Greetings fellow Rotarians! Today, President Trish Porter took the opportunity to discuss her vision for the Club this year and to field questions on things that might change.  Trish expressed a goal of getting our membership number up to 65 people from our current level of 61.  She would also like to see our members continue their support of the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus.  A big component of the discussion centered on the finances of the Club and ideas for covering the increasing costs of running the Club.  Kristin Winer did a great job of laying out the overhead expenses our Club incurs on an annual basis and the manner in which we have been covering those costs.  With a surplus that had been built up over the course of several years, the Club has been able to offset many of the carrying costs that exceeded the revenue brought in through dues, meals payments and other miscellaneous forms of income.  With that surplus now being close to spent down, we are in a position in which we need to determine the best way to offset the difference between the operating costs and the Club’s revenue without necessarily raising the price for dues.  For example, the Club presently charges members $15.00 per meals and The Essex charges $15.81 per meal with the Club covering the difference from the general operating account. That delta is only going to grow as the price per meal charged by The Essex will be going up by almost a dollar.  As a way of eliminating that portion of the overhead, several members have suggested raising the price per meal paid by members to an amount that is equal to what The Essex charges.  Other suggestions included altering the format of the Changeover picnic to a pot-luck event in an effort to further reduce the Club’s overhead. There were many suggestions offered and the Board will be discussing all options moving forward.

 

 

            Thank you to the Rotarians who have already filled slots at this year’s event.  The slots are filling up nicely, however, we appear to be particularly light on the morning, afternoon and clean-up shifts on Sunday, September 3^rd. We ask that every Rotarian be responsible for filling two spots. Rotarians are encouraged to fill spots with friends and family members.  You may either sign up at meetings or at the website by clicking on the following link:

 

 

 

            Habitat for Humanity is seeking volunteers to help on its Burlington site.  They would like to fill the following slots as soon as possible: 8 on each day of August 16^th, August 18^th and August 19^th.  If you would like to volunteer, please sign up on their website at: https://vermonthabitat.org/construction-volunteers/ 

 

 

            The next opportunities to volunteer at the food shelf will be on August 24^th   and September 28^th. Please let Sharon Dettenrieder know if you are able to volunteer for any of these shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  August 16, 2017 – Our speakers will be Dave Bittersdorf and Charlie Moore.  They will be discussing the proposed commuter rail project that will run through Essex Junction.

 

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