President Mark opened the meeting at the meeting site: Holiday Inn Express of Brattleboro, VT. Mark welcomed all to the July 23, 2026 meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary Club,www.brattlebororotaryclub.org

Invocation:

Our guest, Rev. Lise Sparrow, gave the invocation.

Mark led the club with the Pledge of Allegiance

Stan led the club with the Rotary motto and Four Way Test.

Rotary 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?

19 Members, 0 Student Rotarians and 6 guest attended the meeting.

Guests:

Hon. Patricia Whalen, speaker; Fletcher Proctor; Hon. Jack Wesley; Julie Peterson; Rev. Lise Sparrow; Wahidullah Noori

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

President’s joke: “dinner, dinner,dinner,dinner,dinner,dinner,dinner,dinner, BATMAN!”

EDITOR NOTE: 2025-26 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.

Rotarians for Rotarians:

Rob Szpila is now a Grandfather

New Members:

Two New Members
Sarah Weiler was inducted by President Mark. She lives in West Brattleboro and is the Operations Manager at BMAC
Mike Wagner recently moved to Chesterfield after living in Arizona for 30 years. Had a career in technology sales and then spent 5 fives teaching English globally

ROTARY MINUTE

Jenifer gave a summary of our international service involvement with El Salvador, beginning with Peter Abell’s trip in 1992 and our first medical/dental mission in 1994. Jenifer continues to offer eye clinics 30+ years later!

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

Stay tuned.

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

Student Rotarian updates:

Birthday greetings -

BIRTHDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS Cindy-

none

Announcements

8/12 Groundworks Meal, contact Stan if you can help;

8/14 Welcome Center fundraiser, contact Greg if you can help
Our guest Wahidullah Noori spoke about his time at a music program in Puerto Rico, which we helped sponsor.

President Mark is planning to update club bylaws and other process documents if people are interested in helping

Happy Dollars and Brags and Fines

Mara gave $5 for Wahidullah and to waive further brags to allow the Hon. Patricia Whalen to present her program at the scheduled time.

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

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Jim announced the upcoming programs as follows:

7/30 Club Assembly; 8/6 Pres. Mark on regional policing; 8/13 Sandglass Theater; 8/20 —; 8/28 Quentin Reynolds, VT Dept of Health

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

Cheri Ann introduced Judge Whalen and her program “First They Came for the Women Judges.” It was a fascinating overview of her involvement with the female judges of Afghanistan. She began by forming an international training program in Brattleboro in 2003 to support the first women appointed to the Afghan bench. The mission of the group changed dramatically when the Taliban came back into power in 2021. An astonishing saga across borders with international partners to secure the safety of 254 judges and their families (of 270 female judges in Afghanistan ensued and continues to this day. There are still 34 judges in hiding awaiting transport to safety.

Scribe of the Day: Mara Williams

DISCLAIMER

Weekly changing scribes and questionable IT may have resulted in oversights and errors. We regret any mistakes.