Carolyn Wortman from the Lexington Interfaith Food Pantry Speaks to Rotary

 
On a beautiful Monday afternoon 17 Rotarians, 1 visiting Rotarian, 1 speaker, and 3 additional guests gathered for the weekly meeting.  President Susan rang the bell at 12:30 to get things started.
  • PP Domenic led the pledge
  • 1st verse of America by Charlie
  • Invocation by PDG Jack
Raffle Items Donated by:
  • PP Dan Busa
  • Bob Cunningham
  • Peoples United Bank
  • Brookhaven
Happy Dollars:
  • Charlie gave happy dollars for his birthday
  • PP Dan O gave happy dollars for his new car
  • PP Spencer gave happy dollars for his vacation down to Florida and spring training with his wife and kids
  • PP Domenic gave happy dollars for moving to a new office
  • Michelle gave happy dollars for her vacation to NH with her kids
  • Terry gave happy dollars for her vacation to Mexico and getting her friends hooked on tequila!
  • PP Dan B gave happy dollars because his daughter is buying a house
  • Steve K gave happy dollars for his birthday coming up
  • PP Murray gave happy dollars because his carpel tunnel surgery went well
Fines:
  • PP Dan B fined PP Murry for his bad introduction of PP of Burlington rotary and retired Fire Chief Paul Thibault
  • PDG Jack fined himself for his introduction of the guests at his table
 
Announcements:
  • President Susan is looking to explore alternate forms of memberships.  She wants to come up with other options for people to join and grow the club
  • PP Spencer mentioned comedy night is coming up in the beginning of May and to start thinking of silent auction prizes and ticket sales
  • PP Spencer also mentioned he is thinking about running a NCAA bracket to fundraise for the club
 
 
Speaker
Carolyn Wortman came to speak to us about the Lexington Interfaith Food Pantry.  The food pantry was started back in November of 1990.  It started off slow but grew dramatically over the years as the word got out there that there was a weekly food pantry in town.  The food pantry is run by food/money donations and volunteers donating their time.  Carolyn was introduced to the Lexington Food Pantry by her mother who worked for the food pantry until she was almost 90 years old.  Carolyn took over her mother’s roll and dedicated her time every Saturday morning providing food to the people in need.   
What to expect from the food pantry:
The Lexington food pantry gets weekly volunteers from the local churches in town and high school students looking for community service. 
Currently the food pantry provides food to about 125 people in need every week.  90% of the clients are from Lexington, but they also accept clients from Winchester and Lincoln because those towns do not have their own food pantry.  Clients can shop weekly and pick up items based on their family size.  Some of the main items that are offered weekly include, Baked Beans, Cereals, pasta, Peanut Butter, Rice, Spaghetti Sauce, tuna, and mac & cheese. 
To learn more about the food pantry click on this link;> The Lexington Interfaith Food Pantry.
 
50-50 winner
  • PP Spencer was the big $60 winner and generously donated his winnings to the food pantry.
Next meeting will be held Monday 3/6/17
Jim T