September 22, 2021 – Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary Meeting
Thank you to Jason for being our greeter!
This week’s scribe is Bethany – next week will be Tristam.
Guests:
- Norma Hardy, Brattleboro Police Chief
- Frank Weatherby, VFW member
Rotary Minute: Women in Rotary
- In 1978, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California invited three women to become members. Constitution and Bylaws of RI stated that member had to be male only.
- RI board withdrew the charter of Duarte club for violating the laws
- Duarte club brought suit against RI about discrimination in business and public places
- California Supreme Court agreed with Duarte club and said that women should be allowed in the club
- 1987 action allowed women to become Rotarians, and then RI changed their constitution in 1989 and allowed Rotary to include women
Quote of the Day: “Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.” - Anonymous
Birthdays: Tristan had a birthday on September 5th! Kevin, Turner, Diane, and Jon finally get to sing to him!
Announcements:
Mona: Thank you to everyone that helped volunteer at the Vietnam Moving Wall!
Frank Weatherby: Representing Len Derby today from the VFW Chapter 843. Len had the vision to make the Vietnam Moving Wall come to Brattleboro, and it finally happened.
Len had no idea what he was going to do about feeding his volunteers until Mona came to a meeting. Mona did an absolutely amazing job at getting the club together to volunteer time and donate food to keep the volunteers fed and happy throughout the event, and on behalf of the VFW, Mona was awarded a drill sergeant badge for leadership! Congratulations Mona and thank you for all everything!
Reminder: Meetings begin at 7:15am! Please be here for the start of the meetings!
Josh G.: Chuck for Charity Disc Golf Tournament is coming up on October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd! Looking for volunteers – please sign up on the Sign-Up Genius that was sent out by Josh.
Tristam: Had an hour long Zoom meeting in regards to USAID partnering with Rotary to develop projects in Eastern Europe – projects go through USAID, then Rotary would fund them
Projects to help children, women, and stabilizing jobs.
Nick: Please go onto Facebook and “like” our Sunrise Rotary page! Share it and get the word out about our club!
Brags:
Diane: Brag for Mona and everything she did for the Vietnam event – one volunteer said “We have never been fed like this at any event before!” Thank you thank you thank you!
Jon: Brag for Kerry and Jon – both to participate in 75 mile mountain bike ride fundraiser called the Hungry Lion this coming weekend – both have been training hard all summer and looking forward to the event.
Turner: Brag for Mona – another thank you for all she did for the Vietnam Wall event and congratulations on the award!
Tristan: Brag for wife and himself – both able to take two weeks off, visited one son in Burlington and enjoyed some down time. Also, had stress test and all came back fine!
Josh G.: Brag for PayPal! May have forgotten some extra change for brags so was able send some money via PayPal during the meeting! But main brag is for friends/family and going on a trip to Smuggler’s Notch to play some disc golf!
Cards:
Queen of Hearts – was in the deck! You lose, losers!
Guest Speaker: Norma Hardy, Brattleboro Police Chief
- Began by giving our club a donation – thank you so much Norma!
- Originally from Virginia, not the city. Used to drive 2.5 hours one-way to get to work on a daily.
- Been in the force for 26.5 years, was a 9/11 responder, and 1993 bomb survivor (was only 16 weeks into the job when that happened)
- Honored to be Chief in Brattleboro, the officers impress her everyday
- Main focus is on rebuilding the department, beginning with some interviews on Friday. Hope to add at least 10 additional officers to the department
- Has been speaking to groups and families around the community and is open to hearing what ideas community members have for the greater community at large
- She is open to speaking with anyone, whether they have good or bad things to say, but her one ask is that they stay respectful
- Very optimistic about opportunities in the area from a police standpoint, and wants to build a strong community relationship between the police and the community
- Big goal to conquer is helping those with mental illnesses because it appears that isolated individuals have been taken advantage of
- Had regularly been putting the number of calls the police department receive on their Facebook webpage to show the public that the police department is busy and needed throughout the community
Ended the meeting with the 4-Way Test:
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Respectfully submitted by Secretary Bethany