Charlotte-Shelburne Rotary 9/9/15 Meeting
 
We opened the meeting with Pledge of Allegiance and a lovely song.
Our guests today were Kelly and Zeke Davisson, Benet Olhman, and Natalie Bates.
We were also joined by Dr. Jonathan Lowell who was joining as a new Rotary member.
 
PROJECTS:
Projects – Halloween Parade, Car Raffle and Football Pool were touched on and added the early October trail clearing.
 
CAR RAFFLE:
Ric Flood gave us an update on the car raffle which is scheduled for October 23rd.  He passed around the master list for tickets (green highlight to mark tickets and request for door prizes) and let us know that letters went out this morning and for anyone who wants a ticket to let Ric know.
 
NOTE TAKERS:
Note takers still needed – a list was passed around to sign up for future note takers. Chris Davis and Michael Abrams volunteered as future note takers and there was a show of hands of members who had not taken notes which was about ½ of the club.
 
FOOTBALL POOL:
Alan Bates gave an update on the football pool.  We hit the minimum number of players and were up to 55 participants playing.  $1375 for club and $1375 for the prize money. An email today/tomorrow will go out for first weeks pick.  Alan is working out the details on the document being sent.  We are only picking Sunday and Monday games. He can take additional names until Saturday for anyone still interested.  The committee can pick for you if you want just let Alan know.
 
ANNUAL DUES:
Reminder for annual dues for those who have not paid to please pay ASAP.  The club need to pay dues to Rotary International regardless.
 
VETERAN’S MEMORIAL:
Sam Feitelberg gave an update on the Veteran’s Memorial monument.  Sunday is the dedication for monument at 1:00 and he suggested to come by 12:15 and bring your own chairs.  Wonderful program started by own rotary members Colleen Haag 10 years ago. The Veteran’s Memorial Committee holds a special place in their heart for Rotary and would like to present a little something to the Club for their attentiveness and investment.
 
NEW MEMBER JONATHAN LOWELL:
Dr. Jonathan Lowell was presented by his sponsors George and Linda Schiavone.  He was born in Queens, NY.  Having attending college at the University of Rochester, medical school in Syracuse, and practicing most recently in Malone NY until April this year when he decided to follow his 3 daughters and grandchildren who had settled in Burlington. Dr. Lowell was an active member of the Kiwanis Club in Malone and upon moving to Vermont was looking for a service organization to be a part of and to give back to community through.  FYI – he has house for sale in Malone for sale 180k beautiful Victorian w/ swimming pool.
 

BOWL-A-THON –
Ric Flood gave an update on the additional money that had come in for the bowl a thon.
 
HARVEST FESTIVAL -
Bill Root sent around the sign up sheet for harvest festival parking.  He is looking for people to sign up for 8:00am vendor parking, 6 people out in the field in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
 
ST. GEORGE SCHOOL HOUSE:
Joan Lenes gave an update on the St. George school house and let us know about an opportunity this Saturday 9/12.  It is a work day finalizing installation and insulation needs.  They need a few hours of help at 8:30 let her know you are coming or Joan will be there around 10.
 
SERGEANT AT ARMS:
Pot is at $450 approximately and he collected fines for being caught in the recent rainstorm or looking for rain.
 
Evan –
Chris – Happy to have Kelly Brush Davisson here today and rain
Phil -
Berhn – in the rain
Dave – win $50 back in pool
Linda – dance party acknowledge Bill and Denny and their willingness to help with anythingHoward S
John Hammer – airline
Carol – beat the heat swimming hole
Gary –
Alan – happy to have daughter for few days
Mark – happy rain
Chris – undefeated team
Richard – players
Dr. Lowell – happy rain
Lara – happy rain but just not inside in the library
Mike Clapp – Gary Marcotte is going to save washing machine
John – great weather weekend
Denny – penn state football
Allan Hathaway –
Fritz –
Linda –
Steve – 10 years ago Rotary
Phil – rain and sun on Sunday
Ric Flood – filling pool before the rain and going to Marion, MA for 5 day bike week on coast
Joan – caught in rain in soccer with nieces and memories
Mike Abrams – teaching his first class at CCV 20 new
Barb – no rain camping
Roz – not caught in rain
Trafton – happy to have Zeke and Kelly here today
Kelly pulled #712  pot continues
 
KELLY BRUSH DAVISSON:
Trafton spoke of how the Brush family were family friends and their story was a true inspiration.
Lara read her biography which told of how she grew up in Charlotte, became an elite ski racer through Green Mountain Valley and Middlebury College.  She crashed during ski race and went on to build a foundation to support ski safety and adaptive sports.
 
A video was shown that captured her story.  Afterwards, Kelly spoke about being active.  At 19 years old in college, she was an athlete did every sport (hikes, tennis, ski, etc. ) She defined herself by sport in good way.  When she had the accident, one of the hardest things was that being active and an athlete, was taken away from her.  Being from VT where being active and outside was a huge part of community.  Initially, she thought this part of her life was gone but luckily it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t true.
 
In CO rehab she learned about opportunities and getting on bike was the first turning point. 
 
The Kelly Brush foundation started organically.  A lot of time was spent trying to figure out how did this happen?  They decided that the first mission of foundation is protect other skiers in ski racing and make it a priority.  This was an urgent need and specific need and was one of the easier ones to tackle. Lindy from Cochran’s Ski Area spoke in the video about the fencing provided by the Kelly Brush Foundation.   Kelly spoke of the shift in culture of ski racing not only for coaches and community but kids/skiers too.  They are not going to race if the course wasn’t safe.
 
Access to adaptive athletic equipment is also a big part of what the Kelly Brush Foundation does.  It has grown to the point of online applications …100’s of applications are received each year and they have given out 300 pieces of equipment to ski clubs/people.  Applications have come from 35 states and the reach of the foundation is getting bigger and bigger.
 
One of the first fund raising efforts was when the original 25 members of the Ski team from Middlebury got together to raise money for Kelly to buy mono ski coach.  The organized a 100 mile ride and raised $60,000 so I could buy sports equipment.  Since then the Kelly Brush Ride now raises money for the foundation. 
 
One of the great things about the ride is the number of hand cyclists that participate from across the country and previous grant recipients of adaptive equipment.  This Saturday they are hoping to raise $275,000+ for the Foundation. 
 
Zeke Davisson is the now the full time executive director of the Kelly Brush Foundation.  He is going to dive into it and see what he can do to take us to next level.