Greetings fellow Rotarians!  Today’s speaker was Theresa Snow, Executive Director of Salvation Farms.  This non-profit organization strives to reduce food loss on farms and increase the use of locally grown foods in our state.  Theresa explained that 14.3 million pounds of produce on farms are left to waste each year.  Although there are many reasons for this, main reason for this is low market demand for produce of various colors, shapes or sizes.  By way of example, Theresa relayed a story about a farmer who was unable to sell a large crop of green peppers because the market demand was for red and yellow peppers at that time. As a result of this lack of demand, all of the green peppers he harvested were left to waste.  Salvation Farms hopes to address this issue by encouraging the practice of gleaning by volunteers, which is the harvesting of produce after the initial harvest.  Produce that is gleaned would then be introduced into the marketplace or distributed to food shelves, schools and prisons for future use.  Our own Club engages in the practice of gleaning each year when several of our members collect apples from Chapin Orchard at the end of each picking season for distribution to the Heavenly Food Pantry.  Theresa finished her talk by answering a number of questions about her organization.  Please visit www.SalvationFarms.org for more information about this group.

 

 

            We inching closer to the big day, but there is still a lot of work to be done! Our goal is to secure 50 hole sponsors and we currently have 31! If you haven’t contacted your assigned sponsors yet, please do so soon!  If you are having trouble identifying potential sponsors, please contact Dave Johnson and he will provide you with names of potential sponsors.  Nancy Freeze will also be circulating a sign-up sheet for volunteers for this event in the next few weeks.  Remember, this is our Club’s biggest fundraiser and we need every Rotarian to pitch in on making it a success!

 

 

            The District 7850 Conference is being held from June 2^nd through June 4^th at the Mountain Club on Loon in New Hampshire. All Rotarians from our District are invited to attend.  Please visit the following website for more information about the event and registration:  http://7850conference2017.org/

 

 

            The next opportunities to volunteer at the Heavenly Food Pantry will be May 25^th and June 22nd.  Please contact Sharon Dettenrieder if you would like to sign up for shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  May 31, 2017 – We will be holding our monthly charitable committee meetings. As we wrap up charitable donations for this current Rotary year, members are encouraged to start mapping out donation strategies for the upcoming Rotary year.

 

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! 

 

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