Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary - Newsletter

President-Elect Linda Gilbert chaired the meeting, including the Annual Meeting. She opened the meeting with the Pledge and Kris Engstrom gave the devotional. Guests Past District Governor Clinton Reichert and Dave Gladstone were introduced and welcome.

Rotary Thought

From the Rotarian Magazine, February issue, World Roundup

Canada: Traditional monkey bars and swing sets weren’t enough for the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove, Alberta, it seems. The club led a project to build a 10,000-square-foot playground for community children, complete with a contoured climbing wall, rope climbing pyramid, and musical features. The playground – which the Rotarians say is the largest of its kind in Canada – was funded with C$250,000 from the club, $475,000 from the City of Spruce Grove, and grants from the government of Alberta and the Ronald McDonald Foundation.

Events

Upcoming events:

Jan. 30 -- District Team Training Pre PETS at Dartmouth Hitchcock. CSR members attending are John Beal, Linda Gilbert, Steve Dates, Elaine Dates, Sue McLellan and Judy Christensen
Feb. 3 meeting -- Mary Alice McKensie, Boys and Girls Club
Feb. 10 meeting -- Michael Horgan, Brain Surgeon from Fletcher Allen
Feb. 17 meeting -- Committee Meetings

Annual Meeting

Linda Gilbert

Voting on slate of officers for the 2010-2011 year which begins July 1. A vote was taken in late December and passed through quickly but we need an official vote per the Bylaws.

President – Linda Gilbert (as approved in the 2009-2010 election)
President Elect – Kris Engstrom
Vice President – Adam Bartsch
Secretary – John Beal
Treasurer – Russ Blodgett

Moved by Ric Flood, seconded by Jim Spadaccini. Approved unanimously.

Treasurer's Report

Treasurer Russ Blodgett (though handicapped by lack of glasses, checkbook and pen) presented the six month and 20 day financial report for the club, showing that the finances are currently good, with income ahead of budget and expenses below budget. Expenses are ahead of income, but with $28,000 in the bank the prospects are excellent.

Committee Reports

Public Relations

Roz Graham reported that the first six months have been good in terms of visibility in the press for our membership growth, financial support for community projects and special events, and distribution of information about the grants we make. Plans for the rest of the year include work on our website, additions to our town border signage, and more recruitment-oriented publicity.

Membership

Debby Hanley said that great club publicity has helped with recruiting great new members this year. The challenge that will give a gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice to the person who brings in the most new members this year continues.

Club Administration

Dave Rice asked that all new members plan to spend several weeks sitting with Terry Kennaugh at the registration table to get to know the other members and the process. He also needs substitutes for Terry during March and part of April while Terry is away, and also people to help with pre-meeting setup.

Club Projects

John Dupee said he has need for another project and will need the commitment of all club members to make it successful. He also asked for $300 to purchase a calculator, glasses and pen for Russ Blodgett.

Foundation

Elaine Dates announced that in recognition of February as Youth Month, the Feb. 3 meeting will include visits by our RYLA delegates, the winner of the speaking competition at CVU, our international student guest, and Tami Jo Dickensen, the member and CVU teacher who coordinates these programs.

Unfinished Business

Polio Plus Challenge

Denny Bowen said the club has been doing a good job supporting the Polio Plus work of Rotary International in their efforts to eradicate polio. Only four countries still have polio cases. Rotary is half way to its $200,000,000 goal, with help from Bill Gates. Charlotte Shelburne Rotary has 16 gifts of up to $50 to their Double Match challenge. Deadline for donations is the end of February. Denny says thank you on behalf of his grandchildren who are now safer from the threat of polio.

New Business

Scholarships

Alan Hathaway said that we have been giving three scholarships for many years, to students from our towns, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000. In recent years the scholarship requests have been processed by Vermont Student Assistance Corporation which handles the applications, screens them and passes them along to our committee for choosing. Last year we had 12 to 14 applications but half were incomplete. This year because of the economic situation we expect more applications. The deadline is March 5. Application forms are available online.

Moved by Ric Flood and seconded by Steve Dates to approve the scholarship funding for the 2011 budget. All in favor.

Bowling for the Community

Ric Flood reminded that club members could raise a lot more money in our annual Bowl-a-thon event if everyone (instead of only one in three) gave him a list of friends, neighbors, relatives and those who have asked you to donate to their worthy causes, so that his office can prepare letters asking for sponsorship donations to the event. The letters are distributed to club members for signature and mailing and they really work. In the next few weeks, Ric will distribute lists to members who have taken advantage of Ric’s generous offer of letter production, and others will be reminded to make up their lists.

Sergeant at Arms

Don Condon issued an Amber Alert for members Terrell Titus and Katie Camardo who haven’t been at meetings recently. A challenge to members to find them and get them to a meeting.

Happy fines:

Clinton Reichert – reminder of Colchester-Milton Club Auction on Feb. 3 at Colchester High School
Elaine Dates – for Sue McLellan, John Beal and Steve Dates helping to judge the speech competition
Denny Bowen – for skiing with his grandchildren
Dave Gladstone – advice to President-elect Linda Gilbert: the way things go is the way the president says
Jim Spadaccini – glad to see Clint and Dave
Sue McLellan – the speech competition was great
Ric Flood – heading for St. Martins (without his golf clubs)
Howard Seaver – planning a vacation in warm climes – and will be holding guests from the Sister City in May and may have a Rotary partnership opportunity
George Ewins – happy
Bob Sanders – happy
Tom Glaser – their sons gave a surprise party for Tom and Jill at the Black Sheep Bistro
Terry Kennaugh – the weather has been keeping the oil man away
Alan Hathaway – celebrated their anniversary
John Hammer – six feet of snow in the Sierras – skied four days in powder – now we have snow here
Linda Gilbert – made a Hands to Honduras presentation at Milton Colchester Rotary – discovered that they usher at UVM hockey games.

Lucky draw: Don Condon’s number was drawn by Clint Reichert – but Don didn’t win the $164 pot.