The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘Achievers in the community’
Rotary Club honors two with Paul Harris Fellow award
TORRINGTON — Friendship, community service and helping others are just some of the reasons Larry Cassella and Sarah Langlois serve the Rotary Club.
For that service, the pair was honored by being named Paul Harris Fellows, the Rotary’s highest award, created in 1957 to honor the club’s founder and to recognize individuals who have made a significant impact in their community.
The Rotary Club of Torrington and Winsted Areas held the event at the Torrington Country Club.
The award is presented by local chapters of Rotary to people who demonstrate good will, social understanding and generosity in their local communities and in the world, according to members. Paul Harris founded the Rotary Club in 1905 in Chicago to bring together professionals with diverse backgrounds to exchange ideas, provide community service and form meaningful, lifetime friendships.
That’s what Langlois the most.
“It’s the friendships I’ve built in the club, and the support we give each other,” she said. “We want to give back to the community, and to encourage each other to be the best person that you can be. I’ve made a lot of friends I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t joined the Rotary Club.”
Cassella, who serves on the 85th Winsted Pet Parade committee, said he likes being around people who are “doers.”
“It’s an honor, and it’s humbling to receive the Paul Harris award, because I sit with a group enjoys of people who are doers, achievers in the community,” he said. “They’re generous with their time, either with hands-on volunteering or being fiscally generous. So it’s humbling to be chosen as one of those people.”
Cassella, now retired as director of the Arc of Litchfield County, or LARC, served that agency from 1981 to 2017. He is credited with growing LARC’s budget from $450,000 to $9 million, and for initiating the “Community for All” culture there so that all individuals with disabilities are fully included in their own communities.
LARC’s summer program, Camp Moe, also became open to all children, with and without disabilities. In 2022, LARC planned to close Camp Moe to save costs. but the YMCA took over its operations later that year, and this year purchased the Tall Timbers camp property.
Cassella has served on numerous boards and committees for arts and social service agencies, children’s agencies, libraries and his own church. He has belonged to the Rotary Club for 40 years.
Langlois, a member of the club since 2013, is the club’s secretary and coordinates its charity golf tournament as well as the pet parade with Cassella. She is a member of LARC’s board and recently was elected president. She also volunteers with the NW CT Chamber of Commerce and the United Way. Langlois is assistant vice president and senior branch manager of both of Torrington’s Union Savings Bank branches.
Langlois is looking forward to the parade, too. It will be a combined event with the Laurel Parade, she said, in preparation for the Laurel Festival in June. Registration forms for the pet parade, which will be held May 20 at 2 p.m., are available at https:// rb.gy/3qxz6.
“We had to cancel the pet parade last year because of the heat, so we’re excited about it” this year, she said. “We’re hoping everything will go smoothly this year.
“I grew up in Winsted, and used to march in the parade with the Pearson School band and the Gilbert band,” she said. “My sister would march in it with her friends, and we wore fun costumes. People in their 80s can remember marching in it. It was huge, and then it dwindled for a while. Now we’re building it back up.”
The club began including Torrington groups and students to join participants and their pets from Winsted, Colebrook, Norfolk and New Hartford a few years ago. The parade also includes a poster contest, and children from those towns are invited to participate. The parade committee, Langlois said, is never disappointed.
“We’re doing final poster judging soon,” she said. “The winner gets a Kindle, $100 from Amazon and a ride in the parade in a convertible. Local children participate, and there are a lot of posters. We have a group of about 10 people and we all look through the posters, pick our favorites, rate them and then take out the top ones from every school. From those, we choose the best one.”
When asked where she found the time for the club, Langlois said, “We try to make it work for everyone.”
“We try to have our meetings in the late afternoon, after work, and then Rotary meets on Tuesdays at lunchtime,” she said. “Sometimes you just can’t make it, and that’s understandable. But you have to make a sacrifice if you want to be involved. You’ll have a great time; you’ll learn so much and do things you’ve never done before. It’s the people in the club that I love so much. And we have fun.”
For information on the Rotary Club of Torrington and Winsted Areas, visit the club’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/TWRotary.