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Club
No. 6755, District 7980, Region 1 President Joe Ruospo called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Jack Quinlan said the invocation. Dana Lonergan, who has been taking harmonica lessons, led us in singing “Danny Boy”, to commemorate Saint Patrick’s Day. Attendance: Marjorie Anctil, Ray Baldwin, Jim Baum, Greg Bivona, Dan
Calloway, Bev Cambras, Jackie Carlino, David Dunn, Lynn Fontana, Tom Galla, Len
Germano, Tom Heaney, Bernie Helfrich, Steve Jakab, Philip Lane, Gene Leone, Dana
Lonergan, John Makar, Ian McMillan, Preston Merritt, Frank Metrusky, Jack
Quinlan, Mike Rappa, Michael Redgate, John Rosati, Joe Ruospo, Ray Rzasa, Dale
Seymour, Steve Taylor, George Voynick, Bill Zeidenberg. Guests:
Tauni
Butterfield, our speaker Happy/sad
Dollars:
Joe Ruospo gave a sad dollar because last week he announced Keith Gatling’s wedding
anniversary, when it is actually this week.. Tom Galla gave a happy dollar because he was able to start his
golfing season last week in New Jersey. Ray
Baldwin paid five dollars to request Bernie
Helfrich to sing a special solo rendition of one of Bernie’s favorite
songs. Bernie then treated the club to a spirited rendition of “Dancing under
the Irish moon”, which is lovely at the Killarney Lakes region. Phil
Lane matched Ray’s five dollars because Phil and Bernie are both
originally from Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Jack Quinlan gave a happy dollar because he finally found his lawn under all
the melting snow. Ian McMillan gave an un-advertising dollar to announce that on
Saturday March 17th, (Saint Patrick’s Day), he is not
auctioning a house in Trumbull owned by an Irish-American named Boyle. Mr.
Boyle’s luck, if you can call it that, has prevented the auction on such a
normally happy day. Doreen Boutote
gave a happy two dollars because she was able to take many of her students to
several town elementary schools to promote the upcoming THS student production
of “Bye, Bye Birdie”. Tickets are only ten dollars, and Doreen will bring
plenty to next week’s meeting. Frank
Metrusky gave a happy two dollars for his great vacation in St. Maarten. Sy Davidson provided the limousine service and Rose Marie Spatafore obtained the tickets for Frank. Business:
On April 2, at 7:00PM, the Police Department and The Narcotics Enforcement
Officers Association are sponsoring an Adult Dare Program at Hillcrest School,
coordinated by John Rosati. The topic will be the new exotic drugs now present
in our society. Our club will provide refreshments. Attendance is encouraged.
See the attached flyer for details. The Trumbull Read Aloud program will be held
on May 9th, 2001. You should have received a flyer by mail regarding
this worthy program that our club supports. The Annual District Assembly will be
on May 10th in Meriden. John Annick of Trumbull, a member of the
Bridgeport club, will be introduced as the new District Governor. The Assembly
provides training for new officers and new members. A video promoting attendance
at the District Assembly was shown to the membership. Joe Ruospo said heavy
membership support will be necessary for the next several years for John Annick
and for Jim Lang. Ted Merritt, Len Germano and Jim Lang are attending two days
of PETS (President Elect Training Session) seminars at Nashua, NH to gain
insight for chapter leadership.. John Annick will be inducted as the new
District Governor on June 29th in Wallingford. It is a nice dinner
evening for couples. Michael Redgate announced a membership recruiting meeting
for March 30th. Several members of our club will be speaking. Joe
Ruospo reminded everyone that breakfast is free for all guests and their
potential sponsors on March 30th . Birthdays
and Anniversaries:
None to
report Committee
Reports: Preston Merritt reported that this year’s carnival will be held in
front of Hillcrest school starting on April 18, 2001, a school vacation week.
Hours are from 6 to 10PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 1 to 10PM on
Saturday, and 1 to 5PM on Sunday. Help is needed to sell tickets and attach arm
bands for all days. Preston estimates that 12 to 14 volunteers are needed for
each weekend session, and 10 people to assist on each weeknight. Program:
Steve Taylor introduced Tauni Butterfield, Athletic Director
at Christian Heritage School, and spoke of Tauni’s tireless dedication to
promoting athletic events and community
service. Tauni then discussed her trip to Romania last summer to assist many of
the orphaned children in the country. She also presented a video composed of
photographs of the experience with meaningful comments from the student
participants. Everyone at the meeting realized how fortunate we are to live
here, and how fortunate others are to have adults and students in our community
willing to help so many children in need. Among other things, Tauni said: 1.
Twelve
students from Christian Heritage School spent two weeks at a former Communist
retreat in Romania set up as a summer camp for orphans. 2.
They
brought with them a huge amount of donated sports equipment and arts and crafts
supplies. 3.
Prior to
World War II, Romania was a rich country. The poverty level now is incredible. 4.
Bucharest
alone has ten orphanages, all filled to capacity. 5.
At age
18, orphaned children are released from the orphanages to fend for themselves on
the streets. This leads to young orphans giving birth to more orphans. 6.
During
the reign of Nicholas Chowchesku (phonetic spelling), women were mandated to
have 5 children, or else they were heavily taxed. This was because Chowchesku
wanted to have a large and powerful army. 7.
Children
with any “imperfections”, were relegated to orphanages by their families,
and rarely reclaimed. Their families are only required to visit the children
once every six months, however briefly. 8.
Chowchesku
and his wife had two huge palaces, while the rest of the citizens lived in
rubble. Both of them were killed in a revolt in 1989. 9.
The
children the group cared for, who ranged from age 5 to 12, were so badly
malnourished that they became sick from eating normally at the camp. 10. All of the funds for last year’s travel
were raised by sponsors of the students. Left over funds were used to buy winter
coats for the orphans, who only have two sets of clothes—one for play and one
for sleeping. 11. Great care must be taken when distributing
things in Romania to orphans because of constant theft. 12. There are relatively few adoptions because
of the cost ($20,000.00), red tape, and reluctance of parents to release their
rights to the child. 13. Tauni will be returning this summer to
work directly in an orphanage and all donations are welcome, especially sporting
equipment and arts and crafts. Raffle: John Makar and
Michael Redgate drew for $449.00, but didn’t win. Preston
Merritt said that Michael was not eligible for the raffle because he
wasn’t eighteen yet. Michael wondered when the comments about his youthful
appearance will end. Most of the rest of us wish we were receiving such
compliments.
UCOMING PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
March 17
Saint Patrick’s Day
March 29-April 1 Bye,
Bye Birdie at Trumbull High School
March 30
Membership recruiting day
April 2
Adult Dare Program at Hillcrest, 7:00PM
April 18 - 22
Carnival at Hillcrest
April 19 - 22 District Conference at
Newport, Rhode Island
May 9
Trumbull Read Aloud
May 10
District Assembly at Meriden
June 29
District Governor Installation at Wallingford
Respectfully Submitted, Dale J. Seymour for Thelma Hoyt, our newsletter
editor
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