Liz Leddy led a tough life complicated by drugs, alcohol, and violence. She describes her journey as a young woman: a high school dropout and aggressive street punk who found her life’s purpose and healing through the sport of boxing. Since 1998, Liz has been rising from the ashes of her former life and building a bright future, both in and out of the ring. She attests to her strength to walk on through the personal destruction left in the wake of substance abuse, violence and trauma, along with the boxing techniques that led her to two national championships. Through a coach and a community, her life skills and self-knowledge were groomed, resulting in a miraculous victory over the dark life of addiction, homelessness, crime, and violence. Liz continues to rise, as attested by the list of Championships she has claimed:
Open Class Featherweight (125 lbs)/Lightweight (132 lbs) 9-Time New England Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion 2007/2010 Silver Medalist at National Golden Gloves 2008 USA Boxing New England Featherweight Champion 2009 and 2010 National PAL Silver Medalist 2009 Pan American Games Bronze Medalist 2010 National Golden Gloves Featherweight Champion 2011 and 2017 National Golden Gloves Lightweight Champion Former Member of the Woman’s Elite USA Boxing Team
Liz is the subject of the award winning documentary “Liz.” She is a fantastic boxing instructor in her own right at Upper Cuts, teaching members at introductory classes and a month-long summer boot camp. She is a frequent speaker on the power that boxing had on her own life…..her speaking engagements have included a TEDx talk….”Shadow Boxing in the Dark.”
Mike Fortunato spoke to the club about his visit to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France. Mike’s dad landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Mike and his brother put together a video about their father. The video is on YouTube and is titled, "Sam Fortunato WW2." You can access it at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuAQ2k3cOF0
The trip to Normandy was a six-day military tour of all the beaches, Utah & Omaha-US Landing, Gold &Sword-UK Landing, Juno-Canadian Landing. After the 101st Airborne parachuted behind the beach on June 5, Mike’s dad landed on Omaha Beach, Red Dog Sector at 7:00 AM June 6, with Company H. To better understand the landing, Mike recommends the book, "The Bedford Boys," by Alex Kershaw about A Company from Bedford, VA, who had the most killed in the first Landing.
Mike told us how the German operation, Overlord, pre-fortified the Normandy coastline, with guns placed along the coastline and other gun placements strategically located. Rommel, who was in charge of the Atlantic wall, reinforced the wall in 1944 adding beach obstacles, beach mines and water mines. The defenses were 1/3 made up of Russians, Georgians, and other non-Germans. The Germans were either older or inexperienced and the best German fighters were elsewhere.
Mike shared several interesting facts with us: the 29th Maryland used blue and grey colored uniforms, as they were a unit formed by combining North and South soldiers after the Civil War. We saw pictures of the American cemetery where Teddy Roosevelt Jr, 57 years old, landed on Omaha Beach and died later of a heart attack. Mike told us that the rest of the 9386 WW II and one WW I soldiers were randomly buried.
While viewing pictures of the landing, Mike told us that there were 4000 casualties on Omaha Beach on day one. 2 million landed through the beaches of Normandy with a 10% loss rate. Mike continued with pictures of WW II vets, British soldiers, re-enactment groups, and the June 6th Sunrise Ceremony. When time at the meeting ran out, Mike was not done sharing and the club was not done listening to an interesting part of our history.
Slides with pictures taken at the November 8, 2019, Veterans' Appreciation Lunch were the backdrop in the room when President Amy Chipman opened Friday's Club meeting at the Clarion.
An Invocation was presented by Bruce Jones (photo at left),who praised the Veterans and Rotarians who attended the event and thanked all who made the successful program a memorable experience!
Congratulations to Nan Heald for receiving a Paul Harris Fellow times two pin, presented by the Club’s Foundation Chair PP Bill Blount. Nan supports the Rotary Foundation because she is a professional who works to help people who cannot access quality legal services. She knows how the clients she works with need the programs supported by the Foundation.
President Amy thanked Charlie Frair and Paul Tully(photo at left...Charlie and Paul) for their tireless organizational leadership. They helped to build a wonderful Veterans’ Appreciation Luncheon at the Seasons Event and Conference Center in Portland. Charlie spoke about the honor and appreciation we gave to thank the Veterans for their military service to our country. Paul acknowledged the many people who worked together to host the successful program. Those who were responsible for the team efforts:
PP Tom Talbott - Audio visual and professional entertainment
PP Ben Lowry - Greeting team
PP Loretta Rowe - Name badge team and Decorations
PP John Curran - Rotary table hosts
PP Paul Gore - Printed materials, gifts, Veterans pins
PP Kris Rosado and Bruce Jones - Fund raising team
1st VP Ellen Niewoehner - "Check-In" team
Terri St. Angelo - Outreach and invite to vets' team
Jan Chapman - Veterans support organizations
Juliana L'Heureux- Photos, posters and social media
Linda Varrell - Roving photographers
Mike Fortunato - Color guard
This year, 55 Rotarians contributed to the program in a variety of ways. Each of the 35 tables had a Rotarian to serve the guests. In addition, there were 22 people who volunteered on the day of the event and who were not members of the Portland Rotary. In numbers, there were 202 veterans, 16 sponsors from 10 companies and 81 non-veteran guests. A goal for next year (2020) is to set up a website for this event that is user friendly and can be used for registration and communications with the Veterans. A second goal is to have Rotarians work closely with the teams beginning in January, to organize the 2020 program, with the intention of passing the leadership for 2021 to this succession team.
Media coverage was minimal again and teams are challenged to improve on how Rotary can make this a newsworthy event. There was a brief radio interview on WGAN with Joe Reagan the morning of the event and we thank him for that opportunity. A goal is to engage the media.
Six magical moments or small miracles: (1) the flow of the event was smooth and easy; (2) sound system went off without a glitch; (3) Joan Kennedy and Gary Crocker provided good entertainment and quality performances; (4) 22 non-Rotarian volunteers; (5) Rotarians table servers turned "lemons into lemonade"; (6) every veteran was welcomed and served. Moreover, one of the most important goals was to exceed expectations and know that the guests were moved, touched and inspired. As guests were leaving, they were positive and complimentary. This is what Rotary is all about. Congratulations to our Portland Rotary Club!
Juliana L'Heureux thanked PP Paul Gore for printing the beautiful color posters. They are portable and Rotarians are encouraged to display them at public events. She reported that the club's social media traffic is up 10 percent, as per the analytics.
PP Peter Goffin(photo at right) spoke for a "Rotary Minute" about five generations in his family's Maine genealogy and how each of his direct line ancestors have served their communities.
Sign up with President Amy Chipman for the Portland Symphony's Magic of Christmas performance at 2:00 p.m. on Friday Dec. 13th….she has reserved more seats for Rotarians. There is no regular club meeting on that day. Send Amy the ticket money at: Amy Chipman, RBC Wealth Management, PO Box 17600, Portland 04112 or email her at amy.chipman@rbc.com.
Gracie Johnston is creating a list of volunteers to serve at the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Portland, for the annual Thanksgiving meal, on Wednesday, November 27. Contact: gjohnston@portlandradiogroup.com.
Jerry Angier (photo at right on the left) led the weekly raffle drawing. The pot has grown to $1,110! Terry St. Angelo's(photo at right on the right) name was drawn and she came close by pulling a red Queen, but not the right suit to win the prize.
On November 23, District 7780 will be loading our 10th container of mobility devices. The previous 9 containers have been sent to Africa, but this time it is headed to Pakistan where Aziz Memon, a Rotary Foundation Trustee will help to distribute the load.
We are looking for help on November 23rd to load the container. We will start at 9 AM at 20 Gooch Street in Biddeford. The last few years Tony Wagner has been instrumental in getting help to load the containers, but the 23rd happens to be the day his club is receiving their Christmas trees and he and his fellow members will be busy working on that project. Ideally, if we had 25-30 people at 9 AM we should be able to load in about 3-4 hours.
We're asking for your help and if you can, let Erik Greven(in photo at left) know by Wednesday, November 20, at egrev95@gmail.com or call him at 207-754-5106. Thank you.
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.
Liz Leddy led a tough life complicated by drugs, alcohol, and violence. She describes her journey as a young woman: a high school dropout and aggressive street punk who found her life’s purpose and healing through the sport of boxing. Since 1998, Liz has been rising from the ashes of her former life and building a bright future, both in and out of the ring. She attests to her strength to walk on through the personal destruction left in the wake of substance abuse, violence and trauma, along with the boxing techniques that led her to two national championships. Through a coach and a community, her life skills and self-knowledge were groomed, resulting in a miraculous victory over the dark life of addiction, homelessness, crime, and violence. Liz continues to rise, as attested by the list of Championships she has claimed:
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Slides with pictures taken at the November 8, 2019, Veterans' Appreciation Lunch were the backdrop in the room when President Amy Chipman opened Friday's Club meeting at the Clarion.
Congratulations to Nan Heald for receiving a Paul Harris Fellow times two pin, presented by the Club’s Foundation Chair PP Bill Blount. Nan supports the Rotary Foundation because she is a professional who works to help people who cannot access quality legal services. She knows how the clients she works with need the programs supported by the Foundation.
President Amy thanked Charlie Frair and Paul Tully (photo at left...Charlie and Paul) for their tireless organizational leadership. They helped to build a wonderful Veterans’ Appreciation Luncheon at the Seasons Event and Conference Center in Portland. Charlie spoke about the honor and appreciation we gave to thank the Veterans for their military service to our country. Paul acknowledged the many people who worked together to host the successful program. Those who were responsible for the team efforts:
PP Peter Goffin (photo at right) spoke for a "Rotary Minute" about five generations in his family's Maine genealogy and how each of his direct line ancestors have served their communities.
Gracie Johnston is creating a list of volunteers to serve at the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Portland, for the annual Thanksgiving meal, on Wednesday, November 27. Contact: gjohnston@portlandradiogroup.com.
Jerry Angier (photo at right on the left) led the weekly raffle drawing. The pot has grown to $1,110! Terry St. Angelo's (photo at right on the right) name was drawn and she came close by pulling a red Queen, but not the right suit to win the prize.