12/23/16 Bits & Pieces
Posted by Jake Bourdeau
President Laura Young welcomed 52 members, 1 visiting Rotarian and 9 guests to open our special holiday meeting.
Many of the guests at Rotary this week were loved ones and families of our members.
Charlie Frair provided the invocation. He posed a question that was asked by an 8-year old girl (Virginia O'Hanlon) in 1897 in a letter to New York Sun's newspaper, and since then, has often been asked by youngsters during the holidays: Is there a Santa Claus? The quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial.....the work of a veteran newsman....with "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," and continued to say that "he exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished." So keep the spirit of Christmas alive!Travis Parker was asked to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Kathy Grammer led us in singing the National Anthem.
Laura thanked all who helped make the weekly meeting possible, including the members from the: Meeting Day Committee, the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Windjammer reporters; and the hard-working staff at the Holiday Inn.
Laura read some thank you notes and Christmas cards recently received by our club:
There was an email note from Dave Talbot’s family regarding his thanks and some updates on the Crutches4Africa medical equipment collection project. (See separate story below.)Joan Steinberg (Russ Burleigh's wife) sent a nice "thank you note" for the Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) she received after presenting the many pairs of mittens she has knitted over the year and recently donated for local children in need. Joan has been doing this tirelessly for the past eight years and she thanked the Rotarians who donated the yarn to make it happen.
Glenn Nerbak provided a thank you note from "Partners for World Health."
President Laura thanked Linda Varrell, chair of the Public Relations Committee, for helping prepare and send press releases to the media in order to spread the word about our club.
President Laura thanked Linda Varrell, chair of the Public Relations Committee, for helping prepare and send press releases to the media in order to spread the word about our club.
Bob Fetter (left, with President Laura), Holiday Inn's main server for our club's lunch each week, was presented with a token of the club's appreciation for his dedicated service throughout the year.
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Elise Hodgkin (left in photo at right), our club's Administrative Coordinator, was presented with a 'thank you' gift from President Laura.
Special thanks also went out to our recent Salvation Army bell-ringing Rotarians: Ralph Hendrix, Paul Tully, Roger Asch, Ron Bennett, Tom Ranello, George Crockett, Mike Fortunato, Jerry Angier, Travis Parker, Rusty Atwood, Tom Talbott, Dick Giles, Leonard Scott, Bowen Depke, Bruce Jones, Andreea Paine, Rob Chatfield, Jim Willey, Tom Nickerson, and Cyrus Hagge.
Elise Hodgkin (left in photo at right), our club's Administrative Coordinator, was presented with a 'thank you' gift from President Laura.
Special thanks also went out to our recent Salvation Army bell-ringing Rotarians: Ralph Hendrix, Paul Tully, Roger Asch, Ron Bennett, Tom Ranello, George Crockett, Mike Fortunato, Jerry Angier, Travis Parker, Rusty Atwood, Tom Talbott, Dick Giles, Leonard Scott, Bowen Depke, Bruce Jones, Andreea Paine, Rob Chatfield, Jim Willey, Tom Nickerson, and Cyrus Hagge.
David Clough (right in photo) ran the weekly raffle, which was over $1,000. Bowen Depke's (left in photo) name was selected to try and find the Queen of Hearts within the cards that were remaining in the deck. He picked a red card, but unfortunately it was not the elusive Queen....and on she grows!
Matt Wolcott gave us a "Rotary Minute" on cotton candy and oranges. To Matt, joining Rotary was not a question of why, but why not? Matt recalled the days of helping his father (who is a Rotarian) deliver oranges as a fund-raising effort for his dad's Rotary club....and spending time with his father in the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Clubhouse. Matt said Rotary DNA is in his blood, since his parents could not say no when they were called to serve.