August 21, 2026/ Volume 39, No. 6
 

Lori N. Jones

Director of Programming

Regina A. Quick Center for The Arts 

Fairfield University

Since 2013, Lori N. Jones has worked with the Quick Center team to build a nationally recognized university performing arts center with a focus on new programs that support artist creative residencies and making high-caliber arts experiences available to all. 

Lori previously worked with NC State Live and the American Dance Festival. Lori received her B.A. from North Carolina State University. In 2021, she served as faculty for the Regional Dance Development Initiative, RDDI: New England Now. She has been on a number of artist selection and granting panels, including her current work as an Advisor for the National Dance Project, and was honored to be a member of the 2018 class of Fairfield County Business Journal’s 40 under Forty. 

Lori has served in numerous voluntary leadership positions locally and nationally including as a founding member of the Fairfield Emerging Leaders Organization as part of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves as a new member of the board for the Barnum Museum.

MEETING LOCATION

 

GREEN'S FARMS CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

71 Hillandale Rd

Westport

 

CAN’T BE THERE? JOIN VIA ZOOM

 

ZOOM LINK - CLICK HERE

Come for coffee and breakfast at 7:00am. 

The meeting will start at 7:30am.  

Meeting Opener: Joe Quinn

Greeters: Paul Keblish, Luisa Fairborne

VENMO SUSTAINING MEMBER

($100 annual)

@Joseph-Renzulli-1

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 - August 14

Kate Guthrie

Executive Director 

Under One Roof Inc., at the Marvin

   

Kate Guthrie shared how Under One Roof is connecting generations in the community by addressing the needs of affordable housing for older adults and accessible early childhood education for young children.

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Tom Karrel built a short experience of the art of a random conversation at the club meeting. He shared how daily practice of starting spontaneous face to face interactions can meet the need for a genuine sense of community and belonging and his book ‘The Lost Art of Random Conversations’.

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Westport Sunrise Rotary will have a club social for members and significant others, please RSVP at the link here 

Rotary Book Group meeting Sep. 10

Please join the Rotary book group to discuss North Woods by Daniel Mason, on Thursday, Sept 10, 6pm, at Pat Carey’s home at 16 Stoneboat Rd.  
Open to all members of Westport Rotary and Sunrise Rotary and their partners (even if the member doesn’t attend!).  We’ll have dinner first, then discuss the book. Library has ordered 5 copies of the book that will be made available behind the circulation desk. Mention the Rotary Book Group.
 

Please rsvp to Pat at patriciahcarey1@gmail.com by September 8.  
    We look forward to seeing you!

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Mark Soboslai shared the phenomenon of ‘doorway effect’ and how we can learn to memorize large amount of information with ‘two room’ strategy.

Our guest speaker Kate Guthrie won the attic prize

Ken was the jokester 

 

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.

 

Thank you for your service,

Bruce Fritz

bufritz@gmail.com

203-247-1099

 

Meal Servers Schedule

 

September 5, 2026 Mark Soboslai, Liz Wong

October 3, 2026 Katie Augustyn, Luisa Fairchild

November 7, 2026 George Mausumian, Ken Bernhard

December 5, 2026 Anil Nair, Bob Galan

 

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Join Date
Mark Soboslai
August 11, 2017
9 years
 
Jim Wong
August 19, 2022
4 years
 
Sam Gault
August 19, 2022
4 years
 
Vincent Penna
August 19, 2022
4 years
 

MEETING OPENERS SCHEDULE           

 

August       7     Wolgast

                  14   Soboslai

                  21   Quinn

 

September    4   Kaufman

                     11  Keblish

                     18  Kiniry

 

October        2   Scordato

                     9    Paul

                    16   Engelke

                    23   Monroy-Smith

 

 

GREETERS SCHEDULE

August           Keblish; Fairborne

September     Mathias; Nair

October         Paul; Plomnski

November     Haberstroh; Sarelli

December     Robinson; Mullen

 

 

2026

 

August

7: Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon High School, Peggy Lovro

17: Under One Roof, Norwalk, Kate Guthrie

24: Lori N. Jones, Quick Center for the Performing Arts

31: No meeting

 

September

4: K-9 Westport, James Loomer

11: Marshall Mayer, Ukrainian Aid International and possible Ukrainian officials

18: Norwalk Symphony, Huw Jones

25: No meeting

 

                

President: Jim Ezzes

Immediate Past President: Mark Soboslai

President Elect: Joe Scordato

Treasurer: Katie Augustyn

Secretary: Yvonne Senturia

At Large Members: Ted Freedman, Aimee Monroy-Smith, Mukesh Kumar

Committee Chairs:

Charitable Giving: Yvonne Senturia

Youth Services: Thomas Engelke

Membership: Liz Wong

Fellowship/Social: Alma Sarelli

Fundraising: Bruce Paul

International: Ken Bernhard

Hands On: Rob Hauck, Bruce Fritz

Sunshine: George Masumian

Speakers: Steven Chin

Peace: Dennis Wong

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