Chartered 1921                       Distinct 7570, Area 1, Club                                 February 20, 2025

OUR PROGRAM THIS WEEK

Ben Weber will be talking about Access Blue Ridge Independence at Home

WHAT’S COMING UP. . .

 Feb 27th – AWARDS BANQUET – No Noon Meeting      

Mar 6th – Lauren Clouse will speak about the Winchester Rescue Mission

Apr 3-6th – District Conference Apr 26th – RUMMAGE SALE

AWARDS BANQUET – FEBRUARY 27TH

Trish Simpson encouraged members to sign up for the Awards Banquet and honor your fellow Rotarians. The banquet will be held at The Monument on February 27th. Cocktails begin at 6pm and dinner will be served at 7pm. The bar is open from 6pm- 8pm and cash bar after 8pm. The dinner is catered by Village Square and will feature filet/salmon/ vegetarian options. A video slide show from the past Rotary year will play throughout the evening.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR – MARCH 27TH

Tickets are on sale this week. The committee is accepting silent auction items and is asking members to contribute a bottle of wine, with a value of $25 or more, for the wine pull.

PRESIDENT JOHN

>>Reported that the club made a $250 donation to The Rotary Foundation in honor of Tom Glass. Tom had been a member of our club since 1966 and was a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow.

>>Reported that  Bright  Futures was able to serve 584 families over the holidays and was greatly helped by their new forklift.

OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

Bruce Downing and Christine Kriz are our latest members to be sworn into the club.

Welcome!

OUR PROGRAM LAST WEEK

Andrea Cosans reported that CCAP served 11,000 individuals in 2024, and those individuals made 62,000 trips to CCAP and consumed 800,000

pounds of food. She noted that the individuals being served by CCAP are nearly split evenly between Winchester and Frederick County.

Andrea said that the most requested donation items are steel-toe boots and baby wipes. Her report emphasized the need in our community, and she said that it will not slow down in 2025.

Andrea and her team told the club about a new community initiative to establish a for-profit co-op grocery store in the city. The group has formed a board and has had positive meetings with the Winches- ter EDA. They have a Winchester co-op initiative website and are just beginning fundraising projects and the grant and loan application processes. The group is conducting area surveys and studying the co-op model used in other parts of the state, most effectively in Fredericksburg. The group’s goal is a 10,000-square-foot facility that would have at least 2,000 members. The group estimates the project could cost $7 million to open sometime in the next 3-5 years.

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW BEFORE THEY RUN OUT!

Contact Rebekah DesMarais at rebekah.desmarais@gmail.com

NEW WEBSITE

Our new website is up and running! Thanks to Angie Hausman for your good work. Be sure to check it out — www.rotaryclubofwinchester.org.

Make-ups* (Date & Function Attended)

Scott Arthur – 11/7 – District Youth Committee Meeting Dale Ervin – 1/23 – Board Meeting

Bob Hall – 11/8 – SOP Committee Meeting Darla McCrary – 11/8 – Apple Harvest Meeting Ed White – 2/4 – Awards Night Meeting

HEALTH REPORT

>From President John:

I received this from Darlene DeMott: “Bob is very ill with pancreatic cancer. It has metastasized to his liver, spleen, esophagus, lung, and many lymph nodes, including under his clavicle and at the top of his spine. He is very tired and sleeps a lot, but thankfully, he is not in pain. Very weak. Please let the club know how important Rotary is to Bob. He is very proud of his service to the club and the organization. Thanks for everything.”

This is so very sad for our friend Bob, Darlene and their family. I know Bob is now very much in our thoughts and prayers. Darlene mentioned Bob’s service to our club. We are collectively proud of Bob’s valued service and thankful for Bob’s membership.

>>Gary Chrisman is scheduled for a triple heart bypass at Inova Hospital later this month.

>>Libba welcomed Paul Frank back to his first club meeting after his recent illness.

>>Libba reported that Michelle Thomas has just completed her chemotherapy treatments.

HEALTH TIP

Libba encouraged members to enjoy their Valentine’s Day and realize the health benefits associated with love but also to practice random acts of kindness and realize the health benefits associated with showing kindness.

Turning in a Make-up?

Please make sure to complete all information, including your name, the event or club attended, date attended and date making up on all

Our new club website is up and running!  Thanks to Angie Housman for your good work. Be sure to check it out – www.rotaryclubofwinchester.org

FEBRUARY SERVICE PROJECT WINCHESTER RESCUE MISSION!

In order to help our community deal with the problem of homelessness, our club will designate the WRM as this month’s service project. Our own Rotarian member, Lauren Clouse, who is speaking at our noon meeting on Thursday, Feb. 6th, will bring us up to date on the progress that WRM has made with their new facility and the challenges that they face on a daily basis. Our Club will support WRM’s efforts by helping to stock their shelves with needed items for their general operation.

A flyer will be on the lunch tables with a list of these items. Please take one and each week bring in something else on the list to donate to support this wonderful local mission that makes such an exceptional impact on our community. Start this Thurs- day by bringing in one or more of the following:

Paper goods

Paper towels          Toilet paper

Paper plates          Napkins

Paper cups            Plastic Cutlery (Knives, forks, spoons)

Cleaners

Fabulso Floor Cleaner

Concentrated Lysol hard surface cleaner Cleaning & Sanitizing Wipes

Trash Bags (13 / 33 / 55 Gallon – Black) Windex

High-Efficiency Laundry Detergent (must be labeled “HE”). If you have any questions, contact Jean Barch at 540-247-8402 or barchfam@comcast.net.

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS GRANT PROJECT

Tootie thanked all the helpers!

You have all been wonderful at volunteering for the Soup Kitchen Food Preparation at the Knights of Columbus Club! Thank you, but our mission is not completed.  We still need help to

support this ongoing project. Everyone I talked to enjoyed their time helping prepare the food for the frozen meals that the Knights send out in the weekly food deliveries they make.

We are staffing on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 to 2:00. We will help Chef Maggie Peterson with meal preparation for the frozen meals that are delivered along with the groceries by the delivery teams each week. The meals are currently delivered to over 100 families, and they are very popular and appreciated by the families.

So to continue staffing the sous’ chef help for Chef Maggie Pe- terson, Kit Redner has created a Signup Genius where you can sign up to volunteer. See the link below. If you did not know your schedule when I sent around the clipboard at our meeting today, were not able to make the meeting or were on Zoom, here is your opportunity to help.

Thank you and remember we can not all do great things, but we can do small things with great love. This is a way to make a big difference in a small way. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B45A8AF22A4FBCE9-

RUMMAGE SALE IS A GO!

Mark your calendars now for APRIL 26TH! The sale will be held at the Ruritan Club in Stephenson, right next to the fairgrounds. Set-up runs from Wed.-Fri., 4/23- 25. The sale will be ONE DAY only. Start collecting your “treasures” now! Donations can be dropped off at the Ruritan Club. Call Wilson Gilbert (540-247- 2770) or Jean Barch (540-247-8402) to coordinate time. Better yet, wait until April 23rd and bring them with you when you come to help set up! Watch for more information coming soon.