Rotary Rag - February 13, 2013

Quote of the Day:  “Worse excuse for not turning in homework:  I couldn’t find anyone to copy it from.”

GREETER:
Thank you, Bob.  Next week... we won't need one as we are scheduled to hold an evening joint meeting w/our 'cousins' - the Nooner's.  The following week's Greeter volunteer:  Will Shakespeare (We all hope he can remember.)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Treasure needed for next week... ?  It may be Sandy Shriver standing in as Dave's stunt-double collecting money for us at our joint meeting.


Instead we will have a joint Wednesday evening meeting ('here') at the Legion with the Noon club, where our guest speaker will be our past District Governor who has tales and slides of having climbed Mount Everest.  $25.00 dinner cost per person.  Cash Bar (Not an Open Bar... However, the Cash Bar WILL be Open!)  Sign up passed around, and guests welcome to join us.  Drinks start at 5:00pm, Dinner at 6:00.  Slide Show at 7:00pm.

February 27th - Club Assembly scheduled in lieu of a guest speaker, so we can discuss the upcoming 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament

March 20th - Potential New Member Breakfast (invite friends now, so they can put the early time slot on their calendars with plenty of advance, and have fewer excuses to say no.

Harris Hill Ski Jump this weekend.  Because Will DID sign up to help, but can't remember when he did so (fine on Will proposed, carried to second, and probably paid although this editor can't be sure), maybe a few of us can give Will an email reminder to ensure he shows?  The rest of us who signed up, please show at our allotted time slots as noted in Sandy Shriver's recent email blast.  (Don't worry about the cold... just bundle up...  And then when you get there, simply visit the Beer Tent!)

3-on-3 Nothing But Net Tournament - Peter mentioned that sign up for the day's event is still light, so the sign up sheet was passed around again.  Ellen interrupted Pete w/a variety of committee questions, causing a ruckus, and a TON of Ellen-bashing, to which someone offered the helpful - "Even a broken clock is right twice a day" - under appreciated by Ellen, to be sure.

Will spoke about the Membership Committee's suggestions to look at our work associates and peers, and the folks we do daily business with as possible guests to invite to the Potential New Members meeting (see date above.)

Dan reminded us he was spearheading the Quilt Raffle fundraiser - the drawing for which is this Friday.  Last chance to win a beautiful quilt for a fraction of its cost.

While Dan spoke, President Shriver's cell phone rang, and while he took a personal call mid-meeting, an uproar of attempts to fine him ensued for his blatant disreguard for common courtesy presidential protocol.  (Must've been something really important daughter Marjorie wanted to tell him!)

Anyone out there good at spelling?  Wanna form a team and participate in the latest fundraiser.  Sandy Shriver has flyers (that I should've grabbed, so I could go on more about it.)  News from Ellen is she heard a request for participants that may not necessarily be good spellers, but might have good senses of humor instead.  Comic relief stands in higher regard for this event than does any particular spelling tallents, so keep this in mind.

GUESTS:
Completely out of Rotary order, Sandy then called upon us to introduce our guests.  Many of us were STUNNED to catch sight of one Jason Posternak, Car Salesman at large, as most of us imagined he didn't really exist and was just a viscous rumor.  The only REAL guest was our morning's guest speaker Josh Davis, Director of Morningside Shelter.

STUDENT ROTARIAN REPORT:
Carrie was our morning's Student Rotarian, but Sandy Ladd was called upon first to tell us something she'd learned about her - And it must be plenty, as she's known her from birth.  Many of us chimed in with other facts about Carrie we'd learned, and finally poor Carrie was allowed to follow with her Student Rotarian Report...  The BUHS musical "Gypsy" is going to start tomorrow afternoon, and will also have shows Friday and Saturday evening this weekend.  Very exciting, and many are participating, so it should be a good show.  Nordic Race this afternoon too.  Also, girls hockey game upcoming w/face painting and bake sale, all to support Breast Cancer Awareness.  Go and support a worthy cause.

CARDS:  Bob picked the 8 of Spades.  We all Lose Losers.

BIRTHDAYS:  Birthday Barb was MIA, so Dan alone got an early song (since next week when he'll really be celebrating, we'll be with the Nooner's and President Sandy chose not to subject them to our birthday song traditions.)

BRAGS:

Dan began w/ a brag for Jason who apparently saw the Dietz's at the Putney Diner this past week, and proceeded to pay the family's tab for breakfast.  Dan was equal parts grateful and irritated, as he now owes Jason TWO breakfasts in gratitude -- It was Jason's second time playing 'Santa' to Natalie Dietz, and Dan wants to return the favor before Jay makes it three!

Toni - also for Jason - as she had asked him to pick up 600 stamps for the 3-on-3 mailing... something Linda Hopkins always did, but since she's in Hawaii, Jay volunteered.  He should've known how difficult it would be to fill Linda's shoes, and it was - it only took Jason stops at 3 separate post offices to collect that many postage stamps. (frigging small towns... eh Jason?)  

Dave: Talked about the 3 envelopes he 'inherited' from Sadie when he took over the post as Treasurer last year.  He said she'd suggested to him that he save them if he ever got into treasury trouble.  Well, having gotten himself into a tiny bit of trouble a while back, Dave opened up the first envelope, to read, "Blame Everything On ME! (Sadie)"  Well that worked for Dave.  Time passed, and then he hit another treasury snag... so he opened up the second envelope to read... "Hit more trouble?  Try to restructure."  Which he did.  Recently, the final envelope was needed.  Dave opened the third envelope, and it said very simply: "Prepare 3 Envelopes..." ;o) ... which he will be happy to do, as...
Dave and his wife will be retiring this year to Pensicola, Florida.  They will enjoy the final sale of their home next week.  And this year they will both officially retire.  Officially.  And it's official.  SO, ... who wants to be the next treasurer?  Dave assures us the position comes with three very useful envelopes...

Jon - wanted to add to his ongoing mice-as-family-pets saga, merely a brag for "Coffee Cake, and the Secrest 'Cage of Death'!"  Most uncharacteristic of Jon, no elaboration was forthcoming.  (Truly, none was needed as we could all use our imaginations, but for sure we would've laughed heartily if he'd wanted to share more of the story!)

Jill and her hubby figured themselves to be pretty slick last Friday as they thought they were avoiding the snow by taking the whole day off to leave early morning for a Washington, VT weekend get-away.  They caught the beginnings of the storm about 10 miles before their destination, as it began to snow... HEAVILY... and before long, they were stuck in the thick of the blizzard and required a tow for the final few miles.  At least they got to ride in their dead car as it was towed, which sounded like fun.  Jason offered Jill his number for future automobile emergency reference.

GUEST SPEAKER

Judith introduced our day's guest speaker - the new Director of Morningside Shelter, Josh Davis.  

Josh was a graduate of SIT, getting his degree in Non-Profit Management.  He served in the Peace Corps, and taught English in Japan for 2 years, among other impressive resume notes.  Beginning at Morningside only part time, he was hooked and drawn in to all their good work and is now thrilled to be the Director.  He thanks our club for our continued support of Morningside Shelter.

The efforts of Morningside are specifically to create "individualized solutions" for everyone.  Homelessness has many faces: Sleeping in one's car; Doubling up w/friends and other families; or Couch hopping.  These faces are not as visible as someone whom you might see living right on the street.  

Reasons people find themselves homeless include problems like: Lack of livable wage, Lack of full-time employment, and Lack of affordable housing.  Another issue for the homeless is that public transportation is unreliable in the outlying, more rural areas surrounding Brattleboro.

Abuse recovery, mental health and substance abuse issues, as well as recent jail release are some of the reasons why people find themselves homeless.

Morningside has 3 main programs: a Dry Shelter; Housing Support; and Representative Payee

Morningside's dry shelter has been running for 30 years, and is the only year round shelter in Southern Vermont.  29 beds now in house, and they are currently running at full capacity with a waitng list of between 30-50 households waiting for help.  The average stay of people at the shelter is about 70 days.  Case managers work 24 hours a day 7 days a week at Morningside.  The first thing someone talks about with their case manager when arriving at the shelter is their plans for transitioning OUT of the shelter.  Morningside works with local agencies to connect people to necessary assistance.  The population at Morningside Shelter has changed; they are now seeing more families w/children in need than ever before.  

Housing Support is another program whereby Morningside helps with both Section 8 vouchers, and also helps transition assistance to maintain some support even after people transition to their housing situation.

Representative Payee - or Homelessness Prevention is the final page of what Morningside offers.

Through a grant w/United Way and working together w/Youth Services, they've set up another shelter just for youth.  Reasons being, youth seem to thrive among their peers, and do NOT seem to do so when in the regular shelter, according to data.  This new facility is filled all the time, and they are always working together colaboratively with other organizations, like Youth Services.

Asked if they saw much repeat-folks, the answer was about 5 out of every 100 were repeat assistance-needy.

Asked why children and youth end up homeless, the answer was adolescents were mostly either fleeing abusive homes, poor family situations, kicked out of their homes due to their own drug use/abuse, and/or aging out of the Foster Care system.  

Overall, the level of need has DRAMATICALLY increased since 2008, and cases in general have become more intense.

 

Meeting Adjourned.
Omissions, Errors, Flaws, Grievances - Sorry, but no money back guarantees!

Stand-In Scribe for Janette ~ Alisa Barry  ;o)