Posted by Jim Donovan on Oct 31, 2018
Charlotte Shelburne Hinesburg Rotary Meeting
Wednesday, October 31, 2018,
Trinity Community Room, Shelburne, Vermont.
Meeting Notes
 
President Erik opened the meeting at 7:15am and led the pledge of allegiance.
Keith offered an inspiring and thoughtful invocation.
 
Announcements and Business:
 
  • President Eric introduced our Guests - Fran & Dave Mount from the Burlington Rotary and John Dupree’s wife CC. 
  • Erik led the club in reciting the 4-way Test and then reminded us to check in on FaceBook.
  • Sam provided reflections on the recent synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.  He said it was so unusually different than other acts of anti-Semitism in the United States.  He has been pleased to see anti-Semitism public addressed in the past.  He described a course he helped develop at UVM for freshman that addressed the many forms of “anti” that they may have had in their heads or hearts.  The shooting in Pittsburgh cut our many of the elder leaders of their community.  He described his feelings of sorrow at putting the flag at half mast contrasting with his feelings of happiness experienced at the Halloween Parade on Sunday.  He asked how far we need to go to appreciate ourselves.  Sam asked us to thing about how we as Rotarians can contribute to the fight against this new round of anti-Semitism.  He has fought it all of his life, but in our group, he feels safe from it.
  • Eric Thanked Richard Fox for his work on organizing the Halloween Parade, as well as expressed thanks to all of the other volunteers that helped make it a success.  Richard added that he would like to receive comments or suggestions on how the parade might be organized or run more successfully in the future.  He will compile the comments and have them ready for review when planning for next year’s parade starts in August of 2019.     
  • Linda Gilbert introduced Fran and Dave Mount from the Burlington Rotary Club.  They have been volunteering for the Hands to Honduras project for years.  Dave described how he, Fran, and many of their children and grandchildren have been participating in the project for years.  All of the volunteers that head down there year after year are like a big extended family. He and Fran then presented a $4,000 check in support of the project from the Burlington Rotary Club.  Linda noted that the Burlington Rotary Club has been a financial supporter of the Hands to Honduras program for many years.  She noted that this donation would help fund a class room at the high school and a kitchen for another school.     
 
Bill Root served as the sergeant at arms to collect happy fines.  There were 43 $1.00 fines paid.  Diana Vachon had the winning ticket but she did not draw the winning card, so the pot rolled over.
 
The speaker this week was by Rotary member John Dupree, who talked about his sailing experiences.  He introduced himself as Sail Bad the Sinner.  He began by describing his experience as a boy near Rutland of watching a Lightning boat sail on Lake Bomoseen and wishing he could be on it.  Years later, the first boat he purchased with a partner was a Lightning.  John went on to tell us about his various boats over the years and where he sailed them.  They included MoonShadow, a 38 foot Nova Scotia Schooner; Idle Vice, a d36 foot sloop, and Whimsey, a 23 foot Sakonnet Sloop.  He also described sailing charter boats in the Virgin Islands, and being a part owner of a 51 foot Beneteu Sloop in the Caribbean.  He described several sailing adventures, including being caught in Hurricane Mitch.  John completed his talk with introductions to some of the wonderful people he has met in the Caribbean through sailing, including Geanetta Frank, who received a college scholarship from CSH Rotary that changed her life.  The last slides showed sunsets.  
 
President Erik closed the meeting with a thank you to John for his presentation.