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04/16/2014 12:00 AMSometimes, bigger is better. Just ask Nick D'Ambrosia, president of the North Haven Rotary Club.
"Last year at Christmas time we came up with a plan called 'Operation Warm Coat,' where we donated a number of coats to 1st graders in needy areas, in New Haven," Nick says. He was there to see the kids receive their gifts and says, "They hugged us and wore their coats throughout the day at school."
This event touched him, and being the "bigger is better" personality he is, he took his 6-foot 5-inch frame home and decided right then "to take it to the next level and give out 500 to 1,000 coats for the next holiday season."
Nick says the Rotary Club will team up with Meriden and Wallingford-area Rotaries to get matching grants from the Rotary District. He hopes to raise around $20,000 for Operation Warm Coat.
Nick says five years ago he decided he wanted to get involved with giving back to the community as he had "done fairly well, was very lucky, and blessed with a healthy family.
"The Rotary has been the biggest blessing of the past five years, and I've met and helped so many wonderful people."
Nick says, "I recently went to some president training sessions for the Rotary, and it brought me a new sense of awareness on how special we are, and how we can all affect lives and how each of us individually, in our own special way, can help make a difference."
Nick has been the owner with his brother David of N&D Sports, a special events merchandising company, for 39 years. The company operates concession and gift stands for sports events and concerts in arenas and stadiums including Connecticut venues like the Hartford Civic Center, Mohegan Sun Arena, Yale Bowl, and more.
Nick and his brother started the business with their dad's help when Nick was just 19 years old.
"It was a labor of love," he says.
His daughter, Bianca, comes home from college this summer and has plans to help out at the family business. She's in her freshman year of school, and plans to follow in dad's footsteps and major in business.
Bianca should watch out-her dad might also be recruiting her for the Rotaract, the younger division of Rotary. Building Rotaract is part of Nick's goal to build up Rotary membership.
The Rotary works as a team, he says, adding, "Frankly, if you work together, the result is we're going to make more money for the charities we're trying to help and we keep our egos at the door-well, for the most part" Nick says, laughing.
Nick has been a key player in fundraising for the club. "Two years ago when I was vice-president I ran the pancake breakfast and took it to the next level by having a veterans-eat-free-breakfast."
Last year, for his president-elect year, Nick had to run the big annual Rotary fundraiser, the Day of Wine and Roses. He challenged the club to double donations.
"They expanded the space, got creative, and made it a food festival with wine!" he says, noting, "not everyone is into drinking."
Club members tracked down more than 50 restaurants and by the end had tripled the prior year's donations.
Nick raised the bar so high he was asked to help again this year with donations.
"It's all about helping, so of course I will be helping" what he calls his "Rotary family."
He adds with a laugh, "You have to do it big and go for it, since you only live once."
The North Haven Rotary Club every Tuesday at 7:15 a.m.; interested persons are always invited to attend. For more information, visit www.nhrotary.org or contact Nick at 203-668-7811.