Greetings fellow Rotarians! We started things off with a brief introductory speech from one of our newer members, Evan Tietch.  As many of you know, Evan has lived in the area for the past 15 months and currently serves as the Unified Manager of the Town of Essex and the Village of Essex Junction.  Thank you to Evan for giving us the chance to get to know you a bit better.  Our speaker today was Maura Collins, Executive Director of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA).  This organization was formed in 1974 to promote and provide affordable housing for low, and moderate-income Vermonters.  Much of Maura’s talk focused on affordability issues that the Town of Essex and Village of Essex Junction face.  She pointed out that much of the housing in Essex is unaffordable to most workers.  The median Chittenden County household earning $66,906.00 can afford to buy a home priced at roughly $212,000.00.  The majority of homes in Essex, however, cost far more than that amount. This partially accounts for the fact that although the number of jobs in Essex has been growing, the majority of people employed in Essex live in other communities.  While Maura acknowledges that VHFA does not have all of the answers to these issues, her organization advocates for certain steps to be taken to at least address them.  For example, VHFA is a proponent of our community appointing a housing commission to advise the Selectboard and the local Planning Commission on ways to address local housing needs.  For more information about VHFA, please visit its website at www.vhfa.org

            The drive for sponsors for the Essex Rotary Golf Tournament is now in full effect!  In order for this event to once again be a success, we need every one of our members to hit the ground running and to ask as many businesses as possible to support this event.  Each week, Dave Johnson will update the list of sponsors.  He and other members of the Golf Committee can also point you in the direction of potential sponsors to solicit.  Please contact Dave Johnson at mdjkiln@gmail.com if you have any questions about this event.

            The International Committee is still looking for members to fill out its group.  If you are interested in supporting projects that assist people across the globe, then this committee might be the right fit for you.  Please contact Committee Chair, Tim Shea at tshea@cvexpo.org if you would like to join this committee.

            We are looking for volunteers to help staff the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf on the following dates: Monday, April 8^th (5:00pm); Thursday, April 25^th (3:30pm); Monday, May 13^th (5:00pm) and Thursday, May 23^rd (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, April 17, 2019 – Our speaker will be Unified Manager of the Town of Essex and Village of Essex Junction, Evan Tietch. Evan will be discussing a number of issues, including a proposed merger of the two municipalities.

 

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