MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 1st 2023 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Guests: Chris Hanfield
Birthdays:
Alex - February 3rd
Buzz - February 3rd
Kevin - February 6th
Rotary Anniversary:
John Zahn- 4 years
Gary Sarachan - 4 years
Troy Fox - 4 years
Classification Talk| Bio - Ellie de Villiers
Born in Middlebury, Ellie grew up in New Haven and went to boarding school in NH. She later went to UC Berkeley and worked for a start-up, known as "Ask Jeeves". She then moved to Boston and worked as a software product manager and finished her undergraduate degree through Harvard Extension. She then went to Babson College for her MBA and did an entrepreneurship in South Africa. She fell in love with the Country and found a way to move there and spent 10 years working in telecommunications. She met her husband Richard there and they moved back to the states in 2020 with their daughter to raise her in VT.
Ellie loves gardening, hiking, eating, traveling, working out, cooking, reading and volunteering. She joined Rotary because Spence asked her too!
Group Updates:
Spence: Thank yous
Spence received a thank you note from Window Dressers participants who expressed appreciation and gratitude for the inserts that made this winter manageable since 2015. The couple no longer needed rolled up towels in front of the windows.
Dottie Neuberger - thank you for the support of gifts for the Community Supper participants during the holidays that was led by Maureen.
$200 was donated to Rotary in honor of Jack Brown and it was donated to the thrift store/clothing shop hosted at MUHS
There is an opportunity to sponsor an ad in the program for $1,000. Eric motioned to support this, and it was seconded by John B. This was unanimously approved.
Rotary Birthday Party:
Spence will provide more information soon, but this will be an evening event to celebrate!
HOPE - Food Bags for School Vacation (Geoff)
This will take place from 10-12 p.m. on February 16th.
Golf Tournament (Neil)
Save the Date - May 19th, 2023
Fines and Happy Dollars
Fines:
Neil- Late
Eric - Late
Maureen - Name Tag (Mysteriously disappeared)
John B entered the induction picture into the Addison Independent (everyone in the picture and missing from the picture was fined)
Happy Dollars:
Ben - Happy to have Eric help with house projects
Liz Smith - Happy to see T and grateful for the retirement party T and Cy hosted
"T" - Missed a few meetings, but happy to be back and welcome to Alex, Liz M, and Ellie.
Chris - happy for the warm welcome and happy to see everyone
Steve - Happy to have accepted a position with the VT Historical Society as the Director of Finance and Operations. It has been a whirlwind of emotions and thank you T for being his sponsor and Eric for being a Rotary reference.
Maureen - Happy to have a date for the golf tournament
Rebecca - concerned and will need help with flags
Eric - Happy for Steve in his new role
Sylvie - Happy to have accepted the Director of Advocacy role at United Way of Addison County, but she is sad she will not get to work with Steve
Guest Speaker- Melanie Paskevich, NeighborWorks
Ben introduced Melanie to the club. Melanie is the Director of Operations for Neighbor Works of Western Vermont (Addison, Rutland and Bennington). This is part of the larger NeighborWorks America.
Melanie talked about the various programs offered including Home Ownership, Rental, Home Repair, Heat Squad, and Lending.
The Lending Program provides support through grants and loans to help with home ownership or rental support. There is also an Energy Loan available for individuals with any income to assist with Heat Pumps, Weatherization projects, etc). Other forms of lending include Down-Payment Assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Melanie also discussed the Home Ownership Center that provides education, pre/post counseling support for buying a home.
Additionally, there are loans and grants available for the Home and Rental Repair Program. There are income limits for the loans. Also, landlords can receive up to $8,000 per unit to repair and make livable and back on the market.
The Heat Squad Program started in 2010 to focus on energy efficiency. The program offers an audit (costs between $50-$150) to assess work that is needed. Last year, there were 500 audits and 100 projects supported through this program.
Q&A session:
Q: Where does the money come from for these programs?
A: Melanie indicated that it is a mix of federal, state and private funds.
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