Good morning! Rotarians have been quite busy! Perhaps the cool fall air could be the reason. Or maybe the productivity is a result of the feeling that September represents a new year - a chance to start over with a kick start. Whatever the reason, our beloved Valley benefits from all our efforts.
At the Labor Day Duck Race, efforts led by Doug Stoehr and Erik Russell, a good time was had by all. In addition to all the fun, MRV Rotary earned a net of over $16,000. When you see Doug, please thank him for his 10 years of working on this project as he has announced his official retirement from the Duck Race. We need a new leader to take this on so who is interested?? The rewards are great!
Speaking of thank you, we are grateful for all Sara Gallet has done for our community. Sara is moving away from the Valley. We will miss her positive, hard working attitude and wish her the best!
Regarding projects, many thanks to Bill Barnes who has taken on the leadership of a new one, "Window Dressers". Bill described the program as creating custom window frame inserts for insulation. Teams of two Rotarians will measure windows and frames will be custom made. Households have to pay for and assemble inserts. 20% of the project is earmarked for and will be donated to those in need. The program is based in Montpelier and is a multi-year program. Volunteers are needed for this hands on work. Please contact Bill if interested.
Activities at Neck of the Woods, NOW, have been constant. The new water system has been built and installed and the child care center is awaiting test results and licensing approval from the state.
Many thanks to Gordon Hoare who led the team of Rotarians last week as they began the construction of the state-required playground fence at NOW. The work crew was aided by a power auger owned by Karl and Susan Klein. Hey! perhaps we should name the auger??!! Augie? 😀 Along with Gordon, Karl and Susan, Rotarians helping included, Roger Porter, Peter Colgan, Doug Stoehr, Mike Bridgewater, Erik Russell, Dave Ellison, Tom Emory and Bill Barnes. Please forgive me if I neglected to include anyone. The project is scheduled to be completed this coming Saturday at NOW. If you can help, please contact Gordon or just show up at NOW at 8:30 a.m.
According to Tom Emory, The Restaurant Raffle fundraiser is returning to its original form and he and his team hope to collect over 150 gift certificates to be donated by the restaurants. Titled, "Dinner for Two and other Culinary Delights", the solicitations have begun and tickets sales start mid-November at the ski sale. The drawing is in January. If you can help with this project, please contact Tom.
The location of our MRV Rotary meetings continue to be scheduled almost on a month to month basis due to the universal challenge of restaurant staffing shortages. We are beyond grateful to our friends at Toast and Eggs as well as American Flatbread for their continued support. Coming up in October our current plans are to hold all 3 of our monthly meetings there - 2 morning breakfasts as well as 1 dinner meeting. The dinner meeting is often well attended as spouses regularly join. Our speaker for the Oct. 20 meeting is Kathleen Burns Kingsbury whose topic will be "Economic Power of Women". We anticipate significant interest but space will be limited so please sign up as soon as you can. Here's a link to the sign-up sheet. Many thanks to
Karen Winchell for her continued hard work arranging for our speakers.
