Good Morning MRV Rotarians, friends, community members and supporters. As I write, snow is softly falling, trees are frosted and the whole world is magical. It is on days like this when I can truly forget anything that ails me. And then I hear the plow down below on Rt. 17 thankfully clearing the way so that all the folks doing good, honest work can continue. I feel so blessed to live in a community where people care for each other the way we do.
At the recent breakfast meeting Susan Klein honored Rotarian, Tom Emory, for the Service Above Self award. Read more about Tom and Susan's words in Stories, below. Congratulations, Tom!
Thank you to the many Rotarians who helped with the annual install of the Camp Te Kum Ta ice rink. See photos below.
Please welcome the following four new members to our Rotary Community: Brooke Cunningham, Kate Sparrow, Mary Jo and Alan Spiegel. Karen Winchell will be scheduling them soon for their intro speeches when we will learn a bit more about each of them.
Grants Approved
Mad River Valley Arts requests $3000 for a “Public Arts Project”, on the Heart of the Valley Trail. Structures will be built to hold art forms with a consistent design element (by Yestermorrow). The program brings together many elements, community, children, those who build, etc.
The Valley PTOs and Harwood request $5000 for the winter sports program, $1000 for each of five schools, as needed to help all (500) children in the program. The grant adds to funds raised from other sources, for example, the Waitsfield Elementary Ski and Skate sale.
Both of the projects are pending a vote by membership at the December 10 meeting so please try and attend. Your vote counts!
Thank you, Doug Stoehr, Shawn Sullivan, Gary Plewak and Tom Emory for your time and commitment to work on grants.
Upcoming Rotary meetings:
12/10, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting at the Village Meeting House at Waitsfield UCC.
12/17, 5:30 p.m. Annual Holiday gathering at Afterthoughts above Valley Meade. Stay tuned for details.
Moving through the winter months, we will meet once a month over lunch (as an alternative to dinner meetings) at Lawson’s Finest Liquids January-April.
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
Restaurant Raffle - If you have the chance to, please sign up to sell tickets on Friday afternoons or Saturdays at Mehuron's and visit with all of your best friends who walk by. You can sign up for a 2 hour shift here. Thank you, Tom Emory, for doing so much of the heavy lifting on this. A recent notice from Tom indicated that we are about half way to our goal of $15,000.
Community Pantry delivery folks are always needed. Thank you, Doug Stoehr, for organizing. Click the link below to help.
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.
December 1, 2025 While the days in the Northeast are growing shorter and darker, our light continues to shine on our community and on each other. Snowfall has given us an early peak at what’s to come and for many, winter recreation is an important part of their life here in the Mad River Valley. Me, not so much. I appreciate the winter less for the outdoor recreation and more for the opportunity to “nest”, to take on long-neglected indoor projects, to learn a new skill (I am committed to making a “barn quilt”), experiment with new recipes (less meat, more veggies/tofu), to nap, to knit. I also plan to take the winter to work on tightening up some club administrative tasks and files. It may not sound fun for you, but it’s a “thing” for me. You go put in your runs on the mountain, I got this...
I have the pleasure of presenting another very public thank you to a member who is present this evening.
It will be hard for me to read this without giving away who it is, but I will try.
This person has been a long time member of our club, serving in many capacities. This person was nominated not by one, but by two different members independently
Shawn S. doing some heavy work with support of Rob C., Norm R. and Mike B. at Camp Te Kum Tah.
A significant gaggle of Rotarians helped with the annual winter install of the ice rink at Camp Te Kum Ta. Many thanks go to: Karl Klein, Rod Ciappanelli, Shawn Sullivan, Damon Reed, Ed Mc Donough, Doug Stoehr, Rob Grant, Norm Rainville, Mike (Toons) Bridgewater, John Reynolds, Kira Bacon, Tom Emory, Howard Levin and Dave Koepele. And Dave K. reports that no one got hurt!
At the recent dinner meeting held at Rumbles Bistro at Sugarbush, John Hammond, President of SB, and John Bleh, Marketing Director, presented an update on Sugarbush operations.
Rotarian, Tom Emery, was recently honored by a big Service Above Self surprise!
And yet another tidbit of information about this beautiful state that we are blessed to call home. Did you know that Vermont has the distinction of being the state with the highest percentage of dirt roads relative to paved roads? We have nearly 8,600 miles of unpaved roads compared to 7,151 miles of paved roads. 🙂 In Fayston, I believe we have only 3 paved roads!
