Good Morning all MRV Rotarians, friends, community members and supporters. I hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall weather and absorbing all that you can of the spectacular colors, soothing aromas, and comforting sounds of leaves crunching underfoot. This BRIEF arrives in your mailboxes earlier than normal as Howard and I will be heading out west on Friday for two weeks and I wanted to ensure at least some communication prior to our leaving. I will plan to send an additional BRIEF along with the President's News upon our return.
Thank you to all who helped with the Duck Race - actually, I suspect that 90% of our membership did at least something to ensure the success, once again, of this major fundraiser! We netted about $23,000 which will be returned to the community in the form of grants and had a ball doing it! Thank you, lead duck, Doug Reid!
Upcoming Rotary meetings
9/23, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting under the tent at Toast and Eggs.
10/13, 5:30 p.m. Board Meeting on Zoom. Link is available on calendar.
10/14, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting at Waitsfield UCC, Village Meeting House.
10/21, 5:30 p.m. Evening dinner meeting at Rumbles Bar and Bistro at Sugarbush.
10/28, 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meeting at Waitsfield UCC, Village Meeting House.
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 Mike L. as we have a small fund to offer financial assistance for club activities for any member who requests it.
Volunteer opportunities
OUTPOUR 26 is this Saturday, September 26 at Mt. Ellen from 3 - 7 p.m. Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity will be the proceeds recipient. SAVE THE DATE. Thank you, Betsy Wilkinson and Al Barillaro for taking the lead on this and a great big thanks too, to other team members! I understand that there are a plethora of volunteer opportunities such as set up, day of ticket sales, parking monitors, and raffle/silent auction helpers for this event. Please jump in where you can. Click this link to sign up: https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/1012514600093/false#/invitation
Community Pantry delivery folks are always needed. Thank you, Doug Stoehr, for organizing. Click the link below to help. I hear that new members find this volunteer opportunity a wonderful way to jump into Rotary and gain insight into how Rotary works its magic. In addition, you will meet 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.
We are thrilled that our club will once again host a Rise Against Hunger meal packaging event on Saturday, November 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Mary Jo Spiegel has offered to chair this event. This is a wonderfully fun, high energy, family friendly event that provides meals for needy areas around the globe. You can read more about Rise Against Hunger here. https://riseagainsthunger.org/
A small gaggle of duck counters ensuring accuracy of our Duck Race at the Round Barn prior to the race.
Beth Schoellkopf presented an update on the High School Afterschool Cafe that was started last year with the leadership of Hannah's House. It is held at and now run by the Bigger Picture. Our own Jeni Davison assists with the food service aspect of the program and Ramsey Brown are also involved in the program.
At the recent dinner meeting at American Flatbread, Brent Cassidy presented his very interesting introduction speech. He has quite the background in DNA Analysis!
Some of the brightest asters of the season enjoyed by the bumblebee.
I wish you a wonderful couple of weeks and time to enjoy the spectacular colors of the asters as the brilliant goldenrod begins to fade.
