Tom Thompson was a member of the Rotary Club of Hastings, MN and after moving to Middlebury, he transferred his membership to our lucky club. Welcoming Tom (third from left) were President Spencer, T, and Tom's sponsor, Sylvie.
The Rotary Club of Middlebury, Vermont is a volunteer service organization whose members donate their time and resources to help others in the community and throughout the world. The club was chartered March 1, 1927.
Between London's coronation and Louisville's Kentucky Derby, five of us headed outdoors to participate in Vermont's annual Green Up Day. Lyn, Lois, John, Max, and David scoured an Otter Creek path, the road behind Hannafords, beneath Cross Street Bridge, and a portion of Creek Road.
The PETS conference is essential training for President-elects and assistant District Governors.
Pictured below we have our current President Spence, Assistant District Governor Jason (who is a Middlebury Rotary club member!), President-Elect John, and Rotary International President-Elect Gordon McInally who attended the PETS conference in early March. It is events like these that help to build strong leaders for our club and we are so grateful for the opportunity to attend.
Today we welcomed our 6th member this year under President Spence, and out of those 6 members, 4 have been women. We are so happy that Katie has decided to join our club. We know we can expect great things from her! Pictured below is President Spence, Katie, and Katie's sponsor, Jason- who also happens to be her dad!
Middlebury Rotary Club has some exciting news!
First off, we would like to congratulate our fellow Rotarian and past President Betsy on the birth of her TWINS!! Please welcome to the world Ava (on the right) and Maggie. This picture was taken a few months ago. Maybe some future Rotarians?
Second, in honor of International Women's month we would like to recognise all the women in our club. Did you know that it was only just in 1987 that the supreme court ruled that women were allowed to join Rotary ? We are lucky enough to have several women among our ranks. They are volunteers, entrepreneurs, business owners, embody all of Rotary's strengths and celebrate Rotary's Four Way Test in their day to day lives . Pictured left to right we have Rebecca, Sylvie, Lyn, Nancy, Lizzie, Judy and Liz. Not pictured, but still prominent members, we have Maureen, Betsy, Heather, Veronica, Ellie, and Cari.
And last but not least, on March 1st the Middlebury Rotary Club celebrated its 96th anniversary. It was by far one of the best gatherings we've had in a while, with members old and new congregating to celebrate the years that we have been a club. The count down to the 100th anniversary begins now!
Several members of the club traveled up to the breakfast meeting of the Vergennes club at Strong House Inn to see round 2 of the district youth speech contest on March 7. The topic this year is Why is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Important?
Round 3 will be held Saturday, April 1 at the district assembly in Lyndonville. Round 4 will be held at the district conference at Jay Peak April 29.
Agnes from MUHS won the 1st round at our club and won $200. She competed against Megan representing the Vergennes club (and a student at VUHS) and Zoe representing the Charlotte-Shelburne-Hinesburg club (CVUHS).
Advancing to round 3 will be Zoe, who was awarded $300.
Congratulations to all. These are three phenomenal young women.
left to right: Agnes (Middlebury), Zoe (Charlotte-Shelburne- Hinesburg), and Megan (Vergennes)
This week's theme for our Wednesday meeting was the Rotary Foundation. Our club member and past district governor Eric granted club member Liz an award on the Foundation's behalf. Like Eric, Liz has a generational connection to Rotary and has made the local club and foundation a big part of her life. We are honored to have members like Liz and Eric who give so much of themselves to Rotary's cause.
Joining us today was our District Governor Mike, who spoke to the club about Rotary's concentration in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
A warm meeting for a cold day!
Pictured below: Eric, Liz, and Mike
The Middlebury Rotary Club and Casella Waste drove around Middlebury and East Middlebury and cleared the driveways of discarded Christmas trees in record time this year! We had quite the turn out for Merry Mulch '23.
Big love and thanks to the Middlebury Highschool football volunteers and to the employees of Casella for once again teaming up with us for one of our favorite yearly projects!
Yesterday we invited the Middlebury Highschool Football & Volley Ball coaches to come and speak at our meeting, and in tow were a few of the students on both teams. Amanda, the assistant coach of the Volley Ball team, along with two of her players, described their rise through the ranks in Vermont's youth Volley Ball leagues from a clipboard of signatures to a junior varsity team. Dennis, the coach of the Middlebury Highschool Varsity Football team described his love of the sport, his job, and the pride he has for his players.
Up next in club business, we inducted a new member and we are so pleased to welcome Veronica to our club!
(Pictured below- new member Veronica, flanked by club member and Assistant District Governor Jason and President Elect John, Veronica's sponsor)
The new year has brought quite an expansion in our club, and we are so happy to welcome all of our new members from the last few months.
Pictured below:
Club member Eric, new member Ellie, President Spence, Asst. District Governor Jason, new member Veronica, President Elect John, new members Liz and Jason, Sergent-at-arms Ben and Alex (not pictured)
November is the month for the Rotary Foundation and our annual Paul Harris dinner. The Paul Harris award is given out to both Rotarians and Non-Rotarians for outstanding community service and dedication to the Rotary Foundation. This year's recipients were Rotarians John (First time Paul Harris Fellow), Ben (fourth time Paul Harris fellow), Tim and Geoff (second time Paul Harris fellow). Dorothy Douglas was our non-Rotarian to receive the Paul Harris award for outstanding service to the community, exemplifying Rotary's ideals and principles.
We also celebrated the birthday of our residential club-photographer, Max!
We also celebrated the birthday of our residential club-photographer, Max!
Fall 2022 has been a busy one for the Middlebury Rotary Club!
We are happy to say that our first Window Dressers project has come to a successful conclusion. We blew our goal out of the water and provided window inserts for families all around Addison County. We had many volunteers in this process with Rotary members Gary, Jeff, Spence, and David providing excellent leadership. Windows were measured, inserts were hand built, and warmth has been provided to families for what looks like the beginning of snowy winter.
Saturday, 12 November was the Rotary District Assembly in Lyndonville. The assembly included training for youth services, district officers and Rotary International initiatives of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Rotary club of Middlebury also received an award for being the largest supporter of the Rotary Foundation in our District!
Stay tuned for more upcoming news about what the rest of the year holds for our club, and have a Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate!
Thank you for
helping us help others
Dozens of attractive and usual items,
gift certificate and services were auctioned
and we raised $10,300 for our efforts
to support our community and
international projects.
Auction concluded Friday, October 28, 2022 at 9 pm EDT.
We've had some great speakers the last few weeks. Today we welcomed Lloyd Komesar of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival that our town hosts every year. Lloyd spoke to us of the process of viewing and rating the film submissions that they get every year, and gave us an idea of just how much the festival has grown in the last 8 years. If you know any first or second time short or feature film maker that is looking for their chance, send them to the midd film fest site for information on submitting for MNFF9!
Last week we had Alex Wolff, writer for Sports Illustrated and former owner of the Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League. Alex talked a little bit about his career and then quizzed us on our knowledge (or maybe lackthereof) of well known or famous Vermont sport stars!
And finally, the week before we had Brian Carpenter, Chair of the Middlebury Selectboard with some town updates. The number one priority now for the selectboard is working with Middlebury College to come up with long term solutions for afforadable housing in Middlebury, as well as affordable and accessible childcare- two big issues that if solved, would lead to significant economic growth for our town.
Thank you to our guests!
Alex Wolff
Brian Carpenter with our President Elect John and long time Rotarian, TRotarians Paul, Kevin, Neil, Spencer, Geoff, David, and Jim repainted the bandstand in the Green that the club constructed years ago. Thanks to Paul and Kevin for organizing the 3-day project. There was even some white paint left over.
For more photos, see the album.
DG Caroline spoke about her intentions and hopes for the coming year at the last meeting of August. Welcoming her to the club was President Spencer.
President Spence welcomes Vermont Commissioner of Health Dr. Mark Levine who spoke about the covid pandemic in Vermont over the past two years.
The Old Town Cemetery got it's third clean-up July 16 when club members, joined by volunteers from the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, friends, and neighbors, gathered to erect fallen stones and clean years of weather worn stones.
Helmut, Geoff, Paul, Buzz, and John are seen here at work (that's David's finger top left). Steve and T were busy elsewhere.
On Wednesday, 29 June we had our annual change-over dinner, marking the end of the year and the beginning of a new chapter within our club. Our now past-President, Buzz, welcomed our new President Spence. This year's Buster Brush award went to our very own Maureen and Geoff, for their dedication to the club and the community. Buzz also presented his President's Award to Maureen and Geoff for not only their outstanding service this year, but as confidants and advice-givers to Buzz to help him lead the club in what was an outstanding presidency on his part. Thank you to Buzz, and welcome Spence! We know he will help us accomplish great things this year.
While the downpour on Wednesday may have dampened our clothes, it surely did nothing to our spirits as we welcomed the recipients of our CACO grants to our final Wednesday meeting of the fiscal year. Grants were awarded to the Mary Johnson Center, Porter Hospital, Homeward Bound, WomenSafe, the Salisbury Library, the Parent Child Centre, and several other businesses that are imperative to the success of our community. Congratulations to those selected!
Here we have Rotary members Ben, Helmut, and Eric manning the grill at the Middlebury High School Project Graduation.
The Rotary Club is happy to provide a BBQ for the graduating class before they embark on an evening of fun and prizes.
Congratulations to the class of 2022, and best wishes as you enter into the next chapter of your life!
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Our motto is "Service Above Self"
Middlebury, VT 05753
United States of America