Greetings fellow Rotarians!  We started today’s meeting by inducting our newest member, Paul Watson.  Paul works for Northfield Savings Bank in Essex Junction and he was sponsored by Dave Johnson. Please take the opportunity to introduce yourselves to Paul and to make him feel welcome at our Club.  Our speakers today were Jill Pardo, Director of the Virtual Intercultural Avenues (VIA) program at Essex High School and four of her students who recently took part in this program. VIA is a program that aims to create a virtual bridge between Essex High School and schools abroad. Teachers correspond and collaborate through videoconferencing, Skype, and teaching within virtual classrooms while students communicate through blogs, Twitter, Vimeo, Facebook and Instagram.  These virtual exchanges have led to actual exchanges in which Essex students have had the opportunity to meet their virtual classmates in person in both their home countries and here in Vermont.

 

 

            After months of preparation, our biggest fundraiser of the year is about to happen next Wednesday!  By now, you all should have received copies of the volunteer schedule from Nancy Freeze. Please double-check this sheet to make sure you know when you are scheduled to work. Thank you very much to Dave Johnson and the rest of the golf committee for all of their hard work in putting this event together! 

 

 

            You and your families are cordially invited to this year’s changeover dinner/picnic that will be held from 6:00pm to 9:00pm on Wednesday, June 29^th at the Maple Street Park in Essex Junction.  This event will be catered and it will be FREE of charge (no, that’s not a misprint!) so please join us for an evening of family fun and fellowship.  A sign-up sheet is being circulated at our meetings, so please let the Club know if you and your family will be attending.

 

 

            As of right now, it appears that the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf shifts scheduled for tomorrow (May 26^th) are all filled. Thank you to all who volunteered for that shift. The next volunteering opportunities will be on 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:  June 8, 2016 – Annual Essex Rotary Golf Tournament.  No regularly scheduled meeting.

 

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