President Don Zillman rang in the meeting noting it would be a busy one! 58 members were in attendance, with an exceptionally large guest list of 15 and 1 visiting Rotarian.
.JPG)
Past President Russ Burleigh’s invocation provided a historical recounting of important events on this day in U.S. history. He began by noting that the more things change, the more they stay the same. In 1900, 6,000 people were killed when a hurricane struck Galveston,Texas. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy killed 75 in Louisiana and Florida. Russ ticked off a list of other not-so-great news, however, was able to sprinkle in a few stellar moments in baseball, from Bob Feller – youngest pitcher to win 20 games (1939) to the ’78 game between Red Sox/Yanks, with the Yanks winning 13-2.
Our guest speaker, Ambassador David Pearce, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Kathy Grammer tapped out the Star-Spangled Banner on the keyboard as we sang along.
Returning attention back to the impending hurricanes down south, President Don spoke of the Rotarian relief effort and opportunities to donate. With Houston/Louisiana looking at $100 billion in rebuilding, and with all eyes on what lay ahead for Florida/Georgia, consider a donation to either the Red Cross, or the Rotary Foundation.
.JPG)
With back-up singer Past President Russ Burleigh, song leader Andreea Paine, led us on a vocal expedition of “If I Had A Hammer.” No doubt they did a great job.....however, the rest of the club introduced a variety of rare octaves and awkward tonal qualities to bring the song to its knees.
Past President Kris Rosado updated us on the Veterans’ Lunch set for November 10th at the Italian Heritage Center. Now is the time to reach out to Veterans you know and invite them. There is no charge for Veterans. The hall can hold 350 people – a perfect lunch would be 300 Veterans. Kris also thanked a growing list of sponsors who have already pledged $500, but we certainly need more. To get the information you need to present to a potential sponsor, contact Kris at kris.rosado@morganstanley.com.
David Small introduced our newest member, Eileen Skinner. Eileen was born, raised, educated and spent the first part of her working career in New Orleans. With a Masters in Health Administration from Tulane, Eileen built an impressive resume before coming to Maine in 2002 to be President and CEO of the Mercy Health System of Maine. Eileen has been the recipient of numerous leadership awards from a wide range of organizations, including the American Heart Association, Salvation Army, Girl Scouts of Maine and the Maine Business Hall of Fame, and that’s just the short list. Eileen’s newest adventure is a weekly commute from her home in Falmouth to Boston where she is now at the helm of the internationally renowned Boston Shriner’s Hospital For Children. Her husband John is a board-certified pathologist at Central Maine Medical Center. They have three grown children (youngest 23). Welcome, Eileen, to Portland Rotary!
)
.JPG)
Gus Karlsen announced that the MS Regatta trophy won last week in a show of superior skill and seamanship should be back in the club’s possession next week. There was no direct specific mention that our competition failed to show up, but hey, it’s our trophy now!
.JPG)
Alex St.Hilaire was in Berlin recently to visit friends and made his way to a local Rotary club for a lunch meeting. With 84 members and similar demographics as our club, Alex remarked that he was welcomed with open arms, even though they were not expecting any guests. “Where ever you go, when you meet other Rotarians, there are immediate friendships.” Alex presented President Don with their club banner, a fine memento from his visit.