The bell was in place, the flag was in place and the clock was misplaced... 10-19-06

The bell was in place, the flag was in place and the clock was misplaced as things got underway in the early afternoon of a beautiful fall day. John Kerchoff delivered the blessing and in no time, Nancy called for the introductions. Our visiting Rotarian was Roy Hannaby of Southport, England and he brought as his guest, Malcolm Kennedy of New Canaan. Roy even interrupted the festivities to exchange local Rotary Club banners with President Nancy. Laura Rubinfeld of the Board of Realtors came with Art Duel. Sandi Malloy brought Dalila Gamarra from Waveny Care Center. Our head elf had other tidbits to offer:

NED AT NOON NED AT NOON NED AT NOON NED AT NOON NED AT NOON

Simply translated means that next Thursday’s speaker, Ned Lamont, will begin his remarks precisely at twelve o’clock noon. This will allow us to break bread immediately upon his departure. As a further aside, Rotary Clubs across the Nation have served as forums for political speeches, beginning with Teddy Roosevelt’s famous Bull Moose campaign. The operative is that we listen, we do not endorse.

Still reeling from the sub-zero chill in our dining facility a week ago, Nancy appointed Amy to head thermostat calibrator. Nancy gushed with compliments for Fred Baker’s minutes of the recent Director’s meeting. Try as she might, Elf was unable to wrest from John Engel a firm launch date on our membership directory. She reminded John it was fully a week ago she handed over Rick Kellam’s computer disk. Sgt@Arms George Baker stunned the crowd by delivering a stand up routine that was not funny or inspirational. George told us how he was prepared to organize an overseas care package for Rich Vasko’s son, who was en route to his second tour in Iraq. Well, the Gods smiled upon him and he will spend the rest of this tour languishing on the shores of Waikiki Beach. However. George surmised that just perhaps, there are other New Canaanites actually in harms way in Iraq. If they can be identified, the Club will ship off baby powder, toothbrushes, right guard and other assorted goodies for Xmas cheer. Scott Hobbs thought we should persuade local schoolchildren to write personal notes for inclusion. Sgt. George then began his collection drive by announcing that son Tommy; Dartmouth ‘06 has been recruited to an intelligence position in Mr. Rumsfeld’s Defense Dept. Can you believe, Donald is actually turning to the Ivy League to extricate him from the quagmire Fred Baker had two happys. Daughter came home from College ($1). Daughter returned to College ($1).

To Mike Hobbs’ great delight, the young Bolivian Doctor who charmed him so a few weeks ago reappeared. Sandi Malloy brought as our speaker Claudia L. Valera Moron who spoke of the struggle of Rotaract to cope with the needs of impoverished natives in her home district of Santa Cruz, where, she estimates, there are at least one million people under the age of twenty. It is literally one step at a time, with young professionals supporting Rotaract efforts to provide food, medical services and learning opportunities to reverse desperation and abject poverty. Her Dad, Claudio, was with us to hear her speak. You cannot listen without knowing we must act for the sake of Bolivia and mankind.

Florence Nightingale