Welcome
President Caroline opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four Way Test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Is it beneficial to all concerned?
Guests: Kristen Baumann, Lena and Riley Stephens and Illari (Lar) Vihinen, today’s speaker.
Earle’s Pearls
President Caroline, on behalf of the Mad River Rotary Club and Lawson’s Finest Spirits, announced a concert, Outpours ‘24, to benefit flood
victims across Vermont. It will take place on Saturday, September 7, 2024 from 12:00 PM — 7:00 PM at Mount Ellen.
District Training is scheduled for Saturday, November 16, 2024 in Waterbury from 8:30 a.m –12:00 p.m. All members, and especially Officers and Committee Chairs, are encouraged to attend this District Fall Training. Location will be announced closer to the date.
District Governor Kelly Drew will visit our Club on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. Please plan to attend and welcome her to Barre.
A Rotary After Dark event, bowling, has been scheduled for Thursday, September 5, 2024. The cost is $18 per person.
Service About Self
Eddie chimed in to inform us that he had been in contact with the president of the Granite City Garden Club. He indicated that members of the organization would be willing to help weed the triangle gardens adjacent to the Reynolds House. Eddie suggested Monday evening for a work session and invited Rotarians to join in the effort.
Caroline reminded members that presenting a proposal for a service project will usually be reviewed by the Service Projects Committee.AAR (After Action Report)
Patrick presented a template for conducting an AAR for the 2024 Fundraiser Breakfast. Areas included are: planning and preparation; fundraising and donations; food preparation and service: and consumable breakfast materials.
Happy Dollars and A Fine
Bob Pope was first on his feet, a Happy Dollar for Eddie’s announcement about the work session at the Reynolds House gardens, because he
won’t be here. He gave another Happy Dollar because his daughter Elizabeth was named Professor of the Year at UVM’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
He then went to a fining mode with a one-on-nine on Tony for answering a question regarding putting up a poster in the library meant for Kristen. Tony defended himself by informing us that since he had been putting up posters all over, he knew that the Outpours ‘24 poster could be put up at the library. Defense not strong enough and so the fine passed.
Tony stayed on his feet to add a Happy Dollar in celebrating his and Cindy’s 38 years of marriage.
President Caroline offered to add to the coffers with several Happy Dollars, happy: to be back in gym powerlifting; recognizing our Club having seven connections to Norwich; and for a very successful intergenerational service project held on August 7th. Members of Barre Rotary, Gamers 4 Good, Lancaster, NH Rotary Club and members of our community corps packaged up over 300 bags of sample size toiletries and new socks to donate to Good Samaritan Haven and the Rainbow Bridge Community Center.
Eddie was back on his feet with a Happy Dollar for a great vacation with his family in Maine.
Kristen gave a Happy Dollar in announcing that the Congresswomen Becca Balint has nominated the Aldrich to receive an award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Emily was happy with a dollar for the basket because she and Lena and Riley had a caterpillar going into the pupa stage and hopes to see a Monarch butterfly emerge.
The Ability ExperiencePresident Caroline introduced our guest speaker, Illari (Lar) Vihinen, a Norwich University Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering. He will bike ride to benefit The Ability Experience, a 501(c)(3) charity that raises awareness and funds for people with disabilities. It is the philanthropic initiative of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity that strives to instill a passion for lifelong service in its members while helping to empower people living with disabilities. Professor Vihinen's charitable ride will begin in September. Please welcome Professor Vihinen.
Lar began his presentation with mission, vision and value statements of the Ability Experience.
Mission: We use shared experiences to support people with disabilities and develop the men of Pi Kappa Phi into servant leaders.
Vision: Create a community, one relationship at a time, where the abilities of all people are recognized and valued.
Values: Abilities, Teamwork, Empathy and Integrity
Lar went on to describe a couple of the programs of the Ability Experience in detail accompanied by several photos. 
Ability Camps are national service projects that provide funding and manpower to build and renovate structures for camps and facilities serving the disability community. Members of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity from various universities construct accessible fishing piers, boardwalks, pavilions, playgrounds and more in an effort to highlight the abilities of people with disabilities.
The Ability Experience Challenges promote inclusion by enabling people with and without disabilities to compete together in endurance events. They impact the lives of people with disabilities across the country while challenging participants mentally and physically.
Lar is passionate about this cause because of his own experiences with disabled family and friends. His first ride in 1994 was across the country and he raised $5,600. He now prefers the three-day rides. His latest effort will be the Empire State Ride planned for September 27-30. For the Empire State Ride, bikers like Lar bike from NYC to Albany, NY. He is looking to raise $2,500 and is only $125 away from his goal.
If you are interested in donating use the following link:
Rotarians enjoyed this interesting talk and appreciated Lar’s passion and gave him a warm round of applause for his efforts to put “service before self.”
Until next time....that's all Rotarians.
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