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Historic Event Amidst the Dollars: Bob Pope Defends Karl Rinker On August 10, 2022, twelve Rotarians and one guest gathered at the Aldrich Public Library to enjoy lunch and friendly conversation. DG Caroline was first to start filling the empty basket with four Happy Dollars in recognition of the first four visits she had made to District 7850 clubs. Tony was next with two Happy Dollars for the two young men that he brought up from Connecticut to help at the Breakfast, the addition of two young ladies, the visit of his son with his girlfriend and for the celebration of his and Cindy’s 36th anniversary. Tony interrupted all this happiness when he proposed a fine of one-and-nine on yours truly and Karl. Bob  defended Karl by noting that when Karl starts to talk, nothing can stop him. Karl responded that in all the years he and Bob have been in Barre Rotary, this was the first time that Bob had defended him. We said that we would pay our fines and so there was no vote. George gave four Happy Dollars in celebration of the birth of his fourth great granddaughter. Karl gave a Happy Dollar in celebration of his 53 years of marriage to Charlene. The Campos’ and the Rinkers’ anniversaries both occur on August 9th. Bertil threw a couple of Sad Dollars into the basket for missing the Breakfast and missing the Annual Cookout. He then went on to provide us with a brief “travelog” of his latest adventure. He drove to Toronto and took a train to Vancouver. There he boarded a ship and cruised to Fairbanks, Alaska. He reported that the dinners on the train were excellent. When he returned to Toronto, he couldn’t find his car and had to make several trips around the parking lot with helpful personnel before locating his vehicle. Joe was up next with a mea culpa for being late and he was told that it was an automatic fine of 25 cents. With the remaining 75 cents of the dollar offered, he reminded us of the musical celebration of Dick Shadroui’s life at the Barre House on Saturday. Since Last We Met Birthdays: Bob Pope August 6 Wedding Anniversaries: Karl and Charlene Rinker August 9 Tony and Cindy Campos August 9 Timothy and Stacie Boltin August 10 On this day in history: 1792 The French monarchy essentially ended when King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette, were imprisoned (eventually guillotined). 1977 American serial killer David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) was arrested after murdering six people in New York City and plunging the city into a panic; he later confessed and was sentenced to 365 years in prison Google Maps Gets Us Off Agenda Street and Back to the Avenue and Focus Park After a brief discussion of missing recycling, trash and compost containers and the beginning of an After Action discussion of the Breakfast, which was scheduled for a meeting on Thursday, we moved on to Avenues of Service and Areas of Focus.
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Avenues of Service (How Rotarians can channel their commitment to serve.) Acting President Eddie presented President Nicole’s PowerPoint presentation of Rotary’s Five Avenues of Service and asked us our thoughts on what our Club did well. It was agreed that Community Service and Youth Service stood out. DG Caroline pointed out that Vocational Service may be done as individual professionals and it might be a good idea to share at a future meeting how we provide service in that role. She also noted that the passion of a particular club member or that of the club plays an important part in determining which Avenues of Service are pursued more enthusiastically than others. An example was given regarding that of a Montpelier Rotary Club member who generated great interest and projects in International Service among club members. We were more involved internationally in the past as Bertil reminded us of members’ work in Honduras and George was part of international exchanges in the past. Club Service was not identified as a strength of our Club. While we began to answer the questions listed below we need to continue to think about them and consider them in the weeks and months ahead. - What areas are we strongest in?
- What are the biggest opportunities?
- What’s been our history with each?
- What would we like to see change from our current programming?
Areas of Focus (Areas which are about who we serve and our causes.) The Seven Areas of Focus are: Basic Education and Literacy; Community Economic Development; Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention; Disease Presentation and Treatment; Water Sanitation and Hygiene; and Maternal and Child Health. We identified the Dictionary and Atlas Project as Basic Education and Literacy; the Barre Art Splash as Community Economic Development and providing diapers recently to those in need as projects that relate to those areas of focus. President Nicole asked us to think about these questions which will be included in future “brainstorming” sessions. What areas do we currently support? What do these areas mean for us here in Barre? How do these “translate” to Barre’s needs? What opportunities might exist that we haven’t considered before?
Although not present, President Nicole’s leadership and direction was in evidence with a thought- provoking discussion.
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