Sharon Walker Epps became Chief Executive Officer of The Rowan Center on January 1, 2025. Previously, she served as Board Chair of The Rowan Center from June 2019 until April 2024, when she joined the staff as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to becoming Board Chair, she served as Secretary of the Board and as a volunteer sexual assault crisis advocate.
Sharon has been an active volunteer in her children’s schools and in her community and served on the Board of Trustees for Hamilton College. During her career in finance, she worked in investment banking at Banker’s Trust and in fixed income sales and trading at Goldman Sachs. Sharon received her BA in Economics from Hamilton College and her MBA from the Wharton School.
The Club Calendar is at the end of this newsletter. Please refer to it to see the meeting schedule, social events and more. It will be updated when speakers and events are added.

The updated Greeters and Openers schedule is also near the end of the newsletter, so please check to see if you are on there!
Friday Meeting - January 23
Netta Levy, LifeCare Concierge
Netta Levy, the founder of LifeCare Concierge, which helps families navigate the complexities of aging and elder care, shared her unbiased and independent care services. Her approach is to provide care and support when one needs it with comprehensive assessment and resources.
Luisa Fairborne was inducted as the newest Westport Sunrise Rotarian on January 23. Luisa is a media and marketing professional, and is the new publisher of Westport Coastal Neighbors magazine. She is shown here with her sponsor, Ron Holtz, and her husband, Henry Chapman. Welcome to Westport Sunrise Rotary, Luisa!
Alma Sarelli was our Opener and shared inclusion values at Westport Sunrise Rotary of being a Rotarian.
Mukesh Kumar was the lucky winner last week.
Aimee, Mark and Dennis all in a row in between sessions at the District Assembly.
The deadline to purchase tickets is 8AM February 6th
Raffle tickets are $50 each and each ticket will be assigned a randomly selected pair of numbers, one for each team. If those two numbers correspond to the final score of the Super Bowl (or at the end of any quarter), that person wins. Ticket purchasers need not be at the Super Bowl, watch the Super Bowl, or even care about football to win. Odds of winning are the same regardless. 50% of all ticket sales go directly to charitable giving and 50% goes to the winners of the raffle. Tickets will be sold through the morning of the number drawing (Friday, February 6, two days before the Super Bowl). Tell your friends!
The volunteer spots are filled, but please come and shop to help fill the food pantry at Homes with Hope's Gillespie Center! Hope to see you there!
The Rotary Clubs in Area 2 - Westport Sunrise, Westport, Norwalk and Wilton - are combining to host a Meal Packing Event on Saturday, February 21, 9-11am. We are partnering with Saugatuck Congregational Church and the event will take place in their large community room on the ground floor. We are also partnering with The Outreach Program in MA, who is providing the ingredients and the equipment needed. We will pack over 12,000 meals to be donated to the Gillespie Center and the Open Doors food pantries.We need many volunteers for this community hands-on service event, so please sign up now at this link.
New Rotary Book Club starting in February
Yvonne Senturia and Eileen Lavigne are reconstituting the Rotary Book Club--please join us!
Here are the details of our first meeting: The book is All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall, the Westport Reads 2026 selection. Monday, February 16th, 5:30pm. Light dinner followed by discussion. Yvonne and Ron’s home—17 Blue Ribbon Drive, Westport Rotary members and spouses/significant others welcome (Rotary member does not need to be present!) The Library has plenty of copies of the book in print and electronic format available to check out. The author is speaking about the book at the Library 3 days later, on February 19th. Click below for more info on that. RSVP to Eileen at elavigne@gmail.com We hope to see you there!
Just a few of the many Sunrisers who helped out at the State of the Town event at the Westport Library on Sunday afternoon: Dennis Wong, Rick Jaffe, Joe Scordato and Jim Ezzes, who were all wearing their fashionable WSR attire.
GUESTS LAST MEETING:
Netta Levy, Speaker
Henry Chapman, spouse of new member Luisa Fairborne
Hunter Wheat, Westport Rotarian
Tucker Davies, Norwalk Rotary co-president
Nick Sarelli, husband of Alma Sarelli
GILLESPIE CENTER COOKING / SERVING SCHEDULE
One of our club’s ongoing and rewarding commitments to community service is our commitment to serving dinner meals on the first Saturday of each month at the Gillespie Center here in Westport.
We are back to serving meals at the newly renovated Gillespie Center. We have the option to drop off prepared meals at 4:30 PM or to bring meals to serve in person at 4:40 PM (allow extra time if the meals need to be reheated). Meal service should include a main dish, side dish, vegetable, and dessert (no nuts or shellfish please). The number of meals to provide, currently 25, will be confirmed to you to in advance when it is your turn to serve.
If you choose to drop off prepared meals at 4:30 PM you have the option to prepare homemade meals, purchase prepared meals at the store/restaurant of your choice, or you can contact Fresh Market on the Post Road in Westport where you can purchase prepared meals (protein, two sides and cookies for $7 - $10 per meal). If you choose the Fresh Market option call Tory at 203 227-2910 on the Monday prior to your meal service to place your order. You can pay for the meals when you pick them up.
If you are unable to work on your assigned Saturday you will be responsible to call other Rotarians on the list to switch dates.
Meal Servers Schedule February 7, 2026 Joe Watson Yvonne Senturia March 7, 2926 Rachelle Norzelus Bruce Paul April 4, 2026 Joe Renzulli Mark Mathias May 2, 2026 Steven Chin Matt Mandell June 6, 2026 Joe Scordato Paul Keblish July 4, 2926 BBQ
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Join Date
Anil Nair
May 1, 2009
17 years
Ron Holtz
May 1, 1991
35 years
Mark Mathias
May 3, 2003
23 years
Paris Looney
May 3, 2019
7 years
Liz Wong
May 4, 2012
14 years
MEETING OPENERS SCHEDULE
February 6 Press
13 Fritz
20 Watson
March 6 Senturia
13 Bernhard
20 Renzulli
27 Klein
April 10 Mullen
17 Augustyn
GREETERS SCHEDULE
February Masumian; Jean-Baptiste
March Fritz; TBD
April Mandell; Violette
May Monroy-Smith; Zielinski
June Wetmore; Summers
2026
February
6: Sharon Walker Epps, Rowan Center
13: Laurence A. Caso, The Klein Memorial Auditorium, Bridgeport
20: Ceci Maher, State Senator
27: NO MEETING
March
6: Gavin MacMahon, FassForward 13: Ckiff Sirlin, Buy Build Fund 20: Bill Harmer, Westport Library Common Ground 27: TBD
April
3: NO MEETING - GOOD FRIDAY/PASSOVER
10: Horizons Academy
17: Samantha Sarelli, Ms. Globe USA 2005, social activist
The Rotary Clubs in Area 2 - Westport Sunrise, Westport, Norwalk and Wilton - are combining to host a Meal Packing Event on Saturday, February 21, 9-11am. We are partnering with Saugatuck Congregational Church and the event will take place in their large community room on the ground floor. We are also partnering with The Outreach Program in MA, who is providing the ingredients and the equipment needed. We will pack over 12,000 meals to be donated to the Gillespie Center and the Open Doors food pantries.
Just a few of the many Sunrisers who helped out at the State of the Town event at the Westport Library on Sunday afternoon: Dennis Wong, Rick Jaffe, Joe Scordato and Jim Ezzes, who were all wearing their fashionable WSR attire.
