Rose City BNI
of Norwich, Connecticut
Rose City BNI News
October 2011
Rose City BNI Member (and past members) work and volunteer for
Extreme Makeover in Joplin, MO
From left: Dino Tudisca, Peter Morneault, Peter Charron
In a time when a sluggish economy impacts both businesses and individuals, one local small businesses owner gave hope to the less fortunate. Dino Tudisca, owner of Exterior Solutions, LLC in Bozrah, CT, brought his experience and skills to Joplin, Missouri.
On May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado, with winds exceeding 200 mph, ripped an east-to-west path of destruction ¾ mile wide and 6 miles long, through the town of Joplin. The tornado destroyed over 8000 structures, including homes, businesses, and schools. It also killed 162 people, making it the 6th deadliest tornado in U.S. history. While the storm destroyed nearly 30 percent of the city, it impacted the entire population of roughly 50,000 residents.
Tudisca received a phone call from a friend and Senior Project Manager for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Tony Mariani. “I need you in Joplin. We’re going to build 7 houses in 7 days.” Tudisca never hesitated, “I’m in.” He had worked alongside Mariani, as a volunteer, for Extreme builds in Voluntown, CT (Dec 2008), Suffield, CT (June 2009), and Springfield, MA (Aug 2011).
A common thread in all 4 builds were the involvement of the local Home Builder Associations. Tudisca is a member of the Builders Association of Eastern CT, and has met exceptional builder members on every build that he has participated in for EMHE. “ Without the support of the local HBA’s and their member builders and vendors, these projects could never have been completed. It is heartwarming to know that so many people in the construction industry use their talents for the benefit of others.“
The home remodeler was not alone in his enthusiasm and efforts to help a community rebuild their town. His philanthropic friends, Peter Charron of Voluntown, CT and Peter Morneault, of Ledyard, CT joined him in Joplin, a few weeks later. Tudisca’s social media updates and daily phone calls inspired them to help strangers, half way across the country. Thankfully, each of them had the support and encouragement of their wives and families.
As a member of the Rose City BNI chapter in Norwich, CT, Tudisca knew he could reach out to a BNI chapter in Joplin. He befriended 2 members who truly understood the BNI motto, “Givers Gain.” Amy Schoefield, from A Touch of Splendor – a cleaning service, welcomed the opportunity to volunteer their services to 4 of the 7 homes. She also opened her home to him and let him borrow a bicycle for some rest and relaxation. Another Joplin BNI member, Derrick Brown, from R&D Lawncare and Landscaping, worked tirelessly to complete landscaping projects and install irrigation systems, as a volunteer.
Tudisca stated, “It was, and I’m sure will continue to be, a very heart-wrenching and touching experience. I met a lot of local residents who lost not only their homes and possessions, but loved ones as well. But they continue to drive on with strong resolve. They are determined to rebuild and to remain in Joplin. Each person I met spoke of themselves as a survivor and not a victim.”
He continued, “I was honored to be a part of his build, and in many ways, BNI is directly responsible for my involvement. If it was not for my fellow Rose City BNI member, Bruce “Bruno” Hayn from Home Designs by Bruno, I never would have had this experience. He asked me to be a part of his team when we built an Extreme home for the Girard family three years ago, and for the Landa family in 2009. Those experiences changed my life. Joplin has changed my life even more profoundly.”
We are proud to have members like Dino Tudisca and are thankful for his friends Peter Charron and Peter Morneault – both former members of Rose City BNI. Thank you for making a difference!
The history making, 2-hour Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode is scheduled to air on Friday January 20, 2012 at 8 pm on ABC television.
October 2011
Rose City BNI's New Leadership Team - Oct 6, 2011!
Today, we give thanks to Chris Colter and the 2010-2011 LT team for their wisdom and guidance. We appreciate all of the work you have done. Thank you! We also congratulate our new president Matthew Biggins and the new LT team for the 2011-2012 term and we look forward to yet another great year of opportunity for the greatest BNI chapter around!
From left to right back row: Brandon Hyde, Nigel Sealy, Steve Muller, Sue Mattern, April Woodcock, Jim Daly, Ed Muenzner
Front row: Tim Murphy, Sue Sullivan, Kelly Whipple, Marissa Miller, Matthew Biggins, Melissa Biggins, Carol Klammer, Chris Colter, Mike Anderson
A Message from Matt Biggin, our new President:
And so begins another fantastic year with Rose City BNI. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Katie Weber and the staff at Holiday Inn for a fantastic hot breakfast! I would also like to thank the members that have been supportive in the changeover of leadership. The new team is looking forward to serve you to the best of our abilities.
June 2011
Rose City BNI's Annual Scholarship Awards for 2011
One June 8, 2011 we held our 2nd annual Golf Tournament for the Rose City BNI Scholarship Fund. In our 2nd year the amount given away to local High School Seniors, as well as last years winner Elizabeth Bartlett was $5000 in Scholarships. Our Golf Tournament raised somewhere in the ballpark of $7500 which places us in excellent position to once again next year make a difference in our community and in the lives of our members. A great Big thank you to Matt Biggins, Michelle Hinton, Marlene Owen, Cathy Morneault, April Woodcock, Tim Murphy and the scholarship committee, and of course to all of you who golfed or donated/purchased something from the silent auction. We could not have done this with out you.
We had the pleasure of several college bound seniors with us this week. It was a pleasure to see Anthony Sciola and Matthew Sullivan as well as our scholarship winner Shanelle D'Alessio and her parents Helen and Doug.
November 2010
Joe Pennell Receives the Giver's Gain Award!
Cathy Morneault and April Woodcock Each Receive the Giver's Gain Award!
Click here to see video.
Dino Tudisca Wins First Prize in BNI's 25th Anniversary Video Contest for "My BNI Story" Amateur
Rose City BNI enters 4 videos to BNI Headquarters to celebrate BNI's 25th Anniversary Contest
October 2010
Leadership Team Change Oct. 7, 2010
We had an EXCITING meeting with the new Leadership Team taking over today, led by the world renowned Cosmic Chris Colter as our new President! Chris started off his reign by presenting his leadership team. Shannon Quesada as VP, Edwin Muenzner as Treasurer, Melissa Biggins as Secretary, Matthew Biggins as Education Coordinator, Andrew H Nollman as Chapter Mentor, Betsy Perkins Tim Murphy as Scholarship Committee Chair, Susan R Hull, Brandon Hyde, Kevin D. Wickless, Carol Klammer, Frederic B. Allyn III as our Visitor Hosts, Mark Sciola, April Heavens-Woodcock, Nicole Colter, Jim Daly, Dino Tudisca & Jolene Bowers make up the Membership Committee, and Kelly Whipple, Stacey Jimenez & Cathy Morneault as our Public Relations Team and finally the Event Planners for this year are Michelle Hinton, Richard Urso & Marlene Owen. That is a whopping 24 AMAZING individuals taking leading roles in the World's most Energetic, Fantastic & Awe Inspiring Rose City BNI.
Breaking News - Rose City BNI Gives $2,000.00 to the United Way of SE CT!
Click the picture enlarge.
Oct. 7, 2010: In the true spirit of Giver's Gain, the Rose City BNI - Norwich, CT organized a Golf Tournament to help raise funds for not only their Chapter's Scholarship Fund that is awarded to a deserving senior each year, but also to assist the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut to support the needs of the local community. Today a check for $2000 was presented to Alice Soscia, of United Way of Southeastern Connecticut by members of the Chapter's Leadership Team.
December 2009
Rose City BNI Members receive BNI Givers Gain Community Service Award
Bruno Hayn, Dino Tudisca, Mark Bogue and Jennifer Tillinghast were awarded the BNI Giver's Gain Community Service Award on Dec. 17, 2009. Also pictured is Melissa Biggins, Chapter President, not pictured is Jennifer Tillinghast.
October 2009
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE AREA’S PIONEER IN BUSINESS NETWORKING
Norwich, CT
Date of Release: October 15, 2009
The Rose City Chapter of BNI has recently selected and inducted a new group of officers for its upcoming yearlong term, beginning October 1, 2009. President will be Melissa Biggins, owner of Inner Balance Therapeutic Massage. Vice President will be James Daly of Northwestern Mutual. And Gerry Rucker, owner of G. Rucker and Associates, LLC, will hold the position of Secretary/Treasurer for a second term. A team of 14 other local business professionals supports the officers including a membership committee, visitor hosts, event planners, an education coordinator, a public relations coordinator and chapter mentor.
BNI (Business Networking International) is a business referral organization that provides a positive, supportive, structured environment for the development and exchange of quality business referrals. The relationships developed are especially helpful in today’s volatile economic atmosphere. Only one business professional is accepted per business specialty in each chapter, creating a community atmosphere.
Rose City BNI is Connecticut’s largest BNI chapter, with over 70 members to date. The chapter meets weekly to refer business to one another. The members are given access to a sales and marketing team of professionals who work for each other on a daily basis. In addition to generating a tremendous amount of business for its members, Rose City BNI offers education on networking skills and public speaking along with opportunities to develop leadership skills to help members become better businesspeople. “The benefits of BNI go far beyond the referrals. Not only has my business grown, but through my membership I have also grown personally and professionally.” says newly appointed chapter president, Melissa Biggins.
Aside from referrals, the Rose City chapter has become an integral part of the community by coordinating and directing events such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Voluntown and the Landa 615 Project in Griswold where the group utilized its resources to help build homes for families in need. Rose City BNI has raised funds and collected donations for The Tommy Toy Fund, United Way of Southeastern Connecticut, and Sunrise Rotary and Rotary Club of Norwich. Through these projects, the members of Rose City BNI wholeheartedly live their motto “Givers Gain”.
The newly inducted leadership team is planning community service activities and fund-raisers in an effort to top the over $10,000 they donated in cash and services to local community projects last year. The first event planned will be a day of caring in conjunction with the United Way at Camp Laurel on Saturday October 17th where the group plans to assist the Girl Scout camp with their fall cleanup.
Rose City BNI encourages guests to join them for an energetic, entertaining and educational meeting every Thursday morning at 7 am at the Holiday Inn in Norwich. And don’t bother to drink your coffee first, you won’t need it!
For more information on BNI or to visit the chapter, contact chapter President, Melissa Biggins at 860-608-7453 or melissa@innerbalancect.com.
March 2009
Rose City BNI donates 501 lbs of food for the Gemma Moran United Way/Labor Food Center!
Our team raised 501 lbs of food, with 1.3 lbs of food equaling 1 meal; our food donation provided 385.38 meals! In addition, $570.00 was raised, every $1.00 provides 3.4 meals. Rose City BNI's contribution provided an additional 1,970 meals!
In total, we have provided 2,355.38 meals to friends and neighbors who do not know where their next meal is coming from. The wholesale dollar value of our donations is $4,890.87.
February 2009
Wireless Zone store in Norwich, CT receives 2008 Regional Franchise of the Year Award!
The 2008 Regional Franchise of the Year was presented to Todd Postler, owner of the Wireless Zone store in Norwich, at Wireless Zone's 2009 Franchise Convention in Middletown. Postler was honored for his firm's outstanding leadership in sales, community involvement, and adherence to Wireless Zone business principles. Our own, Ted Chaffee, a charter member of the Rose City BNI chapter is the store's manager.
December 2008
Dec. 4-11, 2008
ROSE CITY CHAPTER Helps Build ABC-TV's Extreme Makeover Home Edition
by Barbara Branagan-Mitchell, BNICT PR Coordinator
ROSE CITY CHAPTER Helped Build ABC-TV Extreme Makeover Home. The 64 members of the Rose City Chapter of BNICT in Norwich, our state’s largest Chapter, were among the ‘true stars’ in the building of a new home for ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” program. Chapter member, Bruce “Bruno” Hayn (left), owner of Home Designs by Bruno in Colchester, CT, was contacted by ABC-TV and asked to build the new home in just one week’s time. Hayn’s Lead Team of homebuilding ‘geniuses’ included Chapter member and Project Manager, Dino Tudisca, owner of Exterior Solutions in Bozrah (r); and left to right after Hayn were Anthony Skut, owner of RAS Home Builders in Colchester; George Mattern, owner of Mattern Construction Inc. in Baltic; and David Gesiak, owner of Gesiak Construction in Colchester. This ‘invaluable’ team of CT homebuilders gave unselfishly of their enormous talents, expertise, skills, crews, and time to this ‘extreme project of a lifetime.’
Since November, the Lead Team, and hundreds of contractors, designers, architects, and non-trade volunteers, began to plan the project, solicit and collect donated materials, and create a timeline to demolish the Girard family home in Voluntown and rapidly build the new ‘castle-like’ house. The rapid-fire project began December 4th when the Girards learned they had been chosen to receive the new home. After the demolition of the original home, dedicated crews had just 106 hours in five days to complete the project.
Hundreds of volunteers worked tirelessly inside and outside through frigid temps, gusty winds, and snow followed by torrential rains that turned the site and staging area into a deep muddy mess forcing several volunteers’ trucks to be winched out by tow trucks. For one extraordinary week, dozens of BNICT Chapter members from Rose CIty and other Eastern CT Chapters were among thousands of volunteers who worked non-stop to build the home. It was a logistical miracle millions of Connecticut residents watched in astonishment and cheered day after day both at the site and via daily TV and newspaper news reports. Collectively we cried and cheered on December 11th when the Girard family saw their new home for the first time.
BNICT Assistant Director Donna Finocchiaro of the Rivereast Manchester/Glastonbury Chapter was Project Lead for the Closet Build, and commented, “We heard countless stories throughout the build of everyone pitching in to do whatever was needed. People helping other people to get the job done regardless of who they were, or who was assigned to be in a particular location at a certain time. It didn’t matter. We were all there for the family. We all did whatever needed to be done.” Team Leader Dino Tudisca said it best when he commented, A house is just a house. Things are just things. What is important in life are the people you surround yourself with. There were countless new relationships formed during the project, many among people and organizations who previously considered themselves nothing more than competitors. On this project, they were partners who gained a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for one another.”
BNI Area Director Jim O'Shea, who served as a volunteer coordinator, noted, There were people out there who worked 30, 40 hours without any real rest. Your respect and admiration for these people went through the roof when you saw what they sacrificed. Many of them never went home during the project. Some slept in campers close by or caught cat naps in their trucks or at the firehouse. Others stayed with friends close by. We had volunteers bring food into the house because many workers didn't want to take the time to go down to the food tent. It was grab a quick bite and back to work.
Tremendous accolades go out to Rose City Chapter’s Hayn and Tudisco, and all the enormously generous members of the numerous BNICT Chapters, and thousands of volunteers, who created this ‘memorable miracle’. Everyone ‘walked away richer’ from the exceptional experience. To learn more visit www.extremehomebybruno.com. The ABC-TV “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” segment is scheduled to air Sunday, February 8th at 8:00 PM EST, 7:00 CST.
November 2008
Rose City BNI donates raffle money to the Norwich Rotary Club
A collected total of $520.00 was presented to the Norwich Rotary Club for their Happy Dollars fund on November 19, 2008 by our chapter President and Rotary Member, Andrew Nollman.
October 2008
Rose City BNI donates $186.00 to the 2008 United Way campaign.
We received the following thank you letters from the United Way:
September 2008
September 2008
Jo Wood of Showhouse Ready joined Susan Hull of HMS Consulting and her fellow travel agents aboard the brand new Holland America Eurodam.
8/28/08: Extra food from the BNI Softball game and cookout is donated to needy families in Norwich. Please read the letter below:
From the Norwich Bulletin
Posted Aug. 27, 2008
Photo by Aaron Flaum/NorwichBulletin.com
Norwich: Honorees helping put bloom back in Rose City
Norwich businesswoman Marcy Vitagliano was honored Tuesday night for living her dream.
“I remember my grandmother driving me around the city when I was 6 years old,” she said. “We drove past the Wauregan Hotel, and I told her ‘That’s where I’m going to have my flower shop.’ It took me 34 years, but I finally did it.”
Vitagliano was one of five people honored for their contributions to downtown by Rose City Renaissance at its annual community meeting and awards ceremony. Other honorees included The YMCA of Southeastern Connecticut, Joseph Manfredi of Billy Wilson’s Ageing Still, and Richard and Joyce Morrison of The Ice Cream Shop.
President Les King said all the honorees have helped immensely in furthering Rose City Renaissance’s mission of revitalizing the downtown area. He told the crowd the new information center on Cliff Street also will go a long way toward doing that with its kiosks, photographs and informational displays.
“You can look for an event online and you can get information about it,” King said. “Come here to look for that information and you are exposed to everything else. You get a real idea of what Norwich is all about.”
Executive Director Rick Kramer highlighted what the organization has accomplished in the past year, and what it hopes to do in the future.
The list included new businesses, new construction, refurbished buildings and housing projects. It also included programs and events to promote business and draw people downtown. Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said “renaissance” was an appropriate word.
“That is what’s happening here,” he said.
“We’ve had a lot of things happen,” Kramer said. “We’re going to have make more things happen.”
New Business Group Helps Transform Norwich YMCA's Child-Care Center
- By Claire Bessette
Norwich — The YMCA of Southeastern Connecticut, facing some $3 million in building upgrades to its aging facility on Main Street, just could not tackle the facelift needed in its child-care center.
So YMCA Executive Director Robert Oickle turned to the United Way.The United Way then turned to the fledgling Rose City chapter of the Business Network International, a group that wanted a community project to get itself off the ground.
“This is a testament to the power of networking,” said Dino Tudisca, chapter president and owner of Exterior Solutions, a general contracting business based in Bozrah.
Oickle and even United Way officials were skeptical that the new organization could pull it off. The childcare center was functional, but still looked like the old dingy smoking lounge it used to be decades ago. The woodwork was dark brown, the wall paint faded and smoke-stained and the doors uninviting.
But Tudisca walked into the center with the opposite opinion.The new Rose City chapter of BNI, formed in April, is already the largest in the state with 42 members from throughout southeastern Connecticut. The group really wanted to do its first community service project in Norwich, its host city.
“I'm a general contractor,” he said to the packed house of adults and children at Thursday's grand opening ceremony. “I came in and said, 'Are you kidding me? Is this it?'”
Tudisca rallied his members for a project that took two weekend days in October. A.P. Savage Supply hardware store in nearby Greeneville donated the paint and some supplies. Other businesses contributed volunteer labor, supplies and expertise. Exterior Solutions and Hyde Park Landscape sent workers on paid time to the center.
Now, the two main rooms are painted with bright yellow and aqua colors. The curtains are bright red in one room, bright blue in the next. Overhead beams and doorframes that had been dark are now white. The double-door was removed to provide an inviting wide opening. On Thursday, YMCA balloons decorated it all for a daylong grand opening celebration.
Tudisca estimated the value of the donations at $18,000, but Oickle said it would have cost the YMCA about $50,000 if it had to pay for everything — money the nonprofit didn't have after having just completed its major $3 million building and systems upgrade.
The child-care center has an enrollment of about 60 children ranging in age from 18 months to kindergarten level. Many of the children are from low-income families and their tuition is subsidized by the state or by other programs.
Oickle said that made him more determined to try to find a way to get the childcare center upgraded.
“We wanted to make sure our facility wasn't any less than any other facility just because these families have less,” Oickle said. “That was very important to us.”