Greetings Rotarians!  Today we held our first meeting of the 2014-2015 Rotary year!  President Phil Murdock kicked the meeting off with some announcements about membership and some more awards that were presented to members in recognition of their work during the 2013-2014 Rotary year.  One such award was the “Unsung Hero Award” that was presented to Peter Lyon.  Peter earned this award with his hard work and behind-the-scenes efforts in coordinating the delivery of donated furniture to schools and other public entities across the state.   Congratulations to Peter on an honor well-deserved!  Our speaker for the day was Geoff Glaspie, Chair of Make-a-Wish Vermont.  This non-profit organization works to fulfill wishes for children with life-threatening health conditions.   Throughout its existence, Make-a-Wish Vermont has granted 680 wishes which range from travel experiences to meeting the President of the United States.  Geoff remarked that these experiences often result in an improvement in the conditions of the affected children as they are afforded the chance to forget about their health issues and to have their hope and belief restored.  For more information about this organization, please visit its website at http://vermont.wish.org/

 

 

            The Rotary theme for the month of July is literacy.  In recent years, literacy has become a very important cause for Rotary International.  During this month, we are asked to reflect upon the ways in which we as Rotarians can promote literacy on both a domestic and international level.  Our own Club has helped promote literacy in recent years by financing the purchase of picture dictionaries for the local refugee resettlement project and by donating $3,500.00 towards the effort to rebuild the public library that was destroyed in the Lac Megantic, Quebec train explosion. 

 

 

            You all should have received your invoices for annual dues from Kristin Winer via e-mail.  We ask that you please remit payment of your dues quickly as the Club needs that money to pay the District and Rotary International dues.  If you do not intend on renewing your membership, we ask that you please let the board know immediately so that this information can be accurately reported to Rotary International.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, July 9, 2014 – 2014-2015 District Governor, Bruce Pacht will be visiting our Club.

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and general information about the Club, please go to our website at www.essexrotary.org  Be sure to also check out our Club’s Facebook page at:

 

                        https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Club-of-Essex-Vermont/102267529834020 

 

 Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet