Greetings fellow Rotarians! We started things off today with a nice history lesson about St. Valentine, courtesy of our greeter, Edith Klimoski. Who would have guessed that St. Valentine was, among other things, the patron saint of beekeepers? Our speaker today was fellow Rotarian, Michael LeBoeuf.  Mike has been an accountant in our community for several years and he took the opportunity to bring us all up to speed on the recent changes to the Federal tax code.  He pointed out the reductions in the seven income tax brackets as well as the large number of itemized deductions that have been eliminated in the code. Mike stated that there will likely be more changes in the form of IRS regulations and possible amendments to the new tax code but until then, there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of how a lot of these changes will work. He pointed out that the changes relative to individuals will remain in place for the next 8 years, but that the changes to the corporate tax code will be indefinite in duration. 

 

 

            Today, Dave Barra announced that he has been appointed as a Superior Court judge.  This is an honor that is richly deserved by Dave and we all know that he will make an outstanding judge. Congratulations, Dave! Due to Dave’s upcoming obligations, he will not be able to serve as our Club’s next President and he will also need to step down from his position as the Chair of the Scholarship Committee.  With that in mind, we are in dire need of an individual (or individuals) to fill those two positions. We would ask that anyone who is interested in serving in one or both of these positions please let the Board know as soon as possible so that we can quickly commence the transition process.

 

 

            Please don’t forget to RSVP for the annual Service Above Self Dinner.  This year’s event will be held on the evening of Wednesday, February 21^st at The Essex. In addition to recognizing several first responders, we will be honoring our own Dave Johnson with the annual Service Above Self award. The cost for this dinner is $35.00 per person and a sign-up sheet will be available at our meetings.  Rotarians are encouraged to bring family members and friends to what should be a very memorable evening!

 

 

            Thank you to all who have volunteered to cover shifts at the Food Shelf in January.  Presently, we have enough volunteers for the month of February.  We are, however, looking for volunteers for March (Monday, March 12^th and Thursday, March 22^nd).  Please let Sharon Dettenreider know if you are able to fill any of these slots.

 

Upcoming Meeting Schedule:  Wednesday, February 21st – We will not be holding our regularly scheduled lunch meeting.  The Service Above Self Dinner shall start at 5:30pm at The Essex.

 

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 follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EssexVermontRotary , on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/essexvermontrotary/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/essex_rotary

 

 

       Yours in Rotary,

 

Jason Ruwet