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Russell Hampton
ClubRunner
Speakers
Nov 17, 2017
Nov 24, 2017
Dec 01, 2017
Dec 08, 2017
Dec 15, 2017
Dec 22, 2017
Dec 29, 2017
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Executives & Directors
President
 
First Vice President
 
Second Vice President
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Immediate Past President
 
Sergeant-at-Arms
 
Director Term End 2018
 
Director Term End 2018
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Community Service Chair
 
International Service Chair
 
Vocational Service Chair
 
Youth Service Chair
 
Rotary Foundation Chair
 
Club Protection Officer
 
Vision Champion
 
Communications-WJ Bulletin Ed
 
Communications-PR External
 
Constitution/ByLaws Chair
 
Fund Raising Chair
 
Good Cheer Chair
 
Invocation Chair
 
Meeting Day Chair
 
Music Committee Chair
 
Program Chair
 
Membership Chair
 
Web Administrator
 
Administrative Coordinator
 
Welcome to the Rotary Club of Portland, Maine!
Portland Rotary
Service Above Self
We meet Fridays at 12:15 PM
Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
88 Spring Street
Portland, ME  04101
United States
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DON'T FORGET - SHOE DRIVE THIS FRIDAY!
Reminder......we are having a shoe drive for Preble Street Resource Center this Friday! Bring your gently-used or new shoes or boots to the meeting for the benefit of the less fortunate in our city. All sizes welcome! Check the bottom, top and backs of your closets for those shoes you hardly wore and let someone who really needs them have a chance for warm feet. 
 
Thank you.
 
Rotary This Week
 
Portland Rotary meets
November 17, 2017 at the
Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
2nd floor York Room
(take stairs to 2nd floor - turn left, room on left)
(take elevator to 2nd floor, turn left off elevator, turn right, room on left)
 
*11/17/17 Jennifer Hutchins, Ex Dir Maine Assn Nonprofits

Jennifer Hutchins became the Executive Director of the Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) in July 2016, where she leads a member network of more than 900 charitable nonprofits and 150 private partners. 

Prior to joining MANP, Jennifer was Executive Director of Creative Portland, where she led the City of Portland’s efforts to strengthen the creative economy. She is a co-author on the seminal 2004 report published by the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service on Maine’s Creative Economy conducted for Governor Jon Baldacci. She was the Director of Communications and External Affairs at the USM Muskie School for nine years and Marketing Director at Portland Stage Company from 1995-2000. Her career got its start at organizations in Washington D.C. and abroad before returning to Maine and deciding it was the best place for her to make a difference. 

She holds a master’s degree in public policy and management from the USM Muskie School and lives in Portland with her husband and two daughters.
 

11/10/17 Special Veterans' Appreciation Lunch

Jack Rioux, George Alexander, and his brother, Lou, sons of fishermen, grew up together on Peaks Island and did everything you could image together on Peaks Island in the late ‘40’s and early ‘50’s. Inseparable until they graduated from high school, Jack and Lou enlisted in the Air Force at the end of the Korean war, and served 25-year careers as bomber mechanics around the world. “I served two tours in ‘Nam,” Lou said. “We ferried bombers from Florida to the RVN, and kept them in shape.” George enlisted in the Coast Guard a few years later, serving on the weather ship that navigated the east coast from Portland to Florida. When his boat returned to base in Portland, he walked over to the Casco Bay Line dock to take the ferry home to Peaks. George and Jack joined the Portland Fire Department after they retired, and Lou went to work for Maine Med. They have stories, and they like to tell them.

These three gentlemen, along with 175 of their fellow veterans, and 110 other attendees were welcomed by President Don Zillman at Portland Rotary’s 3rd Annual Veterans' Day Appreciation Lunch last Friday held at the Italian Heritage Center.

Everyone enjoyed Denny Breau’s musical prelude, and rose to attention for the 1st Battalion 25th Marines Presentation of Colors, the Pledge led by Past President Bob Traill, the National Anthem, led by Kathy Grammer, and Major Kim D’Amaro’s invocation.  

All glasses were raised high to join Past President Kris Rosado’s (at right) toast to our “Fallen Comrades,” as he explained that we had a “Fallen Comrades Table” set up in the front of the room. Kris shared the symbolism of the items placed on the table:

• The folded Flag represents that this reserved table is set for all who have fallen or are missing after answering the call of duty.
• A single setting symbolizes the decision they each made to answer that call.
• The tablecloth and napkin are white, symbolizing the purity of their motives.
• The vase is tied with a ribbon, symbolizing their love of our country.
• The single rose reminds us of the families and loved ones who keep the faith of those who served.
• A slice of lemon on the bread plate reminds us of their bitter fate.
• Salt upon the bread plate is symbolic of their families’ tears from their loss.
• The chair is empty because they cannot be with us today, and the glass is inverted because they cannot join us in this toast.

During lunch, many of the veterans in the room shared stories between themselves and their tablemates, talking of family, travels, and reminiscences of military service. These were conversations between ordinary people.

Lou Alexander liked that Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (at left) delivered the keynote address, because of his involvement with the VFW. “She gets it,” he said as the Congresswoman talked about her efforts, and those of the other members of Maine’s congressional delegation, to secure benefits for veterans, and ease service claims at the VA. “We’re pleased to add another community-based outpatient clinic in Portland,” she said. “In a rural state like Maine, it’s difficult for veterans to have to travel long distances for care.” She also drew attention to a rare occurrence in today’s Congress, the unanimous approval of the Veterans Fair Care Debt Notice Act, a bill she sponsored to relieve those who had become snared in the VA’s bureaucracy. 

Chellie spoke of plans to help veterans deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and provisions in the Farm Bill to assist veteran farmers, as well as help qualified veterans purchase food from farmers markets. “A lot of this depends on the overall budget,” she said. “The funds are there, it’s just a matter of applying them here. Our recognition of veterans has to be more than a day off and a flag.” 

Joe Reagan, a veteran of the 10th Mountain Division, who holds the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, is Vice Chairman of Veterans Count, an organization focused on providing a range of services to veterans. “When I came home, I received a standing ovation in the airport. For those of you who did not get that welcome home, you deserve it.” 

Since its founding in 2006, Reagan reported, Veterans Count has served over 5,000 veterans; prevented 112 suicides; protected 1,000 families from foreclosure; helped 2,000 individual veterans obtain mental care; and, distributed over $2.6 million to veterans in need. “Ninety percent of the funds we raise go directly to vets,” Reagan said. He said his organization works first to establish trust with vets, taking care of basic needs, and then moves to help get them treatment for PTSD, and employment. “The VA does a great job of helping vets with physical injuries, but has difficulty handling complex injuries like PTSD or brain trauma,” he said. 

He pointed to one story of a veteran assisted by Veterans Count who was talked out of committing suicide. “It was a tough situation, but we prevented it. Now that individual has his own construction company with ten employees. Many lives were impacted by that effort.”

Past President Larry Gross (standing at left with President Don Zillman and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree) presented Kristina Sabasteanski, Executive Director of Veterans Adaptive Sports & Training (VAST), with compound bows and a three-wheel bike to be used at the VAST facility at Pineland Farms.

(Photo right: PP Kris Rosado, Kristina Sabasteanski, Steve Stromsky and PP Don Lowry.)

Larry also commented on the effective work done with the Southern Maine Agency on Aging’s Vet to Vet program, which breaks down the isolation of older vets.

Kathy Grammer and Past President Russ Burleigh, accompanied by Betty Rines on trumpet, led the singing of the military service branch songs—a club Veterans' Day tradition that gives everyone a chance to cheer for their fellow members who rise to be recognized when their branch’s song is sung. George stood for the Coast Guard's  “Semper Paratus,” and waved at the applause. Lou rose to sing the Air Force's “Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder,” his hand on Jack’s shoulder because it was too difficult for him to stand; we sang the Navy's “Anchors Aweigh,” the Marines' “The Marine Hymn,” and the Army's “Caissons Go Rolling Along,” applauding all those who stood. 

Many veterans and guests commented how much they enjoyed the event, and the gifts of a scarf and recognition pin. In some ways, the men and women in the room who served in the armed forces are just average people...but in another way, they are extraordinary: they accepted the challenge of military service knowing it could cost them their lives. All the veterans in the room, and across the country, deserve the commendation we extended last Friday.


 

 

Photo Corner
Additional photos taken at our memorable Veterans' Appreciation Lunch:
 
Marine Major Wallin and Mike Fortunato
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Betty Rines, trumpeter, and Kathy Grammer, keyboardist.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Tricycle presented to VAST.
This Week's Duty Assignments

Invocation:  Gracie Johnston
Program Reporter:  Erik Jorgensen
Bits & Pieces Reporter:  John Marr
Registration/Greeter:  Bruce Jones
Sell Meal Tickets:  Ellen Niewoehner
Raffle:  Jerry Angier
Badge Box:  Rusty Atwood
Collect Meal Tickets:  David Clough (if needed)
Song Leader:  Janelle LoSciuto
Keyboard Player:  Russ Burleigh
Sgt-at-Arms (Setup):  Charlie Frair
Sgt-at-Arms (Take Down):  Matt Tassey

Rotary Meeting Locations

If you would like to mark your calendars,
we are scheduled at the following locations
through March 2018:

2017
Nov 17 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Nov 24 - NO MEETING - HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Dec 01 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Dec 08 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay

Dec 15 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Dec 22 - NO MEETING - HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Dec 29 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay

2018
Jan 05 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Jan 12 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay

Jan 19 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Jan 26 - Clarion Hotel

Feb 02 - Clarion Hotel
Feb 09 - Clarion Hotel

Feb 16 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Feb 23 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay

Mar 02 - Clarion Hotel
Mar 09 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Mar 16 - tbd
Mar 23 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Mar 30 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay


Blue BOLD dates are scheduled Board meeting days.

Any questions, please contact Loretta at: lrowe@maine.rr.com
 

Volunteer Opportunities
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


Preble Street        4th Wednesday ea month
Resource Ctr        4-6:30 pm
Soup Kitchen        Gracie Johnston
                           gracie.johnston@wcsh6.com


Game Night         3rd Tuesday ea month
Long Creek          Mike Fortunato
Youth Center        michael.k.fortunato@gmail.com
                           or Jim Willey
                           jimandbarbarawilley@gmail.com


Crutches4Africa   Saturday, Nov. 18
                          9:30-11:30 a.m. 15 people
                          and

                          10:30-12:30 10 people
                          20 Gooch St., Biddeford
                          Dennis Robillard
                          468-0043 

 

Item Donations Needed
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.
Prospective Rotarians

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)                                                                           
Ben Jackson                North Yarmouth Academy
(Transferring Rotarian)

Thank you.

   
From The World of Tennis

ROTARY DOUBLES TENNIS LEAGUE
Fall/Winter Session 2017 

For information, contact Tennis Commissioner, Erik Jorgensen or Bill Blount.

Here are the standing after week nine:

TEAM 1TEAM 2TEAM 3TEAM 4TEAM 5TEAM 6
LowryBarnsBourdeauBlakeslee
Seddon
Gross
NoyesBlountPullenMooreHallNickerson
IngramHerodesPutnamYoungAschChipman
Grammer
St Hilaire
MillickCarrJorgensenBowker
781371717