Henry Beck was elected State Treasurer by a Joint Convention of the 129th Maine Legislature in 2018. His government service began when he was elected to the Waterville City Council in 2005. In 2008, he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives during his senior year at Colby College, becoming the youngest member of the Legislature. While serving, he attended the University of Maine School of Law and graduated on time while serving in the Legislature.
The Office of the State Treasurer provides state agencies with efficient banking and financial services, which include revenue collection, payment issuance, reconciliation, and trust management. It also manages state investments with safety, liquidity and yield in mind, as well as debt payments and issuance, ensuring that bonds authorized by voters are efficiently sold in the marketplace to provide funding for capital projects statewide. The office also holds over $200 million in unclaimed funds for Maine residents and works to to reunite owners with their money.
After eight years serving in the Legislature, Beck became an attorney in private practice with McKee Law. His Maine roots run deep. Beck's family came to central Maine nearly one hundred years ago and started a roofing company that is still operating.
Bits & Pieces | by Ben Lowry
After some pre-meeting socializing, President Bob Martin called our meeting to order with 29 participants on the Zoom session. Juliana L'Heureux provided our inspirational words with her own "Ode To Fenway Park" in the midst of the Red Sox playoff run with a history of the beloved ballpark's use of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", which gained favor with the crowds in 2017 and has since become a nationwide staple at sporting venues. The iconic song was written by Diamond after he saw a photo of Caroline Kennedy with her pony, Diamond, back in the 60's and has gained renewed popularity with stadium use in the past decade. Julie compared the song to "God Bless America" and, with the Red Sox success in the past 20 years, the tune seems likely to be part of our baseball experience for years to come.
Ellen Niewoehner, speaking on behalf of Patty Byers, reminded the club of our project to plant crocus bulbs in Post Office Park at 9:00 on Saturday, October 23rd. With the district-wide "Purple for Polio" in full swing, Ellen suggested that we all purchase one of our "Rotary at Work" tee shirts, which are being printed by Paul Gore, and show our spirit and support, as we did for the Bay cleanup in September. Look for a link to order your shirt in the Windjammer.
Bruce Moore reminded us that we are still in need of items for our backpack project, which will provide backpacks filled with helpful items for those coming through the Portland Recovery Community Center. As winter approaches, we still need warm hats, gloves, and other items to keep those in recovery safe and warm. We can also accept donations of Hannaford gift cards, Metro passes, or the cash equivalent.
Roger and Liz Fagan continue to work with hearing impaired folks in the Dominican Republic as the fifth clinic of the year begins. Despite the pandemic restrictions, Roger and Liz have been able to gather audiogram results and program hearing aids, which are then sent to our contacts in the Dominican. Roger and Liz oversee the fittings via Zoom and have seen lots of happy faces on thankful recipients.
Thanks to David Small and his son, Eli, for working with our club and the district in providing a venue for the "Pints for Polio" district-wide project. On Thursday, October 14th at 5:00 at Eli's Brookside Food and Drinkin Westbrook, all members are invited, along with friends and family, for a fun fundraising and social function, whereby $1 of every pint of beer (donated by Gritty's) will go toward our district efforts during Polio Month, with "Polio Day" being the 24th.
Dick Hall, our club's most prominent member as District Governor, was celebrated by Amy Chipman for his major gift to the Rotary Foundation. Dick was recognized as a Major Donor to the Foundation because of his cumulative donation of $10,000. He will receive a lovely glass paperweight, adorned by two doves. And Amy herself was honored by President Bob with her Paul Harris Fellow +8 at our meeting last Friday. Congrats to both Dick and Amy, and to all of those who have given so generously to The Foundation.
Bob Traill has moved into an assisted living home for an indefinite period at The Landing in Cape Elizabeth. The Landing is located at 78 Scott Dyer Road, Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107. Bob said he plans to keep his home in the Cape and can be contacted at the same telephone number (207) 767-8215, and email address (rtraillj@maine.rr.com). Bob said, “due to time spent on my recent relocation, I regret that I have been unable to attend many of our Rotary Zoom meetings, but I will now have the time to attend them. I will also be able to keep other appointments and errands by car.”
Extraordinary Work From Ordinary People
“Rotarians are everyday people, and so are the people we serve,” said Dick Hall, as he opened his presentation October 10, sharing a video of a group of celebrities and young people singing the song Everyday People, a tune calling for peace and unity. Dick called it a “real treat” to do his “official governor’s talk” to his own club, noting the presentation was his 41st and last presentation.
Dick’s first Rotary moment came before he joined Rotary when he returned from a business trip to India in 1983, and told people that skateboards were the hottest selling toys as they were being used as wheelchairs. That opened my eyes.” Dick joined Rotary and found his work of service to others.
He outlined his areas of focus for his year as district governor:
The club—meetings, service, social, and fun;
Membership retention;
Diversity, equity, and inclusion;
The Rotary image, wearing the Rotary colors proudly;
The Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus.
Dick said the rebuilding of the clubs is an important piece. He’s encouraging clubs to reach out to any members whose membership may have lapsed during the difficult times of COVID. “We need to seek and invite other members in the community.” He said the Portland club has been doing a great job of this during COVID. “The secret sauce of Rotary,” he said, “is working side-by-side doing service to the community while building networks and friendships.”
Dick said Rotary International created an international action plan several years ago with four elements:
Increase our impacts;
Expand our reach;
Enhance our participant engagement;
Increase our ability to adapt.
“No one would have predicted how much our ability to adapt would have been tested like the last two years,” he said. “But we’ve shown we can do that with flying colors.”
The motto this year is “serve to change lives.” “We do this,” Dick said, “with strong clubs working in both community projects and international projects. Portland has been very strong doing all of that. “He pointed to the continued work of Roger Fagan as an example. In the district, 31 clubs were active last year with international projects. He realizes that clubs need to be flexible with hybrid meetings—combining in-person with a Zoom meeting; small groups around a computer attending a Zoom meeting; or it can be Rotarians meeting socially, or with service projects. “Clubs need to do anything they can to be together and foster that secret sauce,” he said.
Dick noted Rotary has been a 1.2 million organization for almost 10 years. “We need to grow to 1.3, repeating the challenge of RI President Shekar Mehta—"Each one, bring one.” He challenged the club: “Everybody should introduce someone to Rotary. If they seem like they’d be a good fit, invite them to join the club. Once we get a new member, it’s important to ask them what their passion is and help them follow it. People don’t join to sit quietly in the background. They join to be engaged in service. We are people of action.” He referred to Rotary’s mission statement: “We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.”
Dick suggested that to meet goals of becoming more diverse, create equity, and be more inclusive, clubs need to do to make sure that jokes, traditions, meeting times, handicaps, are adjusted to create diversity, equity, and inclusion among all members in the club.
We need to wear our brand proudly, he said. “We are a leadership organization. Where else can someone join and immediately have the chance to be in a leadership role”?
Dick shared other news about Rotary. He said that the Rotary Foundation had contributed over $45 million to COVID relief. He also said that the Taliban had appointed the same person leading the polio immunization efforts in Afghanistan and was providing security for the polio immunization team. He said the need to continue to push for the eradication of polio remains, and suggested that members enroll in Rotary Direct by going online and arranging a regular donation taken directly from your banking account. To become a Rotary Sustaining Member, the cost is only $100 a year; or $8.50 a month taken directly. “Donate what you can,” he encouraged.
In the Spring, there will be a challenge for clubs to put together a team to enter the district conference sing-along competition. Laura Young nominated Bill Blount to lead the effort.
In the question period, Roger Fagan inquired why Rotary International has not come out in support of the COVID vaccine with the same ferocity that it has with the polio vaccine? “Their leadership would literally save millions of lives,” Roger said. Dick responded that he did not know why that is. He said vaccinations remain a challenge for Rotary. “We have two presidents in our own district who have not been vaccinated, and it’s creating a lot of problems for their clubs. It’s important for every Rotarian to get out there and support the vaccine. Rotarians are trusted people. Love to have this club be a spearhead on how to be a spearhead group to convince people to get vaccinated. We would duplicate it across the district.“
of Representatives during his senior year at Colby College, becoming the youngest member of the Legislature. While serving, he attended the University of Maine School of Law and graduated on time while serving in the Legislature. 
