MAY 20, 2020

Meeting Recap

Greetings fellow Rotarians. Today’s speaker was Steve Arms, Principal of the AutoVENT Foundation. Recognizing the critical need for effective ventilators during the COVID crisis, Steve and his team have collaborated with UVM Medical Center to design an innovative ventilator for global distribution. The result was what Steve refers to as an Automated Bag Ventilator Machine. This device works to regulate the flow of oxygen to patients without the need for intrusive intubation procedures. Not only will these devices be critical for those afflicted with COVID, but they will also be useful for any patients who require ventilation. Once FDA approval is issued for this device, Steve hopes to manufacture and distribute the devices to communities facing ventilator shortages

Rotary Satisfaction Survey

Thank you to the 42 members who have participated in the online survey. It is our hope that the 22 members who have not yet participated will do so before the survey closes out at 3:00pm on Friday, May 22nd. You may take the survey by clicking on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MNQJ2C9

Vermont Mutual Grant Money

We are pleased to report that Vermont Mutual insurance company has graciously granted $5,000.00 to our Club to be used for our charitable endeavors. This will help offset some of the fundraising revenue we have lost due to the cancellation and postponement of our fundraisers. Thank you to Nancy LeBeouf for coordinating this through the Essex Agency!

Membership

As hard as it is to believe, the Rotary fiscal year is coming to an end. Even though our ability to serve the community is being challenged by the current pandemic, there is still a lot of good that our Club can do. This cannot be accomplished without strong membership, however. Please remember that there is not a one-size-fits all model in terms of member participation. We appreciate all levels of participation by our members, no matter how small or infrequent they may be. Whether your contributions are purely financial or are in the form of periodic assistance at our fundraisers and service projects, they all make a difference! With that in mind, it is our sincere hope that all of our members will renew their memberships for the 2020-2021 Rotary year. If, however, you do not plan to continue your membership, we ask that you please let us know of your intentions by June 15th as we will need to report the 2020-2021 roster to Rotary International before the start of the new Rotary year (which begins on July 1st).

Upcoming Meeting Schedule: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 – We will once again be holding a Zoom meeting. Weekly meetings may be accessed by clicking https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEldOGoqTkoEtAb_-OM1YNCGnbRU1vA3hud After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. For future meetings, you will need log in at www.zoom.us click Join a Meeting, fill in the Meeting ID of 858 3807 2284 and then the Password of 164477. If you wish to attend by phone, you will just need to dial (646) 558-8656 and then enter the ID and Password noted above.

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