Greetings fellow Rotarians! Our speaker today was Alyssa Black.  As many of you are aware, Alyssa and her husband Rob lost their son Andrew to suicide in 2018. Alyssa bravely shared the details leading up to her son’s suicide and what transpired after. Since this tragic event, Alyssa and her husband have joined forces with legislators and other families to push for legislation that will mandate a waiting period between the date on which a fire-arm is purchased and the date on which an individual may possess the fire-arm.  Alyssa stated that the time between her son’s purchase of a handgun and the time he left the store with the gun was a mere 24 minutes. She pointed out that a mandatory waiting period may have given her son more of an opportunity to cool down and re-think his decision. To augment her argument, Alyssa presented some statistics and studies concerning suicides and suicide attempts by fire-arms that illustrated the difference a waiting period might make.  Alyssa concluded by announcing that there are two bills pending in the legislature concerning this matter. One is a bill in the senate that will mandate a 24-hour waiting period for hand-gun purchases and the other is a bill in the house that has proposed a 72-hour waiting period. 

 

            The days have now turned to hours as we are rapidly approaching this weekend’s Rotary All-Star Hockey Classic!  Thank you to the members who have volunteered to work at this event and to all who have volunteered to donate items to be sold at our concession stand.  A special thank you goes out to Jeff Cabanaw and the rest of the Hockey Committee.  This event is a significant undertaking and these individuals have been working hard to put this together since November!  

 

            Essex High School will be recognizing several of its seniors for their community service at a dinner on April 4^th at the Essex High School cafeteria.  Our Club is looking for 16 volunteers to help set up, serve food and clean up.  Please contact Amy Jackman at amymj@us.ibm.com if you are able to help.

 

            The Public Relations committee is looking for a shutterbug who would be willing to assist with taking pictures at our meetings and events.  If you are good with a camera and would like to help out with this job, please contact Pat Spielman at pspielman5465@gmail.com

 

            We are looking for volunteers to help staff the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf on the following dates: Thursday, March 28^th (3:30pm); Monday, April 8^th (5:00pm); and Thursday, April 25^th (3:30pm). Please contact Sharon Dettenrieder at sharon.dettenrieder@gmail.com if you are able to fill any of these shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, March 27, 2019 – We will be holding our monthly 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