FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Service Above Self Dinner Recap

Greetings fellow Rotarians! Tonight, several Rotarians, friends, family members and community members gathered at The Essex to celebrate those who selflessly serve our community. We started things off by recognizing this year’s recipient of the Essex Rotary Service Above Self Award, Valerie Gabert. For the past 18 years, Valerie has graciously volunteered at the Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf and has served as its coordinator for the past 8 years. Her duties include oversight of the volunteers and making sure the pantry is stocked with food and supplies. In addition to her work with the Food Shelf, Valerie has worked with local schools to make sure that food is available for kids in need during school breaks. Valerie’s impact on the community was evident as a large contingency of Food Shelf volunteers, friends and family members were on hand to support her. Prior to bestowing awards to our area’s first responders, Tammy Carroll delivered an impassioned testimony about how first responders in our community have gone above and beyond the call of duty to assist Tammy and her family. She explained how personnel from all of the departments have gone out of the way to bring smiles to the face of her daughter Addi, who faces a debilitating illness. Tammy’s testimony served as a strong reminder of how lucky we are to have such thoughtful people serving as our first responders. We concluded the meeting by honoring the following individuals in the public service sector for going above and beyond the call of duty in serving the community:

Lt. Ken Beaulieu (Essex Police Department, ret.); Assistant Chief Tim Wear (Essex Junction Fire Department); senior paramedic Mike O’Keefe (Essex Rescue); and Lt. James Marshall (Essex Town Fire Department). All in attendance would likely concur that this was a very inspiring and memorable evening that truly illuminated the spirit of “Service Above Self” that exists in our community. A special thank you goes out to Dave Johnson and Amy Jackman for once again organizing this incredible event.

Paul Harris Fellowship

The Club would like to congratulate Kristen Winer for reaching the status of Paul Harris Plus Five. Kristen has earned this distinction by donating $6,000.00 to the Rotary Foundation over the years. Thank you, Kristen for your continuous and generous support of the Rotary Foundation!

Rotary Hockey Classic

Preparations are well under way for the annual Rotary All-Star Hockey Classic. Not only is this our Club’s second largest fundraiser, but it is an event that generates a great deal of publicity and exposure for our Club throughout the entire state. This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, March 21st at the Essex Skating Facility with the women’s game starting at 3:30pm and the men’s game starting immediately after. As always, we will need several Rotarians to help at this event. Please contact Hockey Committee Chair, Jeff Cabanaw at Tarrisonus@comcast.net for details about volunteering at the Hockey Classic or opportunities for businesses to purchase ads in the game program.

Upcoming Meeting Schedule: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 – Our speaker will be Amy Coyne, the new CEO of Revision Military.

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