The Rotary Club of Trumbull

Club No. 6755, District 7980, Region 1

President-elect Mike Redgate called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Jack Quinlan said the invocation. Steve Hodson led us in singing  “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

Attendance:  42 of 65 members attended. Marjorie Anctil, Ray Baldwin Jr., Jim Bardon, Jonathan Baron, Jim Baum, John Bogannam, Jayne Bolton, Doreen Boutote, Bev Cambras, Jackie Carlino, Sy Davidson, Guy DeFeo, Barry Diamond, Dave Dunn, Lynn Fontana, Len Germano, Tom Heaney, Bernie Helfrich, Steve Hodson, Thelma Hoyt, Phil Lane, Jim Lang, Gene Leone, Ron Lesko, Dana Lonergan, John Makar, Bob Matthews, Ian McMillan, Preston Merritt, Ted Merritt, Frank Metrusky, Jack Quinlan, Mike Rappa, Michael Redgate, John Rosati, Joe Ruospo, Dale Seymour, Rose Marie Spatafore, Dick Stein, Steve Taylor, George Voynick, Dave Wilson

Guests: Mark Fries of the Bridgeport Sunrise Club

Happy Dollars:

Bev Cambras – 5 – One for passing her SBLI test and four for her granddaughter spending a week with her.

Jim Lang - 1 - for receiving an email from a Rotary friend in Japan.

Thelma Hoyt - 1 - for the recent Trumbull’s Own Chamber of Commerce publication and for the Rotary Beacon.

Ray Baldwin - 10 - For Trumbull’s new Police Chief and for receiving a lovely gift basket from our club.

Rose Marie Spatafore – 2 – One for a recent Las Vegas trip and one more for an upcoming trip to Jamaica. (Ah, the perks of being a travel agent!)

Doreen Buotote – 1 for a successful book drive by the Interact Club.

Barry Diamond – 1 – Thanks to Thelma Hoyt for supplying an article about Rotary for the TOCC publication.

Mike Rappa – 1 – for the transportation grant being approved to ship all the donated books Mike has been graciously storing for us at his factory.

Jack Quinlan – 2 – One in honor of our Veteran’s especially those that died at Pearl Harbor and another for seeing seven deer in his backyard on December 7^th.

Dale Seymour – 2 – One because his daughter Marcy was accepted for a semester of study abroad at Middlesex University in London, and one for the upcoming Christmas Concert at St Catherine’s Church.

Lynn Fontana – 1 for an excellent presentation by Walt Mallon, a World War II veteran who received an enthusiastic welcome by Trumbull High School students during his recent presentation.

Birthdays and Anniversaries: The club sang Happy Birthday to Guy DeFeo for his 80^th. Happy Anniversary to Rose Marie Spatafore and to Preston Merritt. Both then gave ten dollars.

Announcements:

Richard Blumenthal, the Attorney General for the State of Connecticut will be our speaker for our Celebrity Breakfast scheduled for January 11, 2001 at the Marriott. Sign-up sheets were passed around for table sponsors and for Rotarians willing to serve as waiters. All proceeds will benefit our scholarship fund. Each club member is being asked to obtain a table sponsor at $100.00 for the breakfast. Sending out ten of our pre-printed letters is a good start. There is no charge for the food. All tips and sponsorship dollars will be profit for our scholarship fund. Don’t forget to call all your attorney friends for this one! Phil Lane is the chairman of this event.

Everyone is again reminded to please wear your Rotary pin to all meetings and other Rotary functions.

Our Holiday Party will be held at Vazzy’s on December 15^th. Festive attire is permissible and encouraged, so break out the Santa suit or carry a menorah.

The December 14^th meeting will be at Rosedale, not the Trumbull Marriott!

Winterfest will be held at Indian Ledge Park on Saturday February 9^th, 2002. Please solicit local businesses to help sponsor this event. We have lost our major corporate sponsors because of the recent economic and terrorist-related events, so all help is badly needed. Invoices can be sent to those businesses that want an invoice.

The following persons are leading committees for Winterfest. Please pick one of the committees and volunteer your help by calling that person. Yes, you can work on more than one.

Sponsorships                            Ted Merritt and John Rosati

Volleyball tournament               Michael Redgate

Food court                               Ray Rzasa

School art show                        Jayne Bolton

Entertainment tent                     Steve Hodson

Contests                                   Frank Metrusky

Sled hill                                    Dave Wilson

Craft barn                                 Bill Zeidenberg

Community groups                    Bev Cambras

General Activities                      Mike Rappa and Dana Lonergan

An impressive plaque listing all the Past Presidents of the Trumbull Rotary Club was presented to First Selectman Ray Baldwin who will proudly display the plaque at a place of honor in Town Hall.

Mark Fries announced that he recently returned from Costa Rica and visited the communities our combined six thousand-dollar grant is helping. Mark and his daughter, who is a teacher there, witnessed first-hand the need, appreciation and efficient us of our donations. There is still a need for a used four-wheel-drive pick-up truck.

Program:

Dave Wilson introduced our guest speaker Karen Ronald, our new Town Librarian. Karen expressed her thanks for being invited to speak at our club and said, among other things, the following:

1.      Prior to coming to Trumbull she managed the Wilton, CT Library.

2.      Prior to coming to Wilton, she managed a small bi-lingual library in a rural town in Northern Ontario.

3.      Trumbull has two library buildings, the main library near Town Hall and the Fairchild branch in Nichols.

4.      There is a total of 40,000 square feet of available space.

5.      The library contains 148,000 items, including 6,000 videos.

6.      There are 39 staff members, six of whom are professionals.

7.      The library is supported by tax dollars at the rate of $32.00 per capita, which is insufficient to meet increasing needs.

8.      People love libraries and community groups like Rotary can help obtain needed upgrades and additional programming.

9.      Among the improvements that Karen would like to institute are Sunday hours, more adult and children’s programs, a writing workshop, new computer hardware and upgraded software, remote access to card catalog information, and subscriptions to websites for telephone listings and magazine article access.

Raffle:  Dana Lonergan and Dave Dunn drew for $343.00 with no winner selected.

                        UCOMING PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

December 14   Meeting is at the Rosedale Assisted Living Facility on Reservoir Avenue

December 15   Christmas party at Vazzy’s from 7 to 10PM.

December 21   Frank Metrusky – “New School Architecture”

December 28   Marriott

January 2          Board meeting at the Marriott at 7PM.

January 4          Dr. Ron Travaglino – Director of Bloodless Medicine and Surgery

January 11        Scholarship Celebrity Breakfast with Dick Blumenthal

January 18        Fred Astaire Dance Studio

Respectfully Submitted,

Dale J. Seymour