Template_Summer (Jun. 21, 2025)

Meeting Date: June 20, 2025

Presiding: President Gerry Carrier

Greeter: Michelle Fortin

President Gerry opened the meeting at 07:30 and Michelle shared some inspiration about connections and friendships.

Attendance:

24	Live
7	Zoom
0	Visiting Rotarians
0	Guests
0	Guest Speakers
31	Total

Announcements:

Dick Swett is the greeter next week
Next week will be Gerry’s last meeting as president.
Michelle Fortin has resigned from Rotary because she was having difficulty attending meetings between now living on the Seacoast and meetings for her job. Wanted to thank the club for an amazing 14 years. She is proud of the club and what we have achieved and if she lived closer she would continue with the club. She can’t wait to see what happens with the club in the future. She’s going to take a look at Exeter and Portsmouth Rotary clubs to see if she can find another fit closer to home and work.

Sergeant at Arms: Tanya Frost

Birthdays:

Dave Scanlan: He forgot and didn’t plan on saying anything. Said it has been a good year. He enjoys his job. Going on a fishing trip in Alaska. Children are all doing good.

Chris Parkinson: Good year. Continued to travel and have a lot of trips still planned. Finished up the grandchildren trips. They are considering doing another cycle of trips with the grandchildren. Wife had a knee replacement so he has had to play nurse. Family is great and they are fortunate to have all three daughters live in NH. Had a wonderful trip with Amigos this year and thought it would be his last but he put together a committee. They have dates set for 2026 trip.

Bryant Stevener and Carol Niegisch were not at the meeting.

Fines: None Noted

Happy Bucks:

Ryan Anastasi: Thank you for the club service award. He was glad his mom and Kendra were there. They went and got a pups platter at Chen Yang Li in celebration.

Bill Ames: Thank you for giving him another award. It blew him away. He shared a shave story in honor of Ryan being clean shaven for the first time in 3 years. Bill grew a beard in his 20s. When he turned 35, he shaved. When kids woke up they were confused and asking where dad was because they had never seen him without a beard.

Dick Swett: Michelle will be missed but he has a replacement for her. Just spent 4 days in Kenya. When he was in Kenya he got a message from Bob Couch about someone who would like to join the club. Thought he sent it to Peter but only drafted it. Brad Able recently attended the meeting with his daughter who is in Early Act. Two other kids were in Interact. He wants to pick up the ball as they move on with their lives as adults. He would like to join the club.

Dave Farr: Has been a big week. His daughter graduated, foreign exchange student visited, had a party at the house. Thanked Michelle. Thanked Gerry for being president.

Karen Wadsworth: Her grandson’s baseball team won their Class A baseball championship. He graduates this week.

Melissa Howard: Granite VNA is doing a Harley fundraiser. Bill gave her a check for the cornhole tournament for Granite VNA.

Peter Imse: Seventh granddaughter born last night. It was her third child. She gave birth in the triage room. It was a “code Stork.”

Linda Bliss: Thanked committee that helped with recognition night. Successful trip to New York to see her great granddaughter’s dance recital.

Mike Gula: Joya’s listing sign is just down the street from him and makes him smile every morning. His daughter graduated last weekend. Has a nursing job in Concord. His son turned 20 on Father’s Day. They took him to Texas Roadhouse because it’s his favorite restaurant. Going to hike with his daughter today.

Tanya Frost: Finn’s baseball team was in the playoffs. Had cookouts for the teams all three days. Had a great fundraising event. Champion for kids breakfast. Raised over $375,000 so far. Accepted into Leadership NH program.

Gerry Carrier: Had jar of Hershey Kisses in his car from the car show and his son asked if he was an Uber driver.

Program: Club Assembly

Rule of 85 applicants were all approved by the board.
Had a discussion about breakfasts. Still have not made a cost decision on the entire year. It will be $90 for the first quarter and the next board will look at it more to determine final costs.
Board decided from the cornhole tournament that we would donate to Granite VNA. We came in second place so we donated our $250.
Received a thank you note from Child Voice, Ben’s project. They are picking the girls and started to order the supplies for the project.
Awards night had 26 members. Lots of nominations this year.
The marker is at the park. Waiting on the sprinkler system to be adjusted. Hopefully will make progress in the next few weeks.
Concerts start Thursday. Mike Ard gave a reminder of who is scheduled to volunteer. Still short volunteers a couple of weeks in July. There was some discussions about signs. About $400 short of donations.
Final numbers on the car show net profit of $11,103 dollars.
Board considered honorary membership. Linda Lorden, Mark Lavalle and Paul Rizzi all approved. The committee did look into having community leaders as honorary members. Committee also suggested trying to get Dunbarton more involved.
Woodstock Rotary Club has a "gold tournament" ?? August 21. Reach out to Gerry for info if you are interested.
Hooksett Rotarian Seneca Eldridge will be doing the “Over the Edge” fundraiser and the club is looking for donations to “help push him over.”
If you are helping out buying juice and other items for breakfast, please make sure you get your receipts to Tamar for reimbursement.
Gerry is going to send out Chris Parkinson's recap of Amigos over the years.
Next week will be the passing of the gavel.
Auction committee update. They came up with the theme of "pathway to growth" and used AI to come up with a logo. Goal is to raise over $30,000.
Reminder about tomorrow’s event at the pavilion starting at 1 p.m. and catered by Smokeshow Barbecue. Bring golf clubs for a whiffle golf game.

President Gerry closed the meeting with a toast to Rotary the world over.

Respectfully Submitted,
Vanessa Palange