JANUARY 8, 2020

Meeting Recap

Greetings fellow Rotarians! Happy New Year! We kicked off our first meeting of 2020 in style by recognizing two members for attaining Paul Harris Fellowship honors In recognition of his contribution of $2,000.00 to the Rotary Foundation, Steve Schmida was honored as a Paul Harris Fellow Plus One. Phil Murdock was recognized as a Paul Harris Plus Two Fellow for contributing $3,000.00 to the Foundation over the years. Thank you to both Steve and Phil for your generous contributions to the Foundation! Our speakers today were Town of Essex Stormwater Coordinator, Annie Constandi and the Village of Essex Junction Environmental Technician, Chelsea Mandigo. Annie and Chelsea were unable to finish their presentation during their last visit, so they returned to continue this important discussion. They explained that there is a state mandate that each community abate their respective levels of phosphorous runoff by a rate of 25%. Annie and Chelsea described the various measures that have been put into place to reach this goal and the challenges that many businesses and organizations face in implementing these measures. They also stated that higher levels of chloride have recently been detected in stormwater runoff and that measures need to be put into place to address that issue.

Rotary Hockey Classic

Even though the weather forecast for this weekend might have you thinking about spring, preparations are well under way for the annual Rotary All-Star Hockey Classic. Each year our Club puts on two All-Star Hockey games (a men’s game and a women’s game) which feature the best high school senior hockey players in the state. In addition to being a great showcase for these exceptional young athletes, this event is also our Club’s second largest fundraiser. With that in mind, this event needs all of the support it can get. This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, March 21st at the Essex Skating Facility. Stay tuned for announcements about volunteer spots and ways you can help out.

Service Above Self Dinner

Our annual Service Above Self Dinner is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, February 12th at The Essex. Each year our Club honors an individual in the community who best exemplifies our motto of, “Service Above Self”. We are pleased to announce that Val Gabert, Coordinator of the Heavenly Food Pantry will be honored as this year’s recipient. In addition to honoring Val, we will be recognizing several first responders who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in serving the community. We are hoping to have as many Rotarians as possible attend what should be a very memorable and special event. Those planning on attending are asked to sign up and pay in advance on our website (a link will appear there shortly).

Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf

We are looking for volunteers to help staff the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf on the following dates; Monday, January 13th (5:15pm) and Thursday, January 23rd (3:30pm). Please contact Sharon Dettenrieder at sharon.dettenrieder@gmail.com if you are able to fill any of these shifts.

Upcoming Meeting Schedule: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 – Our speaker will be Chef Josef Harrewen, owner of Chef’s Corner and Bakery. Chef Josef will speak about his experiences as a new citizen starting a business in our country.

For the complete list of upcoming speakers and information about the Club, please go to our website at rotaryclubofessex.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