Natick Rotary Sprocket

The meeting was called to order by President Trish, Sharon led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, Verna played and we sang (attempted the sing?) “The Exodus Song”, and Tobe provided our invocation

Guest: Lisa Vernegaard of The Sudbury Valley Trust, our guest speaker

Announcements:

· NO lunch mtg. next week! Instead we will have our annual Holiday Party on Tuesday December 15th 5:00pm @ Jack’s Abby Brewing

100 Clinton Street, Framingham – sign-up sheet was circulated by Bryant. Please bring a gift card ($10 dollar increments) to the event which we will give to The Natick Service Council

· December 22 mtg. will be the Yankee Swap @ the Natick Community Center

· Next Open Door will be January 14, 2016

· Help for holiday pick-ups at St. Linus will be Thursday Dec. 17th from 9:00-6:00. Angela announced we will also need volunteers to help w/ gift deliveries taking place Friday Dec. 18th at 9:00am. A sign-up sheet was passed and is attached here

· Sharon reminded us of an opportunity to sponsor “Sound and Spirit” as they are selling advertising space for their 1/17/16 performance. More info. can be found at www.soundandspirit.net

· Tobe has scheduled next year’s line-up of Rotarians for a Place to Turn food purchases. Please be on the lookout for an email copy of the schedule

· Michelle Cromwell has asked if any Rotarians are available for bell ringing during the holiday season for the Salvation Army. Please contact Michelle at (508)318-8628 or email her info

Guest Speaker: Lisa Vernegaard from The Sudbury Valley Trustees

The Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT) is tasked with protecting Natural Areas and keeping them as open space. The SVT’s area for protection is based on a watershed area which encompasses thirty-six communities. Their Headquarters is located on route 27 in Sudbury. They are a private, non-profit organization.

Lisa began by showing us photos of various wildlife and asking us to identify each. As a group we did pretty well although we were stumped by a whippoorwill.

Lisa mentioned that SVT works in cooperation with other local wildlife organizations like the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary. They also work with private land owners who are trying to find a way to put portions of their land into the Trust. Often the land owner sells the land to the Trust for a discount rather than selling it to a developer. They are presently working to purchase 210 acres which are part of Mainstone Farm in Wayland. The cost will be between $10 – $15 million dollars.

SVT also helps protect wildlife which needs to traverse back and forth over highways. Lisa cited an example of several underpasses on route 2 and showed videos of animals using it. Lisa showed pictures of a recent “controlled burn” used to revitalize a forested area.

She concluded by inviting us to join SVT. Go to www.sudburyvalleytrustees.org to see how.

Raffle: I am sorry to say I missed seeing whose ticket was chosen but I am quite sure he/she did not pull the elusive queen!