Weekly Club Newsletter 2015 02 11

 

       Greetings Rotarians!  Tonight we held our annual “Service Above Self Dinner” at The Essex. All in attendance enjoyed cocktails, a fine dinner and musical entertainment from the Essex Jazz Orchestra.  Following dinner, four individuals were recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty as public safety officials in our community.  Lt. Rick Garey from the Essex Police Department was recognized for his exemplary work with the move to the department’s new building.  Captain Dave Sheeran from the Essex Town Fire Department was recognized for his careful work in completing compliance inspections. The Essex Junction Fire Department recognized Robert Trudo for his 45 years of outstanding service.  Jim Adams from Essex Rescue was honored for leading the organization in the number of responses to calls and for being an overall “Jack of all trades”.  The 2015 recipient of the “Service Above Self Award” was Renee Dall.  In addition to being involved with her daughter’s Brownie and Daisy activities and serving on the School Principal Search Committee at Summit Street School, Renee founded the charitable organization known as “Cocktails Against Cancer.”  She started this organization shortly after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Renee felt that it was important to raise money to support the fight against cancer so that others would not have to experience the difficulty of watching a loved one face this disease.  Thanks to Renee’s efforts, her organization has donated over $30,000.00 to the Vermont Cancer Center and to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer over the past seven years.  The success of Cocktails Against Cancer has been noticed by others throughout the region and has resulted in the creation of two new chapters in other States.  Congratulations to Renee and to the public safety officials for being recognized for their service above self!

 

 

 

            Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Saturday, March 21^st when we will be holding the annual Essex Rotary Key Bank All-Star Hockey Classic!  The women’s game will begin at 3:00pm and the men’s game will begin at 5:15pm.  As is always the case, we really need volunteers for this event, so we ask that you please consider helping us out that day.  Not only is this a great service for the community, but it is also one of our bigger fundraisers.  All we are asking is for 2 hours of your time on Saturday the 21^st to help us out at one of the games.  Several of you also expressed an interest in providing baked goods for our concession stand, which is greatly appreciated and will be gladly accepted! Please note, due to a scheduling conflict, we will not be holding the pre-game banquet this year. We will be setting aside some time before each game to deliver an “elevator speech” about Rotary and we will be setting up an information table near the concession stand at both games.  

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, February 18, 2015 – Max Levy and Mike Plageman will be on hand to discuss the sharing of services between Essex Town and the Village and the rehab of 81 Main Street.

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and general information about the Club, please go to our website at www.essexrotary.org   Be sure to also visit us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Club-of-Essex-Vermont/102267529834020

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet