Morrisville Rotary Club

Present:   Jim Mahoney, Tim Sargent, Jason McArthur, Davis Koier, Marcia Marble, Roy Marble,  Susan Bartlett,  Phil Chiaravalle,  Linda Martin,  Deanna Wood,  Gary Nolan, Rudy Loyola, and Ted Lambert.

Guests: Geoffrey Blume and Ms. Bernie Quinlan

Happy Dollars: Tim collected Happy Dollars from: Rudy, Geoffrey, Bernie, Jason, Roy, Jim, Gary, Marcia, Davis, Deanna and Susan.

Bernie Quinlan is a Copley Hospital registered nurse who is seeking to help on an upcoming medical mission to Haiti. Bernie is making contacts with various medical groups as one needs to be sure of their security, housing and food while in Haiti.  Right now she may be going in August. She will let Rudy know her trip details and will ask for Rotary funding at that time. Donations towards her travel costs are being collected by Rudy and the pies that Bernie is making and selling.

In her spare time she volunteers with the St. Vincent’s St. Paul Society as well as the Girls on the Run Program.  Girls in grades 3-5 are mentored to develop their self-confidence and physical fitness. Their program ends this spring with a 5K run.

Bernie is planning on a medical trip to Honduras with her daughter in five years when she turns 18.

News: Gary : The PA softball team is doing really well and has two more games: 4:30pm with Stowe tonight and Thursday with Danville at 4:30pm.

Tim: Essex Rotary invites us to help them raise funds for their upcoming youth event.

Thank you note was acknowledged by Tim.

Route 15 Festival in August:  Buck’s Furniture is coordinating participants for this 2^nd Annual Gathering.

Lamoille Family Center; June 5^th is their Elmore Hike fundraiser.  Rotarians, consider helping them out.

Possible new members:  Tim:  Career: architect: Paul Trudell to be asked to join.

LEDC: John Manville from Hardwick is the new Director.  Discussion to ask him but understand that he Is dealing with family health issues.

NEW MEMBER: Gary: a former RI Rotarian will be a new Elmore resident this summer and will be asked to come to our meetings.

CHANGEOVER: from Susan to Tim will be  June 9^th, Wednesday. Tim will confirm Claire’s Restaurant in Hardwick for a dinner meeting.

DUCK RACE: Gary-2000 tickets have been ordered.  He is looking for the same and more sponsors as last year.  Tickets remain at $5.00 each and let’s all help Gary sell them all this year!

Karen Lynch will be asked if we can meet at her home at Trombley Hill in Hyde Park and sort the ducks or they will be brought to a club meeting.  Ted Lambert will be away on July 5^th.  Thank you Ted for your steady hand in overseeing the Duck Sales!

Tim will be scheduling a Family Meeting for one of the upcoming Tuesday 7:00 AM Meetings.

Marcia volunteered their pond for a family Saturday or Sunday pot luck/fishing in July or August.

Handicap Ramp Project: Gary and Gary Rushford from the Morrisville VFW are seeking a $250 Rotary donation for  materials to build a ramp for Bob Gillespie who lives in Sterling View Park in Hyde Park.  Roy: Motion to donate $250 to this project, 2^nd by Ted. Vote: all in favor.

District 7850 District Conference is in Burlington at the Davis Center on the UVM campus, June 11, Friday  and 12, Saturday.  Go to rotarydistrict7850.org to sign up.

RI Convention in Montreal on June 20-23. https://rotary2010.com/

Deanna asked Tim and the club to consider a new Literacy Project which would start on July 1^st.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:00 AM.

Minutes taken by Marcia Marble

Minutes

Present: Jim Mahoney, Tim Sargent, Jason McArthur, Davis Koier, Marcia Marble, Roy Marble, Rich Furlong, Mel Patashnick, Patti Coultas, Mark Cattelona, Linda Martin, , Gary Nolan, Rudy Loyola, and Ted Lambert.

Guests: Geoffrey Blume, Alex Cattelona, and Luigi Bonet

Jim opened the meeting. Tim collected happy dollars from Rich (sad $1), Geoffrey, Davis, Mark ($2), Jason, Jim, Mel, Linda ($2) and Marcia.

Jim welcomed Luigi Bonet, the exchange student attending Lamoille Union High School. He is from Peru.

Mark introduced him and then turned the presentation over to Luigi. Usually there is an internet PowerPoint, but without access he just talked with us.

Luigi presented the club with a banner from his club in Peru.  He said he has been here 9 months so far and is enjoying it. His plan is to come back to study to be an airline pilot someday in the States.

Luigi’s mother owns a restaurant and his father is an architect. He has two older brothers and a twin, who is an exchange student in Australia.

He said that the school her is very good. He attends a private school in Peru and Lamoille Union has more technology and teaching supplies.

He had originally requested being an exchange in New Zealand, but is happy with coming to Vermont.

He is on the track team at Lamoille, and is very fast. He runs the 400, 800 and 1500m and throws the javelin. He learned to ski this winter, going from a beginner to skiing the black diamond runs.

The city where he is from has about 1 million in population. It is located about 14 hours from Lima by car, 1 ½ hours by plane. The road infrastructure is not as good as here.

Jim thanked him and wished him well.

Gary updated the members on the Duck Race. He talked with the Morristown Fire Department and they will set up a tub for the July 4^th festivities at Peoples Academy. The celebration will take place on Monday, July 5^th this year. Please mark your calendars. Jim said we need to jump right on selling tickets.

Montreal International Convention. Right now Marcia, Rudy and Tim and planning on attending. Marcia has information on the day bus if anyone is interested.

The District Conference information in on their website. It is June 11-12. The agenda was emailed out last night. Let Tim know if you plan to attend, the District will pay for the registration fee.

Tim brought up the drive for new members. Each week he’ll ask about representatives from a category, and we’ll come up with 2 individuals to invite for the next week. This week think about Architects and bring names to the next meeting.  Patti suggested that we have a training on approaching people to join. It was decided to do this at the next committee meeting (July)

Change Over. Tim’s still thinking and willing to take ideas. Patti suggested Claire’s Restaurant. She said she would contact them and see if they do special events.

Minutes submitted by Patti Coultas.

Minutes

Present: Tim Sargent, Jason McArthur, Davis Koier, Marcia Marble, Roy Marble, Phil Grant, Phil Chiaravalle, Jim Mahoney, Mel Patashnick, Patti Coultas, Mary Metcalf, Deanna Wood, Gary Nolan, Rudy Loyola, Susan Bartlett, Mark Cattelona, and Ted Lambert.

Guests: Geoffrey Blume, Meredith Haff, Armando Vilaseca

Tim collected happy dollars from Deanna, Mel, Mary, Patti, Jim ($5), Jason, Phil, Davis, Dr. Phil, Geoffrey, Gary, Rudy and Tim

Phil Grant said that Peoples Academy is working with Senator Leahy to create video postcards to servicemen in Iraq. Contact Phil for more information

Tim explained that catering is still open. Deb’s Place will submit an offer, Sweet Crunch already did ($5.50 or $6.50 per person). Tim will let us know. Jim would like it if one of those companies sent someone to join the Rotary. Then we could support our member’s businesses.

Susan introduced Commissioner of Education Armondo Vilaseca.

Commissioner Vilaseca talked about preparing our children for the 21^st century and budget challenges. He discussed the results of the state tests in relation to the National Association for Educational Progress (NAEP) and said that Vermont students are doing very well nationally and internationally. If we were our own country, our education would be listed in the top 10 percent.

Children in poverty is the biggest challenge in Vermont. This group of students tends to score 20 points lower on tests than those of the general populations. Additionally, of those incarcerated who are 23 years or younger, 90% do not have a high school diploma. The Community High School of Vermont (in the prisons) is the largest district in Vermont.

One challenge of budgets is the increasing number of staff to student ratio. This is not because school districts choose to hire more people, but because they are required to provide certain services.

The Commissioner is in favor of reducing the number of school districts, and having the supervisory unions act as the district. This would just consolidate the administrative functions of the region. The savings would be close to 17.5 million dollars.

Current there is a student to staff ration of 4.5 to 1. If we increased the number of students to 4.75 for every 1 staff member, the savings would be significant.

The bill that passed the Vermont Legislature was for voluntary consolidation, with tax incentives for a study to consolidate. This is a step in the right direction.

Addition Northwest voted for consolidating to one district but there was a recall and the next vote will be soon. (Note: The vote was 5/11 and all 5 towns had to pass the consolidation bill, 1 of the 5 rejected it, so the measure failed.)

Marcia asked about mother’s health education. Vilaseca said that with a department cut of 32 since he arrived (about 20%) they are working at partnerships to fill in gaps. The partnership with the DCF Dept. of Health is a strong one. They are working on the health curriculum for the DOE, from nursing to health education.

At 8am, Jim thanked the Commissioner for coming and noted that others could stay if they wanted to discuss education issues with him.

Minutes submitted by Patti Coultas.

Minutes

Present: Jim Mahoney, Ted Lambert, Tim Sargent, Jason McArthur, Patti Coultas, Sharon Menard, Gary Nolan, Roy and Marcia Marble, Mary Metcalf, Phil Chiaravalle, Phil Grant, Becky Gonyea, Deanna Wood, and Mark Cattelona (arrived late)

Tim collected $14 in happy dollars.

Jim asked for an update from a member who attended the Stowe Rotary Joint Meeting. Dr. Phil said that Marcia, Marc, Tim, Rudy and he went. They talked about joint ventures such as Octoberfest, and joining together to paint the Out and About Building. No decisions were made. It was a good meeting.

Jim invited Becky to talk about the “Climb for Kids” Family Center Fundraiser. Becky said that it is a hike up Elmore Mountain, June 5th. It will be run similar to other walk-a-thons, where the participant raises money for their hike. There will be food, prizes, and entertainment. She brought posters for members to distribute and also fundraising kits.

Jim said that the next story hour at the Centennial Library in Morrisville will be Thursday at 10:30 and he hopes some members can attend. Marcia and Deanna both said they planned to attend.

The District Conference is scheduled for June 11th and 12th at the Dean Center at UVM. He hopes some members can attend, that it is a good way to learn more about Rotary. Marcia made the motion for the Club to pay for registration fees, Gary seconded it. The vote was unanimously approved.

Tim’s agenda today is for us to decide if we should move to the Tegu Building (Morrisville Town Office Conference Room). Jim asked if there was anyone who opposed the move, asking them to offer their opinion. No one spoke up. Tim then made the motion to move, Roy seconded it. The vote was unanimous. There was a brief discussion about food. It was agreed that we do want food there. Tim has a quote from Sweet Crunch. One benefit is that we can tell them it is for 10 people, knowing that sometimes folks bring their own food or don’t eat. At the Stone Grill we have to pay for a minimum of 15 people. This should save us money, as right now we are losing $100 each week between the cost of food and the space rental. The Teague Building will not charge us for the space. Tim said he would notify the Stone Grill management. He reminded us that we would be brown bagging it next week since this is not yet set up. Jim suggested we go ahead with Sweet Crunch. Mary said she would bring a coffee cake. They do have single cup coffee brewers.

The calendar for the next month was discussed. Patti explained she had not been able to find Geoffrey Blume’s contact information to let him know there was a double booking next week. Mary Metcalf had it and Jim said he would contact him to see if he could present another week.

Gary said that he thinks the July 4th event is a better time for us to hold the duck race. He will talk to the fire department and get back to us next week.

Jim turned the discussion to membership. With the change in time and cost, he thinks we should work on 5 members in the next 6 months. Tim reminded everyone he said his goal for the year is 10 members. Jim said we currently have 20 solid members. He also looked up the historical membership and the Morrisville Rotary has never had more than 30-35 members at one time. He said returning to that number is realistic. It was decided to bring in the membership list and for the group to send out postcards to former members inviting them to get re-involved. Mary has postcards.

Tim said he has heard several ideas for change over but has not yet decided. He thought early June might work before the district/international conventions.

Jim reminded members that we still needed to decide how to distribute the James Gregg Fund (approx $1,300). After discussion, Jim made the motion to give the money to the Centennial Library to use for Literacy Programs. Mary seconded it. There was discussion about waiting until June to write the check so that it can count toward Tim’s goals. Deanna will help with distribution so it is counted correctly. The vote was unanimous.

Marcia reminded members that the Montreal Rotary International conference would never be closer and encouraged everyone to attend.

Ticket: the card deck was unavailable. Mary’s ticket was drawn and she will draw a card next week.

Marcia contacted Marci and received a note back which Jim read out loud. She is healing and doing OK and can’t wait to return.

Next Meetings:
• May 11 – Vermont Commissioner of Education
• May 18 – Luigi, Cambridge Youth Exchange Student
• May 25 – Ms. Bernie Quinlan on Haiti Medical Mission
• June 1 – Committee Meeting

Minutes submitted by Patti Coultas.

Minutes