District 7980 information

Dear PDGs and District Leaders,

          The following is a Communique I just sent out to my Club Presidents and AGs:

"Dear Club Presidents,

            I have a very busy week last week - attending a Hamden Rotary polio fundraiser on Monday, visits to North Haven and New Haven Rotary Clubs on Tuesday, visits to Devon (to present a charter to the Laurelton Hall Interact Club) and Guilford Rotary Clubs on Wednesday, a visit to Cheshire Rotary on Thursday, and to Orange Rotary on Friday. This past Saturday, DGE Julie held an excellent pre-PETS seminar in Orange (with a 4 way speech contest), and on Sunday, I was happy to attend Ridgefield Rotary's very successful "Taste of Ridgefield".

This week I have already visited Fairfield Rotary on Monday, New Haven on Tuesday, Walllingford Rotary and Ridgefield Rotary on Wednesday and Seymour-Oxford this morning. I hope to attend Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday.

Here is an update of current happenings:

1. District Haiti Relief: So far we have raised well over $20,000. The list of donors is set forth on the district website. $10,000 was wired to the Haiti Relief Committee of Rotary District 1060 (Dominican Republic) ten days ago and another $10,000 will be wired in the next day or so. I truly appreciate your generosity. I received the following message from Mr. Charles Adams, one of our contacts at the Haiti Relief Committee, who sent me the following message yesterday:

" . . .we are able to buy medical supplies at the best wholesale prices without commissions or markups . . . we buy them in the DR . . .We ship them to Haiti . . .so far all of our purchased medical supplies have been flown in by donated aircraft . . .They go straight to the Rotary warehouse and distribution system

in Port au Prince, although their route is often circuitous since we have no slot in the airport. This means that sometimes we fly them into a northern airstrip,

unload, then fly them by a Missionary Air Flights craft to Port au Prince. They are allocated and distributed under the direction of Dr. Claude Surena . . . Claud

is a dear friend, is the president of the Haitian Medical Association, and is the person President Preval appointed to supervise all medical supplies and

services from all sources coming into Haiti during this emergency.":

2. Just Footprints. I am forwarding $4,000 to Just Footprints to sponsor children with HIV/AIDs or cancer to enjoy a week or two at Colin's camp in the area of Pretoria, South Africa in early April. If you wish to give to this wonderful cause, please send me a check payable to "Rotary District 7980 Foundation, Inc." and make a notation - Just Footprints.

2. Red Hearts/Purple Pinkies Dinner: Registrations are coming in so we will definitely move forward with this fundraiser! 6:00 p.m. on Friday, February 12th at the Country House in East Haven (Route 80). Registration form is on the district website. Please join us!!

3. 2010-11 Grants Seminar. 8:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 20, 2010 at the Sheraton Four Points in Meriden. This is very, very important for clubs to learn how to apply for Foundation grants for the 2010-11 year. A registration form is on the district website.

4. RYLA - Friday-Sunday, February 26-28, 2010 at Homewood Suites in Stratford. Applications are due tomorrow and can be found on the district website under Vocational service.

5. GSE Inbound Lunch at the New Haven Country Club on Sunday, April 18,. Join us in welcoming the teams from Sydney, Australia and Pretoria, South Africa. The registration form is on the District Website under Committees - Rotary Foundation - GSE forms and resources.

6. District Conference, Burlington, VT April 30-May 2 - Registration is coming along nicely. If you haven't registered yet, please do so now!!! To register, please visit the homepage of the District Website. PDG Jim Lang and North Haven Rotarian Mark LeSage and I are heading up to Burlington next week to work on the AV arrangements for the Conference. .

Yours in Rotary Service,

Colin Gershon"

Colin M. Gershon
District Governor (2009-10)
Rotary International District 7980
265 Church Street, Suite 500
New Haven, CT 06510
203.782.7798

Dear PDGs and District Leaders:

The following is a communique I sent out to the Club Presidents and Assistant Governors this morning:

Colin

"Dear Club Presidents,

This past week, I made a third visit to the Beacon Falls Rotary Club (provisional), which now has over 20 members. This past Saturday, Millicent and I attended the first fundraiser held by the Black Rock Rotary Club (provisional), which also have over 20 members, held at the Black Rock branch of the Bridgeport Public Library System. There was a very nice crowd, including the Mayor of Bridgeport, PDGs Bob Vossler and Rick Benson, PRIVP Abe Gordon, AG Ed Davies as well as excellent representation from the Fairfield and Bridgeport lunch clubs. The event raised nearly $15,000 for the benefit of the branch, which reopened this summer. There was wine tasting, live jazz, and great hors d'oevres. We are working on completing the paperwork for submitting an application for the chartering of both clubs. Congratulations to Chuck Beebe of Beacon Falls and Robert Medvey of Black Rock for their tremendous leadership and my thanks to PDG Rick Benson for his invaluable help.

Millicent and I also enjoyed attending the 49th annual pancake breakfast sponsored by Newtown Rotary on Saturday morning. Danbury Rotarians led an Amber Alert registration program during the event and this coming week we will be attending New Haven Rotary's holiday party and Ridgefield Rotary's dinner and theatre event.

There are two special December 31st deadlines:

1. .Elect 2010-11 Club officers. Please take care of electing your club officers for the 2010-11 year on or before December 31, 2009. Please notify our District Secretary, Doug Lisk, of these officers at dklisk@aol.com and Rotary International through Member Access at www.rotary.org. 2010-11 Club Presidents must attend Pre-PETS to be held at Race Brook Country Club in Orange on January 30, 2010.

2. District Conference (Burlington, VT) - April 30-May 2, 2010. ANY ROTARIAN WHO REGISTERS ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2009, YOU WILL BE PART OF A RAFFLE FOR A FREE LODGING AND DINING AT THE SHERATON BURLINGTON/DAVIS CENTER FOR THE CONFERENCE WEEKEND (WORTH $775.00 FOR COUPLE). To register, go to www.rotary7980.org

3. Public Image: Any Rotarian interested in participating in our WEBE 108/WKNL "Rotary minutes" over the next 6 months, please contact, PR Chair Alpha Coiro at alphabetty1@att.net. We have already started putting the programs on the airwaves.

4. Recruit 2010-11 Scholars: The Future Vision Plan is changing the way we look at scholarships and those scholarships we offer. In 2010-11 we will be offering, thanks to the donations of our members and clubs, a cultural grant to study in another country for three months and to benefit from language immersion. In the past we have had scholars use the equivalent of of this grant to learn Spanish or French to improve their career performance or arabic to establish credentials for a future ambassadorial position.

New this year are the Service Above Self Scholarships. They are $10,000 grants that can be used for study in the U. S. by former high school scholarship students or students attending college in your community. Two of these grants are planned to be offered in the 2010-11 term.

Information on these new grants is being placed on our district website this week and we will be interviewing candidates in the Spring. Take a look at the requirements and contact some of your former high school scholarship candidates who are currently enrolled in colleges or universities. They may have the chance to be our first selectees.

Events in January, February, and March:

1. District Interact Assembly at Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, January 9, 2010. Chair: PDG Dick Benson, Madison Rotary Club. Dick will be sending out information to the Interact Advisors this week.

2. Pre-PETS at Race Brook Country Club, Orange, Connecticut, January 30, 2010 (2010-11 Club Presidents/Assistant Governors). Chair: DGE Julie Reppenhagen at jrepp@snet.net. The Northeast PETS Program will take place in Nashua, New Hampshire on March 11-13, 2010.

3. Red Hearts/Purple Pinkie Valentines Dinner/Dance - Friday evening, February 12, 2010. $55 per person at the Country House in East Haven (Route 80). Silent auction to raise funds to help us meeting the Gates Polio Challenge. Chair: PDG Paul Burns of North Branford Rotary at paulburns8@comcast.net. See attached flyer.

4. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) on February 26-28, 2010 at site to be announced. Chair: John Ralbovsky of Bridgeport Rotary - JRALBOVSKY@aol.com

5. New Generations Conference at Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut on March 6, 2010. Chair: Bernadette Cassella of North Haven Rotary - gcassella@snet.net. See attached registration form.

6. Rotary Leadership Institute at the Graduate Club on March 27, 2010. Chair: PDG Paul Burns of North Branford Rotary at paulburns8@comcast.net. Registration instructions will be provided in the next communique.

7. April 1, 2010: DEADLINE for Governor's Citation, RI Presidential Citations, Significant Achievement Awards, Pettengill and Osterman Awards, Abe Gordon and Donald Adams Awards, Literacy, Environmental, Foundation and Membership Awards.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Colin Gershon"

Colin M. Gershon
District Governor (2009-10)
Rotary International District 7980
265 Church Street, Suite 500
New Haven, CT 06510
203.782.7798

Clubs & Directory

District clubs and the days they meet with links to their web sites:

Monday
       Branford
       Byram/Cos Cob
       Fairfield
       Hamden
       Mystic
       Newtown
       Norwich Sunrise
       Waterford

Tuesday
       Ansonia
       Bridgeport
       Deep River
       Essex
       Groton/Ledyard
       Meriden
       Middletown
       Montville
       New Haven
       North Haven
       Stamford
       Stratford
       Waterbury (Meets every other Tuesday)
       Westport

Wednesday
       Brookfield
       Chester
       Colchester (Meets 2nd and 4th Wednesday)
       Cromwell
       Danbury
       Devon
       East Hampton
       Greenwich
       Guilford
       Naugatuck
       Niantic
       North Branford
       Norwalk
       Norwich
       Old Saybrook
       Ridgefield
       Wallingford
       West Haven

Thursday
       Bridgeport Sunrise
       Cheshire (Meeting alternates between 6:30pm and noon every other week)
       Clinton
       Derby/Shelton
       East Haddam (Meets 2nd & 4th Thursday)
       East Haven
       Ledyard
       Madison
       Milford
       Monroe
       New Canaan
       New London
       Seymour/Oxford (Meets 1st & 3nd Thursday)
       Woodbury-Southbury-Middlebury

Friday
       Danbury Sunrise
       Darien
       Orange
       The Stoningtons
       Trumbull
       Westport Sunrise
       Wilton
       Woodbridge Woodbridge

A History of District 7980

	Prior to 1915-16, Rotary Clubs were not divided into districts, but in that year, it was decided to do so for the better administration and service to the clubs.
	In 1915-16, we were assigned to District No. 1, the lowest district number, and remained there until 1918-19 when we became part of District No. 2; we became part of District 30, made up of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, which was subsequently renumbered in 1937-38 as District 199.
	In 1923, Donald Adams from the Rotary Club of New Haven, CT was named 1st Vice President of Rotary International and became the 15th President of R.I. for the year 1925-26. The “Donald Adams Outstanding Rotarian Award” was inaugurated in 1976 to honor a member who represents all around contribution to the Four Avenues of Service of Rotary Service. The first recipient was Bernhardt Erk of Cheshire, who later became the District Governor in 1980-81.
	Effective March 20, 1938, District 199 was divided into two districts and our part was included in District 200. In 1949-50 the boundaries of our District were redefined as District 292 comprising the counties of Fairfield, NewHaven, Middlesex and New London, but in1957-58 we were renumbered 798.
	Charles W. Pettengill of the Rotary Club of Greenwich, CT was elected to the Board of Directors of R.I. in 1963 and then became the 54th President of R.I. for 1964-65. To honor this achievement, the “Charles W. Pettengill Outstanding Club Award” was instituted and awarded to that club which has distinguished itself by building an outstanding record of service in any one or a combination of Rotary’s Four Avenues of Service during the preceding three years. The Rotary Club of New Haven was the first club so honored.
	Marcel Corbat of the Rotary Club of Stamford was elected as a Director of R.I. in 1970 and became 1st Vice President of R.I. in 1971-72. Effective July 1, 1991, R.I. added a “0” to all District numbers, hence we became District 7980.
	Abraham I. Gordon of the Rotary Club of Bridgeport was elected Director of R.I. in 1998 and then moved on to become 1st Vice President of R.I. for 1999-2000. The History of District 7980 continues as time progresses.