Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary - Newsletter

President John Beal introduced several guests. Our speakers, the Dixon Jonah family (Dave Jonah, Sue Dixon and daughter Kim) had invited Gail Neale as their guest, Colleen Haag invited Kit Antinozzi and Rosalyn Graham invited Carl Cabou, who is in Vermont as one of the adult chaperones for a group of French teenagers who, with teenagers from Quebec and Vermont, are touring the state, singing concerts in many locations, and will continue their Quadricentennial adventure visiting Quebec and France.

Rotary Foundation Thought

This week's Rotary Foundation Thought is about opening doors for those in need.

A Rotary Foundation matching grant for US$38,900 helped the Rotary Clubs of Istanbul-Findikli, Turkey and East Salem, Oregon, USA purchase six sound-proof booths and equipment to record books from Istanbul's Beyazit Library. Books on CD and MP3 give blind patrons of the library greater access to knowledge and learning and help to improve the literacy rate in Turkey. Through contributions to The Rotary Foundation Rotarians become partners in opening doors for those in need.

Donations

The club approved several donations:

$1,000 to Charlotte Boy Scouts for a new trailer
$500 to Memory Bridges for their program at The Arbors
$200 to Charlie Nardozzi for a children’s garden at National Gardening Association

Announcements

From Sept. 20 to Oct. 16, our district will host a GSE group from Taiwan. They may need host homes.
Sign-ups to help at the Rotary information and recruitment booth at the Shelburne Farmers Market on Saturday, July 18

Upcoming

7/15 – Club Assembly – introduction of committees
7/22 – District Governor Guy Babb

Sergeant at Arms

Don Condon invited club members to send him their jokes. The ‘Where’s Waldo’ challenge continues – Don asked for a report on Kevin Spillane – and Ric Flood said that Kevin is taking a hiaitus from Rotary membership – until his kids get big enough that he can be back at Rotary meetings.

Happy fines:

John Hammer – Mozart program is out Thursday – and the sun will be out soon
Roz Graham – for her guest Carl Cabou, for the sunshine (someday, surely) and noting that the date today is an interesting 7/8/09.
Kris Engstrom – upping Roz’s date trivia commented that earlier in the morning it was 5:06/7/8/09
Linda Barker – celebrating their 35^th anniversary
Joyce Errecart – the rain is making her garden grow – and after Don’s comments about the new taxes, she is happy not to be tax commissioner anymore.
Trafton Crandall – their new grandchild is a girl
Jim Spadaccini – their whole family was here for a visit – and they’ve gone home.
Robert Maynes – their family came to visit – and as soon as he bought a new travel mug he found the one he lost.
John Dupee – saw Tony Bennett concert
Ric Flood – enjoyed the fireworks and Tony Bennett
Alan Hathaway – congratulations to John Beal on the emergency breakfast prepared in the absence of Will who has hurt his back
Terry Kennaugh – celebrating their 48^th anniversary
Colleen Haag – welcoming Kit Antinozzi, her guest, a prospective member and distributor of the new Shelburne Walking and Cycling Map
Linda Gilbert – she and other members of the Hands to Honduras crew are going to speak at Barre Rotary Club
Susan McLellan – back from a great vacation
Kris Engstrom – going to Michigan to visit family

Lucky draw: Guest Gail Neal drew her own number but didn’t choose the right card to win

Guest Speakers

Sue Dixon, Kim Jonah, Dave Jonah, and John Beal.

Rotarian Dave Jonah and his wife Sue Dixon and daughter Kim shared pictures, memories and observations from their All Over The Map trip that began last June and finished at the end of May this year. Dave said the decision to take their children out of school for a year, take time off from their jobs at Shelburne Farms and head out to explore the USA, Mexico and Central America was based on their happy memories of the Bike Around the World expedition they took from 1989 to 1991, and their desire to have their whole family (including son Will who prepared their PowerPoint presentation but preferred sleeping in to coming to Rotary) experience the fun and learning of travel.

They bought a 1984 Westphalia camper and after two years of planning, headed out on their trip. They went as far as Alaska and Mexico in the camper, and flew to Honduras to join the Hands to Honduras project for several weeks.

Sue said that they described their adventure not as “a year off” but as “a year on” – an intensive experience of “togetherness” 24/7/365. It was fun, she said, and they kept in touch with home via a regular column in the Shelburne News, and a BLOG that they wrote.

The goals of their trip were Mission, Service and Fun and they traveled 27,000 miles in Philomena, their camper.

Their pictures showed many spectacular sights they visited, from the Badlands of the west to Denalia in Alaska (and Mt. Brooks that was of special interest as it was named after Sue’s great uncle). They had pictures of the wildlife along the way, including amazing pictures of bears, both black and grizzly. They visited New Orleans and had pictures of homes still derelict three years after Katrina.

The hardest part of the adventure was home schooling their children, they said, since neither Sue nor Dave is a teacher, but the best part was being together as a family, and Sue commented that it was worth noting that after so much time together, they still all like one another.

Sue said that because of Dave’s membership in Charlotte Shelburne Rotary they were especially aware of Rotary activities and accomplishments they saw as they traveled in both the US and Mexico. “It was impressive to see that Rotary makes such a different in their communities; they really make a contribution,” she said.