Portsmouth - Monthly Recap

 
 
The Rotary Club of Portsmouth
MONTHLY RECAP
 
 
As we went to press, the club was getting ready to prepare more than 300 Thanksgiving meals. Dinners were to be delivered throughout the greater seacoast by teams of volunteers. There will also be a festive sit-down meal at Portsmouth’s Jarvis center. The entire day is coordinated by Rotarian Priscilla MacInnis. She has had to turn away volunteers.
 
Our always well-attended feast is complete with live music, decorated tables and delicious food.  Turkeys were to be cooked at home by Rotarians and brought to the Jarvis Center along with numerous pies for dessert.  This massive effort also fills an important holiday need for local, non-profit entities like Cross Roads House and Common Table. We’ll have a complete report next month.
 
 
 
 
 
Also getting ready to launch was the club’s main fundraiser for the year, our Annual Christmas Tree Sales. This traditional three-week-plus holiday marathon is chaired by President-Elect Ben Wheeler, and Vice President Cleo Villaflores is signing up volunteers. Each Rotarian serves 3 three-hour shifts that began November 26 and conclude when the trees are gone. As she has for many years, Janice Cassidy managed the design and production of our 2016 ornament. This year’s edition depicts the new Sara Long Bridge.
 
 
 
Elsewhere…The club donated $1,000 to the Richie McFarland Center to be used on hearing tests for children…Donna Lewallen has delivered many winter coats to children, part of the One Sky Program’s agenda…Talor Forbes is working hard to revive our Youth Exchange program. The club hopes to have incoming and outgoing exchange students next year…
 
N.H. Governor, now U.S. Senator-elect, Maggie Hassan headlined the month’s speakers. Hassan will join an all-female, all- Democrat New Hampshire delegation in Washington, D.C.  How rare is that?…Scott Lombardo explained the Veteran’s Martial Arts Program. The free initiative helps vets recover from a myriad of war-caused afflictions.
 
Finally, our Veterans Day program included a UNH ROTC color guard. Cliff Taylor’s son ended the meeting, flawlessly playing Taps on his bugle. The club’s (at least) 24 veterans and their career highlights were acknowledged. Later, U.S. Navy Captain Gerard Sedor spoke about the Seacoast’s own World War II era Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Submarine commander the late Admiral Richard O’Kane of Dover led all American sub commanders in enemy shipping sunk.