“Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.”
After the opening rituals, Maestro Zorn led eleven (two via Zoom) Rotarians in a rousing rendition of O Canada to the delight of Canadian born-and-raised President Caroline. The energy-filled chorus provided an equally stirring two-verse version of America the Beautiful.
Announcements
President Caroline reminded us that Pie for Brunch is coming up on Saturday, April 5th. Nicole expects Rotarians to donate three to four pies. President Caroline passed around a sign up sheet.
Tony rose and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his secret identity--Superman. The super giver of a 1000 pints of blood encouraged us to join him in giving blood through the Red Cross blood drives, declaring that it was “fun.”
President Caroline announced that:1) The Speech Contest was a success although there was only one participant. This District-wide contest invites high school students to prepare and deliver a five minute presentation addressing: How can a Rotary-School partnership increase respect, tolerance and understanding of one another? The winner, Hana Dobrilovic, will receive a check for $200 from Barre Rotary and she will go on to compete against winners of the other area club contests at Round Two. The contest not only introduces and reinforces Rotary values for students, but also gives them the chance to practice speaking before groups, a skill that will come in handy as they navigate their future. Barre Rotary is proud of its sponsorship of this youth activity and its support of leadership development for our local high school students.
(Below is a photo of her dad, our winner and the judges (Adi Dobrilovic, Hana Dobrilovic, Garret Grant, Joe Sadroui and Paul Haigh.)
2) A Barre Rotarian has pledged $15,000 to the Legacy Fund and another member has pledged $1000 as the first effort to meet the challenge of matching the $15,000 pledge. She encouraged all Barre Rotarians to do so in kind to help build our Legacy Fund.
3) There will be two offsite meetings in April: one to the Salvation Army on Keith Avenue and one to the Vermont History Center.
Happy Dollars
Tony gave Happy Dollars to the joy of giving blood, Elisa, our guest speaker, being with us and the news of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
President Caroline gave Happy Dollars for wearing regular shoes, not boots and for Angelina and Grampa George joining us on Zoom.
Since Last We Met
Birthdays: Angelina Debeaupuis March 1; Eddie Rousse March 2; George Milne March 2; Diane Rossi March 5; Bertil Agell March 11
Club Anniversary: Jim Catone March 3, 2010 15 years
March is Women’s History Month
On this day in history: Born in 1946 to famous parents, Lisa Minnelli who had established herself as a singer and actress on Broadway and in the movies, created an award winning performance as Sally Bowles in the Bob Fosse musical Cabaret.
On this day in history: In 1993 American lawyer and public official
Janet Reno was sworn in as U.S.
attorney general, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
Partnering for Peace (Rotary and Peace Corps)
Doug Bullett introduced our guest speaker for today, Elisa Tavella, a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Zaragoza, Guatemala.
After Elisa graduated from Brattleboro High School, she attended Temple University and after graduating, she went to work for a nonprofit in Philadelphia. After a time she
decided that she wanted to do something else and decided to join the Peace Corps. Her first assignment in Guatemala was in a small village where she was viewed with suspicion and treated like an outsider. She never was accepted and her request to be transferred after a year was granted. Her new assignment was in Zaragoza where she found acceptance. She has been working with women who are considered inferior to men and suffer with low esteem. Currently, Elisa is working on a Peace Corps project to help women who are survivors of domestic violence to build financial stability and to increase their independence. To do this she is helping to start an Artisanal Chocolate Collective so these women can provide for themselves and their families. The work space would also help to build friendships and provide support in a welcoming environment. Elisa will aid in the development of leadership and financial skills.
In order to accomplish the goals of this project $10,000 is needed and Elisa said that the goal has almost been reached. Barre Rotary has made a donation of $1000 and she plans to ask the Brattleboro Rotary Club to make a contribution. This is an excellent example of a successful effort of Partnering for Peace; Rotary and the Peace Corps working collaboratively.
Rotarians thoroughly enjoyed Elisa’s talk and admired the commendable work that she is doing in Guatemala. They showed their appreciation with a warm round of applause and the promise of a Rotary coin.
Until next time....that's all Rotarians!
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