Rotarians in-person: Marilyn Bedell, Ron Bedell, Hank Clarke, Bruce Pacht, John Yacavone, Tim Guaraldi, Bill Secord, Cal Wolfe, Dave Clarenbach, Ernst Oidtmann, Jim Damren, Brian Davis, Phil Bush, Dean Cashman, Ron Michaud, Rich Wallace, Mila dela Pena, George Wenz, Steve Grant, (Claire Geno, Bruce Bergeron, Will Koppenheffer, Phil Rentz, Angela Nelson, and Carole Keeffe.
Rotarians joining remotely: Jane Mason
President Marilyn rang the bell at 12:01 p.m.
Recitation of the “4-Way Test of the Things We Think Say or Do” was led competently by Bill Secord.
Pianist Ernst led us in the “Rotary Welcome Song” and “Home on the Range.”
Birthdays: 1/20 Phil Rentz, 1/24 Tyler Hagan.
Wedding Anniversaries:Mila Dela Pena, 9 years
Club and Charities Assembly
(Please remember that minutes of meetings of RC Lebanon Club board and Charities’ trustees are available on the club website shortly after they have been adopted by these boards.)
Charities—Trustee Chair Bruce reporting
Charities Allocations October-December 2025
$8,950 to five area food pantries;
$5,800 for a RISE food packaging event—Windsor, Mascoma, and Lebanon Interact clubs will raise half of this total to return to Charities: net expense ($2,900);
$6,200 to BLSO-USA to construct double toilet facilities at two schools in Nepal;
$1,000 each to LHS Project Graduation and Common Man for Ukraine’s 14th convoy;
$628.50 half the cost of a new RC Lebanon tent;
$460 to Lebanon Middle School Boosters to register 7th and 8th graders at a NH Music Educators Association large group festival in March 2026.
Other Charities news
With our co-presidents-elect, Phil Rentz appointed to serve in the Club vice-president’s ex officio spot, and Bill Chabot attending meetings in advance of his three-year term beginning on July 1, Charities meetings now enjoy having eight voices considering issues.
With an active international service committee, Charities expects requests for international service support to grow in the coming year.
Charities’ next area of policy/procedure formulation will be naming and creating rules for using various pots of money: accumulated excess of revenue over expense, budgeting and re-budgeting within a Rotary year, reserve funds, and donor- and board-restricted funds.
Charities' February meeting will take place on the 4th Wednesday, the 25th, beginning at the usual noon time.
Club Board—President Marilyn reporting
TRF celebration Sunday, April 26 Hilton Garden Inn, Lebanon $50 pp. Phil Rentz will chair a group to find a “Club TRF Champion” who will receive two tickets to attend.
Still seeking someone to serve as president-elect in Rotary Year 2026-27.
Marilyn’s surgery is February 4; Bruce B and Jim will fill in for her.
Back closet at the Dwinell Room: there is more work to be done on the air handling system. We will have two shelves for Rotary stuff: our file cabinets will stand next to them. >>> Do not put anything in there until President Marilyn says OK.<<<
Webex—We now have an easier process to get in; Marilyn, Angela, and Dave Clarenbach have been oriented. General rule for speakers with video presentations: Bring their own laptop, download the Webex app to it, then connect to our meeting as if remote.
President Marilyn wants to keep us knowledgeable about our club’s strategic plan conclusions. Our vision was “to be a dynamic and inclusive club that has impact on local and international communities.”
Thanks to Will Koppenheffer and Bill Secord for six months of newsletter publishing.
Our membership has gone from 37 to 42 members; we have better average weekly turnout; AVA additional corporate members means we really have 45 persons involved; we have several other interested community members we are pursuing. Rotary’s most important task now is this: “How do we make Rotary relevant to those who cannot attend weekly lunch meetings?”
Service projects accomplished lately:
Refrigerator move at UVSC;
Listen baskets, bag and tag, 2 food drives;
Dental clinic in White River Junction;
Supported 3 vaccine clinics.
Social events:
Excellent tour of the $130 million renovation at Dartmouth’s Hopkins; Center for the Arts. Many thanks to Aaron Rivkin, who did the tour, and to John Yacavone, who set it up.
Public-facing Web site attention—Rich Wallace has been doing this, and he’d be happy to have a helper.
Marilyn tries to post our most recent speakers.
Leadership: Jim/Bruce B soon will attend a pre-Presidents-Elect seminar training.
District 7850 Assembly in April open to all Rotarians.
Youth Service:
Supporting two Interact clubs.
Our goal is to send four students to RYLA in June.
We will do 1st grade readers again this year.
We have set aside funds for scholarships at three high schools (LHS, MVRHS, LCS).
so far, we have two contestants for the first round of the District 7850 Speech Contest at our meeting on February 5.
The Rotary Foundation:
$7,300 given to TRF so far against our club’s annual goal this year of $12,000.
We have already given $2,700 to TRF for PolioPlus. Marilyn reported that last year there are only 33 cases of polio worldwide and NONE were due to circulation of the wild virus. So far this year, there has been only one case in Afghanistan.
Marilyn would encourage Lebanon Rotarians to think about legacy giving.
Updates:
Marilyn would like to see us engaging more with Dartmouth’s international student community.
Bruce B, chair of community service committee, is considering new projects.
Marilyn reminded Tim that “spring” means planning for Mascoma River clean-up.
We are in the middle of our ten days REVO, which we share with AVA this year.
Golf Tournament: Wednesday, June 3. Newer Rotarians Travis, Tyler, and John (arriving from Alaska) are helping this year!
Brew Fest—Hank will be preparing for a first organizational meeting in February.
Happy Dollars:
Dean is grateful to have been invited to attend a recent Bruins game.
Bruce P announced that Singing Valentines are available to order at BHS Hanover; either in-person within a 25-mile radius, or virtual to any email address in the world. (Phil B reported that Judith was so surprised and delighted that she still has not forgiven him for sending her a singing valentine!)
Ron M shared that he has to decide (1) whether “to have [his] throat cut” for thyroid surgery and (2) that at Christmas, after taking singing lessons at Upper Valley Music Center, he called every department head in the City of Lebanon to sing “Auld Lang Syne” to them as a thank-you for the terrific work they do, and to say how happy and proud he is to pay taxes to support them.
Marilyn and Ron are happy to be driving their new car.
George told us that after falling on the way in to the meeting, he was able to rise up and continue thanks to the assistance of newer Rotarian Claire Geno; he also mentioned that his daughter-in-law in Windsor is getting lots of help cleaning out and restoring one of the grand old buildings in that town.
Draws:
Dave Clarenbach got a chance and blew it by not drawing the Queen of Hearts.
His crony (who had pulled Dave’s ticket before him), George Wenz, won the free wash at Jake’s Enfield car wash, courtesy Bruce B.
President Marilyn rang the bell at 12:59 p.m.
Future programs:
January 29—Brooke Finnell, U.S. director of Epilogos.
February 5—Youth Service Day: Round 1 speech Contest, LHS Interact update, Take flight video.
February 12—Tentative Webex update from Emmah’s Garden in Kenya.
February 19—Round 2 Speech Contest, BOD/Charities, classification talk.
February 26—TBD.
Program Team for 2025-2026. John Yacavone (July, Aug, Sept), Steve Grant (Oct, Nov, Dec),Hank Clark (Jan, Feb, March), and Dave Crandall (April, May, June)
Just pick your item and follow the instructions for ordering.
Men’s and Women’s light weight jackets
Men’s and Women’s fleece vests
Men’s and Women’s fleece jackets
Blankets-Fleece 40” x60”
All jackets, vests and blankets will have Rotary logo and club name.
To save on shipping, pick up your item at Top Stitch, 233 Mascoma Street, Lebanon.
Questions? Contact Cody at Top Stitch at 603-448-2931. Turnaround time is 3.5–4 weeks.
International Committee Update:
Epilogos
Four special needs students last year. One year of education for each special needs student costs $270. These monies help strengthen the Epilogos overall program in El Salvador and the Village of San Jose Villanueva in particular. We are requesting enough funding to support the education of ten students.
Total = $2,700.
Brooke Finnell from Epilogos will be speaking at our club meeting on January 29.
Nepal
Project Overview for Better Life Social Organization: Sharmila Karki Niroula and Dipak Niroula
Construction of one toilet building (separate boys & girls) under one roof for each school.
BLSO-USA will provide the standard approved design, fixed financial support, materials funding and technical guidance.
The schools will handle labor work, site preparation, construction, and long-term cleaning & maintenance.
Cost
$6,125.21 USD
The total amount above includes all civil, sanitary, and electrical work for both school projects.
Ghana
Way back in 2006, Bill Babineau and Ron Michaud traveled to Ghana to observe the water projects funded by the first global grant received by Walter Hughes. Bill then went to Ghana again in 2013 with Steve Usle.
In 2024, Charities allocated $1,000 to a new global grant for water projects in Ghana; and in 2025, Charities allocated another $1,000 for the same project.
The international committee has asked for a final $1,000 to complete the grant this year.
The International committee expects to request monies next year for a new water project in Ghana if the Rotary Foundation approves Walter Hughes application.
Kenya
The club has funded several projects in the Village of Nyandoche Ibere over the past three years:
Making purified water available using Berkey filters. This was seen to be unworkable because of the cost of shipping. Since then, EG has sourced all materials in Kenya. Rotary funded this effort.
Providing irrigation water to two fields with the purpose of increasing productivity by lengthening the growing season. This is still operating and is self-sustaining.
Renting fields to be farmed by women’s groups. Emmah designed the effort. The groups are drawn from the very poorest people in the village. The women earn some money and use some of the produce to feed their families. These groups are still functioning but are not yet fully self-sustaining. Rotary funding contributed to this effort. It was also backed by NOVA, and the Board continues to support this effort
Building a demonstration greenhouse. It is operational. Rotary of Lebanon and a District grant funded this. NOVA funded a second greenhouse to be used for starting plants. It will be operational for the next growing season. Build
Establishing a water harvesting and purification of the Nyandoche Ibere Primary School. This is operational now.
Another village has asked for a similar system. We are asking Rotary of Lebanon to fund this effort. We want to encourage villages to cooperate.
Build an educational center. A woman in the village donated the land for this. She donated this because the Primary School water project convinced her that Emmah’s Garden was serious about helping the village. The building will contain an education center, a farmer’s market, and a few apartment rentals. Rental income will support Emmah’s Garden’s efforts.
The international committee has determined that we want to focus on these four major international projects; and we therefore turned down several other requests for us to fund other projects, including one in Haiti.
