caption:
Honored
Betty Hale was recently awarded the YMCA Distinguished Leadership Award. At left is Harold Sparrow, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Hartford and on the right is Amanda Kelly, executive director of Hale YMCA Youth and Family Center. Courtesy photo.



The 2020 Robert C. Knox Jr. YMCA Distinguished Leadership Award recipient Betty Hale is a tireless advocate for residents of northeastern Connecticut and the driving force behind getting the Hale YMCA Youth and Family Center built. She envisioned a community center where families could participate in healthy activities in a supportive environment and through her passionate work, this vision has become a reality. Her continuing commitment to the Y and the communities it serves is the reason she was selected to receive the YMCA of Greater Hartford’s most prestigious award.
Harold Sparrow, president and CEO, YMCA of Greater Hartford, presented the award, the highest honor the YMCA of Greater Hartford pays to its volunteer leaders who exemplify the ideals of the non-profit and their dedication to preserving the responsibilities and opportunities the Y has to offer.
“For Betty, philanthropy has always been about helping her community. Betty’s leadership, vision, and philanthropic investments led to the construction of the Hale YMCA Youth & Family Center, the first full-service YMCA to serve northeastern Connecticut. Betty is a leader and influencer. One could easily argue that it took a village to build the Hale YMCA, and Betty was the mayor of that village.
“Betty has been an exemplary volunteer, philanthropist, visionary, and dedicated member of our Y community.  It is with huge gratitude that we honor her passionate work with this distinguished award for the impact she’s had the Northeast Connecticut community and the Hale YMCA.” said Sparrow.
At 91, Betty shows no signs of slowing down and is still actively involved in looking for new ways the Y can help the community. One successful program Betty champions offers free swim lessons to all second grade children in Putnam and she is an advocate for expanding accessibility to summer day camps and classes to help students and families succeed.
“I deeply appreciate receiving this award,” said Betty. “To help promote the arts, culture, and healthy living opportunities for children, families and seniors is important to me. There are always more needs in the community that come up that by working together the Y can help meet.”

..

A forecast is a reasonable prediction of what will happen in the future.  Most notably, the word forecast is associated with the weather.  This is evident when I googled the word in order to make sure that I had an accurate definition and instead, I learned what the weather was going to be like for the next few days. However, not to be distracted from my Google search, this column is, indeed, about forecasting the weather … Or is it?
Being in a business where outside dining and events are a frequent occurrence, I am often asked to predict the weather.  Because of this, I have the weather app handy on my iPhone and can, within seconds, respond with a relatively accurate, hourly prediction, of the weather at my workplace, my home, New York (a frequent day trip) and our favorite city in Germany.  I don’t mind predicting the weather and often feel quite confident in my skills in combining a day forecast with the hourly forecast and the live radar.  The problem is, that I cannot, with any certainty, render an accurate prediction for a time frame which is beyond a period of 36 hours.  In other words, if you want to plan an outdoor event 6 months from now, you better have a Plan B!
Life does not always go as planned but we rarely, if ever, take this into account and prepare an alternate plan like we would do if we were planning an outdoor event?  Of course, a wedding celebration is one of the most significant events in a lifetime, but even a simple cookout is offered with a backup plan in place such as an umbrella for the grill master and seating around the kitchen table.  So why don’t we do this with our more everyday tasks and events, like picking out an outfit? I could settle on outfit A for an event, but, if I develop a blister on a 3-mile walk, rendering the chosen shoes painful, I could always plan for a more comfortable, outfit B choice.  This could save me not only so much time when I discover the painful blister before getting dressed, but also, increase my self-esteem because I am proud that I thought ahead and planned for an alternative.  Likewise, I may plan to watch a particular movie one evening but find that because I spent an hour on the phone chatting with a friend, I am me too tired to start a movie. Rather than feeling disappointed, I could follow my Plan B and spend an hour catching up on a reality show I recorded several days earlier.  
 Of course, not all disappointments or adjustments in life can be planned for, rendering the option of a known Plan B almost impossible to predict.  It is easy to run inside when it begins to rain, but much more challenging to head down a path you may never have even considered.  But then again, a Plan B may, in some cases, turn out even better than you could have ever been able to imagine!
Predict? Predict?
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

.

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The Putnam Rotary Club recently bestowed Rotary’s highest honor on seven local people.
The Paul Harris, named for the founder of the Rotary Club, recognizes the sometimes behind-the-scenes service of Rotarians and community members.
Bill and Terri Pearsall received the award for their selfless work to help feed the community. They work tirelessly at Daily Bread in Putnam, according to Rotarian Karen Osbrey, who nominated them. The couple is instrumental in the Thanksgiving Baskets that help more than 300 families. They also chair the Empty Bowls fund-raiser and they started the free Thanksgiving dinner for those who would not have a Thanksgiving otherwise. It started at their home more than 30 years ago and when the need grew, the dinner moved to the Congregational Church of Putnam. Along the way they have been members of many organizations including Aspinock and the Arts Council. Bill Pearsall is Putnam’s town historian.
Kristen Willis, immediate past president of the club, received a Paul Harris. Rotarian nominator Marc Archambault called Willis a “fearless leader” who didn’t let a pandemic stop the club’s good works. “Every week was a challenge and every week she rose to the challenge,” Archambault said. And the community’s needs were met.
Ben Williams, better known as “Big Ben,” was awarded a Paul Harris. More than 4,000 acres of open space has been preserved for future generations under his leadership, said Sarah Heminway, director of the Connecticut Audubon Society of Pomfret Center, who has worked with Williams for many years. He is a proud Marine, she said and a lifelong educator. She added he’s instrumental in the creation of the new Audubon center. Williams, in thanking the Rotary, said he was honored. “What we have here is so rare and so precious and the community ‘gets it’,” he said. He vowed to continue to be a “cheerleader for the natural world.”
Emily Barnes, who serves her community through the Putnam Rotary Club’s Rotaract Club, as a volunteer “market master” for the Putnam Saturday Farmers’ Market, and in many other roles, received a Paul Harris. Rotarian Delpha Very, who nominated Barnes for the award, called her thoughtful and honest. “You always see the real Emily.” She spends nearly every weekend in service to her community, she said, as a Rotaract member, the farmers’ market master and more. Barnes also takes care of the calendar at Daily Bread — no small feat.
Rotarian Pam Brown, who nominated Tom Pandolfi for his Paul Harris, recounted Pandolfi’s service in Vietnam as a Green Beret and his service to veterans, whether it’s guardsmen or reservists or veterans. He was instrumental in the success of the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse. That organization serves all northeastern Connecticut towns. The group’s meetings are now held every week and 40 to 70 veterans take part each week. Pandolfi helps veterans navigate complex issues that plaque veterans and was the spark that grew into the Foodshare program that has fed thousands of northeastern people for the last 15 months. Brown said, “He is an example of the Rotary motto ‘Service Above Self.’”
Rotarian Rachael Johnston was chosen to describe the contributions of the next Paul Harris winner, her husband Shawn Johnston. She recounted his involvement in the community from an early age including coaching and, at 11, his first foray into politics, licking envelopes for a candidate for state rep. Little did he know, she joked, that he would be a state rep later in life, serving his constituents with independence and integrity for 16 years. Service is a core part of him. After retiring from Eversource after 33 years, he turned right around and joined nonprofits in service to the community.

captions, page 2:
From top:
Ben Williams thanks the club for the award while Sarah Heminway of the Audubon and Rotarian Joe Adiletta look on.
Rotarian Karen Osbrey with award winners Terri and Bill Pearsall.
Rotarian Pam Brown with winner Tom Pandolfi
Rotarian Delpha Very, left, with winner Emily Barnes.

captions, page 10:
Marc Archambault and winner immediate past president Kris Willis.
Rachael Johnston and award winner Shawn Johnston. Linda Lemmon photos.