Next meeting 7:15am, July 13th at Rosie's
MEETING SCHEDULE:
July 13 - Rosie's
July 20th - Rosie's
July 27th - Club Assembly | location TBD
Board of Directors Meeting - July 12th at Little Seed Coffee Roasters
PRESIDING: Spence Putnam
MINUTES OF JULY 6, 2022 meeting
Happy Birthday to:
Happy Rotary Anniversary to:
- Fran Fraga – 37 years 7/1/84
- Dennis Poole – 6 years 7/1/15
- Ted Shambo – 22years 7/6/99
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Spence:
Thank you to Tim and Wendy for hosting the Changeover Dinner last week, to Maureen and Geoff for the food, Ben for the Smoked Salmon, and the Tent Team for the much needed coverage!
Buster Brush Award and Richard Hubbard Club Service Award Recipients - Maureen and Geoff Conrad.
Group Updates:
- Window Dresser Meeting - July 14th (Update to follow by Gary)
- Cemetery Clean Up - July 15th at 8 a.m. (David will be sending information soon)
- Flags - thank you for your help and the next one will be for Labor Day
A little more about Spence:
- Spence was born and raised in Lyme, New Hampshire, went to high school in Thetford, Vermont, and attended Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania. He later met Fran and got married in Middlebury in 1969.
- After college, he worked in Canada, Germany, and the US. He decided to go back to school and obtain his Masters in Education. He trained as an elementary teacher and then went on to work at UVM Career Development. He moved to Middlebury in 1978 and joined VT Teddy Bear Factory in 1987. During his time there, Spence focused on the social and economic impact of the company, as well as business sustainability. Over a few years, he helped the company grow and watched it go from $1 million to $80 million industry. Rotarians also came and helped during Valentine's Day as they busiest season (fun fact!).
- Additionally, Spence and Fran have two children- one who lives in Middlebury and the other in Hartford, CT.
Plans for the Rotary Year:
- Window Dressers - this will be a big impact for the club to support the community and our low-income families.
- Diana Herasim - supporting our local exchange student from Ukraine
- Lindale Park - continuing hands on community service projects
- HOPE / Food Projects
- Silent Auction - Mike Kellogg will be taking this over
- Flag Project
- Buster Brush Golf Tournament
- Sponsorship Program
Sargent of Arms: Fines and Happy Dollars
Fines:
- Gary - No Name Tag
- Ben - Tardy
- John M - Tardy
- Buzz fined Ben for driving down the sidewalk during Flag Pick-up
Happy Dollars:
- Buzz - this was an enjoyable meeting
- T - express gratitude and congratulations to Buzz for a great year as president
- Paul - excited for the Peasant Market this weekend - July 9th from 9 am-1pm
- David - thanked the tent team for taking down the tent in one minute prior to his arrival
- Steve - happy to pass on secretary duties to Sylvie and thank you to Neil for the pick-up for flags
- Spence - thanked Sandy for being a great host at the Middlebury Inn
- Maureen - thanked Max for always being ready to take pictures at events
GUEST SPEAKER - Christal Brown and Lindsey Fuentes
Christal is mother, daughter, and lover of dance. Native to Kingston, NC, Christal received her BFA in Dance at University of NC and MFA in Technology. She moved to Middlebury 10 years ago and is an Associate Professor of Dance at Middlebury College and working with the NAACP (National Association of Advancement of Colored People) to bring Mobile Hair Clinics.
Christal is working in partnership with Lindsey, Executive Director of the Teen Center in Middlebury, member of the Town Council, and member of the DEI Committee for the Town of Middlebury. Together, they are looking to bring a Mobile Hair Salon to Middlebury and then general area to embrace and support the culture for our African-American Community members. It is very difficult to find hair dressers/barbers who are trained to do textured hair as most are trained to do white hair. Getting your hair done is a big part of the American African culture - it is not just for beauty, but your mental health and health of your hair.
As VT is becoming more diverse, Christal and Lindsey saw this as a need to help young individuals see themselves in others that look like them, get their hair done by folks trained to work with textured hair, and have that sense of culture that can be challenging to find in a prominently white community. They have worked with various salons in the area that are on-board including Parlor.
Christal has found a bus that will be converted into the hair salon - there is a lot of potential for what it can be and have at least 1 or 2 salon chairs. It is already zoned for residential and in partnership with the college, it will be placed close to campus for easy access to students and the community. This is a great way for young children in the area to connect with folks that look like them from the college, and see each other grow. Individuals would pay for services themselves, possibly at a reduced rate, but also donations could help cover the cost.
Christal explained the 4 categories of textured hair and process for styling and keeping healthy. There was an event in Rutland recently and it was well attended, and many foster families with non-white families were grateful to have this service and support their children.
How to help:
- Talk to Neighbors
- Hands on project to help convert the bus to a hair salon
- In-Kind donation to Middlebury College - restricted to this project
They are hoping to have the bus ready by Fall for students and would like to travel to other communities that could benefit from this service.
For more information, contact Christal at christal@middlebury.edu
Cow Tag Number - 34 (Sylvie!)
MINUTES SUBMITTED BY SYLVIE CHOINIERE
.png)
