04/14/17 Bits & Pieces

President Laura Young opened the meeting at the Holiday Inn By-the-Bay by greeting 56 Rotarians, 1 visiting Rotarian and 4 guests.
   
Dave Small (at left) gave us an invocation explaining the history of Patriots’ Day. Past President Bowen Depke led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Kathy Grammer played the keyboard as we sang "America the Beautiful."

President Laura thanked everyone whose efforts made our meeting possible and welcomed our guests. She thanked the readers at Lyseth Elementary School and participants in the Locker Project, including Lionel Nima and Bruce Moore.

Laura also announced that our opportunity to help Portland’s disadvantaged at the Preble Street Resource Center for this month would be on Wednesday, April 26. Contact Erik Greven for more informataion or if you can help out: egrev95@aol.com.
 

Past President Jim Willey shared a "Rotary Moment" with us. Jim told us he initially joined Rotary in 1982 to network and find business connections that might help him for his newly-acquired company. He found that the most valuable part of Rotary was the diversity and the value of  fellowship that Rotary offered. Where else can you hobnob with the likes of 94-year olds Earle Leavitt and Bob Traill, along with twenty-somethings, like Alex St. Hilaire and Ben Millick.

Andreea Paine offered our song-of-the-day, with a merry band of Russ Burleigh and Bill Blount rounding out the trio to lead us in a rousing rendition of "Getting To Know You," with Kathy Grammer on the keyboard.

Katie Brown led our raffle, which was over $1,800 this week. Our speaker drew guest Steve Dahle’s name, who in turn drew the King of Diamonds, leaving the elusive Queen of Hearts available for next week’s candidate. 

Mike Fortunato shared the game plan for us to succeed in making this year’s "Maine Outdoor Challenge" another success. Mike encouraged everyone who is not participating on a team to volunteer for the event and bring a friend to the Lobster Bake on June 7th at the Amvets, North Road, Yarmouth. At the lobster bake, we will also have a silent and live auction, with Auctioneer/Past President Tom Saturley (who recently returned as a club member) officiating over the live auction. Mike announced that we need more high-quality items for the live auction. Please consider donating a cruise on your yacht or some time at your vacation home. Travis Parker and Alex St. Hilaire are also soliciting for the silent auction items, such as gift certificates donated by your favorite restaurant, a new lawn mower (thank you for the inspiration Harry Sawyer), etc. Please be creative in supporting our Club’s biggest fund-raiser. For more information/questions regarding item donations, please contact Travis (travisrparker@gmail.com) or Alex (alex.st.hilaire@td.com).

Rusty Atwood announced that the Maine Historical Society was having a "Mr. Longfellow's Cocktail Party and Magical History Tour" on May 12th and 13th. The cocktail party on May 12th will be from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and held at the beautiful and historic State Theatre, 609 Congress Street, Portland. The self-guided tour on May 13th will begin at the Maine Historical Society's Brown Library, 485 Congress Street, located next door to the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. Rusty encourages everyone to attend the events and said they are looking for volunteers to help with the cocktail party. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Rusty Atwood at: rra1362@me.com or 831-8017. Maine Historical Society website has additional information and tickets: mainehistory.org/support_magicalhistory.shtml

Roger Fagan called our attention to donation boxes (assembled by Russ Burleigh) for the purpose of soliciting used hearing aids to be refurbished and taken taken to the Dominican Republic in May, when the 3-H team makes their next trip to that country. The boxes can be positioned in strategic locations at members' own businesses or other highly-trafficked businesses. Roger asked that if you place a donation box, be sure to check back on it after a week. If the donations are not appearing or the donations are low, you might want to consider re-positioning the box at a different location or business. For more information, contact Roger at: drrogerfagan@gmail.com.

On Wednesday, May 3rd, there will be the annual 'Job Readiness and Interview Prep Day' at Deering High School from 10:15-10:55 a.m. Mock interviews will be held with high school juniors to help prepare them for real-life job interviews and making positive first impressions. For more information or to volunteer help, please contact Dave Small at: dsmall@nelsonsmall.com.