WEEK OF APRIL 15, 2020

COVID 19 and Rotary

Greetings fellow Rotarians. Each week, my hope is to share some news about Rotarians and Rotary Clubs that are still finding ways to help those in our communities during the COVID pandemic. The Rotary club of Metro Bethesda, Maryland has found an easy but impactful way of staying connected to its community. That Club has asked its members to contact at least five people who are quarantined and living alone each week to ask how they are and if they need anything. Some members have even thoughtfully delivered flowers to the doorsteps of those who are living alone.

Charities Update

As President Heidi announced earlier this week, the Board held a virtual meeting to discuss how to handle our Club’s charitable finances moving forward. At this time, the Club will be limiting its spending to requests that help those with immediate needs for food, water and shelter during these trying times. Due to the high likelihood that our fundraisers will generate far less money than usual for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, we also want to preserve as much of our charitable funds as possible to carry over from the current fiscal year to the next. We will be updating members about the causes we support and the status of our charitable funds in the next few weeks.

Amazon Smiles Program

As more of us are utilizing the services of Amazon, Members are encouraged to take part in the AmazonSmile program. Through this program, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to our charities account. To take advantage of this opportunity, please visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/03-0348126 and sign up!

Rotary International Convention Cancelled

Due to COVID 19, the Rotary International Convention that was scheduled to take place in Honolulu, Hawaii from June 6th to June 10th has been cancelled.

Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf

The Heavenly Pantry Food Shelf is still operating a curbside service for our community and is always looking for volunteers. 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 on how you can help.

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