Greetings fellow Rotarians!  We started things off with a classification talk from one of our newer members, Mike Dimitroff.  Mike was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey before relocating with his family to Vermont. He first heard about our Club while attending his first Town Meeting. After attending one of our meetings, he decided to join us.  Thank you, Mike for allowing us to get to know a bit more about you.  Our speaker today was Wendy Ryan who was on hand to discuss the Let’s Grow Kids campaign.  This is a statewide public education campaign that aims to raise understanding of the importance of educating children in their earliest years of their lives.  Wendy underscored the importance of early childhood education by reporting that 80% of the brain develops in the first 3 years and 90% develops by the age of 5.  She indicated that the challenges faced by many working parents is finding affordable child care that also provides children with the educational tools they need at an early age.  Let’s Grow Kids is working to make sure that all families have access to early childhood educational opportunities.  For more information about this campaign, please visit www.letsgrowkids.org

 

 

            Currently we are running way behind on sponsors, so it is important that every member does what he or she can to try getting at least one business to support this event. Please inform the golf committee if you happen to know of any other businesses in the area that are not on the current list of sponsors to contact. Brochures to hand to potential sponsors are available at the meetings.  A sign-up sheet is also being passed around for volunteers at this event. If you haven’t done so already, please be sure to sign up for a shift. 

 

 

            On May 14^th, Essex CHIPS will host the FriendCHIPS 5k for Mentoring run at Founders Memorial School.  All proceeds from this event will benefit FriendCHIPS Mentoring, which pairs students in grades 3-8 with caring adult mentors who meet weekly to build meaningful, lasting relationships. You can register as a runner/walker at http://friendchips5K.eventbrite.ca or you can volunteer to help out by visiting http://vols.pt/DSytAW  

 

            We are always looking for Rotarians who are willing to volunteer for shifts at the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf in Essex Junction.  The next volunteering opportunities will be on May 26^th, June 23^rd and July 28th.  Please let Sharon Dettenrieder know if you are interested in signing up for any of these shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  May 18, 2016 – We will be holding our annual scholarship luncheon at which time scholarships will be awarded to area high school students.

 

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