RYLA is held the last weekend each June at the Vermont State University (Lyndon Campus) and is offered to rising high school Juniors who want to learn & practice leadership skills.  Students from New Hampshire, Vermont and Quebec spend the weekend at the VSU college dorms & campus.  They team together for skill building events, activities & presentations.  Lyndsey Laflamme noted that attending RYLA improved her speaking & leadership skills, while Alexis Dodge identified her leadership style through a student exercise.  Hayden Rock enjoyed the community service project, during which the students worked together to box up 11,000 meals to serve folks in need in their respective communities.  Applications for RYLA 2027 will be available starting in January 2027 and can be found at the Rotary District 7850 RYLA website page ( https://rotary7850.org/sitepage/ryla ) or by contacting the Barre or Montpelier Rotary Clubs. 

She also gave us information about Rotary International forming a new district in Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine to replace districts 7850 and 7880. She reported it might take about three years to complete this new district. The reason for this new district is that the two existing districts have fallen below a certain threshold of members.

She then went on to explain how important butterflies are to our ecosystem and about their migration from our region to Mexico every year.

In 1983, Dick Parnigoni made a deal with Ernie Drown, the librarian at The Aldrich Library, that if The Rotary Club could use the front lawn, we would donate the profits to the library. At all of our previous locations, we always had a problem getting enough electric power to run our toasters. This problem was somewhat solved when we started to tie into the main panel of the library. We needed a 50-amp circuit. At that time, the library added the new addition, and the contractor put a special outdoor, 50-amp electrical box just for the Rotary Breakfast. Now, we use power from The Library , and we also have an electrical box and cable coming out of the Barre Housing building next door (the old Hotel Barre). These electrical connections were made possible by Floyd LeRoy and Peter Gagne. For a few years, the National Guard provided us with the use of their field outdoor cookers. The Guard would arrive at 5:30 am on Saturday, set up the grills, and then take them down after the breakfast. When we could no longer use the National Guard grills, we acquired used grills from Soups & Greens Restaurant, The Legion, Bob Bergeron, Jockey Hollow Restaurant, and a couple of burners from the Masonic Temple. Then we bought a new grill. All heavy grills were put into metal frames, and wheels were attached.  

       Now the Rotary Breakfast has turned into big business, with the addition of tent coverage, plastic tablecloths on the forty-plus tables, paper placemats, and two serving lines with heated food containers. The Breakfast serves between 1,200 to 1,400 people each year, with the record 1500 + served during the bicentennial. We use the help of 50 people, mostly friends and family of the Rotarians. The Boy Scouts help out with setting up and taking down the tables and chairs, which all come from the Barre Auditorium.

In the past, the Rotary Club has been donating $5000 a year to the library, with the last six years donating in excess of $10,000, and in the year of 2016, over $14,000.  Over the years, the Barre Rotary Club has contributed a quarter of a million dollars to the Aldrich Public Library. 

      To feed a group of 1300, we need to crack over 3200 eggs, have 100 lbs. of sausages, 117 lbs. of ham, 118 giant loaves of bread, 280 lbs. of bananas, 1000 pts of milk, 32 gals of orange juice, 15 lbs. of coffee, and 150 lbs. of Vermont Maple Syrup.

     The Rotary Breakfast is now served on the last weekend of July and has been on the library lawn for 33 years…….. a pretty good record. For the past 6 years, the breakfast has been chaired by Rotarian Ron Parnigoni and, before that, by his brother Rotarian Dick Parnigoni.

Sadly, Doctor Richard Parnigoni Passed Away December 20, 2020.

On a warm night on June 30, 2026, at the Mutua Soccorso in Barre, Vermont, outgoing co-presidents Emily Stephens and Tony Campos passed the gavel to the new 2026/2027 president, Nicole DiDomenico.

DiDomenico said that she was honored to be the new president and that she would keep the club running on the same course as it has been for the last 102 years.

On the same night, past president and past PDG Caroline Earle presented a Paul Harris Fellowship to member Brenda Waterhouse for all her good work in our community.

This is what Earle had to say:

In 1905, a practicing attorney named Paul Harris, who had previously lived in Wallingford and Burlington, Vermont, but was then living in Chicago, Illinois, decided to form a Club.   He gathered together a number of his business associates, other businessmen and professionals, to meet weekly.  The stated purpose of the Club was to foster goodwill and fellowship.  Shortly after forming and because it was 1905 in Chicago, they decided to focus their efforts on improving the lives of those in their Chicago community who needed help.  And there were a lot of folks who needed help in Chicago in 1905.  The Club adopted the mission of “Service Above Self,”  creating the first Service Club in the United States and indeed, in the world. 

The Club would meet each week at a member’s offices; that is, they would rotate each week from one office to another.  For that reason, the Club adopted the name Rotary, to reflect the rotation of its meetings.  And so Rotary was born.  Soon, other Rotary Clubs were established throughout the United States and then, eventually, in other countries. 

Some years later, Rotary adopted four guiding principles for its members, to be applied to the actions of each member, both personally & professionally.  Those guiding principles are reflected on our Rotary Club banner.  They are:  First, is it the truth?  Second, it is fair to all concerned?  Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships?  And fourth, will it be beneficial to all concerned?   The Rotary Four Way Test was born and continues to guide the actions of every member of our Club and the actions of all Rotarians around the world.

Eventually Rotary International – because Rotary was by now international, now with over 1.4 million members in countries all around the world – decided to create an award named after Paul Harris.  The Paul Harris Award (or Paul Harris Fellow) is given to a member of our community who has shown a deep commitment to improving the lives of those in our community and whose actions have reflected the Rotary Four Way Test.  It is the highest award that can be given by a Rotary Club to a member of its community.

Sometimes this award is given to a community member who is identified by a Rotary Club, and sometimes, when we’re really lucky, the Award is given to someone who not only has improved the lives of those in our community but is also a member of our very own Rotary Club. 

I am tickled pink to present this award today not only to a member of our community who has focused their efforts on enriching the educational experiences of so many of our community members for decades, but who is also a member of our very own Club and has benefited the community additionally through so many of our service projects.  I also find it funny that this person is an educator since Paul Harris himself was kicked out of UVM for being a prankster – let’s just say that Paul Harris’s own educational experience here in Vermont was not terribly successful.

Our honoree today has focused their efforts on enriching our children’s educational opportunities through their actions as an educator, but also benefiting parents and our community as an administrator in our schools.  The impacts of her actions and service have been profound and lasting over generations.  Please join me in congratulating Brenda Waterhouse as we present to her the Paul Harris Award in appreciation of her extraordinary service in promoting the well-being of our community and all those around the world. 

Pictured below Waterhouse on the left and Earle on the right.