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Russell Hampton
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Jun 29, 2018
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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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Rotary This Week

Portland Rotary Club
will meet this Friday,
June 22, 2018 
at the
Clarion Hotel
1230 Congress Street, Portland
 
*06/22/18 Dr. Chuck Radis, Healthcare from the Physician's Perspective

Dr. Chuck Radis is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of New England and a rheumatologist (a doctor who specializes in immune system disorders) with an interest in Public Health issues since his years as a public health doctor for the Casco Bay Islands in the 1980’s. He is a board member of Consumers for Affordable Health Care and a member of several state committees developing bills to protect consumers from undisclosed insurance practices. After 25 years in private practice locally at Rheumatology Associates, he now provides rheumatologic services Down East through the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth.

After completing an internal medicine residency at Brighton Medical Center, Dr. Radis provided primary care to the six year-round islands of Casco Bay. He saw first-hand how critical access to health care is to the health of island families. During his time practicing in Casco Bay, Dr. Radis averaged more than 150 house calls each year and provided free or reduced fee service to islanders without health insurance. As a private practitioner, he provided health insurance to his employees and believes that universal health coverage is a basic right. “Mainers need to take back control of their health care system. We need to develop a system which can negotiate and control the cost of prescriptions and reduce administrative costs. A single-payer system can provide quality health care for all. No one should be left behind.”

He is the founder of the Maine-African Partnership for Social Justice which provides health education programs in South Sudan as well as scholarships to African immigrants at Portland High School.  

Dr. Radis was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2016 Democratic primary for the District 27 (Portland) Senate seat.

06/15/18 MaineCanDo

Three of the founders of MaineCanDo, Betsy Peters, Melanie Sachs, and Stephanie Brock, shared with us Friday the story of the creation of Maine’s unique response to the #MeToo movement and acts of sexual harassment by members of Maine’s business community. MaineCanDo (www.mainecando.org) is a website designed to help individuals, organizations, investors, and boards confront issues of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace, particularly those who have suffered, or witnessed, sexual violence or harassment. 

“This website is the first of its kind to provide a set of tools for individuals and businesses,” said Melanie Sachs, Executive Director of Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine. “Two in five Americans have experienced sexual violence in the workplace,” she said. “And three in ten have observed it.” “Society has raised the bar,” Betsy Peters stated. “The real impact is to humans and society. For enterprises, the strategic imperative is clear, one letter on the internet can bring a company down.” The intent of the website, according to Peters, is to provide an “authentic Maine response” for individuals and businesses. “Maine is a land of small businesses,” she said. “Small businesses don’t have HR departments.” Sachs related that Maine law requires companies with more than 15 employees to conduct sexual harassment training. “Maine is not on the leading edge of this issue,” she said. “California is nine times stricter. But the real question is, are you going to do compliance, or are you going to do better?”

“There’s an ‘ick’ factor to all of this,” Peters stated. “Stuff we just don’t like to talk about.” The effort stemmed from an inciting incident involving Stephanie Brock who said she “drew a line” after offensive behavior toward her from Jess Knox, with whom she had been working on Maine Startup and Create Week. “We can’t grow in a community when leadership looks like this,” she said. She wrote letters to all the boards of organizations with which Knox was affiliated. Knox did not dispute the charges, and agreed his behavior was inappropriate. “I got a swift and fair response from all of them,” Brock related. “But it was a scary thing for me to do. This website will help others who find themselves in the same situation.”

The presentation of the three women struck a chord among members who engaged in a supportive discussion during the Q&A period. Laura Young rose to share her MeToo moment by relating her discomfort and distress at a Portland Rotary luncheon where two male members engaged in jokes about male genitalia. “Other male members around the table looked uncomfortable. What was I supposed to do, laugh? These are never funny,“ she said.

Upon a motion, the club agreed to sign the MaineCanDo pledge as an organization, the first Rotary Club to do so. “I wholeheartedly support Portland Rotary signing this pledge,” Club Protection Officer Nan Heald said.

MaineCanDo Pledge:

We, the undersigned, know that Maine can do better and will do better. Join us in our pledge for Maine to be home to respectful and harassment free workplaces.

We agree to:

• Review workplace sexual harassment policies in light of #MeToo and audit how they work in practice.

• Create and assure that appropriate and safe mechanisms are in place to report, measure and track complaints of inappropriate behaviors whether intentional or unintentional.

• Be proactive in developing respectful workplace cultures.

• Designate and ensure employees know of go-to members in organizational leadership who will ensure grievances are taken seriously, investigated fairly, and resolved quickly.

• Commit to an ongoing review of sexual harassment and discrimination policies, practices, and workplace climate at the highest levels of leadership to ensure they are making a practical impact.

• Use our influence as investors and board members by committing to increased attention on and an intentional review of policies related to human capital and to supporting workplaces that are free from harassment and discrimination.

(Photo L-R: Melanie Sachs, Bob Martin, Betsy Peters, Stephanie Brock and President Don Zillman.)

06/15/18 Bits & Pieces

President Don Zillman welcomed 44 members and 4 guests to our club meeting on Friday.

Charlie Frair provided an interesting innovation with a reading from Ron Sousa, a Canadian philosopher. Entitled “The Obstacles of Life,” this short, inspirational piece concluded that the pursuit of happiness, with its ongoing ups and downs, is the essence of life. So, let us enjoy the journey rather than focus on the concept of achieving “happiness.”

PP Russ Burleigh tickled the ivories as accompaniment to a rousing version of “God Bless America”.


President Don thanked membership for all of their input and announced that discussions are ongoing with the Holiday Inn By-the-Bay and a decision on our luncheon venue should be forthcoming within the next week or two. 


(Photo L-R: Katie Brown, Scott Shibles, Julia Hansen, Moritz Hansen (Julia's father), and President Don Zillman.)

After being introduced by Katie Brown, Scott Shibles, the director of student life at Casco Bay High School, gave a very moving description of our Youth Service Award winner, Julia Hansen. After seeing two of her best friends commit suicide during her junior year, Julia became determined to help those who suffer in silence with mental illness. Julia boldly started up “The Yellow Tulip Project,” which has gained great momentum in allowing those who have felt stigmatized by emotional issues to speak up and have a voice within the community. A well-deserved award for a fine young woman.


PP Laura Young provided a brief announcement about the Summer Reading Program at North Deering Gardens, which runs from July 5th thru August 9th. If you are interested in this very rewarding program, please contact Laura at lyoung@mainecf.org.


Paul Tully and Charlie Frair are already working tirelessly to have an even bigger and better Veteran’s Day luncheon next fall. It was announced that the event will most likely be moved to the Holiday Inn so we may accommodate even more veterans and guests.

 



PP Peter Goffin was selected to pull a card from the deck of cards for our weekly raffle, run by Jennifer Frederick, but, alas, Peter was not able to find the elusive Queen of Hearts.

(Photo L-R: PP Peter Goffin and Jennifer Frederick.) 

 

New Fundraising Partnership
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


Summer Reading    Tuesdays and Thursdays
Program                 11:15-12:00 pm
North Deering         July 5 thru August 9 
Gardens                 Contact Jan Chapman 
                             or Laura Young on Tuesdays
                             jchapman1966@gmail.com
                             lyoung@mainecf.org

                             David Small onThursdays
                             dsmall133@aol.com


RYLA                      Phil Giordano
                             philtastic7780@gmail.com
Camp Hinds
Registration            Jun 24, 7:45 am-12:30 pm

Final RYLA              Dinner Cost $10
Camp BBQ              Jun 26, 6:00-10:00 pm


Preble Street           4th Wednesday ea month
Resource Ctr           3:30-6:30 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                       

 

This Week's Duty Assignments

Invocation:  Dave Small
Program Reporter:  Alan Nye
Bits & Pieces Reporter:  Ben Lowry
Registration/Greeter:   Deb Lavoie
Sell Meal Tickets:  David Clough
Raffle:  Andrew Cook
Collect Meal Tickets:  Jake Bourdeau
Sgt-at-Arms (Setup):  Matt Tassey 
Sgt-at-Arms (Take Down): Mike Fortunato

Rotary Meeting Locations

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

2018 
Jun 22 - Clarion Hotel
Jun 29 - Southern ME Community College


Blue BOLD dates are scheduled Board meeting days.

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

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 to the appropriate projects.
 
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.