One of the remarkable things about Rotary is that every member is always welcome to any club meeting in the world.  No RSVP necessary – just use the app to find the nearest meeting and come on in! 

And so it was a happy surprise but just business as usual when former members Ann and Steve Demeranville showed up at the meeting last week. They transferred mid-pandemic to the Rotary club of Asheville, North Carolina, where Steve is active in ShelterBox and Ann with Wrap-a-Smile.   

When asked if their club was meeting regularly since the hurricane, they explained that service projects to help their neighbors have taken over “regular” meetings. Steve is proud that ShelterBox organized a $100K matching grant to help out, and that 100 Rotarians in nearby Greensboro organized to send  what amounted to 100 boxes of supplies. 

In addition to Wrap-a-Smile, Ann has branched out to Quilts Beyond Borders, which supplies quilts to refugees and foster children in this country.  She said that she also sent 50 quilts to Ukraine just the previous week. 

The Demeranvilles are also continuing their photography and travel; in fact, they recently returned from a Rotaplast mission trip to Egypt to correct cleft lip/cleft palate. It was great to see Ann and Steve, and also great to be reminded of the world friendships that are part of our organization. 

Then it was on to the main business of the evening, which was to put together welcome bags for the veterans that utilize the VETS trailers, plus a total of 150 goodie bags for the kids at the Food Pantry and Food for Thought.  It’s not a big deal, but it is a way, in this time of giving, to remember our neighbors who need a bit of a helping hand this holiday season. 

There won’t be a meeting this week, because we will all be dealing with too much stuffing, but the Barn will be open on Saturday and the next few weeks until Dec. 14.  No more pickups, however; save your throw-aways until April when we plan to re-open the Barn for the 2025 season.  We’ll advertise when pickup will resume in the spring – and how you too can turn that trash into treasure that helps support all the good work we do here in the community and around the world.