WEEK OF MARCH 25, 2020

COVID 19 and Rotary

Greetings fellow Rotarians. Just because we aren’t eating lunch together on a weekly basis, does not mean that our duty to serve the community has diminished. In fact, one could argue that Rotarians are needed more than ever during these unprecedented times. While we are unable to provide our usual level of hand’s on service to the community, there are still things we can do to help. Things that we can be doing to better our community include the following:

Check in on older members of the community or individuals who are particularly vulnerable to this virus. Even a gesture as small as a reassuring phone call can make a world of difference to those who are isolated.
Check in with the local food pantries and other charitable ventures to see what can be done to support them.
Be mindful of the local businesses that have supported our Club. Over the years, several businesses have graciously sponsored our fundraisers like the Hockey Classic and the Golf Tournament. To the extent possible, now would be a great time to return the favor by giving some business to those companies that have helped us in the past but are now struggling in the face of this pandemic.

We are certainly aware that this crisis is affecting each person in a different way and that everyone’s financial situations are very different. Just know that anything you can do to improve someone else’s day, no matter how small the gesture, will make a big difference.

Essex High School Community Service Dinner

The April 6th Essex High School Community Service Celebration Dinner honoring Essex High School students for their community service efforts has been cancelled. In addition to providing financial support for this event, our members also volunteered to serve food to the honorees and their families. Thanks as always to Amy Jackman for spearheading our Club’s involvement with this great service event.

Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf

As Sharon Dettenrieder announced earlier this week, the Food Shelf is significantly altering its operations. The days of operation will remain the same, however, they are looking for no more than 10, younger and healthy volunteers to assist with curbside distribution of pre-packaged bags to recipients. Per the request of the church, people who fall in the vulnerable category are asked to please hold off on volunteering until the health threat subsides. Please contact Associate Pastor Josh Simon at jsimon@fccej.com for more details. Thanks again to Sharon for coordinating our Club’s involvement with this very important community service.

Upcoming plans for the next few weeks – The newsletter will still be distributed each week to provide our members with any updates on our Club and Rotary in general. In the meantime, please stay safe.

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