During his 2013-14 year as the Rotary District 7980 Governor, Dr. Richard Bassett must visit over 40 clubs along the shoreline and interior of Connecticut. Additionally, he is often present on Tuesday mornings at the Breakfast Nook Restaurant, his home club in North Haven. Recently, at his official governor’s visit in town, he joked that three years ago his name had been placed in nomination by the North Haven club when he missed a meeting. Reporting that his family has resided in the community since the 1600’s, he noted that although there had been a former governor in the club several years ago, he is the first to serve while actually a member in North Haven.
In addition to making official visits, the governor is available to induct new members. His latest inductee to the North Haven club in early September was a Wallingford resident named Ian Brooks. After months of volunteer service at Rotary events, in addition to extensive volunteer work at Master’s Manna in the neighboring community, the candidate was recently deemed ready for official membership. With his wife, Beth Brooks, looking on, the nominee was sworn in by the district governor, and received a lapel pin from his sponsor, President Elect Nick D’Ambrosia.
During his official address, Bassett indicated that he is keenly interested “in helping clubs to engage Rotarians” in order to ensure that the majority are truly active members. He said that this “allows a club to accomplish amazing results in their projects, fundraisers, and their meetings.” He continued, “As district leader I am trying very hard to reduce the amount of time that Rotarians need to spend on district events. As such, we have started moving many of our district events from Saturday’s to evenings while also reducing the length of the events”. Another goal is to provide “resources to clubs in the areas of membership, public relations, The Rotary Foundation, social media, and database help.”
Indicating that he was proud of his home club of nearly 50 members, the governor described the North Haven Club as “a vibrant club” with a “clear leadership succession plan” while being heavily involved with youth programs, scholarships, student exchanges, hands on assistance to citizens in need, and even national and global initiatives. He noted that “A Day of Wine & Roses” on September 29th and the annual pancake breakfast on November 10th, are the two major fund raising activities for the North Haven club.
Text & photo courtesy of David Marchesseault, Rotary Publicity Chairman
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