Rotary Club of Lebanon, NH
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Scribe: Bruce Pacht
Present: Phil Bush, Dean Cashman, John Yacavone, Bruce Pacht, Dave Clarenbach, Bill Secord, Dave Crandall, Rich Wallace, Tim Guaraldi, Angela Nelson, Marion Steiner, Cal Wolfe, Bill Babineau, Bruce Bergeron, Will Koppenheffer, Phil Rentz, Jim Damren. ZOOM: Jane Mason and Ed Friedman.
President Dave rang the bell at 12:03 to call the meeting to order.
Recitation of the "4-Way Test of the Things We Think Say or Do" led by Marion Steiner. “Rotary Welcome Song” was omitted because President Dave didn’t trust our a cappella skills.
John Yacavone read some one-liners:
- Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, but not much atmosphere.
- Never buy anything with Velcro—it’s a total rip-off!
- A termite walks into a bar and asks, “Is the bartender?”
President Dave inducted new member David Clarenbach.
Welcome, Dave!
Speaker—Rob Roy McGregor
Executive Director of Listen Community Services
Rob’s been executive director since last March. He served the YMCA in Exeter, NH, for many years and served twice as president of Exeter Rotary.
Rob Roy McGregor displays
his Rotary of Exeter membership badge,
discovered from the last time Rob wore his sport jacket!
Rob’s information about Listen Community Services:
“Most people know us as a thrift store, but our inner workings aren’t known.” Rob offered to take any Rotarian behind the scenes to the large warehouse and sorting center.
Listen raises a substantial portion of its revenue through the thrift stores. People drop off all kinds of things they believe are “good stuff.” “While we appreciate the items,” said Rob, “many are unable to be sold.” Something worn out or soiled cannot be sold. In fact, about 50% of all “stuff” donations that Listen receives (clothing, household goods, sports equipment, furniture—millions of pounds a year) turns out to be “crap.”
In some ways, Listen functions as an alternative to the landfill, processing tons of unwanted goods each year. Last year, Listen paid Casella $100,000 to remove trash, about 2 million pounds! So, Listen continually seeks more creative ways to keep stuff from the landfill.
Unusable clothing is pressed into ~ 900 lb. bales for shipment to a third party that pays 15-25 cents per pound, better than the five cents per pound Listen pays for disposal. Almost 1 million pounds of clothing come to Listen during the year. Listen doesn’t assess the salability of clothing at the time it’s dropped off because it would create a bottleneck. It costs them LESS not to have staff assess the clothing as it is dropped off: it is weeded out in the sorting process. Metals, electronics, and other things also can be repurposed.
Every week, Listen receives about 5,000 lbs. of books that they cannot resell—equal to about 2.5 tons! They used to toss these in a dumpster and pay to get rid of them. Now , Listen sends books to Goodwill in Hudson; Goodwill takes those 5,000 lbs. to a third party that pulps the books.
Listen also has a great relationship with Cover. Cover collects a lot of books as well, which they bring to Listen for sorting, selling and pulping.
Listen travels to the NH food bank in Manchester three or four weeks a month. They drive a box truck down there with 6,000 lbs. of books and return with thousands of pounds of food. Listen is focusing on its environmental footprint as a strategic priority.
Some numbers: $4.5 million in revenue is generated by Listen’s thrift stores. Twenty-eight percent of this revenue (around $1 million) goes to support programs. The rest supports overhead, utilities, doing business.
Why is Rob here instead of the former executive director?
Unfortunately, Listen discovered financial discrepancies under the previous executive director. There were fraud allegations, and the former ED was indicted. His trial is scheduled for January. The good news is that Listen’s funds were restored through their insurance. Having the money still doesn’t make up for all the negativity that went with the misadventure. Since that incident, Listen has gone through an audit, and some irregularities were found that the company is now working on.
What controls were put in place?
Listen has severed relations with PayPal, since anyone can open a PayPal account in the company’s name without submitting written board approval; this loophole doesn’t happen with banks. Listen has changed its rules for opening accounts with various signoffs and redundancies instituted. The board of directors and finance committee are more involved now than in the past. There are also more checks and balances in handling payables and receivables.
These of some of Listen’s good works as a “social enterprise” setting out to do good in the community. (Twin Pines is another “social enterprise”—the company’s activities generate a lot of revenue to support their service efforts.)
- Food pantry: Over 60 person-visits per day now, grown from 3 to 4 a day four years ago. If folks have to decide between purchasing food or not paying on a car that they need to get to and from work, a family’s life can collapse quickly. Rob thanked the kindness of the community that makes it possible for us to provide this service, regarding which one woman said, “It feels just like a grocery store.”
- Community dining room in WRJ: They serve over 130 meals, 5 nights a week.
- Heating assistance: A recent billing mix-up with Liberty Utilities resulted in some folks receiving bills for 4 months of service they hadn’t gotten notified for—quite a shock. Listen helps families with utilities and rent. Rob himself used to think that just giving folks money was only a band-aid; now he knows that helping families avoid eviction can avoid multiple problems for children, job retention, self-esteem and motivation, etc. Listen actively interfaces with landlords, utility providers, etc., to work out payment plans.
- Free Book Friday—any child coming in gets a free book.
Listen is an amazing organization, operating every day, every hour as a small cog in the system. They work with other NFPs and community service groups to multiply good efforts. Rob thanked Lebanon Rotarians for their generosity and kindness in support of needy families.
Q : Cal Wolfe
"I’m proud to meet another descendant of Ed Helms (who started Goodwill)." Cal would like to talk with Rob about Kenya. Rob works with the Zienzele Foundation in Tanzania also and would be happy to talk more.
Kilton book presentation:
Bill Secord presented Rob McGregor with a children’s book by Cree Nation member, poet and singer Buffy Ste. Marie: Still This Love Goes On.
Named a Best Picture Book of the Year: Kirkus Reviews, Globe and Mail, and Chicago Public Library.
"A love letter to family, home, and Indigenous traditions... This story reminds readers of the joy we experience upon returning to those whom we love and who love us." —Kirkus STARRED Review
From Cree-Métis artist Julie Flett and Academy Award-winning icon Buffy Sainte-Marie comes a celebration of Indigenous community, and the enduring love we hold for the people and places we are far away from.
Based on Sainte-Marie’s song of the same name, Still This Love Goes On combines Flett's breathtaking art with vivid lyrics to craft a stunning portrait of a Cree worldview. At the heart of this picture book is a gentle message about missing our loved ones, and the promise of seeing each other again.
This gem of a picture book features:
- Sheet music of Buffy Sainte-Marie's beloved song
- Notes from Sainte-Marie and Flett about their inspiration for the song and illustrations
Brimming with love for community and the land, Still This Love Goes On is destined to be read and sung for generations.
Happy Dollars
- Marion’s daughter is now treasurer for all classes at her university.
- Bruce Pacht called Rotarians’ attention to posters on the lunch tables advertising the A Cappella Showcase “Building Bridges of Harmony,” to be presented by the Barbershop Harmony Society Hanover Chapter at the Mascoma Valley Regional High School Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday, November 11. General admission is $15; only $5 for veterans, active service members and children 14 and under. An “Afterglow” buffet follows for only $5 more.
- Bill Secord promoted a concert by Bel Canto Chamber Singers, called “Wintertide,” to be held at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon at 7 p.m. December 9, and 4 pm. December 10.
Queen of Hearts Raffle
Rob pulled #648—Dean Cashman drew the King of Diamonds.
Car Wash Raffle
Dean drew #639, which benefited Jim Damren.
Charities vote:
A motion was made and seconded to confirm Charities allocation of $5,000 toward the LEBANON OPERA HOUSE 100TH ANNIVERSARY RENOVATIONS. A donation at this level comes with recognition on the permanent donor board to be installed at the Opera House, and with a plaque on one of the new theatre seats. After brief discussion, the motion was passed by unanimous vote.
Announcements
- Listen holiday basket recipients have been chosen—15 families. Angela will circulate a master list of gifts: if there’s an item you wish to purchase, please let Angela know. If you don’t want to shop, please give Angela a check or cash and she will shop on your behalf. The baskets contain items per child in the family plus a food gift card of $50 for small families, and $100 or $125 for larger families. Checks may be made out to “Lebanon Rotary Charities,” and are tax deductible. Charities has an allocation in its budget that is additional to individual member contributions.
- Jane Mason, listening in on Zoom, bragged that she was the SINGLE RECIPIENT AMONG ALL WORKERS FOR THE ENTIRE US CORPS OF ENGINEERS of the “National Technology IMIT Champion of the Year!” Congratulations to Jane from all Lebanon Rotarians! Jane promised to pay a $5 fine next time she sees one of us—perhaps at the holiday dinner?
- Past President Ed’s photo is being circulated in hundreds of copies of Listen’s annual report. A fine of $5 per report was proposed, but Ed was hidden on Zoom and couldn’t unmute fast enough to defend himself.
- Phil Bush noted that the Styrofoam recycling event headed up by Lebanon Rotary and Sustainable Lebanon faces a similar problem of un-useful stuff being passed off as Styrofoam.
- Bruce Bergeron reported that the couple who prints our First Grade Readers told us they are leaving the business. As of now, we do not have a partner to continue this 28-year long project that has served two generations of Lebanon’s students. Bruce invited Rotarians to search for another provider.
- November is Foundation Month. Four people handed Phil Rentz checks today.
If you would like to contribute, you can bring your check to a Thursday meeting. Please make the check out to ROTARY FOUNDATION.
It would be great if the Club could achieve EREY status (Every Rotarian Every Year) with each member contributing $25 or more to Rotary Foundation. The Foundation is an important aspect of Rotary. Over the years, the Club has frequently utilized Foundation Grants to accomplish projects in our community.
Thank you for your support,
Ron and Philip
- Next week is Club business. The following week is Thanksgiving—no meeting.
11/21 membership committee.
11/28 board meeting.
The String of Pearls Lives On!
On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, Don Lacey wrote:
"When Cinder and I arrived for our evening walk at Baker’s, we found two sturdy new green picnic tables had been delivered today! Hooray and many thanks to Rotary Club of Lebanon."
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