Greetings fellow Rotarians!  We started today’s meeting with a recap of the 2017 Golf Tournament.  Dave Johnson was happy to report that everyone had a great time at this event and that it looks like we will exceed last year’s net profit by a few thousand dollars. Great job everyone!  Our program today was a report from President Sharon Dettenrieder about what she learned while attending this year’s Rotary International Convention in Atlanta.  She shared that an estimated $1.6 billion needs to be pledged in order to complete the job of wiping polio from the face of the earth.  She also mentioned that the next large task that Rotary will tackle is the fight against human trafficking.  Sharon shared some very sobering statistics about this problem including the fact there are over 46 million people right now who are victims of human trafficking.  She also learned that there are more people in the global slave trade now than there were in the entire Atlantic slave trade. All told, it sounds as if the Convention was a very interesting and thought provoking event.  The 2018 conference will be held in Toronto and there is talk of the District chartering a bus for those who are interested in attending.  For more information about next year’s event, please visit the 2018 Rotary International Convention website at: http://rotary2018.org/

 

 

            As many of you know, our Club has provided financial support to the new Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity project on Park Street in Essex Junction.  Habitat is seeking volunteers to help on the site, but slots are limited.  If you would like to volunteer, please sign up here: https://vermonthabitat.org/construction-volunteers/ 

 

 

            The annual Changeover Barbeque will be held at Maple Street Park on Wednesday, June 28^th starting at 6:00pm.  Like last year’s event, Rotarians and their family members are welcome to enjoy some good food and celebrate the peaceful transition of power from the outgoing Board of Directors to the new Board of Directors.  There is no charge for this event, however, the Club needs an accurate head count well in advance.  Please let Trish Porter know if you and your family members will be attending before June 26^th.

 

 

            The next opportunities to volunteer at the food shelf will be on June 22nd, July 27^th and August 24^th.  Please let Sharon Dettenrieder know if you are able to volunteer for any of those shifts.

 

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  June 28th, 2017 – We will be meeting at Maple Street Park for our annual Changeover Barbeque.  Please note, that we will not be holding our regularly scheduled meeting at The Essex that day.

 

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