CURRENT SCHEDULED SPEAKERS:

March 28th– Rotarian Ted Elzey – History of the Brookfield Floating Bridge

April 4th–Patrick Boyle–CEO of VT Manufacturing Extension Center

Sunrise Rotary has had some outstanding guest speakers.

Rotary International President Jennifer Jones from Canada spoke to the Randolph Sunrise Rotary club in the year prior to her becoming the first woman president of Rotray International since its founding in 1905.

Rotary International President Holger Knaack, from Germany, spoke to our club.

Rotary International Director Valerie Wafer from Canada spoke to our club.

Former Vermont Governor, Jim Douglas was also one of our guest speakers.

Sonny is proud to note that Jim had written the following endorsement about a book written by Sonny and his sister Betty, “Vermont is proud to have led the way in banning slavery in 1777, but the struggle continued. This book describes the role that Quakers, free blacks, and abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, played in that struggle. It brings to life the stories of Ben Robinson of Randolph, a former slave, and Alexander Twilight, the first black college graduate and legislator in the nation. You’ll learn about the ‘Factory Girls,’ who grew up on Vermont farms and toiled in the cotton mills of Massachusetts, enduring a life, sometimes, no better than that of a slave. ‘Run Away to Glory’ recounts the struggle for freedom and opportunity and reflects Vermont’s key role along that difficult path.” – Jim Douglas, former Governor of Vermont, 2003-2011.