President Rob opened the meeting at the meeting site: Holiday Inn Express of Brattleboro, VT. Rob welcomed all to the May 15, 2025 meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary www.brattlebororotaryclub.org
Invocation:
Bill gave a moving invocation concerning the land that he got in 5 seconds from ChatGBT with key words.
Rob lead the club with the Pledge of Allegiance
President Rob presented the Rotary Motto Service Above Self
A Rotarian lead the club in reciting the Rotary four way test.
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?
25 Members, 0 Student Rotarians and 2 guests attended the meeting.
Guests:
Jerry introduced Carol Lolatte who was also our guest speaker
Cindy introduced Rudy who is becoming a member
JOKE OF THE WEEK - For our joke or song of the week:
Stay tuned
ED NOTE: 2023-24 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.
Rotarians for Rotarians:
New Members:
Looks like Rudy is ready for posting.
ROTARY MINUTE
Stay tuned
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 March:
On Behalf of our Club and all Rotarians, thank you for your Service Above Self
Betsy said Chris Chapman expressed interest in rejoining our club
Rhonda sent out dues notices
Gina- Golf tournament June 5th
Annual Disc Golf Tournament October 4th and 5th.
Happy Dollars and Brags
Marcy bragged about his time in his tiny living quarters & his wife staying married to him
Mark bragged about fair weather veteran Ruben and the rain for the cleanup in Swanzey
Mara said about the successful & fun cleanup & how grateful the woman was. Also about the success of our new fundraisers, the ski jump & the dollar and a dream which the latter was a bit of a hard sell but people tend to not take the money but would rather have the work done. This led to an idea of advertising our services for $50/hour or maybe raffling them at golf tournament.
Rudy mentioned how special rotary is to him and that he and Cindy are getting married this weekend and they had met at a rotary function in Lebanon.
Bill about getting together with 10 friends for camping and also for signing up for a triathlon in June.
George bragged his daughter is home from completing her freshman year at college & how nice it is to have her home.
Chris for her son who has been trying to buy a house for 5 years, finally has one under contract in Huntington, due to close in August.
George Weir for retiring May 1st & how happy he is
Jennifer on buying a new Forester Hybrid & being able to go 600 miles on a gas tank plus buying before the tariffs.
Cindy for being the woman that Rudy wants to marry
Frank for his son graduating from Keene State College
Ruben bragged for Rotarians at Rock Voices, the garden clean up & the softball game
Mike for last week being his fastest lap ever
Mara for Rudy & Cindy glowing at the museum gala and for Stan for organizing the Groundworks meals
Jerry for Carol and all her hard work
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:
5/22/25 – hearing from the Ashville, NC group
5/29/25 – Insight Photography
6/5/25 – Annual Golf Tournament
6/12/25 – Club Assembly
6/19/25 – Change Over Dinner
7/10/25 – Roger Allbee will discuss his book “ Turning the Soil”
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.
Carol Lolatte from Brattleboro Department of Parks & Recreation
Introduced by: Bill V
Program:
Carol has been part of the department for 39 years & has been the director for 35 years. Carol told us about the employment structure. There are 8 full-time employees, in the summer there are 40 additional staff as lifeguards, instructors, summer camp counselors, cashiers & more plus they rely on many volunteers as well as some contract service providers.
The department runs youth programs, 15 summer camp programs, adult programs, they coordinate with 13 community organizations, plus have 30 senior activities from pickleball to painting & many in between. They are responsible for 160 acres of parkland, traffic islands, 5 cemeteries, the pool, the dog park, the skate park, the disc golf & the skating rink.
Through the department you can rent out spaces for your own family or group gatherings from The Common, the Kiwanis shelter, Pliny Park, ball fields & the rotary theater.
Many improvements are underway at Living Memorial Park. There is the new maintenance building, new upper field lighting, new refrigeration at the rink and expanded parking at the Kiwanis Shelter.
The department does so much & offers many more programs than one might have thought
Scribe: Tami
DISCLAIMER
Weekly changing scribes and questionable IT may have resulted in oversights and errors. We regret any mistakes.
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