Brandon Tieso offers a member spotlight during the April 22 Rotary meeting.
The April 22 meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, opening words from Winston Churchill, and the Four-Way Test before turning to a full slate of club updates and community service reminders.
Members were thanked for bringing baby books for Amanda's upcoming basket, and the club continued gathering items ahead of a future presentation. Sign-ups were also underway for several spring and summer volunteer efforts. The Snack Shack schedule was circulating for Little League season, with members encouraged to sign up from a computer if the Google Sheet was difficult to use by phone. Volunteers were also being organized to help direct traffic for the Shelburne race on May 3, with additional parking help mentioned for Shelburne Farms Dairy Day.
The club also looked ahead to several fellowship and public-facing events. Dragon boat paddling is expected to return in early August, and members were encouraged to recruit friends or family who might enjoy joining the team. The club's 55th anniversary gathering at Fiddlehead was promoted for May 8, with postcards available for members to share with prospective guests, past Rotarians, and neighbors who may want to learn more about CSH Rotary. The Changing of the Guard will be held June 25 at Jessica's home as a potluck-style evening event, replacing the regular June 24 morning meeting.
Service updates included continued food shelf donations, with thanks for the additional items brought in that morning. Members also heard reminders about local community activities, including the Vermont Maple Festival, town clean-up opportunities, and a tire drop-off day connected to Green Up efforts.
Happy Fines brought the usual mix of spring optimism, family news, travel stories, and good humor. Members celebrated visiting friends, improving weather, upcoming paddling and golf seasons, grandchildren's birthdays, family milestones, recovery after surgery, and the return of Little League. One particularly memorable update involved news from Shelburne Farms, where a ewe had given birth to six lambs.
For the speaker portion of the meeting, Jim Donovan introduced Brandon Tieso for a member spotlight. Brandon kept the focus on gratitude, mentorship, and the value of practical support at important turning points. He reflected on the people and institutions that help others find structure, confidence, and opportunity, and connected that theme back to Rotary's habit of service: looking for ways to help someone else move forward from where they are.
The discussion that followed touched briefly on artificial intelligence, lifelong learning, reading, and the importance of giving young people the right tools at the right time. Brandon will return for a future program focused more directly on AI and how members can understand and use it in practical ways.
In honor of the spotlight talk, the club donated Dr. Seuss Goes to War to the Charlotte Library. The meeting closed with words from Theodore Roosevelt: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."