Sparks December 12th 2024 (Dec. 11, 2024)

Feb 06, 2025

Eric Cooper & Leia Miller

Bousquet Sport

Feb 13, 2025

Madison Quinn

Strong Little Souls

View entire list

Tons of Food

This year's food drive was another success! Cash contributions (fines and collections at local stores) came in just under $3,000. 4133 pounds of food were collected this year as well. Pittsfield Public Schools contributed 2815 pounds and the balance was gathered at Stop & Shop (1088 pounds) and Wal*Mart (230 pounds). Cash and food donations were just under the totals from last year.

Special thanks to: John Perreault, Jeff Hassett, President Tom Bernard, Alex Reczkowski, Sylvia Zygawski (and family), Ben Wax, Dave Hall, Ron Latham, John O'Brien,** Shaun Heimann and Jay Bailly - these folks staffed the collections at Stop & Shop and Wal*Mart. Fred Dery & Jim Bronson spent a rainy morning collecting food donations at the schools and delivered same to the Salvation Army HQ. Extra thanks to Shaun Heimann & Jay Bailly who chair the food drive committee. ** There are questions concerning Mr. O'B's appearance on the preceding list. Sparks Tower and the Ministry of Finance are conducting a joint investigation.

Membership Proposal

The board has completed the third round vote of acceptance of the proposal for new members:

Emily Badger, a new Therapist / Licensed Clinical Social Worker in town (read about her on the ellie Mental Health site or on Psychology Today); coming from Tennessee, where she was a member of the Rotary Club of Columbia Breakfast. Alex Reczkowski is proposing her.

Diana Knaebe, transferring from the R.C. of Decatur, IL. Ms. Knaebe is the president and CEO of the Brien Center. She looks to join the Club under the classification of behavioral healthcare / healthcare. President Tom Bernard is the proposer.

David Harrington, commercial lending team leader and a VP at Lee Bank, Dave is proposed by Erik Ungewitter and looks to join under the Finance Business Banking classification.

Patrick's Pub Luncheon

Rotarians joined together for our second annual Patrick Pub's luncheon to start off the new year! Great to see the turnout being a lot better this time around.

Reminder that the club is scheduled to return to our regular luncheons at Mazzeos!

Students of the Month

We were joined by our Students of the Month -

Yanet Asriake:

A senior from Taconic High School whose interests include Computer Science and Astrophysics.

She is part of NHS, Link Leader, Class Council, and the Youth Advisory Board.

Laura Bronson:

A senior from Pittsfield High School whose interests include Business Law and Finance.

She is part of NHS, Link Leader, Class Council, and President of both Latin & Book Clubs.

Mark Your 2025 Calendars Now

Please note these important dates for 2025:

Saturday April 5th – Our annual Rotary Auction with a Pirate Theme

Rob Harrison has provided tix for each Rotarian to distribute. Each ticket saves you $10 entrance fee at the door. Rob is requesting that Rotarians expand the number of items and donations.

The weekend of Saturday May 3rd – Rotary District Conference held in Pittsfield and our Service Day Project (Food packing event). The conference has a Kentucky Derby Theme.
Saturday May 10th - Paul Harris Dinner at the Country Club of Pittsfield

Invocation Duties

Ed Forfa 2/06

Roger Gibboni 2/13

February 3rd Thursday 2/20

Dave Hall 2/27

Tom Hamel 3/6

Robert Harrison 3/13

March 3rd Thursday 3/20

Jeff Hassett 3/27

Please make sure if you are to be absent from your assigned invocation date that you secure a replacement or let President Tom know of your absence.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Happy Birthday Wishes Go out to our January B-days:

Stacy Hebb (01/13)

Happy Anniversaries Go Out to:

John McLaughlin (01/08/98 - 27yrs)

Kelly Marion (01/10/02 - 23yrs)

Behzad Parhizgar (01/16/86 - 39 yrs)

Jay Bailly (01/19/06 - 19yrs)

Nicholas Kirchner (01/26/23 - 2yrs)

Christian Bianchi (01/26/23 - 2yrs)

Ed Forfa (01/27/00 - 25yrs)

David Cinaflone (01/30/86 - 39 yrs)

Club Lottery

New Year, New Beginnings and New Club Lottery Card! No winners yet, the pot is still up for grabs!

Who will the lucky winner be!