Newsletter 9/11
Charlotte Shelburne Rotary
Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, 7:30 a.m.
Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room
President Dave Jonah welcomed everyone and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Kris Engstrom gave the devotional.
Guests:
Two guest Rotarians were introduced: Shelley Richardson from Charlotte who belongs to Burlington Rotary, and Ed Bayer of South Burlington Club.
We also welcomed the four winners of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Tyler VanDyke from Hinesburg, Graeme Waples from Hinesburg, Karen Pflaster from Charlotte and Meghan Hanley from Shelburne, all students at Champlain Valley Union High School.
Upcoming meetings:
9/18 – Chris Davis – Meach Cove Trust
9/25 – Chief Michael Schirling of Burlington Police
10/2 – Gene Richards, Director of Operations at Burlington International Airport
10/9 – Frant Bryant, retired UVM History Professor and author
And upcoming events:
9/13 – Latin Dance Part at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn
9/14 – work party at Charlotte Central School – finishing the compost shed – come at 8:30 to help with construction
9/21 – Shelburne Farms Harvest Festival where we have an unblemished record of safely parking hundreds of cars – Bill Root, the Crew Chief, encouraged signups – and mentioned the Chili supper (with beer) at the end of the day for volunteers.
Congratulations RYLA winners
Judy Christensen, who has been Charlotte Shelburne Rotary representative to the RYLA planning team for several years, and is now the District Chair for the project, introduced the four CVU students who earned the right to attend the two-and-a-half day leadership training program held at Johnson State College in June. This year’s winners, nominated by their teachers and chosen by the committee, were Tyler VanDyke from Hinesburg, Graeme Waples from Hinesburg, Karen Pflaster from Charlotte and Meghan Hanley from Shelburne.
Judy explained that the teachers based their choices on identifying students they think have leadership qualities and deserve recognition for their abilities. Twenty-six of the 42 clubs in District 7850 participated and send 65 students to the RYLA weekend.
Tyler and Graeme both described their RYLA weekend as a valuable experience, developing confidence in their own abilities, making new friends, getting outside of their own ‘comfort’ zones and developing teams to meet challenges.
Meghan described some of the activities of the weekend, based on teams that mixed up the participants with people they didn’t know, and built teamwork and mutual trust by tackling interesting projects. For example the team was assigned the task of building a structure strong enough to hold up a paint can, using only newspapers and tape – and all without talking. There was also a talent contest that everyone had to take part in, regardless of their degree of talent or natural shyness. And one evening they combined their energy to raise $2250 for Polio Plus.
Karen described the low ropes course, an activity that demanded trust in their fellow team members and was truly “a leap of faith.” She said, “We learned to make choices and set goals for ourselves.”
Judy reminded Rotary that the earning of a Rotary Youth Leadership Award will go on the students’ CVU transcripts and should be included on their resumes.
Happy fines:
Richard Fox collected happy fines – or fines that will make you happy for only $1, as he described them.
• Bill Root – for a trip to Japan and Phillipines
• Pat Sokoloski – happy
• Carol Obuchowski – happy
• Howard Seaver -- for the youth award winners
• Dave Jonah – for our RYLA winners
• Linda Schiavone – for Judy Christensen and the RYLA winners
• Judy Christensen – for the four fabulous winners
• Ed Bayer – for the pleasure of visiting Charlotte Shelburne Rotary
• Debby Hanley – proud to be a RYLA Mom
• Dennis Webster – keep the RYLA program going – he has two granddaughters
• Tod Whitaker – five more Farmers Markets
• Denny Bowen – for Judy and RYLA
• Sam Feitleberg – for Judy and RYLA
• Ric Flood – for Deb and Eric Hanley – proud parents
• Russ Blodgett – happy
• George Schiavone – for parents of RYLA winners
• Shelley Richardson – proud of the education of her two daughters at CVU – opne of them has just established a nonprofit that will focus on eliminating bullying
• Richard Fox – for the start of the football season
Lucky draw
Joan Lenes’ number was drawn, but she chose the wrong card and the $131 pot rolled over.
A couple more reminders:
Ric announced that the letters for the car raffle will be going out next week.
He also reminded everyone that this is the 12th anniversary of 9/11 – a fitting moment to bow our heads in tribute to those who gave service beyond themselves.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO HELP OUT WITH THE RECORD KEEPING AT OUR MEETINGS UNTIL JOHN HAMMER RETURNS FROM HIS TRAVELS. CHECK WITH ROZ AT NEXT WEEK’S MEETING.