This Week's Meeting: Club Assembly, led by President Patty Byers
This Friday’s Rotary meeting is a Club Assembly which will include chairs of various Club Committees providing an update on their goals for the year and how they align with Portland Rotary Club’s overarching goals. You will hear about all the exciting plans from committees such as Youth Services, Environmental, Community Services and Membership. Come and celebrate the many ways we engage in service above self! When people ask you, what do you do in Rotary, the answers are here!
LOBSTERS ARE ON A ROLL!
Dick Hall sent out an email to all club members that bears repeating! He makes some great points....to wit:
Please sign up to sell raffle tickets. This is our first fundraisers which is 100% targeted to raising funds beyond our club members.
We need everyone who is physically able to participate. Please sign up for at least two shifts.
21 more selling days.
It is fun.
Work with Rotarians who have done it before to learn the ropes. Sign up for the third slot for your first time.
Team decides on cancellation if weather is poor.
Setup time is 30 minutes before boat arrival.
3 1/2 shifts, but if you need to do less that is OK too.
Free parking at Sun Life lot Mon-Sat. Free everywhere Sunday
Did I mention it is fun.
If you have trouble with the signup link, then send me an email with your dates..
Peter "Cruise Master" Goffin and Larry "Lobster"Gross show how it's done!
Rallying around the Lobster Raffle Sign-Up Board - Zach Newell, Tom Nickerson, John Thompson and Justin Lamontagne.
BITS AND PIECES | by Ben Lowry
With a hearty group at the new “clubhouse”, President Patty Byers called our meeting to order with Peter Goffin leading us in the pledge and Charlie Frair offering up some inspirational words, quoting James Taylor. (Photo)
HAPPY: Lots of happy dollars were given on a lovely autumn Friday. Patty’s son just got engaged, Margo Walsh, our speaker, was so happy to join us that she gave $20. David Small was happy to have his eye surgery behind him, Dick Hall celebrated his 30 year anniversary with wife Andie, Nanette Ranger Duncanson celebrated finally being an empty-nester, Tom Talbott paid homage to his beloved Yankees, and Bruce Jones wished Mike Fortunato a bon voyage as Mike heads off to Florida.
SO CLOSE: Jake Bordeau ran the raffle, with Kirk Duffy just missing the $260 pot after selecting the King of Hearts. The pot thickens….
THINK OF OTHERS: Patty proudly displayed our very special "Others Award" plaque that our club received from The Salvation Army, honoring the efforts of our club, with appreciative acknowledgment to Rotarians Tom Ranello, Jim Willey and Keith Jache. (Phot0)
GRANT ON HOLD: Patty had some disturbing news about our global grant which helps our efforts with The Good Samaritan Hospital in The Dominican. The Rotary Foundation has apparently banned our the hospital from working with them and our participation with their efforts is now in jeopardy. A board meeting after lunch was going to dig deeper into what occurred and how we can get back on track.
PAUL HARRIS FELLOW: Our club Foundation chair, Gervin Kah, celebrated Tom Talbott with his 4th Paul Harris Fellow. Congrats to Tom for his ongoing work on behalf of the Foundation. Photo: Gervin, Tom, Patty
GET YOUR STEPS IN: The Casco Bay Bridge Walk and Pints For Polio to help bring our efforts to end polio to the public eye is scheduled for October 17th at 4:00 PM. We meet at 3:45 at the Broadway Bowling Parking Lot, 725 Broadway, South Portland. After the walk, we adjourn at 5pm to Broadway Bowling, with $1 per drink donated to end polio Free tee shirts can be ordered or heavier sweatshirts can be purchased so we can become a sea of red as we cross the Casco Bay Bridge. Dick Hall and Gervin Kah, looking good in red!
ZONED OUT: Dick Hall was just back from the Zone Conference in Toronto, where 220 folks met to work in training incoming District Governors.
ZACH'S CORNER: Zach Newell had three announcements! First, backpack handout at The Boys and Girls Club was a rousing success, with 150 backpacks handed out to kids in need. Great job, Portland Rotary!
Second: The second annual Barnfest to fund Cultivating Communities os coming up this coming Sunday October 6th in Falmouth. Volunteers are needed for this fun day of autumn joy. Get more info by clicking here!
Third: We are in need of host families and others to help out our Rotary Youth Exchange student, Antonio, from Spain. We could use anyone in the club or beyond to help with tickets to events (music, sports, etc) to help keep this young man engaged as he spends time in Maine.
LOBSTER MAN: John Thompson reports that The Lobster Raffle, just halfway complete, is going very well with over $6700 raised to this point. We still need lots of volunteers to work the booth along Commercial Street in Portland as thousands of tourists flood onto the streets from the never-ending cruise ships.
RECOVERY CONFERENCE: President Patty with Niki Curtis (left) and Doreen Rockstrom (right) at the 3rd Annual Conference on Recovery held at Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine this past Saturday. Doreen and Niki were conference planning committee members, and Niki also manned a table for Journey Magazine. A compassionate crowd of participants was made aware of the dangers of addictive medicine and suicide by speakers and panelists who gave attendees active approaches and tools to continue working in their communities to fight stigma, talk with those challenged, and encourage maintaining recovery by advocating expanded mental health services.
Last Week's Meeting: Margo Walsh and the Maine Works Team | By Julie L'Heureux
Dave Putnam introduced the guest speaker Margo Walsh. She is the founder and the CEO of Maineworks, a Portland based innovative for profit employment company with a social mission to dignify the the experiences of people who face challenges to workforce reentry, including those who are recovering from substance use disorder and people who have felony convictions. Maineworks puts people to work. The company reaches out to those on the margins that society may want to cast off.
Three guests among the Maine Works leadership team and also clients in the program were introduced: Cecil Solaguren, Garrett Blake and Wesley Salvucci. These three gentlemen told their stories through a United Recovery Fund sponsored video, where interviews were filmed to help describe how the Maine Works program intervened to help people in recovery or have felony convictions.
Along with meaningful job placement, Maine Works employees participate in social needs evaluations through the supportive services provided by the United Recovery Fund of Portland Maine, a non-profit corporation. United Recovery Fund partners with Maine Works to support their clients during re-entry into the workforce following treatment for substance use disorder and/or incarceration.
Margo Walsh explained the catalyst behind her decision create Maine Works. In 1997, she put alcohol on a shelf. “I was a small-time girl from Maine who got sober in 1997”,” she says. During her recovery, she made a commitment to give back to the community.
She started working with young people when she found out about jobs where people could get back to real life work. In 2011, she created Maine Works. She went to the prison and asked, “Can I take these inmates”? The reply was, “You are welcome to try”,. In this way, she began to develop a family in recovery and became like their “mom”. Her employees experienced a work environment where they did not feel like they were being judged for their challenges. Those who are in the program can decide their level of needs rather than having someone decide for them. They learn how they are not alone and about the importance of reaching out to ask for help whenever needed.
In the Q&A, Cecil Solaguren said the program is beginning to accumulate data about how successful the clients have become over time. Although construction jobs for the clients are plentiful, they are looking for opportunities to employ white collar workers and women. At this time, the minimum age to be employed in 18 years old.
In 2014, Margo was recognized by MaineBiz magazine as a woman to watch. The Maineworks website is https://www.maineworks.us
THE BOARD MEETING: Pondering and planning - Patty Byers, Roger Fagan, Nannette Ranger-Duncanson, Justin Lamontagne, Dick Hall, Zach Newell, John Thompson, Erik Greven and Tom Nickerson.
Speaker Schedule
October 11 - Brooke Haley - Maine Paid Family and Medical Leave Act
October 17 - Thursday Night Social Event
October 18 - No Meeting
October 25 - Cary Tyson - Portland Downtown
November 1 - Kirk Duffy- Visiting Savannah
Club Executives
President Patty Byers President Elect John Thompson Vice President Justin Lamontagne TreasurerDick Hall Secretary Tom Nickerson Board of Directors Dick Hall,
Dick Hall sent out an email to all club members that bears repeating! He makes some great points....to wit:
With a hearty group at the new “clubhouse”, President Patty Byers called our meeting to order with Peter Goffin leading us in the pledge and Charlie Frair offering up some inspirational words, quoting James Taylor. (Photo)
THINK OF OTHERS: Patty proudly displayed our very special "Others Award" plaque that our club received from The Salvation Army, honoring the efforts of our club, with appreciative acknowledgment to Rotarians Tom Ranello, Jim Willey and Keith Jache. (Phot0)
ZACH'S CORNER: Zach Newell had three announcements! First, backpack handout at The Boys and Girls Club was a rousing success, with 150 backpacks handed out to kids in need. Great job, Portland Rotary!
LOBSTER MAN: John Thompson reports that The Lobster Raffle, just halfway complete, is going very well with over $6700 raised to this point. We still need lots of volunteers to work the booth along Commercial Street in Portland as thousands of tourists flood onto the streets from the never-ending cruise ships.
Dave Putnam introduced the guest speaker Margo Walsh. She is the founder and the CEO of Maineworks, a Portland based innovative for profit employment company with a social mission to dignify the the experiences of people who face challenges to workforce reentry, including those who are recovering from substance use disorder and people who have felony convictions. Maineworks puts people to work. The company reaches out to those on the margins that society may want to cast off.
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