Good Morning MRV Rotarians, friends, community members and supporters.
I hope everyone is enjoying whatever winter activities feed your soul - whether it is fun in the snow, reading a good book by a warm fire, cooking to feed the masses who enjoy visiting you here in paradise or creating something with your own hands there is no shortage of activities for these cold, snowy days. I hear that some even prefer to escape to warmer climates! 🤔 No matter what floats your boat, there is no shortage of ways to continue to contribute to the good work that we all do for this special community we call home, Even if you spend a few months away from the Valley, your remote input is always welcome. We will find a place for you! As mentioned in last month's newsletter, conversations have already begun around the 4th of July parade, as well as the Labor Day Duck Race. In addition to those two opportunities, both veteran and new members are invited to consider other ways to get involved. See Susan Klein's President's letter in Stories or read on for more on this.
Jane Macan continues to work tirelessly on organizing the von Trapp Garden Days event with Sally and Toby von Trapp. Thank you, Sally and Toby! If you recall, the excitement around this annual event has been growing steadily and with an expanding geographic reach. Last year the event raised roughly $17,000 in 5 weekends. In 2026 the first weekend for the event is July 3/5 and continues every other weekend on Friday/Saturday plus Labor Day. Helping to check attendees in is joyful work with beautiful gardens as your backdrop and Sally by your side.
Grants Approved
Rise Against Hunger was granted $1000 to support work on food insecurity in 41 countries. MRV Rotary will not be holding a food packaging event this year.
The Church of the Good Shepherd in Barre will receive $1,500 to fund warm, winter, wool socks for those in need. See the thank you letter from Curt Lindberg in Stories, below.
Thank you, Doug Stoehr, Shawn Sullivan, Gary Plewak and Tom Emory for your time and commitment to work on grants.
Although not technically a grant but nonetheless important news, MRV Rotary is grateful for the anonymous donation of $20,000 for our Scholarship funding. Dara Torre reports there will be one $10,000 and one $5000 scholarship awarded. The Education committee, which includes Dr. Mike Leichliter, Dara, Betsy Wilkinson, Kim Olds, Ed McDonough, Carol Hosford and Rosemarie White will recommend whether one or two Tools for theTrade scholarships will be granted.
Also, Dave Koepele requested the purchase of a four-wheel cart, $80.00, for deliveries to Community Pantry. This was approved.
Upcoming Rotary meetings:
2/11, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting at the Village Meeting House at Waitsfield UCC.
2/18, 11:15 a.m. - Wednesday lunch meeting at Lawson's Finest Liquids. Meeting will be first followed by lunch of your choice from the regular menu.
2/25, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting at the Village Meeting House at Waitsfield UCC.
A reminder to please sign up for breakfast meetings whether or not you will be eating. In addition, if you choose to not eat breakfast, please consider contributing $5 to help cover the cost of the venue. If this request in any way, reduces your ability to attend meetings, please reach out to Susan K. as we have a small fund to offer financial assistance for club activities for any member who requests it.
Volunteer opportunities
All of the following are excellent ways to jump in and truly gain a sense of how this amazing club works.
4th of July Parade - See Ben Olds.
Labor Day Duck Race fundraiser - See Doug Reid
Restaurant Raffle for next fall - See Tom Emory as he plans to step down after many years.
District Grants application process - See Roger Porter who has perfected this process.
Community Pantry delivery folks are always needed. Thank you, Doug Stoehr, for organizing. Click the link below to help. As a personal aside, when I was a new member 5 years ago, this volunteer opportunity was a wonderful way for me to jump into Rotary and gain insight into how Rotary works its magic. In addition, I met wonderful folks.
Being a greeter is a fabulous way to say hello to folks you have not seen in a while and, if you are new to MRV Rotary, a wonderful way to get acquainted.
February is a short month that brings more daylight, a CSA subscription renewal, our chicken-ordering catalogue, a seed catalogue and annual town report. Indeed the heavy lifting of simply getting through the cold, dark winter season is easing up. What is not easing up, however, is the energy of our club. With several new members - and many expressing interest in learning more - ours is indeed a healthy and vibrant club. Well done, all. It truly “takes a village”.
The Mad River Rotary Club is to be commended for the grant it provided to provide warm, wool socks for the guests filling the emergency cold-weather shelter in Barre. With guidance from Clearwater Sports and Onion River Sports, the Rotary funds went far. With the addition of a contribution from Darn Tough, the socks were purchased at below wholesale cost.
I didn't make it to breakfast today since my truck skidded on ice and ended up very stuck on the side of my driveway. I had to tow it from the snowbank.
If I did make it, I would have given you all a GREAT THANKS for helping with the Restaurant Raffle. Your gathering of gift certificates, selling at Mehuron's, and sending out requests on Rallyup is what makes the project work each year.
At a recent breakfast meeting, Shawn Sullivan shared his introductory speech. Shawn has been a member of MRV Rotary for at least 3 years so this was a long anticipated intro! 😆
Saul Costa, entrepreneur who started Shock, the non profit, community-building BEE ap, presented his story at a recent January breakfast meeting. You can read a letter from him in the Stories below.
Lisa Loomis, Co-owner of the Valley Reporter, presented information on the Valley Reporter Trust, the non-profit, 501c3 that she and her co-owner, Pat Clark set up. This Trust will raise funds to support the newspaper's ability to provide sustainable local journalism in the Mad River Valley.
Here are a couple of fun Rotary facts to finish up.
The First Rotary Project was in 1917 installing public toilets in Chicago.
The Rotary organization became international in 1912 with clubs in Canada, Ireland, and the UK, and took its current name, Rotary International, in 1922.
While early Rotary was male-only, the first women joined in 1987. Wayyy too late in my humble opinion. Think of all that could have been accomplished earlier by allowing women!
