Greetings fellow Rotarians! Today’s speaker was fellow Rotarian and Executive Director of Essex CHIPS, David Voegele.  For those of you are not familiar with this program, CHIPS is an acronym for Community Health Initiatives and Programs for Students.  In addition to operating both the teen and tween center as a safe place for local kids to connect with one another, CHIPS offers a variety of other outreach programs.  For example, one of the newer programs is the TeenLine.  This is a pilot program that serves as a means of connecting area teens with health and social services they might need.   CHIPS has also started substance abuse awareness programs that serve to educate parents and kids alike about the dangers associated with tobacco use and “vaping” in particular. Presently, CHIPS is governed by a board of 12 individuals.  David was very happy to report that out of the 12 board members, 6 are under the age of 18.  CHIPS is currently staffed by three full-time employees who are assisted by a variety of Americorps volunteers throughout the year.  For more information about CHIPS please visit its website at: www.essexchips.org

 

 

            Thank you to all of the Rotarians who have signed up for shifts at the Corn Booth.  We still, however, have some  evening slots that remain empty.  Presently, close to one-third of our members have yet to sign up for a shift.  In fairness to those who have already signed up for two or more slots, we ask those of you who have not signed up to please help us fill the remaining shifts. Ray Allaire has passes for parking and entrance into the Fair for our volunteers. You may pick them up from Ray at future meetings or at Sunray Fire and Security located on 1 Market Place, Suite #29 in Essex.  Finally, for those who are interested, Corn Dollars are available for purchase. For $20.00 you can get ten Corn Dollars. One Corn Dollar is good for one ear of corn at the Corn Booth. Corn Dollars can be given to friends, family members or anyone else who might enjoy an ear of corn at the Fair. For more information about the Corn Booth, please contact either Mike Dimitroff or Ray Allaire.

 

 

            As hard as it is to believe, our Club is already in talks with the Knights of Columbus about our annual Senior Luncheon.  This year’s event will be happening on December 5^th at the Champlain Valley Exposition. So why are we bringing this up in the dog days of summer?  Simple.  WE NEED ONE OR TWO ROTARIANS TO STEP UP AND SPEARHEAD THIS PROJECT.  We would really like to see one or two of our newer Rotarians take the ball and run with this project.  It is actually one of our easier service projects to run and it is something that is very beneficial to our community. If you would like to be the new point person for this project, please contact either President Andy at andylove@me.com or Lois Parmelee at LParmelee01@gmail.com 

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, August 22, 2018 – Our speaker will be 2018-2019 Rotary District Governor, Larry Vars.

 

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