Susan Grimes offered a tribute to our Veterans
Today we are here to honor those who have served our country and given their lives so that we may stand here and still live in freedom. We need to be constantly reminded of our gift of freedom and of those who gave all to make sure future generations continue to know life in a free, democratic society.
Remembering those who have passed is only half of the task that is before us today. We must also carry their love, honor and duty forward to the future generations that will pass. Our children must now who they were, what they did and why they did it. To do anything less, will be a disservice to their sacrifice and their memories.
We remember today, Veterans Day, our veterans.
November 11, 2020
Charlotte Shelburne Hinesburg Rotary via Zoom
Bob Sanders, Carrie Fenn, Chris Davis, Sam Feitelberg, Linda Barker, John Dupee, Bud, Richard Fox, France LeBlanc, Adam Bartsch, Nancy Danforth, Linda Gilbert, Jim Donovan, Carole Obuchowski, Rosalyn Graham, Charlie Kofman, Fritz Horton, Tad Dippel, John Pane, Ric Flood, Erik Kolomaznik, Jonathan Lowell, Diana Vichon, John Hammer, Joan Lenes, Dan York, Jessica Brumsted
Guests: Lindsay Smith, Laura Kingsland, Colleen Haag, Lt Colonel LJason Galipeau, Colonel Bud Ockert
Chris rang the bell and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance
Susan Grimes offered a tribute to our Veterans
Today we are here to honor those who have served our country and given their lives so that we may stand here and still live in freedom. We need to be constantly reminded of our gift of freedom and of those who gave all to make sure future generations continue to know life in a free, democratic society.
Remembering those who have passed is only half of the task that is before us today. We must also carry their love, honor and duty forward to the future generations that will pass. Our children must now who they were, what they did and why they did it. To do anything less, will be a disservice to their sacrifice and their memories.
We remember today, Veterans Day, our veterans.
Big shout out to those who helped out with the race on Sunday- Nancy, Denis, Susan, John Pane- sorry if I missed anyone!
Charlie is still raising money for Light the Night, fundraising for Leukemia and Lymphoma, so please send in your checks.
Normally at this time of year Carole fundraises for the Rotary Foundation. If you send money in electronically please let Carole know so that she can alert the Rotary Foundation as we get credit for those donations and can receive grants based on our contributions. Send donations to Carole Obuchowski, 370 Longmeadow Drive, Shelburne, 05456, or send in your donation to Rotary electronically and email Carole and let her know. We can apply for grants, and Linda Gilbert went to the Rotary grant training so she can help with the grant application.
The car raffle mailing has received $5945, which means we may actually raise more without doing the event.
Please send your lists for the mailer fundraising effort. Let’s get to 90% participation!
Fritz reported that the clock tower fundraising has netted more than $15,000!
We are honoring our veterans today. On November 11, 1918 the Allies and Germany put into effect an armistice on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Armistice Day commemorated the end of World War I,” the war to end all wars.” In 1954, Congress amended the commemoration by changing the word “armistice” to “veterans” so the day would honor American veterans of all wars.
The Veterans Monument in Shelburne is cared for by the Monument Committee, many of whom are joining us today.
We’re unable to have our Veterans Day breakfast meeting due to COVID19, so Sam has asked France to present a virtual breakfast.
France was asked by Gary Marcotte to cook breakfast for the Rotary and she has done it ever since. She offered these few tidbits into the breakfast habits of some of our Rotarians:
Ric Flood loves burnt bacon, and he only eats fruit to make his wife happy.
Sam loves bacon, even though he is Jewish. France would sometimes have ham or sausage to mix up the breakfast but Sam came to her and asked if we could have bacon every meeting. France told him he wasn’t supposed to have bacon but Sam said his God didn’t attend that church so it was okay.
George Schiavone loved to speak French to France, but she speaks Quebec French which can get people in trouble because it so different from European French taught in our schools.
Nancy loves muffins the most, but lots of folks would come back for seconds or to take one home.
Phil was always the first to arrive, and France misses him even though he would often be in the way.
There are two lipstick ladies, and France would have to wash the cups by hand. One day there was a different color lipstick…
John Hammer is a hugger. France would have to put a time limit on his hugs.
The table of talkers on the right who never shut up (let’s just call this John Dupee’s table…). Enough said.
France would wake up at 4 to get to the church by 5:30 to have the breakfast ready, and while she doesn’t miss waking up at 4am, she does miss our morning meetings.
Our guest speaker is a LT Colonel and Medical Administrative Officer with the Vermont Air National Guard. Jason Galipeau was born and raised in Shelburne and volunteers to lay the bricks at the monument.
These days we take for granted the patriotism that came before us, so Jason salutes those Rotarians who have served.
It takes a community when service members are deployed and Jason thanks all of those in the community who help support the armed services and their families.
Jason joined the Guard to become and an officer and a pilot, but the recruiter told him that is very hard to become a pilot, so he became an arms loader. He served in Iraq and became an officer after a few years.
He was offered a full-time opportunity in Medical but then found that he wasn’t qualified because it required a Master’s Degree, so he went to St. Michaels at night to earn a MS in Science and Administration.
Jason became a medical international health planner through a state partnership program known as the Western Accord 2012 which involved bringing over thousands of US personnel to African countries to partner with medical professionals from those countries to provide treatment to over 3000 citizens.
That mission kicked off a series of events in 2013-14 involving an outbreak of Ebola. Jason was sent on a 6-month deployment to Germany to combat Ebola, where he was in charge of running logistics for the 101 Airborne to build hospitals to treat Doctors Without Borders doctors. He was responsible for evacuating sick patients to Germany and briefing a 2 star on what the team needed to accomplish their mission.
Jason lived in an army barrack which was an eye opener for him, having stayed in hotels with the Air Force.
He was then given command of the HR area of the Air Guard. He went back to Medical so he could promote, and was responsible for building the field hospitals during COVID. The Guard has been running the S&S warehouse, doing food distribution, vaccine distribution and contact tracing.
The Guard will not be involved in administering the COVID vaccine, but they will need to store and distribute due to the fragile nature of the vaccine and the cool storage requirements.
If anyone on the call or in the community would like to tour the facility and see what the Guard does, please reach out to Jason. Rotary would love to have a field trip when COVID comes down.
We’ll be donating a book to all three of our libraries in Jason’s name. We’ll also give Jason a cup that was made when the Monument was dedicated.
Chris recognized the members of the Club who have served. There will be a short service today at the Memorial involving the laying of the wreath at 11:00.
Sam offered our closing words:
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow.
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Have a great week, and much gratitude to our veterans and active duty members of the armed services.
Respectfully submitted,
Carrie Fenn