09/16/16 Portland Rotary Club Assembly

Posted by Alan Nye
 
President Laura Young presided over a Club Assembly where she and various committee chairs filled in the members attending on what the goals and plans were for the upcoming Rotary year. President Laura shared Portland Rotary's Vision Statement of the next five years by focusing on:
  • High-Impact local Childhood Hunger and Education (CHE) efforts
  • Life-changing Hearing, Hands, and H2O (3H) international service projects
  • Active mentoring and career guidance program for high school students in Portland
  • Diverse and inclusive membership
  • Effective system to attract and retain members
  • Annual signature event
  • Thought-provoking and relevant speakers.
Portland Rotary’s Strategic Plan will continue with the CHE and 3H efforts and will also emphasize fundraising, vocational services, diversified membership, diverse programming and increased visibility of the club through effective public relations.
 
Youth Services Chair, Janelle LoSciuto, informed us that the committee has and will continue to be focused on the education component of our CHE initiative. We will continue to support our Starting Strong Summer Reading and Longcreek programs. Interact at Portland High School is growing with Glenn Nerbak as club liaison. Our club increased its support of RYLA to 12 students in 2016. We also provided a $1500 grant to multilingual high school students to purchase tickets to cultural events to broaden the horizons of those that might not otherwise be able to attend such events. Finally, Janelle showed us a reading PSA video we funded with the United Way: How to Read to Your Child.
 
Public Relations Chair, Linda Varrell, discussed her goal of helping the club and committees with public awareness of activities and events, promoting community leadership and club membership, and making the community more aware of the positive impact of Rotary.
 
 
Fundraising Chair, Kris Rosado, let us know that the 6th annual Maine Outdoor Challenge will be held June 5-7, 2017. He said that since 1988 our club’s Service and Memorial Fund has given 121 student scholarships ($71,000) and grants ($132,663) to a wide variety of worthy causes and organizations. Since our club began, Portland Rotary has raised and contributed $933,811 and we’ve partnered with over 200 different organizations. Kris let us know that his goal is to grow our Charitable Fund’s Permanent Account from what it is today (approximately $175,000) to $1,000,000. He proposed to do that by direct contributions and future bequests. So if you haven’t been approached yet to contribute is some way within your financial means, then be prepared to give when called upon.
 
Dick Hall adeptly substituted for Rotary Foundation Chair, Peter Goffin, and gave us a brief history of the Rotary Foundation, reminding us of its guiding principles: World Peace through Service. Dick told us that the Rotary Foundation’s focus is on promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education and growing local economies. District 7780 will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary with an event to be held on Thursday November 10, 2016 at the Sable Oaks. The District's goal for the 100th celebration is to have 100 people make a $10,000 commitment to the Rotary Foundation. This can be done by direct donation, transferring assets, employee matching gifts, a 10-year commitment to the Paul Harris Society, or estate plan commitments. To join or get more information, speak with Dick or Amy Chipman.
 
It’s clear that Portland Rotary is in good hands with President Laura, along with the active support and dedication of Committee Chairs and members, no goal is out of reach!