Marking the 12th week of “stay at home” meetings required by the coronavirus outbreak, Jen Van Voorhis opened the “zoom” meeting at 8am. Eleven members and three guests were present. Our guests were Tony Marno, District Governor, Duda Sarapiao, our 2019- 20, our youth exchange student from Brazil, and Elisabeth Harmor our guest speaker. Duda celebrates her 17th birthday today and we gave her a rousing round of “Happy Birthday.”Our District Governor shared how the district is managing in these unusual circumstances. Tony congratulated us on completing our grant application – to support the backpack program and other elements of food security in our community. He said now is a crucial time to support the Rotary International Foundation, which supports the district grants. The district’s focus this year is to grow Rotary’s membership. Tony’s hope is to draw in more younger people. He also spoke about the Highland Club’s annual ribfest. We will hear more as the idea develops, but the Highland Club will be supporting restaurants by selling gift certificates to restaurants as the area begins to open for business post-pandemic. And, Jonah reminded us that we can all participate in this year’s Rotary International convention free via a link that he has provided. Susan Simon introduced our guest speaker, Elisabeth Harmor. Elizabeth has been working with Historic Red Hook, the Red Hook Community Center and the Red Hook Public Library to develop a “virtual” festival in Red Hook this fall. Her powerpoint presentation about this Festival is attached and does a great job of explaining the plans that already are being developed. The club will be identifying ways to participate over the next few weeks. Jonah will interview Elisabeth for Radio Rotary soon.
Fred Cartier, photographer, provided the complete group in a single screen shot of the meeting. We are, from top left to bottom right: Jen Van Voorhis, Fred, Tony Marno, Susan Ezrati, Jonah Triebwasser, Tim Lynch, Susan Simon, Elisabeth Harmor, Duda Serapiao, Rob Latimer, Michael Shafer, Chris Chale, Bud Weaver and Rebecca Kent.