congratulated for completing 13 weeks perfect attendance. Michelle had to leave early to go to class and John was absent. Go figure!

This was club assembly week, so there was no speaker. Items discussed during assembly were:

Beach cleanup: Saturday October 4 8:00 am until about noon, at Esker Point Beach and Eastern Point Beach. The signup sheet was passed around and we managed to get four Rotarians for each beach. Fortunately we will be augmented by teams of students from the Fitch High School Interact Club. Plans are for both teams to gather at Esker Point after we are finished to enjoy some Pizza and Soda. And, Hey, even if you didn’t sign up you can still come out and help. The weather is going to be great!!

Groton Fall Festival: Saturday October 11, 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. We will two booths, one food booth offering popcorn and cotton candy, and an Amber Alert registration booth. By the way, many thanks to Groton Public Utilities for graciously agreeing to help sponsor the Amber Alert Booth.

Thanksgiving Dinner Drive: We will be participating in the Liberty Bank Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner drive again this year. Over a period of six weeks beginning October 18 we will be raffling off donated gift baskets, and collecting cash donations for the drive. Liberty Bank will match donations at 50 cents on the dollar up to $20,000. Groton Lyons will also be joining us again this year. Last year, you may recall, we were able to contribute almost $13,000. Rotarian help is needed in two areas; first we need baskets (four to go, we already have two) donated to be raffled off, and secondly, we need Rotarians to sign up to man the desk at Liberty Bank on Fridays and Saturdays beginning October 17 and running up through November 22.

District Governor: District Governor Rick Benson will be visiting the club on October 14.

Fundraising: We kicked around several fundraising ideas including: enhancing our product and services auction by having an on line auction for two weeks prior to the one day TV auction; holding a separate art auction; raffling off a motor scooter. If you have fundraising ideas, send them to Fundraising Chair, RB Kent.

Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of September 23rd, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 29 Rotarians and one guest at our meeting this week.

Bo Bohannan delivered the Foundation thought, focusing on the recently attended Rotary Foundation seminar.

Gina brought us the weekly Membership minute, focusing on each of us looking within our range of business contacts to look for potential members.

We sang Happy Birthday to Nolan Nixon (September 18) and Happy Anniversary to Michelle Mencer (September 23).

No years of service this week, but we passed out 5 Rotary Four Way Ball-Point Pens to Rotarians for completing 13 weeks of perfect attendance. They were Lea Doran, Nolan Nixon and John Silsby from last week (remember I forgot the pens last week) and to Bill Miller and to Bob Perry (in absentia since he was absent) for this week.

Thank you to Glenn Arthur, Bo Bohannan, RB Kent and Cathy Lathrop for taking time from you weekend to attend the Rotary Foundation Seminar in Deep River on Saturday.

Announcements of coming attractions:

Saturday October 4: District Wide Make a Difference Day AKA beach cleanup day, at Esker Point and Eastern Point Beaches. We will be assisted by members of the Fitch Interact Club. Cleanup starts at 8:00 a.m. and should be all wrapped up by noon. There will be pizza afterwards.
Saturday October 11: Groton Fall Festival. Groton Ledyard Rotary will have two booths; a food booth featuring popcorn and cotton candy, and an Amber Alert registration booth.

Speaker:

Our speaker this week, introduced by Diane Thomas, was Jessica Bachelor. Jessica is a registered nurse with experience in acute care, sub-acute care, and long term care. She is currently with Genesis Health Care and works to help patients in hospital transition from hospital to a skilled nursing facility for follow on care upon release from hospital. Jessica principally talked about Medicare benefits and some of the pitfalls that can occur when one attempts to rely solely upon Medicare for health care insurance. She said that a common misconception is that Medicare pays for everything. That is not accurate; there are co pays, limitations and qualifications that all serve to reduce the amount Medicare is willing to pay. And, as the mega bazillion Baby Boomers become Medicare eligible it will only get worse. Big Picture, you really need a Medicare supplement; but shop wisely, they are not all created equal.

Have a Great Rotary Week Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of September 16th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

No birthdays to celebrate this week. Michelle & Bill Mencer will celebrate their wedding anniversary on September 23, Happy Anniversary Michelle & Bill. Michelle had to leave early, so we didn’t get to sing.

Three Rotarians, Lea Doran Nolan Nixon and John Silsby were congratulated for completing 13 weeks of perfect attendance. President Mike forgot the four way test ball-point pens so they will be presented next week.

One of our guests this week was Linda Bouvier. Linda was GSE Team Leader for the Mexico GSE team in 2008. She is now the District 7980 Membership Chair and presented the membership minute this week. Linda reminded us of the challenges facing Rotary clubs everywhere in the membership area, reemphasized the membership goals (net 4 percent gain) for the current Rotary year and gave us all some encouragement towards meeting those goals.

Announcements:

Blood Drive: Friday, September 19 from 1:30 until 6:15 p.m. at Groton Regency, 1145 Poquonnock Road in Groton. Give the gift of life, give blood. It feels good.

Foundation Seminar: Saturday, September 20, 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., Congregational Church, 1 Church Street, Deep River, CT. We have five Rotarians attending; should be a great day.
District Wide Make a Difference Day (aka clean up a beach day): Saturday October 4, 8:00 a.m. until ??? at Eskar Point Beach and Eastern Point Beach. We will field two teams, one for each beach, and the teams will be augmented (hopefully) by youthful, strong, energetic volunteers from the Fitch Interact Club.
Groton Fall Festival: Saturday October 11, more information to follow.

Speaker:

Our speaker this week was Ms. Annie Stockton. Annie is a Case Manager at Alliance for Living and lives in New London. Annie was one of four members of the Mexico GSE team and gave us a wonderful recap of her exciting experience, experiencing other cultures, learning about and sharing Rotary. She said two of the lessons the team learned were to “enjoy what you have” and “not take life too seriously”. Annie presented a power point slide show set to music that provided a poignant snapshot of the trip and all its experiences.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of September 9th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Cathy Lathrop delivered the Rotary Foundation thought this week and it focused upon the sustaining membership concept of Every Rotarian Every Year. Cathy gave several examples of what a $100 donation to the Rotary Foundation Annual Fund could provide including a stove for a needy family in Guatemala, clean water for a village in Africa. $100 is easy. You can write a check, you can set up a direct debit from any bank account, you can set up an automatic charge to a credit card, you can put $2 a week in a cookie jar. But the important thing is you/we can all do it. Our goal for the Annual Fund of the Rotary Foundation this year is $5,500. Please, let’s exceed that goal.

Frank Winkler was congratulated for completing 13 weeks perfect attendance and received a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-Point Pen.

No birthdays or anniversaries this week, so no off key singing.

Announcements This Week:

Red Cross Blood Drive: Friday, September 19 at Groton Regency, 1145 Poquonnock Road, Groton, CT from 1:30 until 6:15 p.m. Give the gift of life, Give Blood. It feels good.

Foundation Seminar: Saturday, September 20 at Congregational Church, 1 Church Street in Deep River, 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. So far we have four Rotarians signed up to attend this seminar. Club officers, Service chairs, new members are encouraged to attend. Club will pay the $35 fee. Lunch will be served!

District Wide Make a Difference Day (AKA beach cleanup day): Saturday, October 4, starting at 8:30 a.m. and going until??? We will be cleaning up Eskar Point Beach and Eastern Point Beach. So far, we have 7 Rotarians signed up, lot’s more help needed, no experience necessary. We are also asking the Fitch Interact Club to pitch in and help.
Groton Fall Festival: Saturday October 11, rain or shine. This year we are going to try something new; popcorn and cotton candy, also perhaps a second booth for Amber Alert registration, should be lots of fun.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Bruno Giulini, was Kitty Stahlsburg representing High Hopes Therapeutic Riding Program from Old Lyme. Kitty has about 23 years experience working with horses and is currently Executive Director for High Hopes. High Hopes provides therapeutic riding programs to people from all age groups with a wide range of physical, mental and emotional disabilities. Some are physically challenged with MS, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, stroke, traumatic brain injury, etc; some are underprivileged children with special needs; some have learning disabilities, Down Syndrome and more. All fit in at High Hopes.

High Hopes offers year-round programs and has a corps of volunteers that donate more than 15,000 hours annually. To learn more about High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, visit their web site at www.highhopestr.org.

And, finally, have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

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Regular Meeting of September 2nd, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 34 Rotarians and guests this week.

Four Rotarians; RB Kent, Gina Kolidnicki, Pete Lampasona and Cathy Lathrop, completed thirteen weeks of perfect attendance and received Four Way Test Ball-Point Pens. Congratulations to all.

Announcements:

Red Cross Blood Drive, Friday, September 19 at Groton Regency, 1145 Poquonnock Road in Groton, CT. Blood Drive runs from 1:30 until 6:15 p.m. Anyone interested in donating blood may sign up at any regular club meeting prior to the scheduled date. Alternatively, you may register by phone at 1 800 GIVE LIFE (1 800 448 3543).

Foundation Seminar, will be held Saturday September 20 in Deep River. So far, four Rotarians from our club are signed up to go; club will pay for up to five to attend.

District Wide Make a Difference Day, has been scheduled for October 4 a day to clean a stream, pond, lake or beach. Groton Ledyard Rotary will field two teams, one to clean Esker Point and one to clean Eastern Point Beaches. We also hope to involve the Interact Club in this project.

Our speaker this week was Mr. Sean Fuller, introduced by Lea Doran. Sean works in Nutritional Microscopy and basically analyzes blood under a microscope and helps make a determination as to what might be ailing a person. He is not a physician, but works with physicians as clients and performs analysis for their patients. Sean describes his field as a holistic approach from an engineering standpoint to achieving/maintaining good health. According to him, our blood pH should be in a slight alkaline range (pH greater than 7) and almost everything we ingest into our bodies (including that bottled water everyone craves) tends to make it acidic; so the body robs from itself to restore the alkaline pH in the blood. This robbing from Peter to pay Paul, according to Sean, is what helps cause all manner of ailments. All in all, it was a most interesting presentation; I don’t think, though that I am ready to start drinking swamp water.

Have a great week, and be safe.

And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

Mike Riegel

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Regular Meeting of August 26th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We had 31 Rotarians in attendance this week. That’s good news and bad news; the good news is that over 70 percent of our Rotarians were in attendance, the bad news is we had no visitors and thus no prospective new members in attendance.

We sang Happy Anniversary to Lori Jalbert who celebrates her wedding anniversary August 28. There were no birthdays to celebrate.

Ted Colburn completed 13 weeks perfect attendance but was not there to collect his Rotary Four Way Test Ball-Point Pen. There was some confusion over one Rotarian’s years of service, so we won’t make an announcement about that until we get the facts all sorted out and agreed upon.

No speaker this week since it was a club assembly. Many items discussed at assembly; included were:

The club intends to participate in the Groton Fall Festival on Saturday, October 11. In past years we have sold caramel and candy apples; this year we want to diversify into popcorn and possibly cotton candy. We are also considering an amber alert registration booth.

We will also participate again this year in the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Drive with Liberty Bank. As you will recall, this drive has been very successful in the past when we have partnered with Groton Lyons Club. Last year we were able to contribute a total of roughly $13,000 thanks to that partnership and the matching contributions from Liberty Bank.

We are encouraging all Rotarians to get involved in a committee in the club this year. We have a total of 8 committees, which are: Membership, Fund Raising, Foundation, Club Service, Vocational Service/Interact, International Service/Chikumbuso, Public Relations, and Bylaws. So, as you can see, there is something there for everyone. So far, 28 Rotarians have signed up to be on at least one committee so there are still plenty of opportunities. The goal/expectation is that every Groton Ledyard Rotarian will be involved in at least one committee. To those who have already signed up, thank you!

The annual auction will be held on Saturday March 28 2009. So why am I talking about it already? Because, we want to improve both the amount and quality of items available at the next auction and the number of folks participating in the auction. There were several ideas kicked around at the meeting regarding how to improve the auction, including having an on line auction to increase the reach to potential bidders. If you have ideas please submit them to fundraising chair R.B. Kent.

Lastly, please remember the Red Cross Blood Drive, coming up September 19 at Groton Regency. So far only 6 Rotarians have signed up to give blood. That’s less than 15% of our club. I know we can do better; at our first drive last year we had almost three times that number!

Have a great Rotary week! And remember, bring a guest and ask them to consider joining Rotary.

Mike Riegel

P.S. Ed, travel safe!

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Regular Meeting of August 19th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 33 Rotarians and guests this week; including one prospective new member.

Bob Perry has completed 40 years of perfect attendance; now that is real dedication to Rotary. Bob received a 40 year pendant for his Rotary Pin. Congratulations Bob!

Dave Stryker and Mike Riegel completed 13 weeks perfect attendance and received Rotary Four Way Test Ball Point Pens.

One of our guests this week, Mr. Tyler Olsen representing the Red Cross, attended the meeting to announce our Fall Blood Drive conducted with Groton Regency.

The Blood Drive will be held at Groton Regency, 1145 Poquonnock Road, Groton, Connecticut, on Friday September 19, 2008 from 1:30 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. Anyone wishing to donate blood may sign up by calling 1-800-GIVE LIFE or register online at www.bloodct.org. We will also have a sign up list at each Rotary meeting up through September 16 and you may sign up there as well. GIVE BLOOD, IT FEELS GOOD!!

Speaking of Groton Regency, please remember to stop by there and say Hi to fellow Rotarian George Letz. George is undergoing rehab at Groton Regency and would really enjoy the company.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Dave Stryker, was Rob Simmons. As many of you know, Rob is a former congressman from the second district and is currently serving as the State of Connecticut Business Advocate. As such, he acts as an information clearing house and tries to help small businesses make sense out of the “alphabet soup” they have to deal with in attempting to break through the bureaucracy to get things done. Rob has conducted over 200 site visits to CT businesses in the past year to learn about the individual business, find out what their issues might be and try to help them navigate through to a solution. To find out more about the Office of Business Advocate, visit their web site at www.ct.gov/oba.

So, have a great Rotary Week and please put September 19 on your calendar for the blood drive.

Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of August 12th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Our speaker this week was to have been Ms. Jessica Bachelor providing an update on Medicare benefits. Unfortunately, she was called away with a work related item at the last minute and had to cancel. Too bad; hopefully we can reschedule her sometime in the future as the topic would be useful and beneficial to almost all of our members.

We sang Happy Birthday to Lea Doran (August 12) and Happy Anniversary to Richard Abston (August 18) and Bill Johnston (August 19). BTW, Lea’s birthday and Richard’s anniversary were not on the president’s list for some reason so President Mike paid the fine for the faux pas.

Walter Brown and Bruno Giulini were both congratulated for completing 13 weeks of perfect attendance.

We learned this week that George Letz is undergoing rehab at Groton Regency. Please, let’s all wish George a speedy recovery and if at all possible stop by and say hello to him at the Regency. I’m sure he would enjoy the company.

Glenn Arthur was inducted into the club this week. It is great to have Glenn back in the club. As is our custom when we induct a new member, we allot the new member with time to talk about his background, what he does why he is interested in Rotary etc. Following Glenn’s talk, someone commented they didn’t think Glenn was old enough to have accomplished all that. I think that was a complement (it was, really).

To all board members, a reminder, we have our regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, August 20, at 8:00 am in the Council Chambers at the Groton City Municipal Building.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of August 5th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Attendance was a little lighter this week, with 28 Rotarians and guests present.

Bill Johnston celebrated his birthday on July 31 and he paid us $2 not to sing to him. Jim and Marguerite Mitchell celebrate their anniversary on August 10.

No years or thirteen weeks of perfect attendance to acknowledge this week.

In the good news category, Stu Murray was back this week after a long absence. It was great to see him. On a sad note, he announced he would be moving out of the area this coming fall.

Club Vice President, RB Kent, will be chairing a fundraising committee and is looking for volunteers to help him on the committee. So all Rotarians with good fundraising ideas and a desire to help out, please contact RB.

Membership Committee Chairperson, Gina Kolodnicki is looking for membership committee members. We have some ambitious goals for membership this Rotary year, so please consider this committee as an area for your Rotary involvement. No experience necessary!

RI Foundation seminars will be held on 20 September in Deep River and 27 September in Westport. We will be sending members to the seminar in Deep River. Anyone interested, please contact Cathy Lathrop.

Our program this week was brought to us by Jane Giulini (wife of Rotarian Bruno) and Jeanne Steinnagel. Jane who is principal of Pawcatuck Middle School, introduced Jeanne, the special education teacher. Jeanne told us about the year long project during the 2006-2007 school year to support the Chikumbuso project in Lusaka Zambia. In all, with help from other charities, they raised and provided $24,000 in funds and product for Chikumbuso. They provided a 5th grade classroom for the school, 4000 books, and health care for the students for one year. They sent lot’s of items including school supplies, tee shirts, Beanie Babies, Xmas ornaments, and playground equipment. Jeanne was able to go to Zambia and meet many of the grandmothers, mothers and children associated with Chikumbuso. Hearing this report and seeing the results accomplished by Pawcatuck Middle School was an inspiration to us all and for the coming Rotary year. After seeing this presentation, we at Groton Ledyard Rotary will be setting our sights a little higher for our Chikumbuso support project. More to follow…

Here are some dates/events to put on the Rotary Calendar:

August 23 Youth Exchange Welcome Picnic: Hammonassett State Park
August 24 Youth Exchange Host Orientation: Hammonassett State Park
September 1 GSE Team Leader Applications due for Central American team
September 6 Foundation Lunch with RIP DK Lee in Philadelphia
September 8 International Literacy Day
September 14 Foundation Alumni/ Ambassadorial Scholar Picnic: Milford
September 20 Club Foundation Chair Training Seminar: Deep River
September 27 Club Foundation Chair Training Seminar: Westport
September 26-27 Ambassadorial Scholar Orientation/ NELink: Worchester, MA
October 1 GSE Team Member Application deadline: Central American team
October 4 District-wide Make a Difference Day to clean a stream, pond, lake or beach with your families, youth groups, etc; hold an evening fellowship event
October 10 Youth Exchange trip to Washington DC
October 11 Rotary Leadership Institute: New Haven
October 17-19 RYLA: Stratford
October 18 Club President’s Mid Year Assembly: New Haven
November 6 Foundation Dinner featuring TRF Chair Jonathan Majiyagbe
November 8 UN Day: New York City
November 15 Youth Exchange trip to Newport, RI
November 23 Outbound Youth Exchange Interviews

FYI, District Governor Rick Benson will visit our club on Tuesday October 14.

Hey! Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of July 29th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 37 Rotarians and guests this week, a considerable improvement over last week.

Stan & Diane Cardinal celebrated their wedding anniversary July 29. We convinced Stan we should sing to him and so we did.

There were no other birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate. There were no years of perfect attendance or thirteen weeks of perfect attendance to announce this week.

The board has recommended Glenn Arthur for membership in the category of Community Service. Glenn is, as most of you will recall, a former member of Groton Ledyard Rotary & we are looking forward to having him rejoin the club.

The results of last week’s Groton Ledyard Community Awards Foundation Board election were announced. The members at large for 2008-2009 are Lian Obrey, Bob Perry and John Scot. Congratulations and thank you to all.

2007-2008 grant awards were announced and presented this week.

Grants awarded were:

West Side Middle School was awarded $500 for the Mentoring Program
Fairview Odd Fellows Home was awarded $500 to purchase three 17 inch flat screen monitors
Hospice of SECT was awarded $500 for its Hospice Regatta Series
Christopher Trammell was awarded $500 for his Eagle Scout Project which consists of designing and building raised gardens at the Riverfront Children’s Center
The DNA Epicenter was awarded $1050 for summer camp scholarships for science students from Fitch, Westside and Cutler Middle Schools
The Lighthouse Vocational Education Center was awarded $500 for scholarships for children with disabilities to attend programs
Town of Groton Parks and Rec Dept was awarded $1000 for rubberized safety surfacing for the Tercentennial Playground
Maritime Education Foundation was awarded $500 to sponsor Groton Maritime Academy graduates to sail the Mystic Whaler from NYC back to New London, a three day two night cruise.

Congratulations to all awardees.

We also gratefully thank all the businesses and individuals who support our fundraising activities and make these grants possible.

Have a great Rotary Week. Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of July 22nd, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 28 Rotarians and guests this week, a slight improvement over last week. Our guests were Glenn Arthur, a former club member and prospective new member; and Josh and Ben Abston, sons of fellow Rotarian Richard Abston.

Stan & Diane Cardinal celebrate their wedding anniversary on July 29. There were no birthdays to celebrate this week.

John Silsby announced he is looking for volunteers to serve on a committee to review and revise the club by-laws. Anyone interested should contact John.

Membership Committee Chairperson, Gina Kolodnicki, is looking for volunteers to serve on the Membership Committee. Anyone wanting to help recruit and retain new club members should contact Gina and sign up now.

We held the annual Groton Ledyard Rotary Community Awards Foundation meeting this week and therefore there was no speaker this week. As part of the foundation meeting, an election was held by secret ballot to elect new foundation board members for the 2008-2009 Rotary year. Results will be announced at our club meeting next week. Foundation financial reports are delayed due to all bank records not being available in time to prepare the reports. The financial reports will be presented at a future meeting.

All of our 2007-2008 foundation grant awardees have been invited to join us next week. Hopefully all or most will be able to join us. Rotarians, you don’t want to miss this meeting; come see where your local foundation dollars are going.

I hope to see you all next week, Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of July 15th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We had 24 Rotarians and guests at our meeting this week; so you can see, attendance was down from previous weeks which some say can be expected in the hot summer season. Our only guest was the guest speaker, meaning no prospective members this week; come on Rotarians, the prospective members are out there, let’s bring them in.

There were no birthdays or anniversaries this week, and no new years of service or thirteen weeks of service to celebrate.

Our speaker this week, introduced by Lea Doran, was Mr. Ron Agostini. Ron is a licensed Physical Therapist with Mystic Physical Therapy and Healing Center, located at 481 Gold Star Highway in Groton, CT. He has been a practicing PT since 1986 and started out like most, doing regular so-called manipulative PT. In 1993 he started following what he called the Osteopathic Model which involves taking a more homeopathic approach. He says you don’t always have to adopt the “no pain/no gain” philosophy to help people and it’s good to be willing to try new methods and techniques, such as acupressure and to look for emotional ties to physical conditions so those ties can be dealt with as well.

Ron demonstrated one of his favorite exercises to the group and had everyone give it a try. The exercise is called “diaphragmatic breathing” and as the name implies, involves trying to use the diaphragm to pull air into and expel it from the lungs. It was a very interesting and informative presentation.

Have a great Rotary week. Mike Riegel
And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Installation & Annual Meeting of July 8th, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 35 Rotarians and guests this week. Guests included four Rotarian’s spouses, Sharon Stryker, Robin Silsby, Jeanne Kolar, and Sue Riegel; one prospective member (and former member) Glenn Arthur; and Assistant Governor Catherine Foley.

Cliff Hurley celebrated his birthday on July 3; Ted and Doretta Colburn celebrate their wedding anniversary on July 13.

Ed Kolar was presented a Rotary Four Way Test Ball-Point Pen for completing 13 weeks perfect attendance.

Assistant Governor for Area 12 (our area) Catherine Foley addressed the club with District Governor Rick Benson’s goals for the year and presented each Rotarian with RI and District pins.

Yours truly attended the District Governor installation in Westport on Monday evening. All club presidents in attendance at that gala affair were installed in addition to the District Governor. A total of 300 plus Rotarians and guests participated in and witnessed these festivities.

Groton Ledyard Rotary installed all remaining officers and directors at our regular meeting this week.

Officers installed were: John Silsby, President Elect; R.B. Kent, Vice President; Michelle Mencer, Secretary; Lori Jalbert, Treasurer.

Directors installed were Lee Vincent, Assistant Secretary; Bruno Giulini, SGT at Arms, Programs/Club Service; Ted Colburn, International Service; Gina Kolodnicki, Membership Chair; Cathy Lathrop and Bo Bohannan, Foundation Co-Chairs; Paul Lapides and Diane Thomas, directors at large; and Ed Kolar, Web Master.
This year’s Scarano Award was presented to Nolan Nixon. Nolan has always tried to be sort of a behind the scenes guy, but in doing so he has contributed significantly above and beyond the call of duty to the cause of Rotary and his community. Nolan is most deserving of this recognition. Well done!

That’s all for this week; Have a great Rotary Week, Mike Riegel
And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!

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Regular Meeting of July 1st, 2008 (1st meeting of our new Rotary Year)

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

We enjoyed the company of 29 Rotarians and guests at our regular meeting this week.

Cathy Lathrop delivered the weekly Rotary Foundation thought and Dave Stryker delivered the Rotary Membership Minute.

This week we celebrated Michelle's birthday (July 1); Mike led the singing which was terribly off key, but it was done in love.

Anniversaries to be celebrated this week were Bruno Giulini (July 1), Frank Eppinger (July 5) and RB Kent (July 6); Michelle led the singing and believe me it was much better!

Thanks to all Rotarians and friends who turned out on Saturday to help with the dinner at Groton Senior Center. It was a great success as usual.

Dues for Rotary year 2008-2009 are now due. Dues are $125 and full payment would be appreciated ASAP but in any case no later than July 15. Our semiannual dues to RI are also due now and we need the club dues obviously so we can pay the RI dues. Next week, July 8, we will install officers for the 2008-2009 Rotary year. Rotarians are encouraged to bring your spouse or significant other. We will be having a special meal (Prime Rib) and your price will be the same as a regular meeting. Now, that's a good deal!

The board of directors for the 2008-2009 Rotary year was unanimously elected this week.

The board consists of all club officers:

Mike Riegel: President

John Silsby: President Elect

Richard B. Kent: Vice President

Michelle Mencer: Secretary

Lori Jalbert: Treasurer

Frank Winkler: Past President

And the following Rotarians:

Lee Vincent: Assistant Secretary

Bruno Giulini Program/Club Service/Sgt. at Arms

Ted Colburn International Programs Chair

Gina Kolodnicki Membership Chair

Cathy Lathrop Foundation Co-Chair

Paul Lapides

Our speaker this week, introduced by Paul Lapides, was Susan Bailey from the Riverfront Children's Center. The center is located at 476 Thames Street in Groton. It was started in 1983 as the preschool childcare component of the YWCA. The program purchased the building and was incorporated as the Riverfront Children's Center, Inc in 1995. They are a state licensed Early Learning Center and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. They provide preschool care on a sliding fee scale to help parents in difficult economic circumstances. Riverfront Children's Center is always looking for volunteer support. Anyone interested in assisting and for more information please visit their web site at www.riverfrontchildren.org.

That's it for now. Have a great Rotary Week, a safe and happy Independence Day Celebration and we'll hopefully see you all next week, Mike Riegel

And, please bring a friend as your guest to our next meeting!