Archived Events & Projects

Despite having difficulties of their own, several members of the North Branford Rotary Club responded to the needs of the community after Tropical Storm Irene hit us. Club President Robert Hull, Past President Fran Merola, and Member Bill Choti all helped organize the community shelter set up in the Middle School. They and several people from the community often worked over 12 straight hours to provide help to those less fortunate.

Club member Donna Christensen invited fellow club members who had no power, water, or phone to come to her place to take care of the amenities. She also invited several people who were affected for dinner on Monday. On Tuesday, the Popolizios, both members of the club, extended the same to members still affected.

THANK YOU! 

Nearly 2 million Ugandans fled from their homes during the brutal civil war that began in the northern region of the country in 1986 and went on for 2 decades.  Human rights violations and war crimes were committed by both sides of the conflict, but especially those crimes perpetrated by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).  As the violence escalated in the northern part of Uganda in 1988, 40 camps for Internally Displaced Persons, “IDP Camps”, were created. Farmers had to move their entire families out of wide-open fertile land into the crowded IDP camps; each family had a mud hut with a few feet between each hut. Children, like George Odora, were abducted and converted into soldiers.

In 2006, the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement was signed between the government and the LRA. Kony fled and his present location is unknown. He is not in Uganda. Before he disappeared, the LRA massacred hundreds of people in unprotected villages and IDP camps throughout northern Uganda. Kony abducted over 80, 000 people, more than half of whom were children whom he converted to child soldiers through brainwashing, and warped traditional and Christian practices to generate extreme terror in the individual and the population. George was one of these child soldiers. The International Criminal Court has indicted Kony for war crimes. 

   George Odora, a 26-year-old Ugandan who made it through the horrors of the civil war, managed to obtain a degree in civil engineering despite huge odds, and decided upon a career of building houses for IDP refugees to build homes on what was their land before the war. George was recently awarded a small grant by a German foundation, enough to construct about 30 houses to begin to   replace the dilapidated IDP camps in the war-torn region where he grew up.  George’s grant from the Dekeyser & Friends Fellowship Program was based on his proposal to establish a sustainable project to build housing for those who are being evicted from destroyed IDP camps 

You can see the presentation give by George at:  http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/7980/3793/HTML/139830//GeorgepresentationintheUSA.pdf

On October 5th, the North Branford Rotary Club was proud to recognize Mary Bigelow (left) for her lifelong commitment to ethics in public service. She was presented with a Certificate of Recognition by Club President Bob Hull (center) with Ms. Carol Carson (right), Executive Director of the Office of State Ethics looking on. In making the presentation, Bob mentioned Mary's long time service on the Town Council, her championing for establishing a Code of Ethics for North Branford, and her currently serving as a member of the State Ethics Board.

Carol Small (left) and Carrie Ferrigno (second from right) were officially inducted into the club by Assistant Governor Jim Satterwhite (right) on October 26^th. They are seen here with their sponsor, club member Eric Hodgson (second from left), who himself only joined the club at the beginning of this Rotary year. Carol owns and manages Poochie Play a pet care center and Carrie is a Nurse Practitioner. Please introduce yourselves to them.

This has been a banner year for membership growth in the club with 7 new members to date.

Physical Therapist Margie Pikaart was the featured speaker on October 26^th. She gave a brief history of physical therapy and its association with early treatment of patients infected with the polio virus. She spoke about what is involved in physical therapy and how it can benefit a person. She distributed information on correct posture and ergonomic workstations and answered a whole bunch of questions on the educational qualifications and other aspects of her profession. Margie is the wife of club member Ed Pikaart.

The first week in November is International Interact Week. This year Rotary International will be celebrating 49 years of Interact. The first club was chartered in 1962 with 23 students at Melbourne High School, in Melbourne, Florida. As of the beginning of the 2011-2012 Rotary Year, our District has 44 clubs and growing. The North Branford Rotary Club sponsored the North Branford High School Interact Club which was chartered in September 2009 with over 80 students.

Rotary International is sponsoring a contest for the best Interact Club video. You can download the application forms from http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/7980/3793/HTML/144257//interact_video_contest_rules_en.pdf.

More information on the Interact program is available at: http://www.rotary.org/en/StudentsAndYouth/YouthPrograms/Interact/Pages/ridefault.aspx.

 Luisa Breen –Director of Social Services talked about the  needs of North Branford citizens

The club had an induction of two new members at it's 9/26th meeting. They were Marcella Ardine and Bill Choti. Paul Burns and Mukund Nori performed the induction. 

Chris Ekert from the UI talked about Strategies to reduce your electricity costs. He also talked about the Energy Efficiency Fund.

Laurin Gagne receives the clubs student of the month award from Marcella Ardine

Dylan Podbieski named student to the month in Science

Paul Spiekermann, M.D., talked about malaria and dengue  fever in Indonesia and what Rotary is doing to prevent it.

Rotary had it's annual tree lighting at Company 2, firehouse

Samuel Brown spoke about Project Amigo. 

This is an organization that has partnered with the ColimaRotary club to improve the lives of the Mexican children that live in ColimaMexico.

They offer the following programs:

·        Dental, vision & hearing

·        They distribute books to schools, libraries, andgroup homes

·        They host outings, Christmas parties, trips tothe state fair and museums

·        They provide scholarships

Samuel also spoke about Rotary E-Clubs

L. Todd Wood a helicopter pilot for Seal Team 6 and Delta 4  talked about his experiences during the Afghan war. He also worked on Wall  Street for 18 years selling bonds. His experience helped him write a historical  fiction book called” Currency”.  He talked  about the problems that this massive spending/ debt will cause, for the future  of our country  

 Megan Marcucci- Social Studies

 The Social Studies dept. nominates Megan Marcucci for the Rotary Youth award.

 

Megan consistently performs well in Honors and College prep courses.  She mentors young people at a dance studio after school. She works well with others during group activities in the classroom, often model positive behavior while assuming leadership roles.

 

 Alex Raffone is the Rotary Student of the Month representing the North Branford High School Mathematics' Department. 

 

 

 Alex has taken mathematics courses focusing on algebra, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus and calculus. He is among the highest achieving students in this year's Calculus Honors course.  Over the past four years Alex has grown as a student and North  Branford community member.  Alex's ability to reason logically, think abstractly, and connect conceptual and procedural  knowledge instinctively have made him shine among his peers.

His abilities to break complicated concepts and tasks into manageable units and connect mathematics to other disciplines and students' lives contribute to the success of his class and his peers. Alex also contributes to the NBHS community as  the captain of the NBHS Soccer Team and as a member of both the indoor and outdoor track teams.  Most recently, as a member of the NBHS Indoor Track Team, Alex and his teammates placed 6th regionally and 24th nationally in the 4x400 relay. In addition to all of his academic work and school related extra-curricular activities,  Alex is an active member of his church community and volunteers regularly. Alex intends to use all of his knowledge, skills and experience at Sacred Heart University next year as a computer programming/design major.