Good morning! The autumn leaves have danced and summersaulted their way to the ground and as I write this snow flakes fall to cover them. As we approach another festive and busy holiday season, Rotarians have certainly been People of Action. Sally Dwyer and Bill Barnes have worked many hours leading the Window Dressers program which builds insulation frames for windows to keep homes cozy in the cold, dark days of VT winters. At last count 61 windows were measured for 10 clients. Last Saturday Bill Barnes, Pete Colgan, Dave Ellison, Roger Porter, Mike Bridgewater, Doug Stoehr, Shawn Sullivan, Mike Curtin and Joe Klimek did stellar work on the project along with Sally Dwyer racking up more hours on alternate days. Click here for a description of the Window Dressers program.
Tom Emory has once again taken the lead on one of our most important fund raisers, "Dinner for Two and Other Culinary Delights". Sales of Raffle tickets for the annual raffle have begun and you can sign up here for a shift to do so outside Mehuron's. Raffle tickets are also available on-line at https://mrvrotary.rallyup.com/raffle. This annual raffle features 110 donated gift certificates to our area restaurants and all funds raised support the Rotary’s charitable giving program. The raffle drawing will be held January 22 and winners will be notified shortly thereafter.
We are grateful to Dave Koepele for organizing a handful of workers to reassemble the ice rink at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta. This year Roger Porter, Karl Klein, Damon Reed, Al Barillaro and Doug Stoehr banded together and completed the project. This is an annual event for Rotarians. Camp Ta-Kum-Ta provides challenging, extraordinary experiences in a safe and loving environment for children who have or have had cancer and their families. You can read more about the Camp here.
In addition to all of the good hands-on-work being done, we will be taking some time for fun and to celebrate the season thanks to Pat Travers, Bruce Shulman, and Jane Macan. Pat and Bruce have organized wine tastings/pairings at AlpinoVino, a new business in the Valley. According to Pat, "Our group will come together to appreciate a selection of the wines and small plates at the Mad River Valley's newest œnothèque (wine library), AlpinoVino.We will taste 5 or 6 wines with various small plates to get a sense of how wine enhances the flavor of food." There are still a few spaces remaining for the event on Dec. 15 and 16 at 6 p.m. at least there were when I wrote this. Please contact Pat for more information. Find out more about AlpinoVino here.
We have Jane Macan to thank for arranging the MRV Rotary holiday dinner to be held at the Pitcher Inn on Dec. 1. The cost is $65 pp and will need to be paid up front. Watch for news on how to do that soon.
Over the past few months our club has grown! We have welcomed the following new members: Mike Bridgewater, Mike Curtin, Shawn Sullivan and Carl Cundiff. Please welcome them when you see them and let's be sure to charm them into helping with our many projects! They will soon be presenting their introductory speeches.
