In challenging times Rotary finds ways of continuing its work for our community.

The celebration of a new year and the outgoing and incoming leadership could not have happened without the hosting help of the Railway Village led by president Charles Bamberg, director Steve Markowitz, board member and Rotarian Nat Wilson, staff Josh Brewer and David Blackman.

Rotary celebrated the new Rotary year by creating a 36-car Rotary Wheel Tailgate party on the grounds of the Village. Jonne Trees of BRTV recorded this fun event. With masks, six-foot distancing, and food brought along, A Rotary circle stretched across the Village.

Tory Paxson, Ann Demeranville, and Judi White reported on the “State of Rotary Under Covid Times.” They interviewed the members to learn what they think Rotary can pursue under these challenging times. (1) “what’s good about Rotary, (2) what projects are most popular esp. under Covid, and (3) what do Rotarians want to work on in our future.

The common themes were that our club has a sense of fellowship and friendship that is happily deeply embedded. Members are focused on food insecurity and affordable housing. Members hope we find ways to reach out to more youth who are not involved with Interact, our powerful high school humanitarian Rotary group - to kids who are not participating due to age or location. “We should bring younger kids, like in middle school, to the concept of service to their community and world. We can focus on inter-generational work -- bring youth and elder work together and continue our support for international projects like ‘Wrap a Smile’ which provides our quilts to children having life changing surgeries. We can implement our new policy of cut rate membership to those who are 18-35 years old. Lastly, we can continue to collaborate with even more community organizations on our projects.

Rotarians answered the question: “What do you appreciate the most about Rotary?” They answered “The in-person camaraderie with like-minded friends, helping to make the community better, honesty, fellowship and friendship; the good we do; how quickly I was welcomed into the Rotary family, and most important, the opportunity to meet and interact with an entirely different group of people in the club and the community.”

What projects or gifts to the community are we most proud of? Among the many projects Rotary undertakes, the winners are:

Methods to address affordable housing and food insecurity, Wrap-A-Smile , bike loans to summer workers, our auction which finances needs in our community; support of the food bank and so many other food insecurity efforts; the building of the Rotary Barn and bike storage building as they are essential part of our ability to function; Christmas for Veterans; Valentine's trivia; the annual auction; the ‘Eat Well-Play Well’ garden at Edgecomb Eddy school for local kids in collaboration with the Y and Edgecomb Eddy School”; our Visioning efforts to ensure meaningful projects; member biographies.

How would you like to see Rotary work with the community in the future?

More youth projects in addition to our current Interact reach — bring younger kids, like in middle school, to the concept of service to their community and world;

Inter-generational work -- bring youth and elder work together; international service projects that create peace; to emphasize the younger age group in Rotary membership; to emphasize diversity in Rotary membership; and to collaborate with even more community organizations on our projects; to figure out how to continue the community lunches around the virus; to expand on member biographies; to expand on food for “shut ins” and other food insecurity needs”, to facilitate more affordable housing”.

We kick off a year of effort to continue the projects described above and by celebrating the work of past president Rick Elder. As Rick passed the gavel, he presented coveted Paul Harris Awards to Bill Prince, Jeff Long and Ann Demeranville. Vic Taylor was named "Rotarian of the Year" for his dynamic visioning progress and Linda Clapp was given the with the "President's Award" for her role in membership enhancement, Silent Auction and club engagement.

Rotary kicks off the year celebrating incoming president Irene Fowle who will do an outstanding job. She leads us – under Covid challenges - to find alternative ways of bring in funds to continue our mission. She has been essential in accomplishing four projects during these times:

Rotarian donations of $4,000 to provide gift cards to our local health workers and first responder and to assist local restruants;

“Eat Well- Play Well,” a program of addressing fitness and food insecurity in collaboration with the Edgecomb Eddy School and the YMCA.

Sunshine Baskets given to residents of St Andrews Village on Mother’s Day to bring cheer and connection to more isolated residents;

Placement of a Rotary Wishing Well to bring in necessary funds to carry on our mission of providing grants to those in need in our community.

With many thanks to the Board and members we are off to a great start.