April 10, 2024 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Our guests today were Phil LaMoreaux and speaker Cindy Simmons.
The 50/50 drawing was won by guest Phil LaMoreaux.l
Denise had the opportunity to draw for the card game but chose the 3 of clubs.
We began with Tony’s NH Trivia, Truly useless trivia edition.
Tony also reminded us that on Thursday May 2, we will have Rotary After Hours at the Dam Brewery at 5 pm and the dinner at the Sunset Grill at 6:15
Cleanup days are coming. Greg said that they are trying to have a trail crew day on May 4, to clean up downed branches, raking, trails, and assessing areas that might need chain saws or other heavy work. Signup sheets will be presented at next week’s meeting. Time will be announced closer to the date. The group will likely meet at the Rainbow Falls trailhead, and some may work off of Texas Hill Rd. He hopes to have groups set up to do trail work throughout the summer. They are trying to inventory all the trails in town. He noted that they spent 60 hours last year rebuilding the Rainbow Falls bridge.
Ken also noted that in Plymouth, the Parks department is now separate from the Recreation department. There are 4 employees for each of these departments. Parks does the hockey rink, fields for athletics, fields for the downtown oval, and rebuilds trails in Swanson Woods at the High School. Rec does the high school sports things.
The Circle Cleanup will be on May 18-19. The Kane cleanup is June 1. Sign up at Rotarycleans.org.
Denise has a contact (Kelsey) for Cruise Night on Green Street. It will be blocked off at 3 pm and people will be able to park at the Senior Center after it closes. We will be on the left side of the amphitheater (upstream) as the downstream side has lots of poison ivy. Setup will be at 3 pm, and a band will set up at 4:30 and play from 5 to 6:30. There will be one other food vendor, a food truck with snow cones. There is as special exemption for cash sales. We should be fine to sell 50/50 tickets. We should get a big sign that says Rotary Park. The date is July 31 (Wednesday) from 5-8.
Citizen of the Year: We need to get this finalized soon. Braden suggested compiling the entire list that the club generated so we can review the potential nominees.
Our speaker today was Cindy Simmons of Vet’s Rest Stop.
Cindy is on board of directors of Vet’s Rest Stop. The program was started by Jeff Ingalls, a 20 year Navy veteran who was held by Hezbollah for 17 days in the 1980s. He was beaten and terrorized and as a result developed PTSD and a traumatic brain injury. He felt that there was not enough help for vets in Grafton City and he started the group to address this need.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the group was able to buy a 4 1/2 acre property in Woodstock belonging to veteran, Alvin Lee, in exchange for paying off the mortgage on the property. Sadly, Jeff died only 3 months after the property was purchased, so he will not be around to see his dream become a reality.
VRS is building a series of tiny houses on the property, to serve as transitional housing for vets. Alpha and Bravo units are 580 sq feet, while Charlie and Delta units are bigger with a loft to accommodate families with children. The main house on the property is being renovated as a community center. There will be counseling rooms, yoga, a coffee room, speaker’s room, and a library. The idea is for veterans to live there and get help with issues such as underemployment, domestic relations, and other personal issues. The river runs below the property and the peaceful setting should help vets with their recovery. Jeff’s motto was “a hand up, not a hand out,” so veterans that live there will need to find a job and get involved with the community.
The hope is that families will stay for 6 to 12 months and then go to permanent housing. There is also a veteran who owns a mobile home park in Woodstock and he is hoping to get veterans to move in there. Jack Daly (Lincoln selectman) is acting as a mentor, through the VASH grant. VRS is hoping to make the program alcohol free but may not be able to guarantee this. They hope to get Alpha and Bravo occupied by the end of this year..
The volunteers get together 2 Saturdays a month to do work: carpentry, floor sweeping, anything that needs to be done. There have been extensive renovations on the main house. They are just about ready to side the tiny houses. The Interact club in Lincoln built the gazebo outside as a project. Aaron Fadden of Woodstock actually built the tiny homes at his home and put them on a truck and hauled them to the site; he also roofed the houses at no cost.
The group is now on Facebook and they have a website. They are a registered 501(c)3. Future ideas include getting a van to transport people to wherever they need to go. They have applied for a number of grants, both state and federal.
VRS’s first fundraiser is at the Woodstock Inn on June 1 starting at 5:30. There will be dinner, a live auction and silent auction, raffles and entertainment. Please purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are $50 per person for open seating and $450 to reserve a table for 8. To purchase tickets, call Nicole Tewksbury at 603-348-7361 or Nancy Ingalls at 603-348-8115. If you would like more information on VRS please email them at vetsreststop@gmail.com or PO Box 1151, Lincoln, NH 03251.
Happy dollars were shared by Denise, Tony, and Steve.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary