Greetings fellow Rotarians! Today marked the first meeting of the 2019-2020 Rotary year.  Our speaker was Riley Allen a 2018 graduate of Essex High School and a producer of a 30-minute documentary entitled, “Freefall: The opioid and heroin epidemic in Vermont”. Riley was motivated to produce a documentary about the impact of substance abuse in Vermont after seeing many of her classmates engage in the use of narcotics and after hearing stories of overdoses from her father who is an ICU pulmonologist. In addition to focusing on some troubling statistics about the impact the opioid epidemic has had on Vermonters, Riley’s film examines some of the causes of addiction and what can be done to help those afflicted. A shortened version of her documentary premiered on Vermont PBS and earned her first-place honors in the high school division of the Freedom and Unity Youth Film Contest’s Vermont History & Contemporary Issues category.  Riley is entering Quinnipiac University in the fall where she plans to study filmmaking and hopes to produce more documentaries.

            Even though we are in the midst of the dog days of summer, our Club is already gearing up for the 2019 Corn Booth.  Each year, our Club sells fresh corn on the cob to patrons at the Champlain Valley Fair. In addition to raising money for the Club, the Corn Booth provides great exposure for Rotary and what we do.  This year the fair will be taking place between Friday, August 23^rd through Sunday, September 1^st.  As we are required to keep the Corn Booth staffed for every hour the Fair is open, this really is an all hands-on deck endeavor.  We certainly realize that there are extenuating circumstances that prevent people from signing up for shifts, but absent compelling reasons that are beyond a member’s reasonable control, it is very important that we all do our part by covering shifts at the Corn Booth. Stay tuned for more details about this event and information about signing up for shifts.

            We are looking for volunteers to help staff the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf on the following dates: Thursday, July 25^th (3:30pm); Monday, August 12^th (5:15pm); Thursday, August 22^nd (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, July 17, 2019 – Dr. John Reuwer will return to our Club to discuss his recent experiences as a member of the U.N.’s Non-violent Peace Force team in South Sudan.

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and information about the Club, please go to our website at rotaryclubofessex.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