Rotary Rag 08/07/13
Quotation from President Jon: “What’s the difference between men and vegetable gardens? Vegetable gardens mature.” Toni Sewing
Missing: Carmen Derby, Booie Fagelson, Bob Fagelson, Erich Hoyer, Sandy Ladd, Jason Posternak, Ellen Smith
Greeter: Kevin covered for Dr. Fagelson; Ralph next week
Guests: Natalie Dietz, Matthew Gordon Macey, Laura Schairbaum (United Way of Windham County)
Red Sox: Carmen investigated a Rotary Red Sox trip. It would be a minimum of $100 ($49 for ticket, $30-50 per bus); the two dates are Sept. 4 (v. Tigers) or Sept. 17 (v. Orioles). Spouses, guests, and are children welcome. Both games are at 7.10 PM so that means a departure around 3 PM from Brattleboro. We need 20 people to commit; contact Sandy if you are interested in one or other of the dates
Touch a Truck: We will be doing food and drinks on Sept. 7; we need someone to get rolls and drinks so if you have a contact, let Dan know. Next week we will have a sign up sheet.
From the board: It was proposed that we have the option to pay quarterly for breakfast (with no refunds if you are not there). This was proposed because it might increase attendance and be easier for people whose organizations pay for their breakfasts to get reimbursement; guests (including young Rotarians in training) would be pay-as-you-go. The consensus was that it is a good idea. The executive team will discuss it and let people know when we will start; likely it will be at the beginning of the quarter, October 1.
Birthdays: Marcy C. was serenaded (one of the best I’ve heard) and congratulated on the anniversary of her birth.
Bowl of Life: After looking through several entries that we can only assume were his own, President Jon read: “This person peed blood for 5 days after an accident.” Marcie guessed Peter: Todd: Kevin: Josh: Sadie: Tristam: Dan: Damon: Turner: Ed relieved us by guessing Will. Will was on the ski jumping and cross country ski team in high school. He went over a ski jump on cross country skis, landed poorly, and went to the hospital, and it was a ruptured kidney so he has only one kidney to this day.
Brags:
Damon bragged for his parents who drove over to visit. He also ran a half marathon in Holyoke (in preparation for the full in September) and finished 20th overall and won a pint glass as the first place male finisher in his age group.
Marcy R. just returned from a college visit with her two children. There were some good possibilities.
Jill honored her uncle who passed away last week and was a Rotarian in CA. She also celebrated her 1-5!
Kevin bragged for CT Valley Oral Surgeons who extracted 4 of Sarah's wisdom teeth. She is progressing, but it put her out of commission for a couple of days. His son is interning with a minor league team in Elmira and they are in the playoffs. Hopefully a job offer will follow…
Dan bragged for boys night out and the rescue by Nancy and Natalie. On the way to town they got run on the sidewalk by someone else who should not have been driving at 1 AM. Good call, Dan.
Turner bragged for going home early on Friday—which was a smart move. His granddaughter is visiting for the week and they are having a great time.
Jim bragged for his in-laws in Princeton. They are 90 and 88 and wheelchair bound, but they are very sharp and wonderful folks. They are also great story tellers.
Ali bragged about her mom. She was sorting through some stuff and found some retro Nothin’ but Net t-shirts. Ali has a bag of them and considering their value, she wanted other Rotarians to share in the wealth.
Marcy C. bragged because Rowan is visiting a friend for the week, so she enjoying the freedom and ability to get rid of old toys.
Cards: The pot was $32 and the scribe won.
Helping the Community Engage via United Way of Windham County’s Volunteer Management System
Toni introduced Laura Schairbaum, the Volunteer Coordinator for the United Way of Windham County.
The UWWC is starting a volunteer center for the County. They have been able to do this through some of the work that they did with disaster recovery. They purchased a volunteer management system that other United Ways use. It will be implemented September 7 with the Day of Caring. It will be rolled out in phases starting in the fall.
United Ways worldwide have together been focusing on how to engage people as volunteers and impact the areas of health, education and income. This is way to create connection, expand understanding, and strengthen community.
Laura gave the group a sneak preview of the system for registering. The system will be live starting Monday. You can scroll down and see the opportunities/projects where help is needed. You can click on the project and register yourself or a group to volunteer (like Sunrise Rotarians). Once you register, Laura will communicate with you about the project. If you register a group, it will give you a link to invite people via email and they can go sign up. They will be training organizations in the fall on how to register projects.
In addition to project-specific registration, there is a general registration for volunteers. That will provide a match between skills needed and volunteers who have those skills. There will be a fee for service for groups who want to set up opportunities unless they are doing a campaign with United Way of WC.
There was a question about the growth of the Day of Caring over time. Although this is Laura’s first year, she explained that in the past they have done smaller days over the year. The last few years, they have had about 100 people (with the exception of the year of Irene when there were over 250 volunteers). They have moved the date to try to engage people (so it’s not on Labor Day). They are also expanding the geography of the projects so they are spread across the county. Laura, as the new Volunteer Coordinator, will be working on continuing to expand the event. Peter shared what a great opportunity it is to do something and reminisced about doing West River clean up with some other Rotarians a few years ago.
Opportunities will be both short, finite projects, and ongoing longer-term volunteers. It will help people volunteer with different skills, schedules, etc.
Laura reminded us that a few dedicated energetic people can get a lot done for an organization. It will be a big benefit for organizations that don’t necessarily have the capacity to recruit, train, manage or organize volunteers. It will build the volunteer capacity of local non-profits. Eventually the system will be able to email potential volunteers based on the need and skills (for individuals or groups).
Working with other disaster response organizations in the area, the United Way of Windham County volunteer site will link to a national database so that in the event of a disaster, people can engage more quickly. The SEVT LTRC is winding down as we approach the 2 year anniversary of Irene. The work of helping people recover will continue as there are still about 40 families who have unmet needs. Windham Regional Commission is leading an effort to start a VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster) in the community that will be an on-going group in place to support people in a disaster situation. There will be a meeting to start that process on Tuesday Sept. 17. Contact Laura or Sadie for information.
Closing: We received resignation letters from Linda Hopkins and Janette Smuts. They wanted to make clear that they felt it was time for them to move on, not because we are all offensive brutes. They offered to keep running one of our gardens for a year. This is an extra push for us to think about new members.
Yours in all things Rotary, Sadie Fischesser