December 7 - (Rosie’s) Nick Managan, Cabot Creamery
December 14 (Rosie’s) Colleen Brown, Federal Bankruptcy Judge
December 21 (Middlebury Inn) Holiday Party at 5:30 p.m.
December 21 or 28 - No Meeting (Happy Holidays)
PRESIDING: Spence Putnam
MINUTES OF November 30th meeting
Guests: Alex Wolff, Ellie de Villiers, Veronica Ciambra, Liz Marino, and Jason Larocque
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Birthdays:
Heather Foster-Provencher
Steve Williams
Rotary Anniversary:
Bill Brooks – 8 years
A look back in 2022: (Spence)
Speakers: The year was filled with some great speakers including Ellie de Villiers, Alex Wolff, and Dr. Mark Levine
Many Service Projects and Fundraising
Over $10,458 was raised through the Online Silent Auction
Flags during the Holidays
Ukraine Relief Project (the club committed to support this from the beginning)
Window Dressers (the goal was to do 200 inserts and there were about 240 total)
Tent Set Up (Community Organizations and Rotarians)
Bocce Tournament (Cooked Food and participated)
Bandstand Project – Fresh Paint
Agewell – Weekly Food Distribution
HOPE – Packing and Distributing food to local children in schools during vacations
Clothing Drive – Parent Child Center
Presents for individuals served by the local Community Supper
Socials and Events:
Thank you Tim and Wendy for hosting the Change Over Dinner
Thank you to Eric for hosting and Liz for catering the District Governor Dinner
Friendship Breakfast was a success
Thank you to Maureen for hosting a social at Home Health and Hospice
Thank you Eric for organizing the Paul Harris Dinner
Financial Review (Geoff)
Club Account
We are coming to the half-way mark for the year and asking folks submit at least half of the does by the end of 2022
Service Account
Auction total has been updated - $10, 458 (there was about a $750 expense associated with the auction)
Flag Revenue is currently about $4,000
Sponsorships – this is the largest fundraiser, and we expect around $35,000 - $36,000 this year. Most of these funds come in after the New Year so we expect to see a spike in numbers in January.
CACO Grants will be happening in the Spring
District Grant was for Window Dressers and our $3,000 was matched by the District
Update Window Dressers (Gary)
We are currently $1,600 shy to fully fund the project as Middlebury Rotary. The money we had anticipated to raise from participants for the window inserts was lower than expected. This means we were able to reach out to those who truly needed them and could not afford them and we could support them. (Window Dressers model recommends that 25% are low-income, and we were able to support 66%)
Gary and a few members met and are asking the club whether or not they would like to pay the $1,600 to fully fund the project. (This is not expected by Window Dressers and would make this a special project and possible model for future groups to fully support this financially).
VOTE:
Eric made a motion to use $1,600 from the CACO grant budget to pay for the Window Dressers Project
There was a discussion on which budget line – either the reserve funds or the Community funds and David made an amendment to just vote on the motion to pay the $1,600 and then figure out where to take the money from.
David made a motion to pay the remaining $1,600 for the WD Project and this was seconded by John. This was unanimously approved.
Next, there was a motion by Buzz and seconded by John B to use the reserve funds budget line for the $1,600
Vote Results for Reserve Funds
Favor – 18
Nay – 7
Abstain – 1
The group will use the reserve funds to pay the $1,600 and have agreed to better define the use of “Reserve” funds for the future.
Sargent of Arms:
Fines and Happy Dollars
Fines:
Kevin - Name tag missing
Dustin - Spotted in the Addy Indy for a VFW award
Geoff and Fran - Spotted in the Addy Indy for the Window Dressers Project
Geoff - "twinning" with Ben
Maureen - Name tag missing
Happy Dollars:
Eric - Happy and thankful for the Paul Harris Dinner and Congratulations to Ben (4th time PH fellow), Tim and Geoff (2nd time PH fellows), John B (new PH fellow), and Dorothy Douglas (PH Fellow). Eric was also happy about the football team going to the championship and were so close to winning!
Lyn - Spent 4 days in WestPoint with her brother and his children. Had a great time!
Buzz - Happy to have spent 3 weeks away doing a road trip to NC, Kansas, Nashville and back to see his kids
Mike - Some lifelong friends visited for Thanksgiving and happy to have completed the 2nd session for cardio rehab!
John B - Excited to see 4 prospective members
Max - Thanked everyone for putting up with him and happy to give a check to celebrate his 95th birthday!
Neil - Recognized Eric for being a busy man and helping in so many ways (Rotary, Middlebury Football and Work)
Maureen - Recognized Eric for being so busy and so helpful! He sent someone to ACHHH and they did a great job with the carpet and updating the outpatient space.
Steve- paying his fine for last month and thanked Kevin and Neil for flag pick up.
Ben - Thanked Jason Larocque for helping with flags and he has a truck!
Group Updates:
Ukraine Update: John Barstow
Working to identify how we can continue this project with the funds that have already been committed.
Diana will be applying to colleges (may help with that) and will be pursuing citizenship. She has also joined a boxing club which is a passion of hers! Another possibility is supporting other UK students in our area. More to come but thank you for your generosity and support!
Parent Child Center - Holiday Project
Liz is looking for support from members to provide warm clothes needed for kids and adults at the Parent-Child Center. Please see Spence's email for specifics and bring in items or money for items at next week's meeting.
Community Supper Gifts - Holiday Project
Maureen discussed the opportunity to support the families served by the community supper with funds for holiday presents. The club used to help cook dinner and serve meals prior to Covid and then shifted to providing gift cards and Middlebury Money. Maureen is asking the club to use $1,200 from the Community Supper budget line and $1,000 from Charitable Gifts to support this project Vote - Unanimously Approved to use the above funds for this project.
HOPE - Vacation Food Bags (Maureen & Geoff)
More information to come, but we will be looking for volunteers to pack and deliver bags to children at various schools.
Age Well - Meal Delivery
John M and David are still doing this and in need of more volunteers
Decorating the Bandstand - Buzz will be sending an email.
Reminder - Holiday Party at 5:30 p.m. on December 21st at the Middlebury Inn. There will be a cash bar, heavy hors d'oeuvre and Yankee Swap ($0-$20 item).
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