Weekly Updates – Rotary Board Meeting for January 2009

The Danbury Chamber of Commerce will hold a business after business networking event at Molly Darcy’s Restaurant and Pub.  It is on January 28th from 5 to 7pm.    The cost is $25 per person.  If any members are interested in attending, we are Chamber members so all are welcome.

Our annual fundraiser will be discussed this Friday at our meeting.  The grand prize will be a $1,000 Amex Gift Card.  We will be printing 750 tickets at $10 per.  We will need the help of all members to sell tickets.

We are also looking for additional prizes to be donated by our members.  I will be donating Birthday parties from Zandri’s Martial Arts.  If you have a service you would like to donate, please bring it up this Friday.

Have a great week.  See you all Friday.

United Nations Day 2008

Hello fellow Danbury Sunrise Rotarians. I hope everyone is having a great week. It is really raining pretty hard here right now.

I just have a few quick updates for you here today. The first thing is that UN Day is November 8th 2008. If you would like to attend this event, here is the application for the RI website:United Nations Day Application

Also, if you have not yet been to our district website, here is the link: District 7980. Rick Benson and team did an awesome job on it.

I hope to see you all this Friday. I will be the speaker this week. My topic will be on fund raising. I will specifically go into detail about our April fund raising raffle.

Please think about who you can bring to a meeting. If each of us invites just one friend or colleague to join us for a meeting, we could grow this group tremendously.

Upcoming Events

Greetings everyone. I am back from Florida. I hope the first week of my presidency went well without me (I am sure it did). I am looking forward to seeing everyone this Friday.

We have Club Assembly this week, Friday, July 18th. So I hope everyone comes ready to share ideas and thoughts. I have a fund raising idea I will be sharing.

On Friday, July 25th, District Governor Rick Benson will return for his official visit. Here he is in the picture with me that we took together at President Elect Training earlier this year. Brian Amey will be filling in for Julie as Assistant DG as Julie will be having too much fun with knee surgery.

I hope everyone will make every attempt to be at both of these meetings. We only have 4 Club Assemblies per year and our District Governor may not be back for quite some time.

See you all Friday…

P.S. If you want to see what I did while in Florida, here is the link to our school Blog. Zandri’s Martial Arts Blog.
You have to see the performances by some of these unbelievable martial artists I took. Just to make it easy, here is my favorite one:

More Pass the Gavel

Here are two videos from the Rotary Club of Danbury Pass the Gavel.
Video Part I

Video Part II

New Rotary Club President Sworn In

Dear Club Members,

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the pass the gavel this past Friday. I was happy to see those who could make it and missed those who could not. I am honored to be taking over the rains from Anthony Dicaprio begining July 1st.

Of course with no meeting on the 4th, my first actual meeting of my term will be spent with the Rotary Club of Kissimmee Florida which also meets Friday Mornings. I look forward to starting a great year with everyone when I return in the middle of July.

See you all soon. Have a great 4th!

Sincerely,

Mike Brooks

Here are more pictures from the pass the gavel:

Guest Speaker Talks About Danbury Economics

Wayne Shepperd, Economic Development Director for the City of Danbury spoke this morning at the Rotary Club of Danbury – Sunrise weekly meeting.  The topic was very interesting especially in these economic down times.

His department along with the Common Council’s approval is responsible for bringing businesses as well as economic opportunity into Danbury.  If a business wants to move or expand into Danbury, he is usually the first point of contact.

Because of his efforts the city of Danbury was successful in bringing the Connecticut Film Festival and the Nutmeg Games to Danbury.

The film festival brought many people and a lot of money into downtown Danbury and helped revive the old Palace Theater.  The Nutmeg Games will bring thousands of people into Danbury for the week.

His view of the future of Danbury looks very bright.  He suggested that over the next five years we may see a huge turnaround of down town Danbury.

Thought For The Day

Each week, our own Karen Tracy of Newtown Savings Bank, gives us her ‘Thought for the Day’. Here it is for this past Friday, June 13th.

Director Of Economic Development To Speak This Friday

The Office of Economic Development (OED) leads marketing efforts to businesses interested in relocating to Danbury and delivers a variety of services designed to stimulate business and community development. OED works strategically to attract new companies and promote business development in Danbury.

This Friday, June 20th, Wayne Shepperd, Economic Development Director, will speak at the West Side Campus of Western Connecticut State University for the Rotary Club of Danbury Sunrise. Residents are invited to attend the meeting and listen to Mr. Shepperd discuss Danbury’s economic and business environment.

The meeting begins promptly at 7:30am. For more information, contact Mike Brooks at (203) 788-0286.

Notes from a President Elect

Here it is June already. It seems like just yesterday it was dead winter and I was attending pre-PETS in New Haven. Alas, it is time to pass the gavel already.

In the next few posts, I want to share with you all what my goals, the district goals and Rotary International goals are for the coming year.

But before I begin, I want to dedicate this space for thanking our outgoing President and 2009-2010 President Elect, Anthony Dicaprio for a great year. It has not been an easy one for him with business changes and surgery. But through that, he has carried on and led our club.

Anthony has been a great example. I hope I will be able to lead with the same enthusiasm and optimism.

I know that Anthony is probably looking forward to a little hard earned rest. Being President, as I am slowly learning, is quite a job. A lot of preparation, diligence, and attention to detail are needed.

Anthony, you’ve done a fine job and I know the rest of the club will join me in saying thanks for your hard work and dedication. But remember, you still have a few more weeks to go…

Danbury Westerner’s Breakfast

We had our weekly meeting this morning at the Ethan Allen Inn for the 14th Annual Westerner’s Breakfast. This year their guest of honor was Joe Pepitone. He played for that other NY team. You know, the one that is not the Mets. Their name slips my mind.

Anyway, several Sunrise Rotarians were in attendance. We will see everyone next week at our regular spot at the Westside Campus. Next week our guest speaker is Pat Tomka from WECAHR. You can check out their website at www.wecahr.org. Hope to see everyone next week.