Meeting jobs
Thank you, Bethany, for greeting. Next week's greeter: Mona
Next week’s scribe: Katja (thank you for volunteering)
Next week's speaker host: Justin
Next week's stand-in Treasurer: Staci
Day in history
1624: Riots flare in Mexico when it is announced that all churches are to be closed.
1913: The first telephone line between Berlin and New York is inaugurated.
1920: The Dry Law goes into effect in the United States. Selling liquor and beer becomes illegal.
1930: Amelia Earhart sets an aviation record for women at 171 mph in a Lockheed Vega.
1973: US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam.
1976; Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford.
1991: UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm.
2001: Wikipedia goes online.
Rotary minute
President Jim reviewed the streaking policy. If you need to leave early, please introduce yourself to the speaker before you leave. If you don’t it’s $5 to the club.
Also, bring a friend to breakfast sometime during the year.
Raffle tickets—thanks to everyone who sold tickets we were able to donate:
- $250 donation for DCF Family Services Foster Families Dinner Program
- $250 donation to Australia bushfires appeal
- $100 to Winter Carnival (Brattleboro Recreation Department)
- $100 to Pure Water for the World
Guests
Laurelei Morrisette (Brattleboro Housing Partnerships), Ayla Traeger (also at Trivia!), and John Mabie (Attorney and Noon Club member).
Rotary anniversary
1 year for Chris Stoner
Birthdays
Cindy Delgatto and Mona Williams January 18. Happiest of days!
Announcements
Brattleboro Rotary Club Bowling Night: Friday January 31, 5.30-7.30 at the Brattleboro Bowl. It goes to the Christmas Tree fundraiser. Donations accepted for entrance (confirmed that 2 hours of bowling, bumper lane and pizza provided for donation only). Cash bar open. RSVP by January 29th to Stan Nowakowski: stan@firsthomeland.com.
Nutrition project: Laurelei Morrissette from Brattleboro Housing Partnerships does all of the coordination. Kids often come back for seconds and at the end of the week kids take the food home. There are many volunteers at Ledgewood who help with prep and clean up. Donations came from Dutton Farm, Hannaford, The Works, and Commonwealth Yogurt. Cost per meal was $1.33 at Ledgewood and just over $2 at Moore Court. The Noon Club will be contributing $500 to the project. 1,476 meals for kids were served. During the week, kids get free/reduced lunch at school, but don’t have that during the break. Many kids would not have had food without the program. After the meal, there are programs for kids with partners like Art in the Neighborhood, UVM Extension Nutrition Program, Winston Prouty Book Mobile, NECCA, and the Boys and Girls Club. The Food Bank also will come and do drops of food. The BHA Executive Director thanked the Clubs for their work. The group thanked Laurelei for her work.
Press: There was a great article in the Reformer by Marty talking about the efforts of our 2 Clubs in the Brattleboro Reformer. Check it out and share it around! https://www.reformer.com/stories/martin-cohn-spreading-the-word-about-all-that-rotary-does,594596?
Cards
Ace of Diamonds. Attendees were disappointed because they were declared losers.
Brags
Josh T.: Monday’s trivia was fantastic! He thanked everyone in the Club who works on it. Over $500 went to the Human Society of Windham County!
Katja: We raised $1,000 for the Boys and Girls Club at the New Year’s Gala. She thanked everyone for helping and participating. Two businesses, Sandy and his team at the law office and Cota & Cota, supported the event and wanted to thank them. Also, Katja’s team won at trivia!
Tom: Thanked the team who organized the gala. It made the Club look great.
Deb C.: Deb has some clients who are 72/74 years old and make syrup and have to haul their own water. They need money to fix their well. If you want some syrup, let Deb know and she will get the syrup to you and the money to them.
Will: Brattleboro Concert Choir is performing with an orchestra “The Fall and The Rise.” It’s Saturday at 7.30 and Sunday at 3 at the Latchis. Info at bmcvt.org.
Damon: Great holiday with family. Damon’s parents were here for 3 weeks and they were great house guests. Aidan was home and starts racing again on Saturday. Kathryn’s 50th was this weekend and they had a big party then a shopping trip in Manchester. Torin was racing the Dartmouth relays (with athletes from Montreal to Virginia). He PRd in the 1000 meters, 2nd place in the mile, and bumped one of Aidan’s school record. He is nationally ranked for sophomores for the 1000m and the mile.
Bethany: She is going on a cruise on Saturday in FL. It’s a graduation present to her!
Club Assembly
International student exchange
Led by Mona, we had a discussion about whether we want to commit to having an International exchange student next year. People talked about the benefit for the student and the Club. Some practicalities:
- We need to have a decision by March 1, 2020.
- We need to let BUHS know for sure they will have a student enrolled by April 1, 2020. (The school get no funding for the student and needs to make sure they make a place for them.)
- We need to secure at least one volunteer for housing who passes the Rotary criteria.
- President Jim V. volunteered to host for 6-8 weeks.
- Hosts can be for 6-8 weeks or more.
- Hosts do not have to be Rotarians.
- Hosts can be outside of the BUHS catchment area IF we commit to daily transportation to/from school.
- There are lots of other ways to help out the student project without being a host. Mona will keep us abreast of these opportunities, but feel free to email her to volunteer in advance!
- Mona (and Sadie) will send out an electronic poll to get opinions from those not in attendance. The people in the room said they would be happy to help with the project, but could not be hosts.
Overflow shelter meals
We do one meal/month at the Groundworks Overflow Shelter. The meal feeds just under 35 hungry people each time. We need to have a prepared meal, serve it, and clean up. We have deliberately selected different days of the week based on previous feedback. Currently, we have online sign ups and the book at the meetings. We have a problem getting people to commit to cooking main dishes.
Sadie and Mona will include some ideas in the poll that will be sent out. Some ideas:
- Master purchasing
- Buy food from Justin—Justin will bring some estimates to Sadie and Mona for consideration and then Club input
- If transportation is an issue, Justin might be the drop off point
- Add the online signups for all future meals
Four-Way Test
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENFICIAL to all concerned?