After fourteen Rotarians and three guests recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Arthur Zorn lifted his baton (hand) and led us in a Rotary rendition of Danny Boy. Forever resourceful and creative, Art comes up with yet another top ten Rotary hit. (The other nine came from his pen.)
Guests
Caroline introduced her guests Emily and Reilly Stephens and Garrett introduced Kristin Baumum, the new director of the Aldrich. Also introduced were District Governor Susan Cherry and Louisa Tripp, former District Governor.
Announcements
President Eddie announced that he has received a check for $510.00 from Quality Market from tickets sold there. He also reported receiving a thank you letter for a donation for a bench for the Mathewson Playground.
He reminded us that Nicole’s daughter, Ellie, is collecting bottles, cans and egg cartons as she works toward her goal of buying a car.
Next week we will meet at 802 Coffee for soup, sandwiches and a tour of its facility. On November 8, 2023 we will meet at Spaulding High School for a joint meeting with Interact.
Caroline reported on an activity that she and Joe were engaged in on October 24, 2023 World Polio Day. They provided information about polio and accepted donations as they paraded down Main Street. They painted the pinky finger purple to identify those with whom they engaged (with permission, of course), which was done to babies and young children in the early days of the first vaccinations in countries where large populations required the vaccine.
Tony asked those assembled to make a donation to his bowling team which is participating in People’ Health and Wellness Clinic’s fundraiser Bowlathon. He also put in a good word for Caroline’s team which is also seeking donations. Please give to both for a good cause.
Since Last We Met
Anniversary: Keith and Katie Jache October 25, 2023
Club Anniversary: Nicolas Storellicastro October 19, 2023 1 year
Bertil Agel October 21, 2023 32 years
On this day in history: In 1983, the U.S. military, under President Ronald Reagan, invaded the tiny island country of Grenada.
On this day in history: In 1964, The British rock band the Rolling Stones made its first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
A Whole Lot of Happiness
President Eddie was happy because Tony slipped him a coin to give to last week’s guest speaker and so he came up with a buck. He also was happy that his daughter is traveling all over the world and along the way discovered the Beatles, another dollar and one more for today’s speaker.
Guest Louisa Tripp offered a Happy Dollar,
happy she was driving to Oregan to deliver a bear sculpture to her brother.
Caroline threw in a dollar as she apologized for the mix up regarding the date of our speaker DG Susan Cherry visiting the club. She also gave another Happy Dollar in recognizing guest Reilly Stephens as Cinderella on Halloween.
Another Happy Dollar came from Arthur Zorn as he noted it had been 40 years since had seen Susan Cherry and he was happy to see her. He also told how he just missed the Grenada invasion by just one day and how he spent the day before on a secluded beach far from the cruise ship.
DG Susan Cherry gave a Happy Dollar in recognizing Louisa Tripp for helping her during a “keys-locked-in-the car” incident. Louisa “guarded” her car while waiting for AAA and Susan left to give her a speech as scheduled.
Dan gave two Happy Dollars, happy that Tony and Caroline are joining the Bowlathon with bowling teams.
Create Hope in the World
Louisa Tripp, a former district governor, introduced DG Susan Cherry. Susan moved to St. Johnsbury in 1978 and started teaching K-8 music at the public schools. She and her husband of 42 years, Martin (also a Rotarian) raised their four children in St. Johnsbury and now run a bed and breakfast. Susan got her principal’s license in 2011, but chose instead to focus on Restorative Justice. She is the Executive Director of the Community Restorative Justice Center in St. Johnsbury. She has served her community in a variety ways including as a member of the Planning Commission and as a leader in Girl Scouts. 
DG Susan began her talk by exclaiming that she is “having a ball--a great time” as district governor. She went on to say that her job was to support presidents and specifically to help President Eddie have his best year as the leader of our club. She then asked if we could achieve three-part harmony and many were skeptical. After giving us directions, she proceeded to lead us to achieving the goal of three part harmony. We received the message; cooperate with each other to achieve goals.
Mental health, especially that of youth, is a focus of Susan. She fulfills many roles in her life, but the most important to her is that of grandmother. She wants to make sure that she checks in with her grandchildren to “see how things are going.” We need to provide ways to listen to youth and youth needs a mirror to aid in reflection. She advises: “See them do good things and tell them.” We must nurture a sense of belonging.
Susan referred to restorative justice as a way of providing a constructive response to misconduct. She gave the example of building a bench as “punishment” and a policeman complimenting the youth on what a good job he had done.
She then provided us with an opportunity for getting to know each other through conversations in small groups. She divided us into groups of three or four and had us discuss three questions, stopping between topics to ask for our observations of the conversations. We noticed that we were more at ease as the conversations progressed. She talked about the positive results from utilizing small groups and urged us to do so.
Susan ended her presentation with an
explanation of the Governor’s Cup on the table. It will go to the club in the district that has the largest increase in membership through retention and recruitment of new members. Tony yelled: “We got this one!”
President Eddie and DG Susan exchanged gifts: a chip embedded luggage tag for him and The Book of Inside Information for her.
For a presentation that was interactive, informative and interesting, Barre Rotarians gave DG Susan an enthusiastic round of applause.
Until next time....that's all folks.