Charlotte - Shelburne - Hinesburg Rotary Club
December 23, 2020
Chris Davis called the meeting to order.
Linda Gilbert read the opening words.
There were a few discussions about recent holiday activities such as seeing Santa in a helicopter or driving around in a jeep.
Keith Walsh recently made a gallon of George Washington eggnog and said he would give it to whomever answered the question “What is in a wassail bowl?” There was much discussion with Richard Fox having deep knowledge of the tradition.
Dennis Barton led a round of sharing about favorite cocktails for the holiday season. Many members share their stories about favorite drinks or ones that they had heard of.
Chris Davis mentioned that we are now getting the bills for the hams and other food we paid for. He also mentioned that we are dropping off more snow pants at the Shelburne Community School and expect to be getting a list of needs by early January.
Carole Obuchowski discussed the work of the Rotary Foundation and again encouraged people to donate.
Linda Gilbert outlined how we are helping many people in Tela, Honduras, and will be continuing to do so as long as our supplies and finances allow us to. Sam Feitelberg reported on our similar work in El Salvador.
Diana Vachon reported that on January 13 our speaker will be Emma Marden and her parents to talk about what they did with Black Lives Matter. The family asked if we would send any questions for them to think about. There was some discussion about a couple of ideas.
Upcoming speakers:
- 12/30 - Diana Vachon will lead an inner reflection to help us prepare for the new year.
- 1/13 - Emma Marden and her family (student behind Black Lives Matter activism at SCS)
- 1/20 - Heather Josephine, Camp Thorpe
- 1/27 - Don Stevens, Abenaki Nation
Denis Barton mentioned the great article in Shelburne News (which also appeared in the Charlotte Citizen) and there was a great round of appreciation to Ros for getting the article in there. Ros mentioned that another article may be appearing in this week’s version with more info about our work on the ground, and also has some recruitment info.
Laurie Burke offered to write an article about her personal experience of joining a Rotary Club in a time of Zoom and how that all worked. People were interested and Laurie will be sending a draft to Ros and Chris.
Jessica Brumsted mentioned that the ferry between Charlotte and Essex will be shutting down on January 4. There is no knowledge of when he might be opening it back up. There is a petition circulating asking the owner to reconsider. The Shelburne Selectboard passed a resolution last night also asking the owner to reconsider.
The meeting ended with a video of Sam Feitelberg’s impressive holiday train display.
Susan Grimes read our closing words.