Dear Rotarians,
The Jaffrey-Rindge Rotary Club will meet this Thursday, December 19th, at 7:15am, at the Cathedral of the Pines.
This will be our last meeting in 2024. Our next meeting will occur on Thursday, January 9th, 2025.
Our special guest speaker will be Reuben Duncan, Superintendent of the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District, who will share plans for constructing a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) facilities at the Conant Middle High School campus. As proposed, these facilities would strengthen the local community by building connections between schools and industry partners.
As envisioned, this would be a One Time opportunity to secure $16,046,000 in grant funds from the State of New Hampshire for construction of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) building on the campus of the current Conant Middle High School (CMHS).
To obtain this $16+ million grant, the town would have to agree to BOND approximately $6,849,000 which would represent the community contribution to this project. This BOND could be paid off over ten years or fifteen years. The CTE project would create a multi-purpose building that provides instruction in new Construction Trades [Plumbing and Electricity], Culinary Arts [including an onsite "restaurant" open to the public during limited hours], and Public Safety. In addition, the plan is for this building to be open to Rindge and Jaffrey residents for evening and weekend use for multiple purposes, including adult education.
There are many interesting and innovative aspects to the plans for this Career & Technical Education project. J-R Rotarians and community friends are invited to come Thursday morning to have your questions answered.
Last Week's Highlights:
The meeting started with an invocation prayer led by Tom Hsu, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the patriotic song America the Beautiful. During the meeting, I announced the December 10th Board decision to nominate Tom Hsu as President-Elect and Donna Senechal as Vice President for the 2024-2025 term. The 2025-2026 Board Slate will be finalized during the January 7th Board meeting and presented to the club for voting at the January 9th meeting at the Cathedral of the Pines.
We were also treated to a beautiful and spontaneous performance of We Wish You A Merry Christmas by Bill, Owen, and Tom, which was pulled together on short notice. This Historic performance brought joy to the room and was performed via a very short request! I managed to capture the final portion on video. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZ4ge8C4lc.
The Rotary Club also supported two local nonprofit organizations, Jaffrey's Santa's House and Rindge's Santa's House. It was inspiring to hear about their incredible contributions to the community, and our club is very proud to support charitable giving and proud to have played a part in supporting their work. Thank you, Gail, the coordinator of our club's Charitable Giving Committee, for facilitating both organization's leaders to come to our Breakfast Meeting!
Upcoming Meeting:
I will be out of town this week, so our secretary and Assistant Governor, Bob Schaumann, will lead the meeting. I will miss this wonderful gathering, especially as we approach Christmas and the New Year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank you for your dedication, enthusiasm, and support. Together, we are making a real difference, and I look forward to all the great things we will accomplish in the coming New Year.
Yours in Service,
Rudra