President Roger Allbee welcomed all to the March 30 2023 meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary Club www.brattlebororotaryclub.org usually held at the Brattleboro American Legion.
Call to Order by President Roger and the Pledge of Allegiance was given.
Invocation:
President Roger Allbee read an invocation sent by Roger Miller who is in Florida.
Let us all join in a minute of reflection and thanks as we hear these words:
With our friends beside us,
And no person beneath us.
With the bonds of Rotary between us,
And with our worries behind us;
With our goals before us,
And no task beyond us;
With a thirst for knowledge,
And a dream of a polio-free world,
We are thankful for our Rotary friends
and the meal we are about to share.
Twenty-fiveRotary members attended, 0 Student Rotarians and 2 guests.
Guests: , Jon Potter of Latchis Corp and Latchis Arts and Rick Hashagen of their board
Birthday greetings - Birthday celebrations - due to aging group, no one admitted any birthday.
Special messages
Next Groundworks meals –
Wednesday, April 12th
Saturday, May 13th
Friday, June 9th
Wednesday, July 12th
Wednesday, August 16th
a. April 22 – The Gathering Place Spring Clean Up
b. Gold Tournament, June 8th SAVE THE DATE. On facebook, please share.
Announcements
Gina and Stan worked on allocating $4000 as part of our club gift giving program. We received a nice thank you from the Gathering Place.
Upcoming Groundworks meal on Wednesday, April 12: Rich Carroll is providing the main protein and Betsy is providing a vegetarian alternative. Still need a vegetable, potato or rice, dessert.
Other meals are scheduled for May 13, June 9, July 12, August 16.
On Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day) the club will we working on the garden opposite the library. Volunteers are needed from 9 am to noon.
There are a lot of activities planned for the fall including:
Car show
Welcome center
Almost Oktoberfest, Sept 30
ED NOTE: Weekly assignments for the invocation or motivational thought can be found on the club website.>
Guests:
JOKE OF THE WEEK
For our joke of the week:
President Roger Allbee read a joke sent in by Liz Harrison:
A frog walks into a bank to take out a loan. He walks up to the bank teller, whose name is Mrs. Patty Whack. The frog sees her nametag and says, “Hi Mrs. Whack. I would like to take out a loan today.” And Mrs. Whack is thrown off but allows him to continue. He says his name is Jerry and that his father is Mick Jagger and friends with the bank manager. Mrs. Whack says, “Can I have some form of collateral for this loan?” And Jerry takes out a little pink elephant. Mrs. Whack says, “Ok, Let speak to my manager in the back.” So she goes to the manager and says, “You know, I’ve got this frog who wants to take out a loan and says his father knows you. For collateral, all he has given me is this little pink porcelain elephant. Do you know anything about this elephant? Is it valuable?” And the manager says to her, “It’s a knick-knack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man is a Rolling Stone.”
ED NOTE: 2022-23 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.
ROTARY MINUTE
For the Rotary Minute Mara referred to Rotary International’s recent flyer stating March as water month. She was reminded to take her returnables to the redemption center to benefit Pure Water for the World and to make a donation to Pure Water for the World.
Rotary anniversaries : Ana 15 years, Cathy Coonan 31 years, Bill McKim 35 years and Dart 42 years!
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
04/6 Assembly
04/13 Groundworks
4/20 – Mark Anderson
4/27 – Mara Williams promises some sort of performance
NOTE: 2022-23 weekly assignments, are posted on the club website.
REMINDERS
Please bring your bottles and cans to the Putney Road redemption center to benefit Pure Water for the World. Please remember to inform the staff that the bottles and cans should be credited to the club.
Bill Vermouth – has gone 7 months with no eggs, and recently got 6 eggs [Editors note - eggs were produced by chickens not Bill]. He is now determined to get a dozen below $25 Milt Eaton – 70 years ago, returned from Korea and went back to school. He was short of cash, so he sold seats in car to sorority girls and took 5 girls to Ft Lauderdale. He married one of the girls and used to say it was most expense trip of his life. Mara bragged for that girl, Carol. George K – daughter won a gold key for Scholastic art competition and has won the Silver award for national. Going to Carnegie hall for the ceremony. George K – HCRS has their annual art show. April 7 5:30 at 118 Elliot Chris – asked if the fines to Rotarians when they appear in the newspaper, does it apply to children. Mara – responded to Chris’s question with a brag. To get a national Scholastic award is enormous and impressive. Greg – Malawi was hit by cyclone a few weeks ago, he emailed the SIT student who had visited the club and learned that he is ok. All donations are welcome. President Roger said the board would discuss possible action.
PROGRAM
Guest Speaker:
PROGRAM
Dave Twombley introduced the speaker, Jon Potter of Latchis Corp and Latchis Arts and Rick Hashagen of their board. (The following represents only a portion of their talk.)
Rick gave a brief history of the Latchis noting that this month marks the 20th year anniversary that a local group bought from Latchis family. March 13, 2003. It has survived Hurricane Irene in 2011 where the basement was flooded with 6 feet of water. The building was closed for 6 months. The hotel and theatre did well until COVID hit in 2020. Again, things closed, laid off most staff and retained some at a reduced salary. And now thing are back on the upswing. There are plans to upgrade the 30 room hotel and increase rates. Keeping the hotel profitable helps support the arts.
Jon explained that the Latchis has hosted more than 800 private movie theatre rentals since the pandemic. One of the theatres is equipped for video gaming. In the 89 days of this current calendar year, they have hosted 99 special events (special concerts, private rentals, etc.)
There are plans for a pub and restaurant to open in May.
Bill Vermouth made a brag for Rick and Jon for their support for the community and support of Rotary’s golf tournament.
Mara bragged for the Latchis and shared some memories of seeing it all. She called it the most unique hotel in all of America.
Ted thanked them and acknowledge their critical presence in downtown Brattleboro.
Dart thanked Rick for his contribution to the community, letting bank employees volunteer.
Jon concluded by sharing that on April 15, the Latchis is hosting the a capella fundraiser for BMAC.
<ED NOTE: You can watch past presentations on the BCTV show, “Brattleboro Rotary Club Speaker Series.”>
Scribe of the Day: Maggie Lewis
DISCLAIMER
Weekly changing scribes and questionable IT may have resulted in oversights and errors. We regret any mistakes.
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