St. Johnsbury Rotary Club Welcomes New Leadership For 2021-2022
The St. Johnsbury Rotary Club held it's annual Club Changeover on June 21, conducted by outgoing president, Katheryn Laferriere, and welcoming 2021-2022 club president, Brynn Evans, along with the new president-elect, Jay Miller.
To begin the meeting, Katheryn spoke of the challenges presented to her during a year of a pandemic: "I want to take a minute to just recognize the strange and unprecedented set of circumstances that Covid-19 threw at us this year … and how our club rallied and turned those lemons into lemonade.
"For me, I’d never thought about meeting virtually before. Then, just as I was supposed to take over as President last summer, I also was offered a job out of town that would have prevented me from fulfilling my obligation as President. Any other year, I would have had to resign. But because of the strange circumstances of this past year, because of Zoom, and our club’s willingness to change, I was able to preside over all the meetings from my office in New Hampshire.
"What a blessing that was for me. It was such a comfort to stay connect to all of you and my community during that time. Thank you for being there for me and for being willing to be so flexible."
Katheryn then recognized the special efforts made by several Rotarians during the 2020-21 year.
Book Donation Awards
For every member of St. Johnsbury's club who contributed in some way during the Rotary year — those who attended a meeting or participated in a service project, took on leadership rolls, chaired committees and recommended speakers — to honor their service, the club is donating a book (in their name) to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum’s youth library. Each recipient received a card in the mail, listing the title and author of "their" book. Just as all the books that have been donated to the Athenaeum in past (it is a tradition of the club to donate a book to the Athenaeum for guest speakers), the award recipient's book will have a bookplate with his/her name in the front.
Special Recognition Awards
This year, the St. Johnsbury club had two members who provided outstanding service to Rotary District 7850 (one of the few international Rotary districts, that is also bilingual) which represents 42 Rotary clubs in northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Canada.
St. Johnsbury Rotarian Jamie Milne served for the 2020-21 year as Governor of Rotary District 7850. He was considered the district’s first Virtual Governor. Jamie met the challenge with diligence and good humor.
The second award goes to Susan Cherry, who served the district as Assistant District Governor. She has also been selected to be the next District Governor Elect Nominee, becoming District Governor in 2022-23, during St. Johnsbury Rotary Club's centennial year.
The Quiet Rotarian Award is designed to recognize a Rotarian who’s important and vital work for the club is carried out diligently, efficiently and quietly without any call for recognition or fanfare. This year’s award was given to Jim McFaul, an active member of Rotary since 2010. He has served the club in a number of capacities, including vice president, president and now, past-president. He’s an active board member and carries out a variety of duties that are vital to the club. This year he organized this year’s first virtual speech contest; recruited and organized this year’s largest RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) class sponsored the club; and organized and volunteered work for the area Rotary-sponsored Red Cross Blood drives.
The Spirit of Service Award recognizes an individual who exemplifies the true Spirit of Rotary by active participation and involvement in the community and by promoting community service activities within the club. Jay Miller is this year’s recipient. By exemplifying the Rotary Motto to live a life of “Service Above Self,” Jay earned this award through the many service opportunities he arranged for club members to participate in.
The Rotarian of the Year award, in recognition of outstanding demonstration of Service Above Self; a principled commitment to the 4-Way Test; contributions to the mission and operation of the club; and for tireless and inspired promotion of Rotary through actions and involvements, was awarded to Brynn Evans.
Brynn was also presented a Paul Harris Fellow, given as a tribute to a person whose life demonstrates a shared purpose with the objectives of The Rotary Foundation. Paul Harris Fellows are recognized for their devotion to the ideal of good will, peace and understanding. She was presented with a Paul Harris medal that was donated to the club by Linda Garey, the wife of Past President John Garey.
New Members
Several area residents have become members of St. Johnsbury Rotary Club during the last two years: Amanda McFarland, associate director for Umbrella, Inc.; Joy Ely, deputy director of Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA) Parent Child Center Program and the Outreach Programs in St. Johnsbury and Newport; Melynda Miller, residential loan officer at Union Bank in St. Johnsbury; Jay Miller, owner of J Miller Landscape Architecture based out of Waterford; Christine Milne-O’Grady, a social worker in her own private practice in St. Johnsbury; and Mary Parent, corporate and commercial attorney with Downs Rachlin Martin, PLLC.