Charlotte Shelburne Rotary

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Trinity Episcopal Community Room

Welcome

President Elect Linda Gilbert opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Kris Engstrom gave a devotional.

Rotary Thought

Linda encouraged everyone to read the interesting article in the current Rotarian magazine on the life and influence of Paul Harris, the Vermonter who created Rotary (after creating havoc in his prep school and at UVM – enough to get expelled). His story and his role model is impressive.

Announcements

• 4/17: District Assembly in Lebanon, NH
• 4/21: Committee meetings - Paul Harris Fellows will meet to nominate this year’s fellows
• 4/22: Rotary board
• 6/4: Bowl-a-thon
• 6/11-12: District Conference at the Davis Center at UVM
• 6/20-23: Rotary International Conference in Montreal
• 6/22: Changing of the Guard at Ric Flood’s

Speaking Competition

Our Charlotte Shelburne Rotary Speaking Competition winner, Sidney Hilker, who is going on to the next levels of competition, was profiled in a story in Sunday’s Burlington Free Press in a story about students receiving notice of their college admissions. Sidney is going to Harvard.

Bowl-a-Thon

Ric says the letters for sponsorships for the Bowl-a-thon should go out about May 10 and therefore everyone should get their lists of people they would like to mail to into Ric within the next week so his office can handle all the letter and envelope production. Thanks to Ric and Pat in his office for this great service.

Sergeant at Arms

Kris Engstrom, subbing for Don Condon who was absent, asked for tribute dollars from everyone in honor of Jimmy Fayette’s 90^th birthday this week.

Happy fines:

• Roz Graham, recovering from a fine for wearing unseasonably summery shoes on a not very-summery day, paid happy fines for the coverage in the Shelburne News of the wonderful winter Farmers Market that was also unseasonably summery, and for the 105 lambs born in the past month at Shelburne Farms
• Chuck Dunham – for the presence at their table of two charter members of Charlotte Shelburne Rotary: Bill Deming and John Hancock.
• Terry Kennaugh – back from cold rainy Florida to warm sunny Vermont

Make a Wish Foundation

Hattie Johnson, Development Director of the Vermont Make A Wish Foundation, explained the good work of this organization that is committed to helping kids with a life-threatening medical condition to enrich their lives, and those of their families, with hope, strength and joy.

For the first 10 years of their existence, Make A Wish focused on granting wishes for dying children but in the second decade they have broadened that to children with life-threatening conditions. They are the largest wish granting organization in the world.

Since the Vermont Chapter was founded in 1989, they have granted a total of 500 wishes, between 30 and 50 each year, with an average cost of $10,000.

Grants can be requested by a child, by their family or by a medical person or social worker. To be eligible, the child must be between 2 1/2 and 18 and live in Vermont.

When Make A Wish gets a request, they determine eligibility, assign wish granters, volunteers who will work with the family, determine how the wish might be granted and approve the action by the board.

In the past year they granted Nicole of Shelburne’s wish to go to Disney World, Nicole of Charlotte’s wish to go to Hawaii, Jack of Shelburne’s wish to go to Hawaii and Madeline of Charlotte’s wish for a playhouse.

Make A Wish has a $718,392 annual budget, half of which is raised by special events held by other businesses and organization to benefit Make A Wish.

People who want to be involved can volunteer, become wish granters, adopt a wish, take part in the walk for wishes or make a personal contribution.

Terrell Titus sent along this picture taken at the Make A  Wish recognition dinner two years ago. Terrell says, “This is the little girl that got to go on a cruise with her family with other young people who looked like her.”

President Elect Linda Gilbert presented the coveted CSR travel mug to Hattie Johson of Make A Wish Foundation.