Charlotte - Shelburne - Hinesburg Rotary Meeting - August 19, 2020
President Chris Davis called the meeting to order at 7:30.
Initial updates. Denis Barton asked the group for updates:
- Roz Graham thanked Rotary for coming to Shelburne Day and having a table. It was great to see the group of people, and the Rotary shirts
- Denis thanked Charlie Kofman for bringing his vintage red pickup truck, which proved to be an attraction for people.
- Jessica Brumsted provided an update on the school opening situation in our area.
- Denis suggested that the theme for next week will be your youngest and oldest kids, and where they are living.
Weeding at Charlotte garden - Linda Gilbert reported that the weeding is going well at the Charlotte school. There are four people helping out on this service project. The team is picking vegetables that are going to help the school provide food for students.
School food distribution - There was discussion about the incredible efforts happening within our district to distribute food to kids and families who need it.
The next race is September 12.
Jim Donovan reported that we are back on track with distributing books to libraries
Diana thanked everyone who volunteered for all the help with the election. There were over 500 people appearing to vote in person, and 2600 people sent mail-in ballots. A very high turnout for a primary election.
The speaker was Tom Denenberg, Director of the Shelburne Museum. He spoke about the history of Shelburne Museum, its evolution over the years, its re-integration with the town of Shelburne, and many of its prominent exhibitions. He spoke about the changes as a result of the pandemic. They have built out a wide range of online exhibits, and are continuing to do so. With their new projects, they are focused on how to serve the communities connected to the museum. He mentioned “Project Peony”, an effort to bring peonies from their gardens out to memory care facilities in Vermont. They also worked with the VT National Guard to use their parking lot as a distribution point for food supplies. He described many of the measures the museum has put in place through the pandemic. He noted that the museum will be going back to a seasonal schedule with closing in October when the season is over. They will re-open in December for “Winter Lights” and then close again until the Spring. He expects it may be a couple of years before they can get back to a full year-round schedule. There was some discussion and questions from the group.
Linda Barker provided closing words.