Greetings fellow Rotarians!  We started meeting with an introduction to Ayla York.  Ayla is a Junior at Mount Mansfield Union High School who our Club is sponsoring as a Rotary Exchange Student.  She will be spending the upcoming academic year in Argentina. The literacy committee then made an emotional presentation of $1,000.00 to the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) in memory of Phil Kolvoord. Phil’s wife, Louise Kolvoord was on hand for the presentation.  We then had a classification talk from Penny Klein, one of our newer members.  Penny grew up in Connecticut and followed her education in Ohio by serving in the Peace Corps in southern Africa.  Penny now runs a gardening business, instructs yoga and serves as an educational consultant for high school students.  Thank you to Penny for letting us get to know you!  Our speaker today was Mme Thato Ratsebe from the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV).  AALV is an organization that helps immigrants and refugees transition into life in Vermont.  The organization offers a number of programs that assist individuals with entering the workforce.  The AALV also focuses on the health and well-being of those who have recently come to our country to live.  Despite the name, the AALV serves immigrants and refugees from every continent and offers in-person interpreters of more than thirty (30) different languages.

 

 

            The days are now down to hours as the Vermont Rotary Hockey-All Star Hockey Classic is upon us!  Both games will be held on Saturday, March 25^th at the Essex Skating Facility.  The women’s game will start at 4:00pm and the men’s game will start at 6:15pm.  Tickets for this event are $10.00 per person with admission for children 12 and under free of charge. We still need a number of baked goods for the concession stand and a few more volunteers to help out. If you have already signed up to donate to the concession stand, please drop your items off at Kaitlyn Raymond’s office at 29 Upper Main Street in Essex by 5:00pm on Friday, March 24^th.  You may sign up to volunteer for shifts and concession donations on the website.

 

 

            Our Club will once again help put on the Essex High School Community Service Dinner on Friday, April. 6, 2017.  This event will recognize several Essex High School seniors for their service to the community. Thank you to the 12 Rotarians who have volunteered to help at this event and thank you to Amy Jackman for spearheading our Club’s involvement with it.

 

 

            The Essex Community Justice Center will be holding an informational forum on the evening of April 4, 2017.

Please visit the following link if you are interested in attending:  http://essexcjc.org/upcoming-events/

 

 

            The next opportunities to volunteer at the Heavenly Food Pantry will be on April 27^th and May 25th.  Please contact Sharon Dettenrieder if you would like to sign up for shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  March 29, 2017 – We will be holding our monthly charitable committee meetings.

 

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 follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EssexVermontRotary , on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/essexvermontrotary/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/essex_rotary

 

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet