A Busy Start to a Full Meeting
Once the bell was rung and the song was sung, Susan started the dollars flowing with a sad dollar for her premonition of her son Michael's injury - he broke his ankle not by falling off the stage at Jazzercise, however, but in a basketball accident. She somehow managed to beat Tony to the basket, but he was up next with a happy dollar for having returned to Rotary after a week off. He immediately proposed a fine of one and nine on Tom for giving him some side-eye when he first rose to speak. The membership decided that backlighting was no excuse for disparaging glares and the fine passed. Sarah next offered an apology dollar for how late the last Chips were (sorry!) and a happy dollar for how much better we sound in our opening song when Liane is with us.
President's Report
Caroline shared with the Club some of the wonderful thank you notes we received from the kids at Websterville Baptist School for their new dictionaries. Each child chose a word from the dictionary to write about and illustrate in their thank you's, and some were truly memorable (see right). Hang in there, Theo!
Caroline also gave an update on our upcoming blood drive with the Red Cross at the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce on March 19. There are only 45 slots available for donating blood and reservations are now required ahead of time. If you indicated in the past that you would be willing to donate, Caroline will be calling in the couple weeks to get you scheduled with a time. If you are interested in donating, please contact Caroline. This particular blood drive is a "pie drive", in which every donor will get to feast on delicious pies provided by Barre's Rotarians and the Wayside. If you'd like to donate a pie, let Caroline know that too!
Secretary’s Report
The Barre Kiwanis' March Basketball tournament is in need of volunteers. If you are able to help out, please contact
Paula Dolan.
Karl disrupted the report with a chaotic organization of meeting minutes but was still able to introduce one of our guests, Kristin Hayes from Community National Bank. Community National Bank has submitted a corporate membership application, and this meeting marked its second public reading. Tom then introduced our other guest, his lovely wife Linda.
Susan also announced the birthdays for the month and noted that Tony has now been a Barre Rotarian for four years.
She then passed around a thank you card and truffles from the Aldrich Public Library Board of Trustees in gratitude for Rotary's continued steadfast support each year.
Rotary District 7850 2018 High School Speech Contest
Lia Rubel must have scared off the competition after her commanding win here last year, as she was our only contestant this year. Despite this, her speech truly shone as she made an impassioned argument for the inclusion of student voice to empower young adults and improve schools. Lia Rubel is currently a junior at Spaulding High School. While there, she established a committee for student voice that has been conducting surveys and finding ways for students to get more involved in decision-making at SHS. She presented a compelling argument using both data and personal stories to show how listening to student voice in schools supports the Rotary four-way test. After her speech, Lia reflected on her experience as a State House page in 8th grade, the chance she had recently via Spaulding's work-based learning program to talk to Governor Scott and her local representatives about their lives in and paths to public service, and what she might like to do after graduating. When she's not working on student voice committees and other school projects, Lia plays saxophone and enjoys reading, being outdoors, and hanging out with friends. Her dream job would be to get involved in a startup or direct a nonprofit.
The future will be bright indeed with young people like Lia building it! Congratulations to Lia for winning the Barre Rotary speech contest, and we wish her all the best as she goes on to compete at the Area level for Round 2.