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Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
Speakers
Jan 26, 2018
Feb 02, 2018
Feb 09, 2018
Feb 16, 2018
Feb 23, 2018
Mar 02, 2018
Reschedule from earlier date
Mar 09, 2018
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Executives & Directors
President
 
First Vice President
 
Second Vice President
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Immediate Past President
 
Sergeant-at-Arms
 
Director Term End 2018
 
Director Term End 2018
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Community Service Chair
 
International Service Chair
 
Vocational Service Chair
 
Rotary Foundation Chair
 
Club Protection Officer
 
Vision Champion
 
Communications-WJ Bulletin Ed
 
Communications-PR External
 
Constitution/ByLaws Chair
 
Fund Raising Chair
 
Good Cheer Chair
 
Invocation Chair
 
Meeting Day Chair
 
Music Committee Chair
 
Program Chair
 
Membership Chair
 
Web Administrator
 
Administrative Coordinator
 
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
DistrictSiteIcon District Site
VenueMap Venue Map
Club Policy for Meeting Cancellation
Our club policy regarding winter storm-related cancellation of Rotary meetings is:
 
IF PORTLAND SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER CONDITIONS, PORTLAND ROTARY DOES NOT MEET.
 
Please watch your local TV news/weather broadcasts on Friday mornings, in the event of a snow storm.
Rotary This Week
Portland Rotary Club
will meet this Friday,
January 26, 2018
at the 
Clarion Hotel
1230 Congress Street

 
*01/26/18 Charlie Frair, Appalachian Trail Trek

Last July (2017) one of our members (Charlie Frair) and a former member (Megan Devlin) hiked the 100-mile wilderness trail, one of the most difficult sections of the Appalachian Trail in Northern Maine. They will be sharing some of their adventures on this hike at our next meeting.

Megan Devlin, who is about to graduate from UNE and become a Dental Hygienist, and Charlie Frair, both love the outdoors, camping and hiking and had been planning this hike for more than a year. They will be sharing a few pictures they took along the way, some of the gear they carried and introducing you to some of the people they met along the way.

Charlie has been on variety of hikes in various parts of the world, including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and yet has said that this was the most challenging hike he has ever taken. Megan is an accomplished hiker and camper in her own right. Both are looking forward to sharing this adventure with the club.

01/19/18 Robert MacKenzie, Kennebunk Chief of Police

Gracie Johnston introduced our guest speaker, Robert MacKenzie, the Kennebunk Chief of Police, who has the distinction of also being a Rotarian and Past President of the Kennebunk Rotary Club. Chief MacKenzie spoke to us about the opioid crisis in Maine and his efforts to combat it! 

But first he gave us some sobering statistics: 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed daily in the U.S. and there are 52,000 deaths nationwide due to drug overdoses. Although we spend $400 billion annually to treat substance abuse, in the next decade, an additional 650,000 people will die due to opioid overdoses. In Maine, 318 died from drug overdoses in 2016 and there are an estimated 35,000 Mainers addicted to opioids.

Chief MacKenzie has formed a new committee in our Rotary district called 'Recovery Initiative.' There are 25 members on the committee — 18 of whom are Rotarians. The Recovery Initiative focuses on all the six Rotary areas of focus: Disease Prevention, Economic and Community Development, Maternal and Child Health, Clean Water and Sanitation, and Basic Education and Literacy. 

The Recovery Initiative has already trained Rotarians at the Kennebunk and Saco Bay Rotary clubs to recognize drug overdose victims, provide first aid and even administer naloxone to combat the symptoms of opioid overdose. Chief Mackenzie hopes to train other Rotarians who can bring their training into the community and potentially save lives.

"Learn to Cope" is another program the Chief is hoping to bring to Maine. This program is a peer-to-peer recovery group where individuals can go online to learn what others are going through. This is a safe place to go for friendship and to obtain materials related to opioid addiction.

Chief MacKenzie wants to continue with his efforts to get Rotary involved in this issue and emphasized that opioid abuse has probably touched each of our lives in some way. He then took questions after his talk about: how to give the often lifesaving drug (Naloxone) to someone who has overdosed; whether or not Governor LePage has softened his stance on treating overdose victims with naloxone; and how doctors can help in this opioid crisis. 

We are lucky to have such a dedicated law enforcement official and Rotarian working diligently to combat this crisis and it’s inspiring to see his efforts include Rotarians here in Maine.

 
(Photo L-R: Gracie Johnston, Kennebunk Police Chief Robert MacKenzie and President Don Zillman.)
01/19/18 Bits & Pieces

Invocation by Past President Russ Burleigh, using the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley. Somehow this turned into a Go-Patriots theme.

Gracie Johnston led the pledge, then back to Russ on the keyboard for 'God Bless America.'


President Don Zillman thanked 1st Vice President John Curran and 2nd Vice President Amy Chipman for covering the podium for him while he was traveling and trying to get his book to the editor.


President Don welcomed 48 members, 4 visiting Rotarians and 7 guests. Among our visiting Rotarians, joining us were District 7780 Past District Governor Carolyn Johnson and District 7790 Past District Governor Leni Gronros, his wife Kimberlee Graffam, as well as our speaker for the day, Kennebunk Police Chief Robert MacKenzie. We also had a few guests, one of whom was described as a “Domestic Goddess,” and another was the Portland Police Chief, Michael Sauschuck.


President Don launched into a number of thank you's. He thanked all the Portland Rotarians for their meeting service, then read letters from Lyseth School (for Joan Steinberg’s mittens) and Preble Street (for the large donation of shoes).


Our Maine Outdoor Challenge committee will meet this week at the Boys and Girls Club. Contact Past President Kris Rosado or Don Zillman if you want to join the planning group. All are welcome.


Roger Fagan announced that the 3-H team was leaving for a week in the Dominican Republic on Saturday, Jan 20. This is their 21st trip and they have 200 hearing aids, 70 water filters and 70 solar lights to distribute. They also have toothbrushes, toothpaste and other personal care products which have been donated.  A week later John Curran will bring 24 prosthetic hands to fit.
 


Gracie Johnston is looking for volunteers for the Preble Street dinner Wednesday, Jan 24th. The starting time is 3:30pm. Contact Gracie if you can help at: gracie.johnston@newscentermaine.com.
She said that your hands, feet and heart are appreciated.


(Photo L-R: President Don Zillman,, Megan Peabody, PP Laura Young, Bruce Jones, David Ertz, Jesse Harvey and Gracie Johnston.)

We were treated to the introduction of three great new members: first - Past President Laura Young introduced Megan Peabody, a third-generation Rotarian who began Rotary involvement at age 8, raising funds for Shelterbox and continued on with Interact, Youth Exchange and Safe Passage. Bruce Jones introduced David Ertz, a semi-retired consulting engineer who has been active in other organizations, and now wants to serve through Rotary. Gracie Johnston introduced Jesse Harvey, the Founder and Director of Mission of Journey House, which operates two recovery houses in Sanford. He works as the Peer Support Coordinator for Greater Portland Health. Anyone who missed the meeting missed hearing three excellent introductions about three great new Rotarians.


President Don told us he was asked by District Governor Dave Underhill to name three recent accomplishments by the club. Don’s choices were: great new members; a wide range of service projects; and success and growth of the Veterans Appreciation Lunch.


The weekly raffle was run by Matt Tassey, who had our speaker pull Past President Dick Hall’s name from the holding vessel of entries, but Dick was bummed out when he pulled the Ace of Diamonds....and the pot continues to grow. (Photo: PP Dick Hall and Matt Tassey.)
 

Fund Raising Committee Meeting - Mark Your Calendars
Fundraising Committee Meeting
Friday, February 2nd, 11:00 AM
Before our regular weekly meeting
 
Thanks to everyone’s participation, our Club has stepped up our level of activities and programs. Our focus on Childhood Hunger and Education (CHE) has helped us to expand existing efforts and develop new community project activities. In addition to our great work locally, our Hearing, Hands and H2O (3H) program has also experienced fabulous results and continued growth.
 
In order to maintain this pace and to continue to grow our programs, we will need to also grow our funding. It is up to our committee to make sure that the club has these resources. In this upcoming meeting, we will review and discuss the events and activities that we currently have, as well as discuss and plan events we might want/need to add.
 
We need you at this meeting!!
 
Thanks for all you do for Portland Rotary!
 
Kris Rosado
Fundraising Chair

 
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


Preble Street        4th Wednesday ea month
Resource Ctr        4-6:30 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:  Cyrus Hagge
Program Reporter:  Tom Talbott
Bits & Pieces Reporter:  Julie L'Heureux
Registration/Greeter:   Deb Lavoie
Sell Meal Tickets:  Patty Erickson
Raffle:  Bruce Jones
Badge Box:  None
Collect Meal Tickets:  Tom Nickerson (if needed)
Keyboard Player:  None
Sgt-at-Arms (Setup):  Peter Noyes
Sgt-at-Arms (Take Down):  Howie Herodes

Rotary Meeting Locations

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

2018 
Jan 26 - Clarion Hotel

Feb 02 - Clarion Hotel
Feb 09 - Clarion Hotel

Feb 16 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Feb 23 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay

Mar 02 - Clarion Hotel
Mar 09 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Mar 16 - Long Creek Youth Center
Mar 23 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay
Mar 30 - Holiday Inn By-the-Bay


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.
 
Prospective Rotarians

As we receive applications for prospective members to join our Portland Rotary Club, the names of the applicants will be included in our Windjammer. Any information and/or comments you would like to share will be handled confidentially. Please contact Loretta Rowe: lrowe@maine.rr.com. Your input will be appreciated.

PROSPECT                 BUSINESS
(Sponsor)                                                                           

Xavier Botana              Portland Public Schools
(Don Zillman)

Kim D'Amaro               The Salvation Army
(Jim Willey)

Alex Kappelman           Locations Real Estate Group
(Ben Millick)


Thank you.