News of The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine
March 31, 2021
Real Estate Growth & Rent Control
 
Brit Vitalius has been representing buyers and sellers of multi-unit investments since 2004. He founded Vitalius Real Estate Group in 2011 to provide a full complement of residential, multi-family and commercial brokerage services to clients.
 
Vitalius is the President of the Southern Maine Landlord Association, a group which seeks to keep landlords up-to-date on important issues, trends and regulations. In 2018, Brit was recognized for his work leading the campaign which defeated Portland’s rent control referendum. For his efforts he received awards from the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, MEREDA, and the Greater Portland Board of Realtors.
 
Vitalius currently serves on Portland Community Chamber of Commerce committees and is a member of the Trustee and Governance committees for the Portland Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, Brit and his team recently established the Vitalius Giving Program which provides both the company and its brokers a way to give back to the community. 
 
Vitalius grew up in Yarmouth, where he now lives in with his family. He enjoys mountain biking, skiing, tennis, and single malt scotch. He is a graduate of Harvard University.
Rwanda Food Initiative Update  
by Erik Greven
 
Thanks to our club's generosity,  we received over $1,400 in contributions to help ease food insecurity in Rwanda, almost tripling our original goal.  The funds are being sent in multiple installments.  Below is the letter Michel Kanyambo received from Maragwa Cheez of the local Root Foundation in Rwanda, which distributes the food stocks to the neediest families.  
 
On 22nd March, we received 286,287 Frw (almost $300) to use to support more vulnerable families with food supplies.
 
On 23rd March, 18 Families from Giheka village – a different village from the one we served  in our previous distribution - were selected and were called to be communicated in collaboration with Isibo and village leadership.
 
We purchased 288 Kilograms of Rice, Maize flour, beans, sugar and soaps. Each family received 16 kilograms (5Kgs of Rice, 5Kgs of Kawunga, 3Kgs of Sugar, 3Kgs of beans, and a bar of soap). Everything purchased cost 258,300 Frw ($267), 14,000 Frw ($15) was used for transportation, 10,000 Frw ($12) for packing into small envelopes while 4000 Frw (5$) was used in communication to families. (Receipts attached)
 
This time we distributed the food in the presence of local government officials and introduced Rotary Club of Portland Maine as the sponsor of the distributed food. The leaders and the beneficiaries said a word of thanks to Rotary Club of Portland Maine for remembering them in these difficult times.
 
So far, this initiative has provided foods to 28 families from Batsinda and Giheka villages in Gasabo district, Kigali.
 
 
Bits and Pieces | by Ben Lowry
 
President Ellen Niewoehner called our March 26 meeting to order with 44 people online. She suggested that with the vaccinations becoming more readily available, perhaps we’ll be looking at a live meeting soon. And, with that, Ellen announced that we would be having a picnic-formatted meeting on June 18th in the picnic grove at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. She asked that we all mark our calendars for that noon meeting and hope for good weather with assurances of good fellowship.
 
Ellen also asked to keep Wednesday, April 14th available to help clean up the community garden in Bayside. Details to follow.
 
Tom Talbott provided a brief but insightful invocation. Tom, who is the lacrosse coach at USM, had to remind his young team that they needed to learn to pass and catch the ball before they could think about playing competitively, bringing to mind a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “If I had five hours to cut down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the blade.”
 
Jan Chapman and Bruce Moore reminded everyone that the District Recovery Initiative will be hosting an informational Zoom meeting on April 1st at 4:00 pm. With the recent state statistics on drug-related fatalities, this should be a timely meeting. Check with Jan or Bruce for details.
 
Many thanks to Paul Gore for providing signage for our crocus planting project in Rotary Grove on the Eastern Trail. Last fall the club planted 2,000 purple crocus bulbs in honor of the Rotary International Polio Plus Program. This spring as the bulbs burst to life, the signs will allow trail walkers to understand our club’s commitment to the ongoing worldwide polio eradication effort.
 
Rotary continues to deliver protective masks to those in need in greater Portland and throughout our district, with a recent delivery of 2,000 masks to the Preble Street Resource Center, 2,000 to the Greater Portland Welcome Center, and another 1,500 to elementary schools. These are just small and recent examples of our project to provide masks, with over 394,000 masks distributed in our district within the past few months.
 
With Rotary International adding a seventh avenue of focus for the upcoming Rotary year, President Ellen and the board have decided to jump aboard with a new committee that will also focus on this extremely important topic: the environment and climate change. The new committee, tentatively called “the climate committee” will begin seeking volunteers from our membership very soon, so please let Ellen know if you’d like to opportunity to serve in this capacity.
 
Our very own Mark Stimpson turns 95 this week and Tom Ranello is spearheading a “birthday parade” for Mark on Saturday, April 3rd at noon. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun, which will begin at noon at the corner of Stillman and Pilgrim Roads in South Portland. Bring your kids, grandkids, friends and neighbors. Make a sign, blow up some balloons. Let’s celebrate this special event in style!
 
Tom also offered up a challenge for the club. With the recent news of major cutbacks at the Milestone Foundation on India Street, Tom described how “The Home Team” from Milestone is trying to pick up the slack. Nursing staff have been going out on over 150 visits per week in an attempt to keep up with the needs of many of the underserved clients who suffer from homelessness, substance use disorder and a myriad of other issues. But these efforts are costly. Tom and Julia Ranello are contributing $1,000 to help with this cause and Tom asked members to match the donation with a plea to each Rotarian. Please send a check in any amount to Elise Hodgkin, made out to “The Milestone Foundation.”
 
Amy Chipman presented eight Paul Harris Fellow Awards to members of our “Circles of Five,” all of whom have pledged to give $200 per year to the Rotary Foundation. Each year, with the $1,000 given, one member of the circle is chosen to receive a PHF. This year, Amy randomly selected Don Lowry, Dave Putnam, Bruce Moore, Ron Bennett, Erik Jorgensen, Matt Wolcott, Matt Tassey and Tom Ranello as the recipients. Jon Young was also acknowledged as having received his sixth PHF. Congratulations and thank you!
 
Charlie Frair, our interim fundraising chair who is filling in while a newly retired Patty Erickson travels the world, announced two exciting events that will help with re-stocking our coffers. After missing one year’s worth of Rotary lunches, all of us should have saved a ton of money, right? Well perhaps we could put a little of that money back into the club with two upcoming 50-50 raffles. You’ll be contacted in the next week with details. 
Climate Change Impact on Maine
 
By Juliana L’Heureux
 
Hannah PingreeDirector of the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, was introduced by Rusty Atwood on March 26, 2021 and spoke about Governor Janet Mills’ plan for climate action, Maine Won’t Wait: A Four-Year Plan for Climate Action.
 
Pingree said the climate challenges facing Maine include rising sea levels, drought events, and changing water temperatures impacting fishing. In fact, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than the global average and is experiencing unusually warmer temperatures than any part of the U.S. coast. 
 
A legislature-requested report titled: “Assessing the Impacts Climate Change May Have on the State’s Economy, Revenues, and Investment Decisions,” was submitted in December to Governor Mills by the 39-member Maine Climate Council, a bipartisan assembly of scientists, industry leaders, plus local and state officials formed into six working groups.  The Climate Action Plan provides strategies to leverage Maine’s renewable energy resources and energy efficiency services to recover and grow Maine’s economy in order to support Maine’s communities and ensure the state is ready for the impact of climate change. 
 
 
The Council’s recommendations stressed eight areas of statutory strategies to meet the goal of reducing Green House Gas by 30 percent by 2025, and by 80 percent by 2050. Specific directives will (1) embrace the future of Maine transportation by supporting accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and increasing the use of fuel efficient vehicles and alternative fuels; (2) reduce vehicle miles traveled by helping people to drive less and improve access to high speed Internet; (3) modernize Maine’s buildings by transitioning to cleaner heating, and cooling systems and installing energy efficient appliances; (4) accelerate improvement to existing buildings to advance energy efficiency; (5) advance the design and construction of new buildings; (6) advance the design of climate friendly buildings by using biodegradable and recyclable materials where possible; (7) reducing carbon emissions in Maine’s energy and industrial sectors by supporting clean energy and (8) Maine’s Clean Energy Economy will protect natural resources and protect jobs in local communities. 
 
Pingree noted that the governor’s goal is to create 30,000 good paying jobs in Maine's clean energy and energy efficiency fields by 2030. Clean energy jobs have grown quickly, but Maine’s growth has been slower than our New England neighbors, she said. Other strategies include protecting the environment and working forests because 90 percent of Maine is forested. Moreover, the strategies include an “energy assessment” by making sure that people who are least likely to be at the table to discuss the impact of climate change are not left behind.
 
Issues to resolve in meeting the climate action plan goals include how to resolve where to install alternative energy sources. Ms. Pingree stressed how the importance of the federal government’s infrastructure investment will be to ensure that Maine will achieve the goals identified in the plan for climate change.
 
Responding to Q&A about off shore wind power, she answered that negotiations are ongoing about the concerns raised, primarily by lobstermen, who are feeling vulnerable about plans to construct turbines in their fishing grounds. 
Moment of Reflection
(A look at daffodils across two hundred years...)
 
To Daffodils
 
By Robert Herrick
 
Fair Daffodils, we weep to see 
You haste away so soon; 
As yet the early-rising sun 
Has not attain'd his noon. 
Stay, stay, 
Until the hasting day 
Has run 
But to the even-song; 
And, having pray'd together, we 
Will go with you along. 
 
We have short time to stay, as you, 
We have as short a spring; 
As quick a growth to meet decay, 
As you, or anything. 
We die 
As your hours do, and dry 
Away, 
Like to the summer's rain; 
Or as the pearls of morning's dew, 
Ne'er to be found again.
 
Robert Herrick lived from 1591 to 1674 and is a largely forgotten English poet.
 
Daffodils
 
By William Wordsworth
 
I wandered lonely as a cloud
  That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
  A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
 
Continuous as the stars that shine
  And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
  Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
 
The waves beside them danced; but they
  Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
  In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
 
For oft, when on my couch I lie
  In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
  Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
And dances with the daffodils.
 
William Wordsworth lived from 1770 to 1850
 
Speaker Schedule
 
April 2 | Brit Vitalius, Southern Maine Landlord Association
April 9 | Mark Burnett, Cannabis Industry / Higher Grounds
April 16 | Bill Benson, Boots 2 Roots
April 23 | Chris Busby, The Mainer (formerly The Bollard)
April 30 | Peter Vigue, Cianbro
May 7 | Eliah Thanhauser, North Spore Mushrooms
May 14 | TBD
May 21 | Ian Dorsey, Mast Landing Brewery
May 28 | NO MEETING
June 4 | TBD
June 11 | Wade Merritt, Maine International Trade Center
June 18 | Picnic, Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth
June 25 | Ellen Niewoehner, Year End Review
 
The Windjammer
is published online every week by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
 
Contributing Editors
Jake Bourdeau
Dick Hall
Erik Jorgensen
Julie L’Heureux
Ben Lowry
John Marr
Tom Talbott
 
Managing Editor
Bob Martin
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