January 25 Rotary Minutes

 

This day in history - first transcontinental flight in 1959; first transcontinental telephone call

 

Guests: no guests today :(

 

Student Rotarians , John and Sarah:

 - getting ready for State Competition for FBLA - looking for donations - they can pick specialty - he’s doing sports marketing

 

  • Spring raffle - they’re looking for donations for the raffle - Raffle starts today - they will sell them next week

 

Jim Maxwell’s BIRTHDAY! woo hoo!!!

 

Announcements:

- Board meeting next Thursday at WKVT

- Last night was overflow meal next one is February 9th

 

Three on Three Update: Saturday, March 18th

  • Annual basketball tournament, biggest fundraiser money goes towards scholarship - really need everyone to get involved in helping out
  • We’ll be asking for help getting sponsorships
  • Amelia and Dan chairing concessions
  • Sign up sheet going around for concessions help
  • needing volunteers for court monitors etc.
  • If you know of groups or teams to cultivate for participation - get in touch - goal is 30 teams

 

Coffee shop is open! Name of mountain range where the coffee comes from is posted on the bags! Good stuff! Buy lots!

 

Cards

Queen of Spades - Losers. All of us.

 

Letters of thanks

Windham Housing Trust - thanks for the $400 trivia night

Feed the Thousands

 

Bowl of Life:

This Rotarian had an uncle who was football coach of West Virginia University -

Lisa picks Jason. NO. Jason picks Ally. NO. Ally picks Nick. NO. Nick picks Sandy. NO. Sandy picks Turner. YES. Good job, Sandy.

 

Brags:

 

Sadie: Went to DC for the March. Incredible experience. Positive and enthusiastic experience. Now work starts. Two women in Brattleboro organized 2 buses got everyone there and back.

 

Lots of help at the overflow shelter last night. Many thanks to all who showed up. Special thanks to Sarah! (Junior Rotarian)

 

Josh: $20 for folks who marched this weekend. Other brag for Lisa for helping Josh plan a business trip to GB.

 

Jim Maxwell: His wife and sisters are moving their parents both in their 90’s to a home. Second brag - tickets for BMC Windham Orchestra event. Conductor is fabulous! Brought a opera to town - something amazing for a town this size. Please attend a BMC event!

 

KJ: Shameless plug for Tech Rescue team - weekend outing with Keene student who went in water to help train Rescue workers. Come out and have fun with them!

 

Dan: Adventure without needing Rescue - Pittsburgh NH for annual snowmobile trip! 600 miles, baby!

 

Marcy: apologizes for speaker not being able to make it

 

Kevin: For wife - coming back from trip, encountered fog bank, she was driving, scary, she made it all the way to Wilmington - then they switched drivers - still bad weather. Kudos to her for bravery! Second brag - for Sarah Gauthier one of 3 students of the month at the Windham Regional Career Center!!! Woo Hoo!

 

Jen: Brag for great weekend her husband’s birthday - went to Celtics game. Great game! Game went into overtime! Celtics lost, but the crowd was polite.

 

Ally: Brag for her daughter who is in Equador - she’s there for 10 weeks. She left beach scene before people were mugged! She’s grateful that her daughter is safe! Second brag: Debra for compassion in the parking lot of North End butcher and for timely gift of lentil soup.

 

Lissa: Brattleboro historical society is working on Humanities grant - an audio tour of Brattleboro. Marlboro College will be agent. This is huge! We might get this grant - if there is a historical figure or bit of history that is unnoticed, let her know…

 

Sandy Shriver: Marjorie, his daughter - working 3 jobs! Saved up $7000! She’s going to be buying a new car from Jason!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

 

Damon: for Tito’s vodka which can be traded for lift tickets at Mount Snow. Katherine is a terrific skier and she doesn’t get to ski that much… they picked a date to go skiing, her birthday, and Damon was able to score some lift tickets for vodka.

 

Kevin: WKVT 5-7pm, Whetstone giving away ski tickets tonight.

 

Nick: Last minute speaker… Financial advice…

What’s the next “Apple” Stock? New startup that’s not public yet, there are some new organizations that are coming up with IPOs.  There are some stalwarts that have some new things coming (Tesla for example). 

 

Is there a push by people for socially responsible investing? The Home office doesn’t really have anything like that right now and Nick has asked about that.  Nick then went into a really great explanation of ETF’s and other acronyms that I couldn’t follow. 

Yes, there are a lot of people who are divesting of their non-socially responsible investments. 

 

Is there a way to invest in the marijuana industry? Lot of companies, lots of interest and lots of penny stocks.  The way Nick see’s this is to invest in companies that are adding this to their portfolio.  

 

A lot of non-profits in town have foundations and have cash sitting “under the mattress”, what is your advice to foundations who have a few thousand dollars they would like to put to work. Tough question because the nonprofits usually have specific guidelines they have to invest their money.  Timeline is a big question, especially with the possibility they may need access to that money quickly. 

 

Consensus is market timing is a losing game; however all indicators show stocks are overpriced, how do you factor this when advising clients.  The market is at an all time high. The main questions are what is your timing, if it’s 1 year, yeah it’s not a good time to jump in.  If it’s 10-20 years get in; since Trump has been in office things have bounced around a bit, not everything is up.  So it takes a lot more analysis of the individual and their goals. 

 

What about Trump’s protectionism, what will that change for international organizations? Nick is bullish on this right now.  There are a lot of things going on, thinks the domestic companies will continue to do well and we’ll need to keep an eye on the international companies.