PDG Susan Cherry, the speaker at today's club meeting, recently the Rotary International Peace Conference at the new Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center opening at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Minutes for Club Meeting of November 6, 2025
Meeting Venue: The Dwinell Room at Harvest Hill
In attendance: Bill Babineau, Marilyn Bedell, Ron Bedell, Phil Bush, Dean Cashman, James Carroll, Bill Chabot, Dave Clarenbach, Hank Clarke, Dave Crandall, Jim Damren, Brian Davis, Mila Dela Pena, Steve Grant, Tim Guaraldi, Carol Keeffe, Christian McDonald, Ron Michaud, Angela Nelson, Ernst Oidtmann, Bruce Pacht, Phil Rentz, Bill Secord, Marion Steiner, Richard Wallace, and John Yacavone. Also, guests PDG Susan Cherry and her husband Martin.
Called to order by President Marilyn at 12:00 p.m.
Recitation of the "4-Way Test of the Things We Think Say or Do" was led by Phil Rentz.
PDG Susan Cherry played piano, and her husband Martin led us in singing two songs.
“From the Hills and From the Valleys” — written by Susan and Peter Cherry — and “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
Background to Susan's Rotary song: When Susan was in Turkey, she had cocktails with RIP (Rotary International President) 23-24 Gordon McInally. “It’s been a long time since we had a Rotary Anthem,” said Gordon. “When I was asked to be choir director at the Zone Conference,” said Susan, “I decided I had to actually write it for Winnipeg in September. I started writing the poetry and my son liked it. He tweaked it, adding meter more appropriate for singing, and I wrote the tune.”
President Marilyn’s Thought of the Day: There are 120 million displaced persons in the world as of today, half of whom are children. Rotary projects foster peace and understanding. Rotary creates environments of peace, the cornerstone of our mission.
Lebanon Rotary Anniversaries: Will Koppenheffer 28 years; Bruce Bergeron 14 years.
Marilyn informed us that Allen, APD’s info tech, will stop by next Tuesday to get our WebEx working the way it used to, so the microphones won’t produce feedback.
PROGRAM: Past District Governor Susan Cherry — Rotary Peace Programs
Susan is a member of St. Johnsbury Rotary, where she serves as club secretary. She is active with the Rotary Learning Institute as North American secretary and regional faculty, treasurer of the Eastern States Student Exchange Program, and is a Past District 7850 Governor. Susan has chaired the district youth exchange program, international service committee, and the speech program with District 7850. She served as aide to Past Rotary International President Jennifer Jones and Rotary Foundation Trustee Marty Helman, conducted the Rotary Zone Choir and helps coordinate the Rotary Zone Mentorship Program.
Susan spoke to us about her “Trip to Istanbul, Turkey: Rotary Peace Conference.” Susan reminded us that that Lebanon Rotary was her first club visit as a DG (District Governor); she is happy to return.
When Rotary International President (RIP) 2024-25 Stephanie A. Urchik held a peace conference in Turkey, Susan felt she needed to attend. While getting ready, she considered several questions: Why would I want to go? What are my passions? What speaks to me about Istanbul?
A bit of Susan’s life:
Mother had twins at age 45: Susan and Sandra. One sister passed away and she had four siblings. Each set of two children were ten years apart. The young twins were mediators. Since her father (worked at US Steel) passed in 1975, Susan’s family has met monthly as a family team, even by Zoom. Her oldest siblings were raised by newly married parents; the next two had workaholic parents, and were raised by nannies, butlers, and maids; Susan and her twin were raised by retired persons. So, her passion became keeping people together.
Susan was a high school exchange student in Switzerland, an experience that helped her realize that building relationships was a gateway toward understanding cultures. She believes that a nuclear family is central to every person’s life. Her experience of her students in school was that those who weren’t connected to a secure nuclear family were those who didn’t have anything to fall back on in time of crisis.
Susan graduated from Westminster Choir College; her introduction to Rotary was singing at a club’s Christmas party. She switched professions to work in restorative justice work after 35 years of teaching music. It was seeking “harmony” that led her there.
Rotary’s Peace in Action:
Annually Rotarians provide up to 130 fully-funded fellowships for dedicated leaders from around the world.
Youth Exchange builds peace one young person at a time. This year, we have seven inbound YEX students in D7850. We can make a connection for peace with the Rotary Clubs that sponsor these students to come to the USA.
Sightseeing in Istanbul:
Susan arrived five days before the Peace Conference and stayed five days after the conference. She wanted to achieve a sense of place, of history, of the people. She walked around by herself trying to understand. Here are some places she saw:
The Blue Mosque—first stop to understand the culture. She joined with women with covered heads in the balcony. Only men and cats are allowed on the first floor. Cats are revered: there are general cat-feeding stations around the City.
Many mosques were built as churches during Constantine’s empire; they became mosques after the Islamic takeover.
Taksim Square and hippodrome—Where chariot races were held.
Hagia Sophia—Was a Christian church first, then was a museum and now an active mosque. Ceiling is the same pattern as a rug Susan bought there.
Ceiling mosaics were Christian-themed and plastered over after the 1453 Sultan Mehmed conquest that renamed Constantinople to Istanbul. Turkey is now in the process of uncovering them.
There are stations in mosques where people are passing out pamphlets about unity of all religions, talking, connection.
Within last five years, specialists have removed plaster covering one of five seraphim.
Core church Mosaic restoration—This church is not a mosque; it’s still a museum. All of Jesus’s life in mosaic is being uncovered from plaster.
Susan saw a hand-written copy of the Koran going back to 900-1000 CE.
She also saw a museum devoted solely to rugs; every shop in the bazaar sold rugs.
At the Grand Bazaar, Susan saw vendors selling everything. Many are related to others, leading customers from one to the other.
Susan took a boat ride on the Bosphorus, the body of water that separates Europe from Asia between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, which itself empties into Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Istanbul is located on both sides of the river.
After visiting the Asian part of Istanbul, Susan got off the train at the station marked “Orient Express”. She had tea at the Pera Paris Hotel built in 1881-91 for Europeans arriving from Paris by train. It was the first building in the Ottoman Empire with electricity.
The Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center in Istanbul (https://rpc.bau.edu.tr/) is the first Rotary peace center located in the middle east.
Susan thinks a Peace Tree would look really good inside Harmony Park.
Conclusion: Rotary has family for you all around the world. It is our work to do something to achieve world understanding and peace, and we cannot do it alone.
Questions:
Steve Grant: War is almost always a political activity. How do we reconcile Rotary’s non-political space with such a politicized action?
Susan—We don’t go through political avenues. We did approach politicians in Iran, but only for purposes of polio eradication. Past Rotary International Director and Vice President Mike McGovern (from Maine) talked with political leaders, conquering groups. Talking about the children got us access. We look for unmet needs and fulfill them—that’s our pathway to peace.
Kilton Children’s Library Book Presentation
“In Praise of Mystery” US Poet Laureate Ada Limón wrote a poem carried in the space craft Europa Clipper on its way to the Jupiter moon. This book and poem illustrate the wonders of the world and the universe.
The Listen Holiday Baskets —
A message from Angela Nelson:
It is the most wonderful time of the year, Listen Holiday Baskets!!! Let’s make the Upper Valley kids warm and well dressed! Those of you at the meeting on Thursday can skip the email and see the attachment. For those of you who were not and/or are new members, let me tell you what is going on!
Every year Listen does a Christmas program that focuses on clothing for kids and seniors in the Upper Valley. They focus on clothes, because other organizations focus on toys, and food (each family gets a gift card to a grocery store for Christmas dinner/other food. It is supposed to be $50 but that barely gets anything so I adjust that based on the family size with a minimum of $75). Each person has 3 items that they need, along with sizes and preferred colors. Each person also has a list of things/activities/colors they like so that we can know more about them and try to tailor the items to them. If we have enough funds, we often get everyone extra things, such as a toy or art set or extra clothes, etc., based on their likes. Rotary has been sponsoring kids/seniors in this program for YEARS (I don’t even know how long as I have only been a member like 8 years). There is now a budget line item in the charities, but it does not cover all the kids we adopt (historically this was just a program done by the members directly). Members who want to help have two different ways of helping.
Option1 is that you can open the Excel spreadsheet and pick an item or items that you want to shop for and go purchase the items. Just email me what you would like to get so I can make sure all the needs are covered and who I need to meet up with. Please get a gift receipt in case it doesn’t fit. You and I will need to catch up by Thanksgiving so I can compile everything that weekend.
Option 2 is that you can make a donation towards this project and I will go shopping for all the needed items. You can make a check out to Rotary Club of Lebanon Charites and it will be tax deductible for you or you can give me cash. If you can just let me know the amount you want to contribute that would be great. We can catch up at some point in time, but I can budget based on the amount I am told.
I am the only person who knows who contributes so please don’t think this is public information to the club. It is completely voluntary!
The other aspect to the Listen Baskets is that we go and we check the dropped off bags from others and make sure they are all the right items, right sizes, complete, etc. This will be on December 1st, from 9-3 at the church next to the fire department being built on the green. You can stop by for an hour or more, it is completely up to you and you are NOT expected to come all day! If you want to help on this day, just let me know and a general time frame so that we just make sure we have enough people.
This project is super important to me, as I feel every child should have a great Christmas and also have warm clothes and full bellies. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email, call or text me!!
Thanks in advance for making all these kids Christmas’ great!!!!
Ang
A Thank You from the Executive Director
of the Public Health Council of the Upper Valley:
Hello My Heroes –
We have just completed six free community flu vaccine clinics over the past five weeks. It was another successful year of providing valuable protection for many of our Upper Valley friends and neighbors. By the numbers:
Our final count is 1,161—a 25% increase over last year.
That includes 673 FluAd to people aged 65 and older.
And 488 regular doses.
35 community members volunteered to support the clinics.
11 Dartmouth Health providers volunteered to supervise and train medical students administering vaccines.
I don’t have a count yet of the number of medical students who volunteered, but it was a big group.
These flu vaccine clinics accomplish two things:
Give our rural community members access to free flu vaccines closer to home.
Provide an important lesson in rural health care to Geisel School of Medicine students.
We could not do this without your generous help and support! Thank you from the bottom of my heart… and I hope to see you again next year.
Best, Alice
Alice R. Ely, MPH
Executive Director
Public Health Council of the Upper Valley
One Court Street, #365
Lebanon, NH 03766
The Lions Club Health Closet Move:
The Lion's Health Closet moved from 25 Spencer Street to 235 Mt. Support Road last week. About 40 people helped with this project: Rotarians, Lions, Dartmouth College Rotaractors, Hanover High School Students, friends of Lions and Rotarians. Our own Bill Chabot(directly below) was there to help. Andy Jones provided his trailer to move the equipment. Participants assembled on Sunday morning Nov. 9th in downtown Lebanon to inventory, load, and move the equipment.
Service and other Activities:
November 25 photoshoot at Revo Casino 4:40-4:50 p.m. Tim, Anna, Ron, and Marilyn will go to the REVO gala in Manchester. The Bedells(below) attended the local REVO event last week.
Food Drive – November 15, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Coop at Centerra, Lebanon.
Holiday Basket Helpers: Angela Nelson: We got our kids—We adopt 20 individuals. Listen focuses on clothes. Parent/guardian fill out wish lists that give us sizes, preferences, and three items. Families also get a groceries gift card. Listen says $50, but if Angela discovers a larger family, we give bigger, like $150-175. Charities has a budget line item for this. Rotarians may help shop or give Ang a pledge of $$, and she’ll collect any donation from one of us later—she buys everything on her card. She will send an Excel document with information if folks want to shop; meeting will happen before Thanksgiving. Email the item you want to purchase or your $$ pledge to Angela (anelson@ampeisch.com). Deadline is December 1. Make out check to “RCLeb Charities.”
Then on December 1 (9 a.m.-3 p.m., probable location is the First Congregational Church next to the firehouse), we gather to check other peoples’ work—a “bag and tag” session. We make sure the lists are complete, sizes are correct, and gifts are age-appropriate; then parents pick up their family basket.
Angela winds up spelling around $2,000 each year, but it varies depending upon how much is in clothing or cash or other items. If she has $$ left, she will get more families from Listen.
Philippines—Mila has been posting lots of photos of the destruction.
January Social Evening being planned—Start with dinner at Salt hill, then go get a tour of the new Hopkins Center on a Monday in January.
Holiday Party, TUESDAY, December 16, 5:30 p.m., Dwinell Room. Please let Ron Bedell know if you are coming. NO meeting on THURSDAY, December 18.
November is Rotary Foundation Month—Phil and Ron sent the appeal letter.
Next week’s program – Steve Grant will speak on his adventures in England as a member of Rotary there.
Happy Dollars
Susan: for Martin being here with her.
Bruce P: for all our new members attending today.
Marilyn: for Susan speaking.
Card and Car Wash Raffle
Brian Davis drew a loser card: 3 of Hearts.
Bill Babineau’s ticket won the car wash in absentia.
President Marilyn rang the bell, and we closed with our Rotary motto:
One Profits Most Who Serves Best
CALENDAR THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR:
November 13: Steve Grant, his adventures in England as a member of Rotary there.
November 20: BOD/Charities Reports +/- Classification Talk—Announce BOD and Trustee for 2026/2027.
November 27: NO MEETING—Thanksgiving.
December 4: Mascoma Music Boosters.
December 11: Holiday Musical Recital with Ernst Oidtmann.
December 16: Holiday Party and Famous Yankee Swap at 5:30 p.m. —Dwinell Room (BYOB Wine, Beer of Soda)
See invitation from Ron Bedell for more information about the party.
December 18: NO MEETING—Holiday party on Tuesday, December 16.
December 25: NO MEETING—Christmas.
Program Team for 2025-2026: John Yacavone (July, Aug, Sept)—Job well done!
Steve Grant (Oct, Nov, Dec); Hank Clarke (Jan, Feb, March); and Dave Crandall (April, May, Jun).
“From the Hills and From the Valleys” — written by Susan and Peter Cherry — and “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
The Bedells (below) attended the local REVO event last week.
