Greetings Rotarians!  We started things off by inducting Lois Parmelee as the newest member of our Club.  If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to introduce yourselves to Lois and make her feel welcome.  Our speakers were Terri Sabens of Blue Star Mothers who runs that organization’s pet program and Bryan Smith, a veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan and his service dog, Mazie. Terri’s program trains rescue dogs and pairs them with veterans who have been referred to the program by the U.S. Veteran’s Administration. Bryan spoke about the difficulty he had in adjusting to daily life after his service in Afghanistan. Prior to getting Mazie, Bryan experienced depression and had suicidal thoughts.  Although counseling through the VA helped, it still did was not enough.  All of that changed, however, when he was paired with Mazie.  He stated that getting paired with Mazie literally saved his life and has helped him on his road to recovery.  She has been of great assistance to him when he is in large crowds of people and will wake him when he is experiencing nightmares.  Bryan is just one example of the many soldiers each year who are helped by this program.  The hope of Terri is that they can hire more trainers so that more dogs can be trained and eventually paired with soldiers.  To find out more about this organization and how you can help, please e-mail Terri directly at vtsoldierangels@yahoo.com

 

 

            One of the things that has been synonymous with our weekly lunches at The Essex has been the friendly and attentive service of  Katie each week.  Katie has recently accepted a position in Seattle, Washington and will sadly be leaving us. Her last meal with us will be on August 24^th.  For those who would like to contributed, we will be collecting voluntary donations over the next two weeks as our farewell gift to her. 

 

 

              You may still sign up for shifts at meetings or online at: http://rotaryclubofessex.org/event/corn-booth-at-champlain-valley-fair/ Please contact Holly Lemieux or Ray Allaire with any questions you may have about this event.

 

 

            Bill Parmelee would like to organize a bicycle outing on Saturday, August 20^th.  He proposes that interested parties meet at Lost Nation Brewery off Old Creamery Road in Morrisville at 9 AM for lunch before embarking on a 15 mile round trip ride to Johnson and back.  The trip would be followed by an 11:30am lunch at the brewery.  Please let Bill know by August 14^th if you are interested in joining him for this trip.  Bill can be reached at wparmelee@gmail.com or at (603) 726-1242.

 

 

            The next opportunities to volunteer at the Heavenly Food Pantry will be on August 25^th and September 22^nd.  Please contact Sharon Dettenrieder if you would like to sign up for shifts.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  August 17, 2016 – Our speaker will be Miss Vermont, Rylee Field.

 

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and 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/EssexVermontRotary

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet