Caroline reported that breakfast tickets are being printed this week. Tickets will be priced at $9 in advance and $10 at the door.
Eddie and Ron have volunteered to take over food procurement for the breakfast this year, and so all Breakfast Committee spots are filled. For those who have volunteered, please check Ron’s timeline to ensure that you are getting your tasks done timely! July 28th is right around the corner!
Summer Street Mural
The Mural Committee is also getting tickets printed up for a Raffle to raise money for the wall. Tickets will be $50 each and only 200 will be sold. If Rotarians want to sell any tickets, please contact Caroline. Caroline intends to have the Mural Committee mostly responsible for sales of these tickets, as the Rotarians need to focus on breakfast ticket sales. Mural Wall Raffle will have cash prizes up to a maximum prize of $2,500 if all 200 tickets are sold. Drawing will be held on June 26that the Barre City Council meeting, with Mayor Herring to draw the winning ticket.
Changeover Dinner and Club Assembly
Liane reports that Changeover Dinner invites have gone out. Please RSVP at your earliest opportunity!
The May 30 Club Assembly meeting will be held at the American Legion in Barre City, in order to try out that space for possible future meetings. Please join us and give us your feedback on this possible meeting location.
Teamwork and Baseball
Liane and Karl met with Dan Kiniry about the Rotary Park. He apologized for the way this rolled out and felt that there was great opportunity for collaboration going forward. Caroline’s husband, Paul, happened to be at Espresso Bueno when this meeting took place, and mentioned that Liane and Karl did a great job handling this delicate meeting. Go team!
Speaking of team, Caroline brought in the Teamwork Baseball Bat awarded at the District Summit this year to reflect Barre Rotary’s awesome year of teamwork and achievement. Well done to our Rotarians!
Membership Minute
Scott gave us a sweet (M&Ms) membership minute, reminding us again that personal invitations to meetings work best!
Scott also gave a Happy Dollar to thank Karl for being such an amazing resource for him in all things Rotary.
Scott gave another Happy Dollar in announcing that his employer has been bought just recently by a company owned by Warren Buffett. So he is one of the few who can say that he works for Mr. Buffett!
Planting Hope
Our presenters were Beth Merrill, the founder of Planting Hope; Cindy Gauthier, teacher at Berlin Elementary School (who has participated as a teacher in Planting Hope for the past few years); Alison Gauthier, teacher at U-32 (who has also participated for the past few years in Planting Hope as a teacher), and Dane and Rebecca, two U-32 students who participated in Planting Hope this past year.
Planting Hope is a non-profit organization that focuses on education and other good works in communities in Nicaragua. It was created in 2005 by Beth, who was encouraged by her mother to learn Spanish and to travel. She travelled extensively and was inspired by a trip to Nicaragua to make a difference. Planting Hope’s first project in Nicaragua was the creation of a library. Dane, a Junior at U-32, travelled with Planting Hope this past February because he wanted to experience a third world country. He was trained to teach academic lessons to school kids while there and also played soccer with the kids. They apparently loved chasing him as well!
Rebecca was inspired to travel with Planting Hope this past February, after a trip to Italy where she assisted some refugees. She also taught lessons to school children while in Nicaragua and focused her lessons on water conservation, a big issue in that country.
Last year, Planting Hope brought 12 adults and students from Nicaragua to Vermont to experience life here and create a cultural exchange.
Each year, the organization arranges for a multi-generational good works trip in February. It also organizes a student trip in April each year. This past year has been politically and socially tumultuous in Nicaragua and Beth is waiting to see how things stabilize before confirming the trips for 2019. See attached info sheet for our group to consider.
Liane noted that we are trying to encourage and support our Interact students to do good works internationally, and so this might be an excellent collaboration opportunity for Barre Rotary.
Speaking of planting, Caroline updated the group on the Rotary Sustainability Project. The first planting on 05/11/18 at Berlin Elementary School was a huge success, with HS students and elementary school students working together to plant 12 apple trees at the school on a beautiful, but chilly, spring day.
