President John called the meeting to order by welcoming 35 members and 6 guests. Past President Cyrus Hagge gave the invocation, which reviewed the Red Sox’s opening loss and calculated that the pitcher, Chris Sale, was awarded a $145 million-dollar contract extension that during a typical season will earn him $6,019 per pitch. He then lamented that he was in the wrong business. Cyrus gave us a rendition of the poem “Casey at the Bat” with that familiar ending:
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
After the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of a patriotic song, we had the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. Our speaker, Charlie Roscoe, then presented us with a Uganda club banner and informed us that Uganda has the highest number of Rotarians per capita than anywhere else in the world. Who knew?
Derek Pierce, principal of Casco Bay High School, introduced our Youth Service Award recipient, Mouna Adbelkader, as an excellent choice and who has done outstanding volunteer work in her school and the community. Her proud father, Mohamed Adbelkader, was beaming with pride.
(Photo L-R: President John Curran, Principal Derek Pierce, Mohamed Adbelkader, Mouna Adbelkader, and Katie Brown.)
John Thompson (photo at left) spoke about the excellent progress in starting an Interact Club at Baxter Academy. He said that the first meeting was held on Wednesday and 14 students attended, along with a faculty advisor. What a great start! John then spoke about the Next Generation Interact Conference that was held at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on Saturday (March 23rd) and all the interesting and informative breakout programs that were offered.
President John read us a letter from Principal Gregg Palmer, Deering High School, thanking us for our donation of an electric piano to the school.
First Vice President Amy Chipman (photo at right) then reminded us to attend the District Training Assembly on Saturday April 6th at York County Community College. All are welcome! The registration of $20 will be reimbursed to members who attend.
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(Photo L-R: Gracie Johnston, PP Bill Blount and 1st VP Amy Chipman.)
PP Bill Blount, 1st VP Amy Chipman and Gracie Johnston had us all singing and smiling with their side-stepping shuffle and enthusiasm in leading us in song with “Singing in the Rain.”
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PP Larry Gross conducted the raffle of $328 and PP Roxane Cole pulled the 7 of Hearts, leaving the jackpot to grow larger next week.
(Photo at right: PP Roxane Cole, President John Curran and PP Larry Gross.)