Newsletter - Archive  Mar 24, 2010

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Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Club

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room

7:30 a.m.

Welcome

John Beal and the new mic

President John Beal lead the pledge and John Hammer gave the devotional.

John announced that Denny Bowen had participated in the Williston Rotary Ski Challenge and that Linda Gilbert and Colleen Haag attended the Barre Rotary Club meeting to talk about Hands to Honduras. He also introduced guest Tim Cope from the Burlington Rotary Club.

Rotary Thought

John shared some startling statistics from Rotary International about the importance of work Rotary is doing to improve the quality of water around the world. He said that contaminated and polluted water kills more people every year than diseases – 2.2 million people die every year from the effects of unsafe water.

Calendar

• 3/25 – board meeting
• 3/27 – Leadership Institute
• 3/28 – Boy Scout Pancake Breakfast in Charlotte
• 4/1-2 – FBLA conference in Burlington still needs judges
• 4/7 – Linda Gilbert will be chairing the meeting
• 6/11-12 – District Convention in Burlington
• 6/20-23 – RI convention in Montreal

Thank You

We received a letter of thanks from the National Guard Charitable Foundation.

Projects

Charlotte Senior Center Volunteer Appreciation Dinner

On March 19, Rotary Club members Denny Bowen, Steve and Elaine Dates, Carol Geske, Colleen Haag, Linda Gilbert and John Hammer helped with the Charlotte Senior Center volunteer appreciation dinner, primarily as the clean up crew. Linda said it was a good opportunity to get recognition for the work of Rotary.

Bowling for the Community

Our biggest fund raiser of the year is scheduled for early June and we need to be ahead of the curve with our solicitation. Ric Flood has distributed lists of the names each member asked for a donation in the past, and everyone should expand on their current list or (if they haven’t sent out letters in the past asking for Bowl-a-thon support) they should sit down and make up a list of at least 20 people who could be asked for a donation. As he says every time he makes his pitch, “If everyone asked 20 people, we could double the proceeds of the event – from$20,000+ to $40,000+.

The Challenge

To encourage everyone to participate in the Bowl-a-thon campaign, John Beal issued this challenge:  Check the membership list on the Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Club website. If the person whose name is before yours and the person whose name is after yours have both submitted lists for the Bowl-a-thon solicitation letter, you get a free breakfast.

Can you Hula Hoop?

Guest Tim Cope from the Burlington Rotary Club decribed the Hoopapaloosa Fund Raiser they are sponsoring on May 1 in City Hall Park, to raise funds for their on-going projects improving public spaces in the city, in this case improving the landscaping at Edmunds School on Main Street, as well as contributing to international pure water projects and local charities. They would welcome our participation with a team or as a sponsor. There will be prizes for duration of spinning and artistry.

Sergeant at Arms

Don Condon, alarmed by a story in the Free Press that said Chittenden County is 60^th highest in the country for taxes and 55^th for income, levied fines from everyone he says deserves blame for this situation:

• Realtors
• Bankers
• Financial advisors
• Retired people
• Attorneys
• Anyone in the housing business
• Retired doctors
• Everyone else

Happy fines:

• Kris Engstrom – an ultrasound indicates she will have a new nephew
• Carol Geske – made the first cut for a position with the Vermont Energy Investment Corp.
• Colleen Haag – to Barre with Linda Gilbert to accept a $2,000 donation for Hands to Honduras – and to remind people that Saturday is Passport Day at the Town Offices
• Robert Maynes – thanks for the reminder to renew his passport before the prices go up
• Sam Feitelberg – back from Honduras – time at the Physio therapy center – took wheelchairs with them – benefited from the UVM connection by doing an online consultation on patients in Tela with experts at UVM.
• Ric Flood – three weeks left in tax season
• Linda Gilbert – visiting the 100 lambs at Shelburne Farms – and seeing an eagle at the fishing access on their way home.
• Linda Barker – supporting the Lund Family Center Bike-a-thon on May 1
• Judy Christensen – Linda’s kindness in lending her money to pay a happy fine
• Tim Cope – South Burlington kids raised $1,000 for the Rotary Haiti water project – and his sons are going to Tela
• Jim Spadaccini – just happy
• Gary Bergeron – sitting at the power table
• John Hammer – fun cleaning up after the Senior Dinner – and there was snow this morning

Lucky draw: Linda Schiavone’s number was drawn but she chose the wrong card -- $273.50 rolls over.