• Co-President Jim Damren called the meeting to order with the ringing of our Rotary bell.

• Bruce Pacht led us in reciting the 4-Way Test of the Things We Think Say or Do

• Ernst played the piano as we sang or tried to sing or Welcome Song and The Halloween Song: Witches and Goblins

• Thought of the Day: From Jim Damren, Regardless of our political beliefs, vote on Tuesday.

• Welcome Guests: Jada Jada Lindblom, Associate Extension Professor, Recreation Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire; and her collaborators on WebEx Dr. Doug las Arbogast, West Virginia University Extension, with Extension, and Morgan Brophy, Upper Valley Business Alliance; and Wolfe Tilliston, propspective member.

• Birthdays: Dan Nash

• Wedding Anniversaries: None

• Lebanon Rotary Anniversaries: None

• Then it was time for Lunch

   

• Speaker: See story above Examining Tourism in the Upper Valley: A “Quality of Life” Lens

• Book Presentation for the Kilton Library’s Children Collection in honor of our speaker, Jawa Lundblom was 

Fish Like Me

by Jamie Sumner (Author), Devon Holzwarth (Illustrator)

“A gorgeous celebration of swimming, disability, and imagination.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In the spirit of Eyes That Kiss in the Corners and I Talk Like a River, this lyrical picture book from acclaimed author Jamie Sumner tells the story of a child in swim therapy and celebrates the ways differently abled bodies can move in the water.

Under here, there is
no top or bottom,
no left or right—
only fields of water to wander in
as topsy-turvy as I like.

Underwater, everything looks different—and every body moves differently, too. During swim therapy, a child discovers he can be anything: a catfish, a seahorse, a starfish cartwheeling across the universe. He finds the magic of moving in wholly new ways, just like he does on land in his trusty wheelchair.

Announcements, Other Club Business and Opportunities

• Charities Updates: Voting is open until 5pm on Thursday November 5^th for the following requests see email from Bill Chabot for details:

  • Tysea Orphanage 

  • Common Man For Ukraine.

• WebEx and AV set up – Volunteers need to set up AV equipment while Marilyn Bedell is away from mid-January to mid-May. Let her know if you can help…as Bruce Bergeron said, you can be one of the AV cool kids like in High School…

• Riverside Park Cleanup on November 4^th, 3-5 PM prior to the social gather of 6 Rotary Clubs at the Upper Valley Aquatic Center.

• Rotary Clubs of the Upper Valley Gathering at the Upper Valley Aquatics Center.  $20/person on November 4, 2027 at 5:30 PM 

• Rotary District 7850 Regional Meeting on 11/14 – So. Burlington, join Jim, Bruce, Phil and James. To go, register on the www.rotary7850.org web page

• Coop Food Drives – October 24 (now completed – yielded 500 pounds of food and $551) and the next is November 21 a the Centerra Coop.  Tim Guaraldi organizing and inviting our LHS Interactors to join us again this year. 

• Knitting for Ukraine – Hannah Falcone announced that her mother is coordinating this event to provide warm, wool, knit hats for children in Ukraine at their sheep farm in Plainfield.  If you have questions, email falconefivesistersfarm@gmail.com  Deadline to drop off donations at Five Sisters Farm in Plainfield is November 12^th.

• Common Man for Ukraine Concert on November 15, 2026 at 3 PM

• Holiday Basket Helpers: Angela Nelson let us know that we will be supporting 30 families this year.  Stay tuned for ways you can help our families by buying gifts, making cash donations so Angela can buy gifts, and/or help with our “bag and tag” event.

• Holiday Party and Famous Yankee Swap will be on December 9, 2026, in the Dwinell Room at Harvest Hill.  RSVP to Ron Bedell

  It will soon be that time of year again.  Time for the Rotary Club of Lebanon to have a fun filled dinner and a Yankee Swap!

Date: December 9, 2026

Time: 5:30 till 9:00 or so

Cost: $40.00 Per Person

Menu: 

Appetizers

Cheese and Crackers, Vegetable Crudité with Dip, Rolls and Butters

Dinner

Salad, Carved Beef, Chicken Marsala, Vegetarian Option TBD, Butternut Squash - either Mashed or Roasted, Sauteed Green Beans, Roasted Red Potatoes, 

Dessert

TBD

Beverage

Coffee, Tea and Bottled Water. Feel free to bring you own Wine and Beer if so desired

Yankee Swap

Each person coming will bring a wrapped gift of something repurposed, or New Valued at $20.00.  For those of you that have not participated in a Yankee Swap, it goes like this. A number will be drawn from a bag. Each person starting with number one will pick a gift from the pile and open it.  The person with number two will choose a gift and open it.  They will then have the option of temporarily keeping the gift they chose or swapping it with the one that number one chose.  This will progress with each person swapping their gift with all the other gifts until the person with the last number completes their transaction.  Number one will then have a chance to swap their gift with any other gift.

Reservations

Send an e-mail to me at r.j.bedell@comcast.net.  with the number in your party or regrets so that I will not bother you with follow-ups.  All Corporate Members are invited as well as significant others and other guests.

Payment

Send a check to Angela Nelson, Rotary Club of Lebanon, P.O. Box 132, Lebanon, NH 03766-0132 

Thank you for considering the Holiday Party and I sincerely hope that we can look forward to seeing you there,

Ron Bedell & John Yacavone

• Happy Dollars

  • Hank shared a not so happy dollar.  A good friend who was heading home, fell and broke her leg in three places on her way to Wyoming.  He also let us know that he believes his trips to Concord to get TSA stuff renewed is now completed.
  • John Stalvey reflected on what a wonderful, old-time traditional world series was fun to watch…Great Baseball.
  • Angela thought she might get a Jamaican vacation with Clyde, but he will be returning to the Upper Valley before Ang can fit in a trip…so dreams of a tropical vacation have gone away.
  • Steve Grant reflected on the World Series and was sad that Bob Uecker wasn’t alive to see it. Uecker will always be remembered the man whose voice accompanied generations of baseball in Milwaukee.
  • Ron Michaud let us know he parked too close to a curb and as he backed up it pulled the bumper off.  He had help to get it tied in place to enable him to get it to Jasmin Auto who did the repair at no cost to Ron.  He also lamented that his home town of Salem, Massecuites is now “overrun” with tourists, so remined us to use caution as the region works to draw more tourism.
  • Wolfe Tilliston was happy to be attending his first Rotary meeting.
  • Marilyn Bedell shared that she started her day by getting up at 4:30 AM to attend the Williston-Richmond Rotary Club meeting to do a talk about the Rotary Foundation.  This afternoon she will accompany Ernst and Hank to Canaan for the last flu clinic…A full day of Rotary.
  • Ernst Oidtmann in celebration of his birthday made a $300 donation to the Doris Molica Fund.
  • Jim Damren let us know that his sone Nate went hunting for black bear and with a bow and arrow got a 150 pound bear.

     Queen of Hearts Draw – George Wenz pulled the Queen of Spades…the        hunt for the Queen continues.

       Car Wash – Was won by  Jim Damren

Thanks to all who were able to stay to the end of the meeting, we adjourned at 1:43 PM

Attendance:

Marilyn Bedell, Ron Bedell, Bruce Bergeon, Phil Bush, James Carroll, Dean Cashman, Bill Chabot,  Dave Clarenbach, Hank Clarke, Jim Damren, Mila Dela Pena,  Steve Grant, Tim Guaraldi, Andy Jones, Jane Mason*, Ron Michaud, Angela Nelson, Ernst Oidtmann, Bruce Pacht, Phil Rentz, Bill Secord, John Stalvey, George Wenz, John Yacavone

Guests:

Jada Lundblom, UNH Extension, 

Speaker, Morgan Brophy and Morgan and Gorgan Boddington, Upper Valley Business Alliance, 

Dr. Douglas Arbogast, University of West Virginia Extension

Wolfe Tilloston, Prospective member