Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary Meeting - November 11, 2020
Anniversaries:
- Tristam is celebrating 21 years as a Rotarian!
- Mona is celebrating 3 years as a Rotarian!
Congratulations to them both and we thank them for their consistent dedication to our club!
Guests:
- Casey Haynes joined us again this morning as a perspective member to our club! A little bit about Casey:
- “Casey grew up in North Carolina and has family cast wide across the country but has deep family roots in New England, especially Western MA. He works as a Talent Specialist at Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, spending most of his time helping new or prospective Vermonters make their home here or connecting current Vermonters to professional opportunities. Casey also teaches circus classes at the New England Center for Circus Arts here in Brattleboro and is a youth mentor.
Casey knows that the effects of our actions ripple out into the world and is excited to be among so many who invest their time in doing good for their community!”
- “Casey grew up in North Carolina and has family cast wide across the country but has deep family roots in New England, especially Western MA. He works as a Talent Specialist at Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, spending most of his time helping new or prospective Vermonters make their home here or connecting current Vermonters to professional opportunities. Casey also teaches circus classes at the New England Center for Circus Arts here in Brattleboro and is a youth mentor.
- Provided by Casey Haynes himself
Announcements:
- Tristam – There is a Foundation dinner tomorrow, as well as a project fair coming up. Tristam will be attending the project fair for Ecuador this weekend to showcase proposed projects and what the needs are areas of the communities there. Perhaps there will be projects that our club might want to partake in in the future (post-COVID).
- Mona – She sent out an email last week summarizing the community service events we have going on right now. They include the following:
- The Snowflake Project for Green Street School
- Everyone Eats sign-ups
- Groundworks Thanksgiving sing-ups [includes 2 drop-offs of goods on Wednesday, November 25th (day before Thanksgiving) and Thursday, November 26th (Thanksgiving Day)]
- Adult Coat Drive through Groundworks (donations of adult winter jackets accepted – please reach out to Mona for more details on where to drop-off)
- There is also a children’s coat drive happening THIS SATURDAY (November 14th) at Love It Twice
- Josh G. – did the snowflake thing for Green Street School
- Ali – note taking – maybe go back to making a list of who is taking notes
Brags:
- Josh G. – Brag for the Green Street School Snowflake Project: Josh and his wife took a couple of children from the project and had a great time shopping for them. It is a great project and he’s likely going to collect a few more snowflakes to shop for.
- Turner – on a disheartening note, he just found out that a fraternity brother of his has inoperative cancer.
- On a positive note, he had asked Josh T. if he could buy a few Rotary face masks from him and Josh T. did not charge him. So, Turner is donating $100 to the club on behalf of Josh T. and his kindness and Josh T. gets to decide where that money will be allocated to.
- Deb C. – a brag about her safe journey down to Florida to bring her mother back home.
- There has been nothing but rain since Deb has been doing there but hopefully today, she can take a walk on the beach!
- Will – a brag for KJ ad the journey that they attempted to finish the last 30 miles of the Long Trail.
- The two of them and another friend went up to Johnson to hike up Butternut Mountain and were not adequately prepared for the snow. It started off as 4 inches of snow near the bottom of the mountain and gradually became close to 18 inches the farther they hiked up. KJ started to realize that something was not right with him physically and was going to hike back down alone - but Will said we go together! KJ went to infirmary the next day and is now doing much better! But the last 30 miles will have to be completed next spring.
- Will’s personal advice prior to climbing/hiking mountains or before partaking in strenuous activity: do not have a lot of coffee before going and do not give blood for 2-3 weeks before going.
- Kevin – a brag for believing in humanity and knowing that there are still good people in this world. A few weeks ago, he received a friend request on Facebook from a “random guy”, and then received a message from the same “random guy” that included photos.
- Kevin saw the photos from this “random guy” and while he was doing some cleaning, he came upon an old boy scout backpack that had Kevin’s name, hometown, and pack number written in it – in Kevin’s father’s handwriting.
- Last Saturday, Kevin and said “random guy” connected in the Hannaford’s parking lot so that Kevin could collect the backpack, which he has not seen in at least 45 years. The “random guy” was a boy scout back in the day and understood the significance of the backpack and wanted to return it to its rightful owner.
- Kevin is still perplexed on how it traveled from New York (Kevin’s home state) all the way to Vermont, but he is extremely grateful that it made that journey back to him!
- Tristam – brag for Jason Posternak! He was in contact with Jason recently after his surgery and Jason appears to be the positive, energetic friend we know well! Glad that he is recovering in good spirits.
- Josh T. – a compliment to Kevin for his great backpack story.
- A brag for all the military service men and women – so many thanks for everything they have done for our country.
- Katja – brag for “doing something illegal” this past weekend! She traveled to Maine on Saturday to visit a friend that was recently diagnosed with cancer. It might have been her last chance to go and visit so she risked the pandemic travel rules to take a day trip. It ended up being a beautiful afternoon with a picnic on the beach.
- Also, November 11th has a different meaning in Germany – November 11th signifies the beginning of carnival season. If you were an office man and you wore a tie, the women would come around and cut of your tie!
- Cindy – brag for Matthew, her youngest son. He traveled to Northampton on Saturday to re-register his car. Saturday in Northampton was crazy after the decision was made about the election – everyone was happy and excited, and it was great to see.
The Board decided to suspend in-person meeting for the foreseeable future due to COVID cases being on the rise again and travel restrictions being put into place.
THERE WILL NOT be a virtual Rotary Meeting on Wednesday, November 25th (the day prior to Thanksgiving).
Meeting was adjourned with the 4-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?