Rotary Club
Of East Hartford
   High Gear

Volume 72 | Issue 36, March 6, 2019

 

This week bore witness to the truth of the first stanza of a well-known poem:

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

 

Though the cold weather continues, and our hilltop location is windy, luckily for everyone attending our meeting today, all the snow and ice occurred last weekend. President Kevin rang a baby bell to start the meeting promptly at 12:15.

The Ambergs are in our Hearts & Prayers

After singing our ritual opening song, R-O-T-A-R-Y, and reciting the Pledge, Art Bradbury delivered a thoughtful invocation reminding us of the plusses and minuses we all experience in life, including a minus – the loss of Dave and Chickie Amberg’s son, David –then urged all to enjoy the plus of Rotary friendship.

 

Our meal today was lasagna, both beef and vegetarian, a large mixed greens salad with a choice of dressings, sliced Italian bread and butter.  Ned Lynch, waiter par excellence, passed a platter of the usual large cookies. George Schoen and Art Bradbury led the club in our welcome song.

 

President Kevin again called the group to order with the baby bell, explaining that our traditional bell is awaiting repairs.  Kevin wished President-elect Bob Buettner safe travels and a great experience mixing with other presidents-elect at Northeast PETS (Presidents-elect Training Seminar) which begins Thursday in Framingham, Massachusetts and lasts through Saturday morning.

 

Larson Brings His Easter Basket

Kevin reported on Monday evening’s Board meeting, mentioning that those gathered for the meeting completed fifty-eight thank-you notes for folks who contributed to the fund for a community project in George Agnelli’s name.  Thus far, $4900 has been donated to this fund.

 

Club member Jairo Lemos attended the board meeting seeking support for his plan to have our club host a Rotary Means Business event, emphasizing this would be a great vehicle for bringing in new club members.

 

Want to spend an evening at the ballpark with the East Hartford Rotary Club? Ned Lynch explained he is organizing a club event, Wednesday, May 29th, a baseball game between the Portland Sea Dogs and the Hartford Yard Goats. This is a great bargain, $32/person, for the game and a 2 ½ hour buffet.  He needs folks to sign up early and pay for him to be able to pay the Yard Goats to set aside a section of seats for our club.  Please contact Ned by email at ned.lynch@jan-pro.com or by calling Ned’s cell phone 508-341-4106 to reserve your seats and to arrange getting your payment to Ned.

 

Ceil Collins, co-chair of the social committee, asks that anyone interested in attending the Paul Harris Dinner at The Gallery on March 20th, contact her by email at ceilcollins@aol.com or by calling her home phone 860-568-3497.

 

With his special brand of humor and flare for delivery, Dan Larson gave his Sergeant-at-Arms report: In addition to our usual support for a variety of sports teams, as varied as UConn Women’s Basketball team, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Red Sox in training, Dan mentioned Laura Floyd is excited to be expecting her first granddaughter, Kevin Kickery honored his deceased mother’s birthday, and Dan Firestone is grateful we

are “going green” using real flatware in place of the plastic forks provided by our caterer.  We wound up singing “happy birthday” to Bob Wood whose birthday is March 5th.  Bob asked for all club members over 80 years old to sing to him, but this scribe noted many of the club members could not resist joining in.

 

Jack Martin won the regular raffle and Dan Larson won the spectacular flower arrangement donated by Bob Buettner.

 

Abernaki History Comes to Life

Anwar Hossain introduced today’s speaker, George Gill Ducharme, a member of the Abernaki Tribal Nation.  George not only has a PhD in Educational Philosophy from the University of Connecticut but also a Masters in Native American Studies from Dartmouth College.  He has been on the faculty of Manchester Community College since 1991.

 

All I can say about this program is you had to be there.  It was fascinating, revealing an entire aspect of those whose ancestry may include tribal connections.  His story included both the explanation of his middle name, Gill, reaching back to the 1697 capture of one of his ancestors at age 10 by Abernaki Indians, and of his family’s attempts to hide their native American ancestry due to the early 20th century eugenics movement in Vermont. 

 

Professor Ducharme recommended visiting some excellent museums which showcase Native Americans and reading some books.  These include Breeding Better Vermonters, which is a tragic, non-fiction account of the eugenics movement in Vermont, and The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, a new book highlighting the resilience of Native Americans.

 

A note from today’s High Gear editor, Sue Klock:

Please consider registering for an online webinar about grants offered by our district.  President-elect Bob, Peter Klock and Sue Klock have registered, but ideally, we would have at least five members of our club, not including next year’s president who will be busy orchestrating many aspects of our club in 2019-2020, registering and becoming involved on our club’s grants committee.   Those who do this online webinar will be equipped to help Bob, his grants committee and his board making decisions about grants.

 

Click on a link below for the date which works for you and register.

·  Grant Management Webinar

On Line

Mar 13, 2019
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

·  Grant Management Webinar

On Line

Mar 30, 2019
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Please contact District Grants Chair Eileen Rau at ebrau@comcast.net with any questions. 

 

Sue Klock

 

 

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