Acting President Gina opened the meeting at the Kiawanis shelter at the top of Memorial Park. Meetings are usually at Holiday Inn Express of Brattleboro, VT. Gina welcomed all to the August 14, 2025 meeting of the Brattleboro Rotary www.brattlebororotaryclub.org

Invocation:

Cathy Coonan

Gina lead the club with the Pledge of Allegiance

Rotary Motto Service Above Self

Four Way Test -

Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

20 Members, 0 Student Rotarians and 3 guests attended the meeting.

Guests:

Carol Lolatte, Judy Miller, Ruben’s mother Olga

JOKE OF THE WEEK - For our joke or song of the week:

Bill McKim led the group in a round of Mersey Oats

ED NOTE: 2025-26 weekly assignments are posted on the club website.

Rotarians for Rotarians:

Rhonda reported that Regina Stefanelli is taking a break from Rotary to convalesce.

New Members:

Andrew George (posting)

Kurt White will have 2nd posting next time he attends.

Rudy - remember to sign his book.

ROTARY MINUTE

Bill Vermouth shared what he learned from David Neumeister about talking with people who suffered a tragedy. Reach out, acknowledge their loss; close your mouth - allow a response to guide you.

Note for future presenters; The Rotary Minute could also have the speaker talk about their personal involvement in Rotary or personal background.

Years of Service in our Club for March:

On Behalf of our Club and all Rotarians, thank you for your Service Above Self

Student Rotarian updates:

Birthday greetings -

BIRTHDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM RUBEN -

Rhonda’s birthday is on Aug. 21. The club sang to her.

Announcements

Stan announced that a clean-up project for the West River Trail will happen on Saturday, Aug. 16. He also said that the latest Groundworks meal went well on Wednesday night.

Greg reminded the club about the Welcome Center fundraiser set for Friday, Aug. 15.

Gina announced a pickleball tournament sponsored by the Rutland Rotary Club.

Mike M –Wheels Sept 27 at Park Place.
Annual Disc Golf Tournament October 4th and 5th

Happy Dollars and Brags and Fines

Greg bragged for the club support of the Welcome Center project.

Ruben bragged for his mother and their long friendship.

Gina bragged for Greg’s work on the Welcome Center project.

Gina also bragged for her son who works at the country club and was the only person present when Noah Kahan arrived to play golf. Despite his celebrity status, Jack said Kahan was a very nice person.

ED NOTE: Weekly assignments for the invocation or motivational thought can be found on the club website.>

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Jim announced the upcoming programs as follows:

Susan McMahon of the Landmark Trust will speak on Aug. 21.

Chloe Leary of the Winston-Prouty Center will speak on Aug. 28

REMINDERS

Please bring your bottles and cans to the Putney Road redemption center to benefit APPN. Pure Water for the World is no longer operating in the USA; it continues in Honduras as APPN.
Maria Inestroza, the PWW country director for Honduras is continuing the work in that country under the name APPM, acronym for Agua Pura para El Mundo, or Pure Water for the World in Spanish Pure Water for the World. Please remember to inform the staff that the bottles and cans should be credited to the club.
“Like” the club’s Facebook page

PROGRAM

Brattleboro Parks and Recreation Director Carol Lolatte, who has worked for the department for 40 years, 35 as director, recounted some of her memories about Rotary’s contributions to the park and park projects. They include the waterpark, the disc golf course, the Kiwanis Shelter deck, the ski tow, and many more. After Bill Vermouth bragged for how nice the tables looked, Carol recounted a story about how the picnic tables got to be so smooth. After the tables had been trashed by taggers one year, the tables had to be refinished, but Carol was able to get cameras installed at the shelter. The second year the tables were tagged, she was able to track down the offenders and sat down with them and their parents to see what should be done to fix the problem. The offenders were also skateboarders. When asked, the parents said the skating rights should not be taken away. The boarders said they should be and they were. Rather than bring in the police, the youths agreed to use their April vacation to sand all of the tables, which they did. The park crew then coated them with polyurethane. At that point Carol reinstated the boarders’ use of the skate park. A good lesson learned.

Scribe: Greg Worden

DISCLAIMER

Weekly changing scribes and questionable IT may have resulted in oversights and errors. We regret any mistakes.