Home Page | Rotary Club of Williston-Richmond

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Williston-Richmond, VT!

Service Above Self

We meet In Person & Online

Thursdays at 7:15 a.m.

Via Zoom and in person

Williston Federated Church
44 North Williston Road
Williston, VT 05495
United States of America

Be our guest! Club meetings feature interesting speakers, club business, shared inspiration and social networking. For a Zoom link, email us at rotaryclubofwillistonvt@gmail.com. Or join us in person at the Williston Federated Church Fellowship Hall.

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On the forefront of affordable housing

Locations : About : Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity Williston ReStore to reopen after months of fire, smoke damage repairs

DONATIONS RESTORE APPLY VOLUNTEER

are the 4 ways the community can support Green Mountain Habitat For Humanity.

Our speaker on November 11th was Brett Johnson, CEO of Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity (GMHFH). GMHFH is a 49-person nonprofit that builds affordable housing in 4 Vermont counties - Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle and LaMoille and manages 3 ReStores in Williston, Milton, and Swanton that fund a portion of the new builds. GMHFH is also part of a 900 chapter / affiliate network of Habitat for Humanity located in over 70 countries worldwide, but Brett pointed out that most chapters have to get local funding for their chapters – it does not come from the head location.

Funding housing projects is a huge part of making these homes a reality, which come from individuals, businesses and ReStore activities. Currently ReStore might fund 2-4 housing projects today, but as GMHFH moves from the current 5 new home builds per year to the projected 16 -24 new home builds yearly, the need for community support is paramount.

To hear and see Brett's presentation to our club, click on: https://youtu.be/xc38Z2whbU0

To read more or donate to Green Mountain Habiltat For Humanity, visit: https://vermonthabitat.org/

Visibility to End Polio

Our thanks to Kevin Unrath and the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library for hosting a display in honor of World Polio Day. The exhibit explains Rotary's commitment to eradicating the disease, how close we are to that goal, and how just a few dollars protects a child for life.

A Rotary Fundraiser at WCS

Williston Rotary again has a booth at this year's Williston (Central School) Craft Fair, selling handmade goods and giving ALL PROCEEDS to Williston Rotary Charities to support events, scholarships, and donations to other non-profits.

Last year, Sherry Pidgeon, Chris Stewart, Ellie Beckett and Sally Stockwell-Metro made $3900. selling wooden bowls, cutting boards & jewelry boxes, watercolor greeting cards, and baby/doll clothes, more than doubling the previous year's take.

This year, the 4 again are selling their goods but additional Rotarians/spouses are providing goods for the first time including Cindy Ody-Ortego (Santa gnomes), Gerry Ortego (wall mounted coat racks), Tracy Seamster (holiday ornaments), Jocelyn Adam (reed baskets), and Donna Conte (infinity scarves).

If you have handmade crafts you want to DONATE, reach out to us at mailto:rotaryclubofwillistonvt@gmail.com

If not, come out and support the show and your local Rotary with a few purchases before the holidays.

Buy a Bag at Hannaford in Nov to Support Williston Rotary charities

November 2026's Community Bag program receipient is your own Williston-Richmond Rotary club.

For each strong and reusable bag purchased, Hannaford will donate $1 to our club for the events we run and scholorships we provide our community.

Even if you have enough reusable bags at home, you can always purchase and donate bags to your local Food Shelf (Williston or Richmond). Food Shelfs can always use bags for their clientele's needs, and it's a win-win situation. Make a difference this November.

Wheels for Warmth Volunteering

This year, Williston Rotary decided to partner with and support Casale Waste in the statewide Wheels for Warmth campaign in Williston, and about 17 Rotarians volunteered Thursday and Friday at Casale Waste Systems (220 Avenue B in Williston) collection of tires.

Wheels for Warmth has 3 goals -

* Raise funds for emergency heating assistance for distribution to indivduals and families in need

* Create a resource of DMV-inspected tires that are deemed safe for at least 1 season to Vermonters in need at reasonable prices

* Provide a convenient, inexpensive way to dispose unwated tires, reducing the number of tires discarded in rivers or along our roadways

In over 20 years, about 80,000 tires have been repurposed or put back into use and over $1million has been raised for emergency fuel assistance.

If you want to buy any of these tires on Saturday Oct 31st, go to

Vermont Granite Museum, 7 Jones Brothers Way, Barre, VT
Casella Construction, 1385 US-7, Pittsford, VT

To see our Photo Album of the event, go to: photoalbums/2026-wheels-for-warmth

Grants and Foundation

Rotary International 2026-2027 create lasting impact message

Marilyn Bedell, District 7850 Global Grants Chair, joined our club meeting with her husband Ronald as a representative of our district to discuss current vision, mission, grants (and how they work) and Foundation (and its importance).

For those not in Rotary (or those who appreciate a good refresher), this year's message from Rotary International is Creating Lasting Impact, which is meant to shift focus on temporary fixes to sustainable generational change. Our current mission statement Together, we see … is listed above and is a truly holistic focus on global, community and personal impact.

Regarding Grants, money donated to Rotary International (the parent org above the local club or district) can be sent to either an area of change such as polio, clean water, peacebuilding, disease prevention, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, community economic development, and the evironment OR the World Share Fund. All support important areas important to Rotarians, but giving to the world shared fund actually triggers a quarter of all funds given to flow back to our local district in 3 years, which get redistributed as Grants. To date, our club received ONE $1000 grant in the last 2 years for the Richmond Food Shelf.

To see and hear Marilyn's talk with our club, go to: https://youtu.be/uA64fFkSmoE

To donate to Rotary International, visit: https://www.rotary.org/en/get-involved/ways-to-give

13 ways why a library matters

DAML

When you become a member in Rotary, you are assigned a classification relating to your profession. Each new Rotary member or transferee is asked to give a "classification talk" after they have been in our Club for 1 - 6 months to share their life stories and journey with other members in order to develop deeper personal relations with club members beyond your work in Rotary.

On Oct 22, Rotarian Unrath, Director of the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library (DAML), shared his journey including his education as a World Literature major, becoming Director of the Middlebury VT Library and on to his current post at the DAML. Kevin has a certain view of why libraries matter, and in giving his thoughts on the matter so many times, he boiled it down to 13 ways why a library matters. For literature buffs, this is a take off on “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” poem by Wallace Stevens written in 1917 that explores how a single object can be view through multiple distinct points of viewpoints and realities.

13 Ways a Library Matters by Kevin Unrath

LIBRARIES:

*level the playing field

*are extremely popular, and actually the most popular cultural activity in the US

*are deeply about important long-term topics

*have a power of ideas that change the world

*places where you can find hard-to-find new ideas

*are where history is preserved and reintroduced to new generations

*protect the freedom for all individuals to make up their own mind

*are inherently green institutions - one book read over and over saves trees from being cut down for paper

*are weather-disaster locations and internet connection stations for community members

*have tech expects that can scan docs for you and provide some computer tablet support

*help children learn to read

*are places for teens and tweens to hang out and geek out

*can take you anywhere in the world or even across the galaxy with ever leaving home

To see and hear Kevin's classification talk w our club, go to: https://youtu.be/8Y9nFUCWQaM

To read more or donate to the DAML, visit: https://damlvt.org/

To read Wallace Steven's 13 Ways of looking at a blackbird, go to: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45236/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-blackbird

100s of kiddos enjoy Trunk or Treat

Sun shines on Trunk-or Treat event | Community | willistonobserver.com

Courtesy of the Williston Observer

The weather cooperated for the 6th annual Trunk or Treat Trunk held my Williston-Richmond Rotary, the Williston Federated Church, and the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library.

If you haven't been to our event before, Trunk or Treat is a safe alternative to traditional trick or treating since it is a pedestrian only space away from traffic and unknown streets, and it so SO MUCH FUN.

To see our photo album, go to: photoalbums/2026-trunk-or-treat

Daffodils brightening our community

On a beautiful fall day, October 24th, a service team of Rotarians planted 250 daffodil bulbs in the park in Williston community park. Daffodils are a spring flower that multiply over time and a wonderful addition, deer don’t like to eat them. Many hands made light work and our diggers/ planters worked together to accomplish the task in about 90 minutes.

In the words of Audrey Hepburn- “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

Williston Richmond Rotary believes in small additions to our community have a life long impact.

Another Bench for the Williston Community

When you go around town, you may see benches that were donated and maintained by the Williston-Richmond Rotary club. We have been placing and maintaining these benches for over 25 years.

Our lastest bench, number 12, has recently been placed in Williston Woods.

Other benchs in Williston & Richmond are at:

River Cove Animal Hospital
Rte 2 and Industrial Ave
People's United Bank on Paul Street
Taft Corners Shopping Center on Talcott
Adams Farm at Old Stage and Mountain View (and garden)
Downtown Richmond
Two at WCS at Central School Drive
Three in Allen Brook Nature Trail

Special thanks to Rotarian Water Nardelli for coordinating the program for the last 2 years and having the latest bench repaired and placed in Williston Woods.

One the Road at Lyric Theater

Home - Lyric Theatre Company Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella - Lyric Theatre Company

As part of this year's “a monthly meeting on the road” program to engage deeper with our community, our club took a road trip to Lyric Theater on Green Tree Drive and met with Vonnie Murad, Education Chair and Sean Leach, Stage Manager for a magical behind the scenes looks at theater. After learning that the Lyric has 200-300 volunteers behind the scenes to pull off a musical or play, we got to see sets being built, clothing being created, and props being engineered, plus room upon room of sets, clothing, props from the past 30+ years of Lyric theatrical events.

The Lyric has 2 main productions upcoming - Elf The Musical in November with Sean as Stage Manager, and Cinderella in the Spring with Vonnie as Stage Manager.

To view our photo album from the trip, here's the link: photoalbums/visit-to-lyric-theatre-space

To see and hear Sean and Vonnie's talk with our club, go to: https://youtu.be/ePJMm1e7L60

To read more about or donate to Lyric Theater, click on: https://lyrictheatrevt.org/

For tickets to Elf The Musical, go to: https://www.flynnvt.org/see-and-do/fy27-elf/

It Takes Little To Be Big

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont | Brattleboro VT

It was a pleasure to have Amy Perry, Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of NH and VT join our Oct 1st club meeting and talk to us about mentoring through BBBS. Their current campaign is “It Takes Little to Be Big” meaning small actions, ordinary moments and a modest investment of time can create a massive, life-changing impact on someone else. Since volunteer mentors in this program are called BIGS, being BIG (making a difference) only requires giving a LITTLE bit of time and care.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters is a 122 year old organization that operates 235+ local agencies across the US with BBBS NH joining in 1966, BBBS VT joining in 1975, and then both agencies merged as BBBS NH & VT in 2025. The mission of BBBS is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.

To see and hear Amy's talk with our club, go to https://youtu.be/DGezJjy66LM

To read more about or donate to BBBS NH & VT, click on https://bigsnhvt.org/

World Polio Day, Oct. 24 - Celebrate & Take Action

World Polio Day is a time for Rotary members, public health advocates, and all who want a world free from polio to come together, recognize our progress in the fight to end polio, and talk about the actions we need to take in order to end polio for good. When we eradicate polio worldwide, it will join smallpox as the second human disease ever eradicated.

Why work to end polio?

Improve lives

20 million people are walking today who would have otherwise been paralyzed by polio.

Protect the future

If the eradication efforts of Rotary and our partners stopped today, within 10 years as many as 200,000 new cases of paralytic polio could occur around the world each year.

Improve child health

Polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns also monitor children for other health problems like vitamin deficiency and measles, so they can be addressed sooner. Learn more about Rotary’s commitment to improve child health.

Make history

Polio eradication would be one of history's greatest public health achievements, with polio following smallpox to become only the second human disease eliminated from the world. Be a part of history .

An opportunity to honor a veteran

The Williston-Richmond Rotary Club is offering the opportunity to honor a beloved veteran with a custom-inscribed brick to be installed by the Town of Williston in the patio at the town’s War Memorial. The memorial, beside Town Hall, is the site of a special public observance each year to recognize veterans who have served our country.

Two brick sizes are offered for purchase: 4” x 8” and 8” x 8”. Typical content includes the name, branch of service and dates for each veteran. Larger bricks may feature multiple veterans. Bricks may also include an optional emblem of the branch of service.

For more information and to receive order forms call or email Phil Stevens at 802-734-7477, philipsstevens@gmail.com.

Welcoming our new Chief of Police in Williston

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

Afghan support in Vermont

Our speaker for Sept 3 was Al Belluche, President of the Vermont Afghan Alliance. A quick 5 years has passed since the US withdrew from Afghanistan and Vermont stands strong with 650 Afghans in our state (100 Afghans per every 100,000 Vermonters).

Sometimes people forget history, but the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to dismantle the terrorist group al-Qaeda and overthrown the Taliban regime that protected its leaders after the Sept 11 attacks on the US. The Taliban gave a safe home and training camps to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. America then stayed to fight the Taliban and al-Qaeda for the next 20 years before deciding to withdraw, end the war and bring our troops home.

Afghans were vital allies to the US during those 20 years, risking their lives for our mission while working as interpreters, contractors and guides to our troops, diplomats and aid workers. The US made a solemn pledge to provide refuge to Afghans to live their lives without fear and persecution in return for their aid in our operations.

To see and hear Al's presentation to our club, go to: https://youtu.be/Jz2EKy6eEh0

To learn more about or donate to the Vermont Afghan Alliance, visit: https://www.vtafghanalliance.org/

Rotary Day at Wild Meadows

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!!

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

The Williston Fire Department hosted the annual 9-11 Remembrance at the station at 645 Talcott Road at 8:45am. More than 70 community members took part in the 20-30 minute event, including 13 Williston Rotary members and 20+ Fire and Police Department personel.

The community was honored to have speeches from representatives of the Williston Fire Department, the Williston Police Department's new Chief Brian LaBarge, Williston Town Manager Erik Wells and the Fire Department's Chaplain (and Rotarian) Pastor Paul Eyers. A wreath was laid at the flags outside the firehouse.

Fundraiser for Wood4Good at the Champlain Fair

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.

Rotary member McKew McDevitt's Classification Talk

On August 27th, McKew shared his upbringing in a family of 5 growing up in Montgomery, NY (near New Paltz in the Hudson Valley), his first connection with Rotary as an exchange student / scholarship winner to Spain where he found his love for the Spanish language, his 23 years as an adjunct professor at UVM teaching Spanish from beginner to advanced level, and his two international service projects – one in the Dominican Republic raising money and then building houses with the funds, and the second for El Camino de Santiago, the network of ancient walking and cycling pilgrimage routes across Europe.

At the conclusion of McKew's talk, he shared the Robert Frost poem, Mending Wall, and it's connection with the 4-way test. Whether you are new to Frost or know this poem well, the famous line is “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” that the neighbor of Frost inherited from his father and refused to question the need for the barrier or ask Is It the Truth?

To read the Robert Front poem in it's entirety, go to: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall

To hear McKew's classification talk, the link is: https://youtu.be/HhiaWMoeX2s

Welcoming new members Debra Fay and Mike Artist

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.

STEAM at the DAML

Williston Rotarian Bonnie Lord-Meunier, Assistant Director and Youth Services Librarian at the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library spoke to our club on August 13, 2026 about STEAM and why it is important to kids and the community.

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, and adds the Arts to traditional STEM programs. As a quick bit of history, STEM actually started as SMET (not as catchy as a phrase) back in 1957 when the US passed the National Defense Education Act to boost science and math funding after the USSR launched Sputnik. Educators and the National Science Foundation started using the term SMET in the 1990s, and in 2001, the NSF changed to the friendlier term STEM. STEAM (adding the Arts) was launched in 2006 and became mainstream in 2011. The term STEM is still used by government grants, news media, schools and job markets but STEAM is gaining steam.

The DAML offers Afterschool STEAM activities featuring hands-on activities, creative challenges, and unique learning projects along with providing STEAM backpacks filled with interactive activities and books for kiddos to take home and explore.

The future library expansion incorporates a physical STEAM room space in the building layout to include tech equipment such as 3D printers and the needed safety systems and electrical upgrades for these new technologies.

To learn more or to donate to the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, go to: https://damlvt.org/index.php

Inspiring Youth

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.

Planting the Seeds to Create a Lasting Impact

One of the jobs of the District Governor is to reach out and visit each of the Rotary clubs within their District, and it was a treat to have DG Ariel Mondlak come to our club meeting on Aug 6th.

With a tie in to Rotary International's 2026-27 message Creating a Lasting Impact, one main topic from Ariel was Planting the Seeds to Create a Lasting Impact, a District-wide initiative to plant milkweed to support monarch butterflies across the Northeast. Like Johnny Appleseed from the 1790s, Ariel passed out milkweed seed packets for home garden plots. You just need a 10'x10' area to start a milkweed and select nectar flower plant garden.

To see and hear Ariel's presentation to our club, visit: https://youtu.be/vqtYMxnAR48

4-Way Test - The Rotary Way

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/

Vermont State University staff

Nov 12, 2026 7:15 AM

VTSU Evolution and Programs in Williston

Wendy de Forest

Dec 03, 2026 7:30 AM

Richmond Free Library

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Are you interested in a way to give back to your community? We're welcoming volunteers to join our many local service projects. Whether you have just a few hours or time for a weekly commitment, Williston-Richmond Rotary invites you to join us in activities to help others and support our community.

Do you know of a need in our community? We want to hear from you about how we can help.

Contact us! To find out about volunteer opportunities and to share your ideas for how we can serve, email us at RotaryClubofWillistonVT@gmail.com.