Rotary Breakfast Meeting - Jesse Robins , Downtown Burlington Project

Jesse Robins from Freeman French Freeman Architects discusses the Burlington Downtown Project
 
Today, at our Rotary meeting we discussed the importance of looking to round out our leadership team with a Vice President and a Secretary.  

  • The Secretary spends 1-3 hours per week outside of the meeting and the President spends 1-5 hours per week. This is a great way to get involved and learn more about Rotary.

  • We will sign up to have a tent at the Farmers Market on the third Saturday of every month. This will be to promote Rotary and engage with the community. We are looking for a team to come up with a fun activity, or even a bake sale, to connect with the public. Here are five engaging ideas your Rotary Club could implement at a farmers market to educate people about Rotary and attract new members from no other than ChatGPT:

  • 1. "Spin the Wheel for Service" - Set up a prize wheel with different Rotary-related actions (e.g., "Share your favorite community project," "Pledge to volunteer," "Learn about Rotary scholarships"). Offer small prizes like stickers, reusable shopping bags, or local discounts for participation.

  • 2. "Rotary in Action" Scavenger Hunt - Create a scavenger hunt that leads people to different vendors with clues related to Rotary’s service areas (e.g., "Find a vendor that promotes clean water" → A vendor selling reusable water bottles). Offer a prize for those who complete the hunt, like a raffle entry for a gift basket.

  • 3. "Kids’ Kindness Corner" - Set up a station where kids can create cards for seniors, decorate bookmarks for literacy programs, or write thank-you notes for local first responders. Use this as a chance to talk to parents about how Rotary supports youth programs.

  • 4. "Pop-Up Service Project" - Organize a quick, hands-on project like assembling hygiene kits for shelters, packaging seeds for community gardens, or collecting books for a literacy program.

  • 5. "Meet a Rotarian" Story Booth - Have club members share personal stories of why they joined Rotary and how it’s impacted them. Set up a simple photo booth with a sign like “I support my community with Rotary because…” where visitors can write their own messages and take photos.

  • Harriet will collect food for the local food shelves on a rolling basis. So whenever you are able, please bring non-perishables.

SERVICE AND SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
 
Upcoming opportunities and activities include:
  • April 26 - Tentative Organize the Barn!
  • May 31 - District Conference - REGISTER HERE
  • June 21-25 - Rotary International Convention - Calgary, CA - REGISTER HERE
  • July 12 - Lake Monsters Game to benefit Polio Plus
          This morning's speaker was  Jesse Robins joined the CSH Rotarians to discuss the status of the projects in downtown Burlington that Freeman French Freeman Architects have been working on with the City of Burlington for a very long time.  Jesse was born here in Essex, VT, he took part in the technical education program in high school, attended Syracuse University to study architecture and is currently a member of the Burlington Rotary Club!   After graduation Jesse went to Washington, D.C. and worked on some of the updates at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  He returned to Vermont joined Freeman French Freeman Architects and led the Waterbury Hospital/City Place project after the hurricane that caused huge floods in downtown Waterbury.  Jesse is now leading the team as Project Manager on its work to complete the downtown Burlington project, CityPlace.  He is known for his collaborative approach and brings a wealth of insight into designing for impact at scale.  Jesse specializes in complex, sustainable projects.   There are 3 phases to CityPlace; Phase 1A will open later this year, Phase 2 reconnects the roads through the city center, and Phase 3 completes the work on Burlington High School and Macy's.  More specifically, Phase 1A contains a new hotel, AC Marriott, where there will be 53 apartments on top, 281 affordable apartments and 32 student apartments that will be even more affordable with creative options to reduce rents.  There will also be retail space and 400 parking spots.  As many of you know, this has been an incredible complicated and expensive project for many many reasons.  I can't capture all Jesse presented to us but please if you are interested ask to listen to the tape recording.