BRAFFLE IS BACK FOR 2025!
After selling out its first four years and raising more than $200,000, BRAFFLE – Branford Rotary’s Outrageous Restaurant Raffle - is back for its 5th year, and it’s bigger than ever.
The largest fundraiser for the town, Braffle has now jumped from 50 to 55 local restaurants. In fact, name a Branford restaurant, and they’re probably in Braffle! And with more restaurants, the absurd prizes become even more, well, absurd:
- Absurd Grand Prize: $5,500 in gift cards to each of 55 Branford restaurants.
- Ridiculous Second Prize: $2,750 in gift cards to 55 Branford restaurants.
- Somewhat Reasonable 3rd-10th Prizes: a $100 gift card to the restaurant of your choice.
- The gift cards do not expire!
Tickets went on sale April 1 at Braffle.org and are just $25 apiece. The majority of the proceeds to go Branford Counseling & Community Services’ Basic Needs program, which helps families in need with food, rent and utilities.
'RESILIENT STUDENTS' WIN ROTARY'S GROUNDBREAKING NEW SCHOLARSHIPS
Her first day was frightening.
“It was so scary because I see all these young kids, and they’re all teenagers, and I’m 45!” recalled Branford’s Ilkay Ozdemir Sen, of her first day at community college two years ago. “I’m thinking, ‘Most of my teachers are the same age as me. It’s embarrassing.’”
“But then,” she added, “I had to do it. I had to do it for my kids.”
Now enrolled at CT State College – Gateway, in New Haven, Ilkay is one of the first recipients of Branford Rotary’s new “Resilient Scholarships,” awarded to working adults age 26 and above who are going back to college, or going for the first time, to get a degree or a technical certificate. ... MORE
WELCOME TO BRANFORD ROTARY
The Rotary Club of Branford, Conn., is a volunteer group of community leaders from all walks of life who join together to serve. As part of the 1.2-million-member Rotary International, our members give their time and expertise to improve lives in Branford, across the shoreline, and around the world. Interested in helping your community? Click 'Join Rotary' and learn more.
ROTARY LAUNCHES ADULT SCHOLARSHIPS WITH GATEWAY
NEW HAVEN, CT – College students who don’t go straight from high school to college make up the majority of undergraduates in America, yet these older, “nontraditional” students, many of them working parents, struggle to find financial aid. Branford Rotary has now rallied to that cause, creating the first dedicated nontraditional student scholarships at CT State Community College – Gateway.
Starting in the Fall of 2023, Branford Rotary will award $5,000 a year to Gateway – the largest campus of the state’s recently combined 12 community colleges. The money will be used to help nontraditional students from Branford aged 26 and older, and can be awarded to multiple students seeking degrees or technical certificates. (Read more...)
BRANFORD ROTARY PANDEMIC RESPONSE TOPS $85,000
BRANFORD, CT - As the coronavirus swept into the state, the strains in Branford were everywhere. At Connecticut Hospice, frontline health workers needed protective equipment. The Branford Food Pantry was having trouble sourcing fresh food. Restaurants and small businesses across town were suffering due to closures, and the ranks of the unemployed swelled.
Faced with this panoply of challenges, the Branford Rotary Club responded in force. The Club spent $5,000 to buy medical gowns for Hospice. For the Food Pantry, Rotary members sourced, bought, and delivered a truckload of fresh produce. And as the needs in town grew, Rotary launched the ambitious HELP OUT – TAKE OUT program, which supports both local restaurants and those who’ve lost work due to the pandemic.
In all, Branford Rotary has so far responded to the crisis with $85,000 in aid, an unprecedented effort for the service group. (Click for More)
FEED OUR NEIGHBORS
MADISON, CT - Every year, Branford Rotary participates in one of the largest Rotary food relief efforts in Connecticut, as hundreds of Rotarians and volunteers from across the shoreline gather to package 50,000+ meals for the struggling residents of Haiti.
ROTARY PEACE FELLOW APPLICATIONS
Every year, The Rotary Foundation funds some of the world's most dedicated and brightest leaders to study at Rotary Peace Centers. Many recipients go on to careers with governments, NGOs, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank. Read more...
