Greetings fellow Rotarians! We kicked off our meeting by honoring Mark Benton as our newest Paul Harris Fellow.  Mark attained this status by donating $1,000.00 the Rotary Foundation.  Congratulations to Mark on this achievement! Following the theme of the Rotary Foundation, we then heard from District Foundation Chair, Marilyn Bedell.  Marilyn explained how the Foundation works at both the international and district level. She described the three areas to which Rotarians can donate their money.  The first is the Annual Fund which supports Rotary’s humanitarian endeavors at the local and international levels.  The second are term gifts which allow Rotarians to make gifts towards a specific project.  Finally, Rotarians can donate to the Endowment Fund.  Through this fund, Rotarians can support the Foundation my making bequest commitments in their wills or by naming the Foundation as a beneficiary in their life insurance policies.  Marilyn closed out her talk by providing an analysis of how many members of our Club have donated to the Foundation and the areas we have chosen to support. 

 

 

            The next big event on the horizon is the annual Senior Luncheon that we put on with the Knights of Columbus.  This year’s luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2^nd at the Champlain Valley Expo from 12:00pm to 2:00pm.  This event will be held in lieu of our regularly scheduled meeting that day.  For our newer Rotarians, this is a luncheon we put on each year for local senior citizens.  We need as many Rotarians as possible to not only volunteer for this luncheon, but to donate items for goodie bags that are handed out to the senior citizens.  More details about this event will follow in the next few weeks!

 

 

            Our Club has once again committed to filling bell ringing slots on Friday December 11^th and Saturday, December 12^th in front of the Price Chopper and Essex Discount Beverage in Essex Center.  A sign-up sheet is being passed around at weekly meetings, but there should be an opportunity to sign up online before too long. This is a great service project and we need to fill all of the slots, so please consider signing up for a two hour shift during those two dates.

 

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, November 18, 2015 – Chad Farrell and Polly Whitcomb will be on hand to discuss the Whitcomb Farm Solar Project. 

 

Thank you to all of the veterans in our Club for your service to our country! 

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and information about the Club, please go to our website at www.essexrotary.org   Be sure to also visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EssexVermontRotary

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet