Chips March 14th, 2016

Dang Sgalia, Russ Marsan-guests of Dick Rohe

Andrea Coppola, guest of Joan

Marya, Nick's daughter and one of our speakers from Farm to Ballet

Chatz Pregger, also a speaker and From Farm to Ballet

 

Joan bragged for the $3,120 ad that her company won at the Chamber Biz Show and thanked Tom for putting on such a great show. It was then found out that Joe Giancola won the 50/50, but Barb had not been told!

Andrea bragged that her name was on the Rotary banner and was coming back home.

Krista completed PETS training and she is very excited. She said she noticed that our club is very strong compared to the common struggles she has heard/seen from other clubs.

Joan had a great time at Shiver Me Shamrocks as well with Andrea.

Tom bragged about the Chamber Mixer at Baxter's on Tuesday (the 15th). Tom also bragged for Russ Marsan's Polar Plunge event he held over the weekend at BOMO for a good cause.

 

Stephanie announced Family Fun Bowl night on April 6th for all club members. Pizza shoes, bowling, etc.

Rich Carlson has passed on the tree duties to Brian Perkins. Thank you for all your hard work in the past, Rich! Congrats, Brian!

New Member Inductions:

WE formally inducted three member (one of whom is a former Rotarian)

Dan Sgalia, Russ Marsan, and Andrea Coppola

Andrea is the COO of The Housing Trust of Rutland County. She first joined our club in 2009 and had to leave in 2013 for career opportunities. Joan spoke on Andrea's behalf and said that she truly sets her mind to goals and follows her dreams and is very excited to have her back!

 

Dan was an exchange student through the Wallingfrod Club and studied abroad in Brazil. He graduated from Mill River High and went on to earn a bachelor's degree from UMass Amherst. He is an outdoor enthusiast and a carpenter. His career interests focus on social and human interaction.

 

Russ is co-owner of Carpenter and Costin Landscaping. He majored in landscape and desing at UMass and has been an active community member for many years. He has a big heart and does a lot to give back. He recently hosted a very successfull "polar plunge.

 

Welcome to all of you!

 

Chuck gave us an update on the 10 of 9 Fundraiser. Last year we raised $10,000 net from the tournament and we want to do more this year. This will be an all hands on deck affair. All members are expected to sell at least one sponsorship, 20 raffle tickets, and try to avoid using credit cards unless large orders.

 

Elias won the little pot, not so lucky on the big one.

 

Farm to Ballet-

Marya said that she got back into dancing under the teachings of Chatz and he does a great job of being mindful of safe practice and teachings to avoid injury. Farm to Ballet is to promote not only ballet, but also the farmers and organizations helping these folks. It started mostly as an idea to just be able to dance outside. They came up with the idea to have Not for profits benefit from the sales later on to help promote the local economy and especially the farmers. Chatz came up with the idea for the ballet to resemble the change a farm goes through over the course of the four seasons and actually has incorporated Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Last year they had 6 performances that raised roughly $12,000. The National Endowment for The Arts featured them on their write-up on Vermont amongst other states. To help them in their mission, they are offering sponsorships in their playbills and also encourage folks to come out and see them. They are mostly a volunteer organization, but are paying a few dancers to come from NYC and other places.