The community-focused brewery, NU Brewery (pronounced “New”), founded by President Chris Ventimiglia (left in photo) of Freeport and CEO Russell Voss (right in photo) of New Gloucester, is located at 437 Lewiston Road in the beautiful rural community of New Gloucester, Maine.
Nu Brewery is a quality driven brewery with a mission to craft innovative beers. Taking an individualistic approach to brewing, Chris and Russell have a vision to innovate the end-to-end brewing process towards scalable, sustainable beers that their customers can enjoy in the tasting room, at their favorite eatery, or at home.
Nu Brewery’s Craft American Light Lager....the flagship in the line-up of beers (at right).... will be produced for wholesale and retail in cans, kegs, and crowlers.
Their tasting room is a “teaching tasting room.” It’s about letting people know what they’re drinking, teaching them what is actually put into their beer and that raises the value of what they’re drinking. Tours of the production room are offered when the tasting room is open.
The two men have been friends for 20 years, and they came up with the idea for the brewery four years ago. The process towards completion has been slow, but with an outpouring of community support, they are now sharing the brewery with their neighbors. Visit their tasting room and see for yourself. For more information, go to: nubrewery.com.
Last Friday at the Clarion Hotel, we had the pleasure of hearing from our new District 7780 Governor, Andy Glazier, who hails from the Kittery Rotary Club. Andy, whose energy seems infectious, would prefer to be called a “team leader” and not hold any formal title, but he is honored to be our leader, regardless of the nomenclature.
Andy had been a longtime “Rotary spouse,” attending functions and joining in on projects with his wife Pam, who had been a 30-year member. But he caught the fever for real during a Rotary International trip to Cuba and then another to Guatemala and the rest, as they say, is history. With his most recent RI convention in Hamburg, Germany, during which he was thrilled to see a presentation from our own club member John Curran alongside Yarmouth Rotarian and PDG Carolyn Johnson, Andy has now been to three RI conventions, with a reminder that next year’s festivities will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii (book early as this will certainly sell out!).
Governor Andy and the district are making “Grow Rotary” the mantra heading into the new year and he reminded all of us to include non-Rotarians in our local, district and international projects. After seeing and feeling what Rotary is all about, club memberships should grow over the next twelve months. And, with a fun one-day district conference entitled “Rotary Rocks” scheduled for October 5th at USM, there is a great opportunity for us all to share our passion with others within the local community.
The Rotary Foundation is a favorite topic and Andy gave us his take on some of the many ways that we can all help this fund continue to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, polio continues to take lives, with 42 casualties in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past year, but we are still so close to eradication and the Foundation is the key. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continues to match 2 for 1 donations, so we are still getting much needed support, but it takes an effort from us all, from increasing our annual giving to adding the Foundation to our estate planning, to help the fund grow and thrive.
Andy left us with encouragement and thanks, stating, “Keep doing good. Keep having fun.” Words for us all to live by!
President Amy convened the meeting at the Clarion and welcomed 45 members, 4 visiting Rotarians and 3 guests.
Paul Tully(photo at left) gave an historic invocation in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the successful U.S. moon landing of Apollo 11. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin formed the American crew that landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, while the third astronaut, Michael Collins, orbited above in the command module. The moon landing occurred in a divisive year, during the unpopular Vietnam War that was causing national dissent and there was racial strife and assassinations. Moreover, the Cold War continued and many wondered about the growing cost of the space program. Events had progressed quickly in just a little over 8 years since Alan Shepard had become the first American to fly into space, followed quickly by President John Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade was out. The Apollo 11’s successful mission to the moon brought the world together in the spirit of mankind for one short week in the middle of a hot July summer. A half a billion people watched while Armstrong and Aldrin explored walking on the moon, where they left a plaque with the inscription, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." We are still searching for that peace. Fast forward to 1985, Rotary International launched the Polio Plus program. It was the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Rotary has contributed more than $1.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. In addition, Rotary's advocacy has played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $7.2 billion to the effort. That's five times more children than the numbers of people in the world that watched the moon landing. Hopefully, we will some day place a plaque similar to the one on the moon, to read, "Here, men and women from the organization of Rotary set out to eradicate Polio. We came in hopes of health for mankind and we met the challenge.” We must finish what we started with the same resolve as those who put the first human on the moon.
Rotarian David Putnam (photo at right) presented a "Rotary Minute." He thanked Rotary for the 28 years of friendships he has enjoyed during his membership. He said his life's journey has been marked by three blessings: he thanked his parents for their support; to his wife, Pat, for saying "yes" to his marriage proposal; and is extremely grateful to have raised two adopted boys. Portland Rotarians inspire him, as well as the people in his church. He gave a special thank you for the opportunity to volunteer at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in Portland, with PP Jim Willey and Mike Fortunato.
Foundation Chair Dick Hall reported on the fiscal 2019 end-of-year Rotary Foundation contributions. A goal was established at the beginning of the year to raise $17,000 for the annual fund and the actual amount raised was $16,626. The Polio Plus fund goal for Portland Rotary was to raise $1,500 and the actual amount raised was $3,405. During 2019, Portland Rotary awarded seventeen Paul Harris Fellows. Donations to the Rotary Foundation supports Rotary International's important charitable "Peace through Service" humanitarian projects. District Governor Andy Glazier presented Nan Heald with her Paul Harris Award + 1 pin. Congratulations, Nan!
(Photo L-R: DG Andy Glazier, Nan Heald, and Dick Hall.)
Community Service Chair Gracie Johnston asked for volunteers to help at the Preble Street Soup Kitchen from 3:30-6:30 on Wednesday, July 24th. She then recounted how she went to the Portland Expo to show support for the recently arrived asylum seekers. While there, she took the opportunity to discuss with volunteers how Portland Rotary has been helping with the needs of the families who are in the process of being relocated from the Expo to temporary housing.
She also announced that a Community Service project to "stuff back packs" for children in need of school supplies is being organized. The backpacks will be stuffed for the Lyseth School students in Portland. A date, time and place will be announced shortly. Monetary donations for the school supplies to be placed in the backpacks are gratefully accepted. For more information, contact Gracie: gjohnston@portlandradiogroup.com.
PP Laura Young circulated a schedule for the CHE summer reading program, with the readers who signed up to participate in the program at North Deering Gardens. Rotarian volunteers will read donated books with children grades kindergarten through about 3rd grade. Each child will get to keep the book they selected to read. To volunteer or for further info, contact Laura at: lyoung@mainecf.org.
Terri St. Angelo announced the progress for the August 1, Second Annual Maine Cornhole Tournament. Registration is open for teams-of-two in the Pro-League and in the Recreation League. Teams are expected to attend from Maine and other states, because many players are interested in the Pro-League competitive game. Register a team at: www.NYA.org/cornhole.
The Cornhole Tournament will be held at North Yarmouth Academy, 148 Main Street, Yarmouth. Proceeds will benefit NYA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine and the local service projects of the Rotary Club of Portland. Games begin at 5 PM. A barbecue dinner is included in the registration, but non-players can purchase the meal separately for a mere $5.00 per person. Volunteers are needed for the event. For more information, go to: www.portlandrotary.orgor contact Terri at: tsaint@maine.rr.com.
Patty Erickson led the weekly raffle drawing, where the pot was up to $688, and our District Governor Andy Glazier drew PP Don Lowry's name from the holding vessel. The Queen of Hearts was not drawn at this time....as the pot continues to grow.
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 to the appropriate projects.
Crutches4Africa - Crutches, canes, folding walkers and wheelchairs to be shipped to Africa. Contact: Erik Greven at: egrev95@gmail.com
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.