President Rob opened the meeting at our lunch meeting site: Holiday Inn Express of Brattleboro, VT. Rob welcomed all to the November 14, 2024 meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary www.brattlebororotaryclub.org

Invocation:

Ted Kramer - a few moments in appreciation of Thanksgiving - hands down his favorite holiday; being grateful and being together with loved ones.keep an appreciative mindset.

Rob lead the club with the Pledge of Allegiance

Rob asked Nina to lead-

Motto - Service above self

Four Way Test -

Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

27 Members, 0 Student Rotarians and 0 guests attended the meeting.

Guests:

Ted introduced Michael Hertz, Jack Wesley, and Julie Peterson

JOKE OF THE WEEK - For our joke or song of the week:

Mark Anderson filled in with some "jokes" that had a little extra special “dad” joke element to them - one on autocorrect and one on Lincoln being in-a-cent :)

ED NOTE: 2023-24 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.

Rotarians for Rotarians:

Cindy Ferrante - wishing her a speedy recovery.

New Members:

Theresa Glabach, former Student Rotarian is newest member. Please remember to sign her induction book.

ROTARY MINUTE

Stan - Service above self; reflecting on things we already do; things Rotarians do around the community; Stan recently did an analysis not normally counted - over 90% of our club participate in some way. This is to be commended as our members exemplify Service Above Self;

Note for future presenters; The Rotary Minute could also have the speaker talk about their personal involvement in Rotary or personal background.

Years of Service in our Club for August:

On Behalf of our Club and all Rotarians, thank you for your Service Above Self

Student Rotarian updates:

Birthday greetings -

BIRTHDAYS FROM RUBIN -

Carl Lynde had a birthday last week; Bill McKim had a birthday on Tuesday -

Some discussion about whether Ruben should be fined for forgetting Bill's birthday in the report; Regina argued she should be fined as she did not update Ruben's list when Bill rejoined the club; however, Ruben assented he should be fined as Bill had reminded him just last week not to forget his birthday this week.

Bill for his Birthday minute: he is on his way to being a 5-Paul Harris Fellow due to donating to the Rotary Foundation; He thinks the Rotary Foundation is one of the best organizations to donate; he is making his $50 annual donation to lead him closer to that next Paul Harris Fellow.

Roger Miller lead Happy Birthday song for all Rotarians to sing to Bill McKim

Meeting location -Brattleboro Holiday Inn Express off of Putney Rd.

Announcements

there’s a project Downtown Brattleboro Association working with crafters and vendors in the old Sam’s store; on Fridays there is an opportunity for organizations to wrap gifts 12-8pm - 2-4 hour blocks = first Friday of the month 4-8pm - we need to provide our own supplies for wrapping paper;

Happy Dollars - Brags - Fines

Mark - brag for Veteran’s day - he was invited by Ruben to the VFW event; met Dick Hamilton - 102 year old Air Force Veteran who was a POW

Cheri Ann - brag for Mark to the VFW presentation - he was the most appropriate speaker they have ever had in her time; it was not only very good but efficient on time.

Ruben - bragging for the same VWF event and for Mark’s participation; Cheri Ann’s performance in the band; George Stone - 100 years old was also there with Dick Hamilton - 2 World War II veterans present

Bill Vermouth - $10 brag for people who take on roles in the club - and an extra $5 for Rhonda for her treasury work; he had another marathon run - if scoring run, 1-1 - 1 point for first 13 miles and 1 point for the course getting him on the last 13 miles.

Cindy Jerome - bragging $10 - exactly 10 years ago today she got a call her son Ben (former Student Rotarian) had been hit by a truck in Thailand while crossing the street; so many people including Rotarians were supportive during that time; to celebrate how far her son has come from that traumatic event - he’s teaching in his 4th year at the middle school in Bellows Falls - he said this spring all his goals are met - he will become the head coach of baseball team and has his own classroom for 4 years. She’s so grateful for her son, his health and the community that supported her family.

Nina - brag for the innocence and excitement of children - their family had a new mattress to give away - a mix-up understanding re a neighbor's Christmas-angel adoption needing their mattress - touched by own her daughter’s joy, generosity and innocence.

George Weir - on Saturday celebrated his son and daughter-in-law - son Tom and wife expecting a son soon; they got married during the pandemic - their plan for their wedding had to be trimmed down because of the pandemic - they had a party this weekend to celebrate their union so he got to meet his daughter in law’s family; he also cleaned up his wood piles - he now has years’ worth of piles of wood and he's about 3 year ahead; he also just finished up the best vegetable garden he’s had in years.

Ted - brag for Ben Jerome - student Rotarian - he enjoys playing softball with Ben - he commends Cindy for being a great mom with a great son

Theresa - Girls on the Run and Vermont on a whole - within 4 days of opening the coaching opportunities for next year's GOTR, she has seen double the coach registration they ever get - they still need many more but the initial sign - up in all of Vermont surpassed their historical sign ups and is very promising.

ED NOTE: Weekly assignments for the invocation or motivational thought can be found on the club website.>

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Jim Haine announced:

Next week - Chief Hardy; followed by Thanksgiving; Bill Holiday coming to discuss the Brattleboro Historical Society - this is normally the gift wrapping day - this issue will be taken off-line

Jim Haine said the Rotary website is not up to date on the assignments. Jim sends out reminders ahead of time. Hopefully the website will be updated soon. You can email Jim if you have any questions about when your assignment is.

REMINDERS

Please bring your bottles and cans to the Putney Road redemption center to benefit APPN. Pure Water for the World is no longer operating in the USA; it continues in Honduras as APPN.
Maria Inestroza, the PWW country director for Honduras is continuing the work in that country under the name APPM, acronym for Agua Pura para El Mundo, or Pure Water for the World in Spanish Pure Water for the World. Please remember to inform the staff that the bottles and cans should be credited to the club.
“Like” the club’s Facebook page

PROGRAM

Speaker:

President Rob lead the Club Assembly - an update from Club Committee chairs
1.    Stan: Community Service Committee
a.    Continuation of GroundWorks meals - next is Wednesday, Dec. 11; he has booked Wednesdays through until May; there will be a Thanksgiving event
b.    Hospice garden activities and opportunities
c.    Reach out to him if you know of something we can do in the community
2.    Theresa: PR Committee
.    Facebook has new life - updating the engagement on social media for our meetings and speakers, as well as the events; Goal of some posts and then wanting to extend our reach to other groups; 3. she needs help and photos for making that happen
3.    Ana: Senior Gift Giving
.    Shopping season still needs help, but it’s an active and well organized group - need 166 gifts for women and 63 for men; Ana makes one big trip to Ocean State JobLot and the Family Dollar locally; budget is about $6/gift; there’s a list of ideas for shopping - there’s a list she maintains; we will be wrapping the second Thursday of December - it’s a fun meeting to get everyone together wrapping. Frank offered that we can extend our wrapping in the lobby for that meeting. Gina P. connects with Lotus Graphics for our card to the packages.
4.    Cindy Jerome: Gift Giving
.    Meeting met recently - finalized 2023-2024 gift giving year; the board approved and checks will be coming; next meeting is to finalize the distribution of the 2023 golf tournament money; they will then turn to distribution of 2024 gifts from the golf tournament
5.    Mara: Fundraising - 1200$ from a recent raffle for the Gateway Foundation; Betsy - we can raise money at the ski jump this February. Mara wants to discuss further if we want to continue the raffle. The Garage/Garden clean-out-do we want to continue this project
6.    Nina - Milt and Nina working on Sugar on Snow - Milt has worked on the Sugar on Snow for 50 years.
7.    Ted - Membership Development - friendly reminder we are all on the membership committee - it’s critical we are recruiting actively in the community when we interact with others. Consider too when talking to future speakers if they have an interest in joining; Rotary helps build a sense of community so think about people in our community
8.    Rob - International Committee - Met with Peter Abell re two mobile dental units - looking for younger dentists to take mission trip to El Salvador; dental work for international service; Jenifer - possibility for another water project in El Salvador.
9.    Rob - Student Rotarians - reporting for Betsy she has identified most students from BUHS and surrounding area; Theresa mentioned connecting Student Rotarians with someone from the club that has a similar career interest within the Club. Betsy may tap you
10.    Carla - Rotary Foundation - mainly for new members to know - it’s an international foundation that serves projects for all clubs; try to encourage all members to give $50. She thanks this club and the Foundation which helped her do her masters degree and become a Peace Fellow. Reminder you can honor a person with a Paul Harris Fellow - it’s 1,000 points.
11.    Cathy Coonan: Golf Tournament - it’s scheduled normally the first Thursday in June - in 2025 it will be June 5th. Gina P. is the chair -meetings for planning begin in later winter towards Feb/March - meets more often the closer it gets The Committee is pretty stable and the big push is with sponsorships. Volunteering for the event is essential to its success. Rhonda - last tournament $25,000; $6,500 goes to the Gateway; 11,000 to BMH; the rest goes into our community.
12.    Greg Worden -
.    Welcome Center - there’s a lottery each year where members get 1 day - we have been doing it for quite a few years - people participating with donating items or being there for volunteering to serve; usually nets 1000 - 14000/ year. Ideas on what we can offer at the sale; usually it’s a Fri/Sat/Sun - we try for Saturday as it’s a better travel day;
a.    Brattleboro on Wheels - there were over 100 cars - it brings in $4,141 - open to the public - we only make the money from the raffle on site or sponsorships. The sponsorships are the major portion - keep alert for sponsorship. We can normally get on with about 6 or so people to run this event - always looking for help.
Others notable committees and good work by Rotarians in our club include;
Disc Golf Tournament
Gateway Foundation
4-Way Test Community Award
Scholarship committeeI

Scribe - Regina

REMINDERS

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