Bruce Robert Coffin retired from the Portland, Maine police department as a detective sergeant with almost thirty years of experience in law enforcement. At the time of his retirement, he supervised all homicide and violent crime investigations for Maine’s largest city. Bruce also had four years of experience with the counter-terrorism group of the FBI, where he earned the Director’s Award, the highest honor a non-agent can receive.
What do you do with all of that experience and exposure to crime? Well, you write crime novels. Bruce’s first novel, “Among the Shadows,” was hailed by critics, with Paul Doiron, author of “Widowmaker,” calling it the “best debut I’ve read in ages.” The novel is the first of a series featuring the character John Byron, with the second installment, “Beneath the Depths,” is due to be released on August 8. Bruce’s short story, “Fool Proof,” was named one of the twenty best mystery stories published in North American during 2015, and is included in Houghton Miflin Harcourt’s Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.
Bruce is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime New England, and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, and is a regular contributor to the Maine Crime Writers blog. He lives and writes in Maine.
(Photo L-R: Past President Roxane Cole, Mike Vail, Charlie Whittier, and President Don Zillman.)
Roxane Cole introduced our speaker Mike Vail, President of Hannaford Brothers. Among those who welcomed Mr. Vail was Portland Rotarian Charles Whittier, who retired as the Treasurer of Hannaford.
Mr. Vail spoke about Hannaford’s “Customer-Centric Innovation,” beginning with the company’s legacy of being founded in 1883 in Portland, Maine. Hannaford is headquartered in Scarborough and is Maine’s second largest employer, after Maine Medical Center. Today, the Hannaford supermarkets, selling food and groceries, are part of the Ahold Delhaize group, based in the Netherlands. Hannaford operates 181 stores in the U.S. Eastern market, with stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York. With 64 stores in Maine accounting for 40 percent of the company’s business. In 2016, Hannaford reported $5.8 billion in sales. The operating strategy was started by the founding Hannaford Brothers, who built the company’s reputation for supplying outstanding quality fresh produce.
Summer is the busiest time of year for Hannaford, with sales increases of 20 percent. May of 2017 was a challenging month for Hannaford in Scarborough, when a fire in a refrigerated tractor-trailer partially loaded with food was destroyed, causing extensive smoke damage to fresh products in the adjacent buildings.
Before joining Hannaford, Mike worked in Tampa, Florida and in North Carolina. When he came to Maine, he realized how Hannaford made a significant connection to the local market. Hannaford’s local program was previously called “Close to Home,” dedicated to working and supporting local food vendors in Maine. In 2008, the local program began working with farms and food producers around New England. Their marketing focus is to provide “fresh, local value to people.”
Hannaford and its employees are proud to support and reflect community programs. They efficiently distribute day-old and dented merchandise to food recovery organizations. The company is a strong supporter of the United Way, youth development programs and children’s sports. “Wreaths Across America” is a very special program supported by Hannaford, where the company provides a few trailer trucks and drivers to help transport the commemorative Maine-made holiday wreaths to be placed on the graves at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Nature’s Place is a private Hannaford brand, trending toward cleaner products, pulling unhealthy ingredients out of the produce. These items were needed to keep current with market trends. Consumers are educated about the use of pesticides in foods and organically-grown produce is popular.
A current challenge is the e-commerce and grocery merger between Amazon and Whole Foods. This merger will support opportunities for Hannaford to grow it’s e-commerce grocery program.
Other Hannaford innovations being offered are their “kitchen” test sites with one located in Bath, where food stations and in-store Wi-Fi makes the location accessible for meetings and informal gatherings.
On-line ordering with pre-arranged pickup windows is becoming more popular, with a small service charge of $3 on an order up to $100 and slightly more for larger orders. There are 39 Hannaford stores where “Hannaford To Go” is offered.
During the Q&A, several complimentary comments were made about Hannaford’s dedication to working with youth and for helping community programs where employees with disabilities are hired.
A beautiful July day was the backdrop for newly-minted President Don Zillman to ring the meeting bell, welcoming 59 members, 3 visiting Rotarians and 3 guests. Past-President Peggy Wescott served our invocation, we pledged our allegiance to the American flag, and our voices filled the New Hampshire room of the Holiday Inn as we sang our patriotic song, with Past President Russ Burleigh on the keyboard.
Appetites quenched, President Don began the “rich agenda” of news and highlights for the week.
Don proceeded to thank all those responsible for meeting day responsibilities.
5 of the 13 July “Birthday Rotarians” were in attendance and were honored in song, followed by Don’s recognition and tribute to Rotarians celebrating anniversaries of club membership.
Duly noted was Freem Etheridge – 47 Years as a Rotarian!
The “fascinating happenings” segment began with a note from Gracie Johnston, who is currently in Cambodia with her daughter and “The Sharing Foundation.” This organization operates an orphanage in Roteang village and is home to 75 or so children. The focus is on care, hygiene, nutrition and medical care. Gracie will return on July 18, and we look forward to hearing about her trip.
Don thanked Bob Traill for his 4th of July segment of “America The Beautiful” with photos. Nicely done, Bob! You can watch the video here >> Independence Day 2017
Past President Kris Rosado, with an analogy of two Beatles’ songs, presented a check to President Don from the proceeds of Maine Outdoor Challenge (MOC). “Imagine” is a song of hope; “Revolution” is a song about making it a better world. Moving to the MOC, our check of $25,546.67 will certainly help us to do things in our community that strive for both goals. “Remarkable!” stated Kris. Kris reminded us that there will be a meeting on July 12th at the Boys and Girls Club to review this year’s event. He mentioned something about prime rib being served, but that seemed a tad suspicious.
Good news! We will receive the full amount requested on a District grant: $4,000 for our reading program. Thank you to Past-President Laura for launching the program. This project involves Rotarians taking time to read to K-4th graders at area schools, plus providing books from which we read. For many of these children, this will be their first book of their own.
Happy News! You may have heard that Slugger Ben Lowry will be inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame (MBHOF) on July 23rd at the Holiday Inn. President Don recalled playing Rotary softball many moons ago and was assigned to play first base. Unsure of his ability to flash the leather, Don asked Ben for some advice on catching. “Just hold your glove out,” said Ben. “The ball will come to your glove.” No word on how that worked out. The MBHOF has not been in touch with Don.
With Jerry Angier conducting the weekly raffle, Charlie Whittier had a chance to win the pot of $518, but no such luck. Sorry, Charlie! The pot continues to grow for next week.
Meredith Small led us in song, “Rotary My Rotary” with Past President Russ Burleigh on keyboard. Two verses! Surely we sounded in top form.
Brian McDonough asked us to keep Ben Delcourt in our thoughts and prayers as his 72-year old father, Michael, was involved in a serious car accident on Rte 114 on July 6. We wish both of them well and his dad a speedy recovery.
Following is a list of our Club's volunteer projects. If you know of other opportunities, please contact Loretta: lrowe@maine.rr.com
When Project Who to Contact
The Locker July 24th Monday Project 12:00-1:00 pm at Reiche 2-3 volunteers Elementary Steve Phillips School email below volunteer@mainelockerproject.org
Preble Street 4th Wednesday ea month Resource Ctr 4-6:30 pm Soup Kitchen Gracie Johnston gracie.johnson@wcsh6.com
The following items are needed on an on-going basis. Please feel free to bring them to a meeting where we will collect and distribute them.
Crutches4Africa - Crutches, canes, folding walkers and wheelchairs to be shipped to Africa.
Toiletries for the Shelters - Collect those tiny bottles of toiletries you are paying for during your next hotel visit and bring them home for members of our society who find themselves staying at a shelter and in need of personal hygiene products.
As we receive applications for prospective members to join our Portland Rotary Club, the names of the applicants will be included in our Windjammer. Any information and/or comments you would like to share will be handled confidentially. Please contact Loretta Rowe: lrowe@maine.rr.com. Your input will be appreciated.
PROSPECT BUSINESS (Sponsor) Eileen Skinner Retired CEO (David Small) Mercy Hospital
Peter Moore Corporate Finance (Peter Goffin) Associates