Mr. Caron is the President of MaineHealth, Maine’s largest health system serving southern, western and central Maine, as well as Carroll County, New Hampshire. Prior to assuming his current position in 2000, Mr. Caron was Executive Vice President and Treasurer at MaineHealth and Vice President and Treasurer at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. He previously was a Partner with Ernst & Young and headed their East Region healthcare consulting practice based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Masters degree in Accounting from Northeastern University and his undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Bill is active in the Greater Portland community. For many years he served as a member of the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Chamber boards of directors while holding several officer positions with the Portland Community Chamber, including the position of Board President.
Bill has also been active with the United Way of Greater Portland – serving as the Annual Campaign Chair in both 2005 and 2015. He has served on the People’s United Bank Advisory Board, the Hospice of Southern Maine Board of Trustees, and the board of the Maine Hospital Association. Bill has been recognized as a Hall of Fame Laureate by Junior Achievement and was recognized by the United Way of Greater Portland as its 2009 Legacy Award winner. Bill resides in Cape Elizabeth with his wife Susan and they have two children.
President Don Zillman had the pleasure of introducing some of his associates from the University of Southern Maine School of Law and did so with the detail and dignity that is emblematic of his character. Don also introduced our guest speaker, Professor Anna Welch, who spearheads the University’s outreach to refugee and asylum seekers coming to the United States to start a new life of freedom.
Professor Welch clarified the difference between a refugee and an individual seeking asylum from their native country. Welch became interested while in high school of the trials and travail of those who are forced by circumstances far beyond their control to leave their homeland and try to start a new life. Those seeking asylum are distinguished from the refugee because they are forced to flee their country in order to save their lives. Asylum seekers are not motivated by economics, they are forced by politics to save their lives. The asylum seekers have been prominently in the news the past few years and the numbers have been overwhelming for the United States and many other countries. Maine has long been willing to assist this population, with Catholic Charities taking an active role to help this population get situated and actively involved in the community. They are not coming here looking for a hand out. They are wanting to get a job, contribute to the state and establish a new home for their family. Before Catholic Charities can help, the refugee and asylum seeker must get through the daunting labyrinth of the immigration laws of the U.S. This is where Professor Welch and her legal clinic team get involved. Anna started the clinic in 2012 with two primary goals....the first was to give the students practical, hard nosed, real life experience as they commit to the practice of this distinct avenue of law;....the second, and the nucleus, is to assist those who are being persecuted by their governments, cultural norms (domestic violence), and criminal elements to the point where they have to forsake home and all that they have in order to escape to a place where they can try to survive and create a new life.
Most of the refugees and people seeking asylum are intent on following the laws of the country and are convinced that they can prove that they are fleeing circumstances that are profoundly outrageous to any civilization. It’s not enough to just have a compelling story, they must navigate the legal system in place to protect our country from those who do not share our values. Without proper legal counsel only 12% of the asylum seekers can gain legal entry to the United States.
While the cases are litigated, many of the families are separated and at risk of losing touch. The cases take many months, often years, to make it through the legal maze to a conclusion. While the wheels are cranking, the children are often placed into foster care and some are put up for adoption. Making a life altering decision which is involved in these cases is an enormous burden. When you are facing a family that has given up everything, traveled hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles over perilous terrain, it’s more than just difficult to make the decision to take a case or abandon a family to proceed pro se, when you know the chances are slim.
The clinic has made a huge difference in many lives. To be sure, the refugee and asylum group is being mightily affected, since it can be life or death. Parenthetically, the law students involved are gaining an insight and often making a life altering decision concerning their chosen profession. The graduates who commit to human rights law are not likely to make it to the ranks of the “white shoe law firms” and make huge sums of money. They are in it for the people, not the profit!
(Photo L-R: third-year Law Student (Graduate as of Saturday) Hanni Pastinen, third-year Law Student (Saturday graduate) Joann Bautista, President Don Zillman and Anna Welch, Sam Cohen Refugee and Human Rights Clinical Professor, UMaine Law School.)
Meeting at the Clarion Hotel began with a welcome from President Don Zillman. Gracie Johnson led the invocation by reading a series of quotes from a famous person. She asked the Rotarians to guess, who said all of the following?:
• Peace begins with a smile.
• Spread love wherever you go.
• Let no one ever come to you without leaving happy.
• If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other.
• Kind words can be short and easy, but their echoes are truly endless.
• We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
Answer to the question is: Mother Teresa.
(Photo L-R: Mike Fortunato, Patty Erickson and 2nd VP Amy Chipman.)
Preparations for the upcoming 6th Annual Outdoor Challenge scheduled for June 4, 5 and 6, included a letter from Past President Kris Rosado, to present to donors and prospective team members. The Challenge is taking place at the L.L.Bean’s Outdoor Discovery School with five competing outdoor sports: Fly casting, GPS geocaching, Archery, Firearm familiarity and Clay Target shooting. Mike Fortunato signed up volunteers to assist with the event for each day, mornings and afternoons. Patty Erickson and Jennifer Frederick spoke about seeking items for the live and silent auctions and expressed gratitude for the donations thus far, that have been collected. 2nd VP Amy Chipman reported on the raffle ticket sales - cost 3/$20. This year’s winning raffle will be a $500 gift certificate to L.L. Bean. Tickets are on sale for the June 6, awards program and lobster bake to be held at the AmVets in Yarmouth, that starts at 5:00 p.m. with a social hour, the meal to be served around 6:00 p.m. and the "LIVE" auction will follow after the meal. Lobster is $32, Steak is $28 and Chicken is $26 per person. Katie Brown volunteered to manage the slide presentation for viewing at the awards and lobster bake. Proceeds from the Maine Outdoor Challenge are donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine.
Mark Millar received a standing ovation when Past President Dick Hall presented him with his Paul Harris Fellow pin “plus three,” adorned with 3 blue sapphires, a tribute for being a contributor four times. In the Portland Rotary, Dick reported that about half the members contribute $100 a year to the Paul Harris Foundation, many also contribute at the $200 a year level and three members donate $1,000 a year. A request was made to those who can, to please contribute $25 as an annual donation to the Paul Harris Foundation. Thank you to our club members for this generosity! Check with Dick Hall for more information: dickhall@maine.rr.com.
Joseph Reagan reported about the volunteer mentoring provided by Rotarians at the Long Creek Youth Development Center.
The weekly raffle conducted by Matt Tassey had the eligible participant of Liz Fagan, who attempted to draw the winning card on behalf of the Hearing, Hands and H2O project, but the $537 prize will grow again next week as the Queen of Hearts remained in the deck.
Rusty Atwood announced the dates of the September walks to support the work to find a cure for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Walk dates are August 25 in Bangor and September 8 in Portland. Link to register for the Portland walk at: www.alsa.org. Thanks Rusty for bringing this important worthy cause to our Rotarians attention!
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.