Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary - Newsletter

President John Beal lead the Pledge of Allegiance and gave the devotional. He introduced guests Dave Gladstone from Burlington Rotary and Paula Spadaccini, Jim’s wife, as well as guest speaker Mary Alice McKenzie of the Burlington Boys and Girls Club and a member of the Club’s board Eileen Casey. The other guests, from RYLA, the speech competition and our international student, were introduced later.

The Rotary Thought

In its simplest terms: recruiting new members to join our club is as simple as “Just Ask.”

Upcoming Meetings

Feb. 10 meeting -- Michael Horgan, Brain Surgeon from Fletcher Allen
Feb. 17 meeting -- Committee Meetings

Special Guests (A group of outstanding young people)

Alexis Jagner and Paula Spadaccini

Paul Spadaccini introduced Alexis Jagner, the Argentinean student who is currently staying with the Spadaccinis, attending CVU, and making a great impression on everyone. Alexis said he likes CVU, the Spadaccinis and Vermont – but not the weather.

RYLA

Judy Christensen, Sam Epstein, Laura Dunphy, Evan Morehouse and Sue McLellan

Tami Jo Dickenson, a Rotary member and CVU teacher, introduced the RYLA coordinator for our club, Sue McLellan and our club member Judy Christensen who is on the district committee for TYLA, and three of our four RYLA students for 2009-2010, all students at CVU. Sue and Judy explained how they are chosen and what the RYLA weekend at Johnson State involves. The three students, Sam Epstein, Laura Dunphy and Evan Morehouse received their RYLA certificates and each spoke of how important the experience had been for them. Evan said for students who are already leaders in their schools, spending a weekend with students from other schools who have similar leadership skills, “raises the bar.” She said, “It pushes you to try harder to hone your leadership skills.” The fourth RYLA student, Mitchell Precourt, was not present on Wednesday.

Speech Competition

Sydney Hilker

Sydney Hilker of Shelburne, a senior at CVU and resident of Shelburne, was the winner of the Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Club-sponsored Speech Competition and she attended the meeting to repeat the speech that won the first round of competition, and which she will give in the next round, the regional competition. If she wins there, she would go on to the district competition and, we hope, the nationals.

Sydney spoke about the Rotary Four-Way Test, applying its tenets to her personal reaction to the disaster in Haiti, and to the responsibility being shared by young people and individuals all over the country and the world. Sydney described an experience she had when she decided to do something to help the young people of Ghana during a trip there with her mother, and what an impact that sharing experience had on her. She said it made her realize that education is the vital factor in filling the gap between the rich nations and the poor nations and how important that will be for the future. She also described a campaign she is now leading at CVU to help the Haitian earthquake victims.

Sergeant at Arms

Don Condon saluted the young people who had taken part in the program, pointing to their importance to the strong future of the country (and to our social security). He also welcomed Terrell Titus, the object of his “Find Terrell” Challenge of the previous week, and congratulated Pat Sokolowski who “found” her.

Happy fines:

Tod Whitaker – for the mailing of the SBPA membership renewal letters
George Ewins – too many $1 bills in his wallet
Sam Feitelberg – celebrating his 80^th birthday
John Dupee – news from Don Rathbone that his grandson has been chosen for the national ski team
Debby Hanley – heading for Jackson Hole to ski
Jim Spadaccini – having Alexis staying with them and attending the meeting
Linda Gilbert – Evan Morehouse, our RYLA team member, is going to be a Hands to Honduras volunteer
Dave Jonah – celebrated his birthday
Alan Hathaway – proud of all the participating youth
Sue McLellan – happy to see the kids – a great district pre=PETS meeting
John Hammer – happy to see the snow – heading for Honduras
Denny Bowen – impressed by all the talented young people
Don Condon – also had a birthday
Terrell Titus – happy to see all her friends
John Beal – thank you to Linda for chairing the annual meeting while he was having an MRI – and he’ll be missing some meetings in March

Lucky draw: Debby Hanley’s ticket was drawn but she chose the wrong card (in spite of Lauren’s help)

Guest Speaker

Mary Alice McKenzie and John Beal

Mary Alice McKenzie, executive director of the Burlington Boys and Girls Club, showed a video of the work of the organization and talked about its impact on a segment of the population who need extra help – the young people of the city’s old north end district.

The Club served 1,000 young a year, about 300 a day at their club house facilities in the old north end and Winooski. The children they see are typically from homes of the working poor, the homeless and parents in prison. Mary Alice said she refuses to gloss over the “p” word – poverty. “We serve truly hungry kids,” she said. One of the services they provide is hot meals. “These kids depend on it.”

They have programs to develop leadership skills, life skills necessary to resist making bad choices. They have athletic programs and provide support for the students in their studies, for a population where a large proportion do not finish high school. She echoed Sydney Hilker, saying “Education closes the gap.” They offer after-school homework help, tutoring and summer programs. They begin at the kindergarten age to provide the kind of emotional support that will help children follow their hopes and dreams and complete secondary school and go on to college. “The old north end is our campus 24/7/365,” she said.