Left to Right: Club President Chris Burns-DiBiasio, Chief Brian LaBarge and former town manager and club member Rick McGuire.

Our club had the good fortune to have our newly hired Chief of Police Brian LaBarge speak with us on Sept 10th - approximately 1 month after he started his term, and then hear him speak to the community at the 9-11 Remembrance on Sept 11th. 

Brian has been with the Burlington VT Police department for 21 years - with multiple roles and promotions along the way. Brian started as an Officer, and moved up to Detective, Sergeant and then Lieutenant Across Bureaus (for a broadening of skills, and finally as Deputy Chief of Administration where he oversaw Burlington's Detective and Administrative Bureaus.   What a well rounded career to date. 

Chief LaBarge is currently on a listening tour to meet with stakeholders within the community and in the department to gather feedback, understanding challenges, uncovering operational bottlenecks and building trust before implementing change. 

We look forward to having Chief LaBarge back in again to our club every 12 or so months, as we did with Chief Foley. 

To see and hear about Chief LaBarge's presentation to our club, visit:   https://youtu.be/rYIJkii_RQY

Wild Meadows recognized the important work done by the Rotary club to support our community, including promoting literacy & youth leadership development, supporting home heating assistance, fighting food insecurity, along with many other causes, by having a Rotary day at the store on Tuesday, September 15 at Wild Meadows Books & Cafe in Williston. 

The business donated 10% of that day's revenue to the Charity Fund of the Williston-Richmond Rotary Club to support the group's charitable grants and community service work. That evening, we held a club social gathering at Wild Meadows where we enjoyed each other's company and welcomed community members who are interested in learning more about Rotary. 

The club is deeply grateful  to Susan and Rick for their generous support, not only for Rotary Day, but for their everyday commitment for our events, planning, website management and so much more. Thank you for everything you do!!

The Williston-Richmond Rotary, South Burlington Rotary, Waterbury Rotary and Rotary District members joined this year in support of the Rotary Essex Rotary club's yearly fundraiser at the Champlain Valley Fair. 

The Rotary Corn Booth gave all profits to Wood4Good, an organization that provides home heating assistance to neighbors in need, and the amount was matched by an anonymous donor.    

Special thanks to Essex Rotarian Skip Oliver for reaching out to multiple clubs this year and making this year a great success. 

From left to right sponsor Tracy Seamster, new members Mike Artist and Debra Fay, and President Chris Burns DiBiasio

On August 27th, we welcomed two new members, Debra Fay and Mike Artist into our club. Debra and Mike are residents of both St George Vermont and Florida as snowbirds.  Both Debra and Mike are retired from the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Debra is also a member of 100 Plus Women Who Care (https://www.100wwc.org/), an international organization of giving circles where members pool their donations to make a large, direct impact on local charities, and PEO International (https://www.peointernational.org/), an philanthropic educational organization where women motivate, educate and celebrate women through grants and scholarships.     

Debra and Mike became Rotarians to belong to an organization that makes positive and collective impact in their community. 

Welcome Debra and Mike. We are so glad to have you in our club. 

On August 6 rising CVU junior Avery Antonioli enthusiastically presented to our club about her experience this June at the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA) that took place at Northern Vermont University in Lyndonville with participation from 61 teens from Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec. 

Avery described an exciting and action-packed weekend where she made new friends, learned about different types of leadership styles, and participated in a community service project packing meals for people in need. She also learned about Rotary Interact clubs, which bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. 

Avery felt so inspired, she resolved to start an Interact club at CVU. And our club is inspired to help her!

Stay tuned for news about the Interact effort and future acts of service from Avery and other young people in our area.

If you are in Rotary, you get introduced to the 4-way test even before you join. President Chris Burns-DiBiasio has started us stating the 4-way test in unison at our weekly meetings to help keep it on the top of our minds in everything we plan, do or say. 

Basically, the 4-way test (of the things we think, say and do) is an ethical guide used by Rotary worldwide as a moral compass for personal and professional relationships. It was created by Rotarian Herbert Taylor when he was asked to take charge of a company facing bankruptcy. Rotary International adopted the 4-way test in 1943. 

In truth,  most Rotarians use the 4-way test in their everyday social, community and professional lives, in addition to their Rotary lives, and it is one tool to become better friends, peers and citizens. We hope you reading this (as non-Rotarians) will embrace the 4-way test in your own way in your everyday lives. 

To read more about Herbert Taylor and his creation of the 4-way test, go to:   https://rotary5630.org/history-of-the-four-way-test/

Photo by Al Frey, alfreyphotography.com

Our annual Deb Beckett Memorial 5K Run/Walk drew record participants this year, with 92 runners and 39 walkers participating on a beautiful morning. Our event kicked off Williston's Independence Day celebrations on July 3. 

The event was dedicated in 2021 to the memory of longtime Williston Town Clerk and Treasurer Deb Beckett, who was an active member of the Williston-Richmond Rotary Club and had great enthusiasm for celebrating the Fourth of July.  

In addition to bringing out the community for a fun activity, the race generates funds to fuel the club's charitable and service work.

Two shorter kids runs also took place that morning along with a visit from the Lake Monsters' Champ!

Check out the race results and our photo album!

Thanks to everyone who joined and who supported the race!

Catherine Benedict from Vermont Stage was our speaker on May 28th. Catherine shared with us the importance of acting troupes (and Vermont Stage more specifically) for a community. Vermont Stage's mission statement is to create a future that makes a community a better place - and extremely noble goal.   Their goal first off is to entertain through stories that move us, remind us we are human, and remind us, in this hectic world, that everything isn't so serious. HAVE FUN!!! 

Vermont Stage offers 6-7 plays each season and a multitude of programs including Public Square Plays, Vermont Young Playwrights and adult summer classes in playwriting, Turning Experience Into Art, and Directing. 

Their next production is The Bake Off running June 17-21 in Burlington, and is a lively experiment where 3 playwrights create brand-new short plays based on a beloved classic. This year's classic is Arthur Miller's The Crucible, and with 3 directors and 3 casts, each play takes the source material in totally different directions. We were honored to have Catherine join our club meeting and check out the meeting presentation. 

To get tickets to The Bake Off, visit:    https://www.vermontstage.org/the-bake-off-2026.html

To learn more or donate to Vermont Stage, go to:     https://www.vermontstage.org/

To see and hear Catherine's presentation to our club, click on:     https://youtu.be/S6QhM5Iz1ao  

Our crack team of spellers – Lori Ledak, Elizabeth Davidson and Howard Novak – claimed victory at the Burlington Rotary Spelling Bee on May 21 at Champlain College.  The threesome bested fellow Rotarians from the Shelburne/Charlotte/Hinesburg, Essex, and Milton/Colchester clubs to regain the championship status we first won in 2024.

Additional rounds in the competition feature area businesses and students.

This annual fundraiser supports the Burlington Rotary Club's work to fight food insecurity and promote literacy.

Williston Rotary has had a long term commitment, both with financially and with club members mentoring, to the Connected Youth Mentoring Program at the Williston Central School and this year is no different. The program aim is to increase student confidence, social-emotional health, and and community connection, with research indicating that mentored youth often have better school attendance and higher aspirations. Our $500 gift to the program is but one part of our efforts and we are so proud to support our community youth. 

Pictured left Rotarian Jude Hersey and right WCS Mentoring program coordinator Becky Martell

On April 23rd, we made another donation to a community food shelf in our effort to fight food insecurity in the Williston, Richmond, and St George area. As shown, the Richmond Food Shelf and Thrift Store was our recipient for $1000. Our club has partnered with the Richmond Food Shelf for 3 years now with previous campaigns of GOT MILK, an effort to provide milk, cheese and other dairy products for Richmond and surrounding members in need of food.

To read more or donate to the Richmond Food Shelf, visit:      https://www.richmondfoodshelfvt.org/ 

Pictured Left to Right Peggy Curtis, RFS Program Director MaryJoy Patchett, and Rotary Grants and Donations Team Leader Sherry Pidgeon