Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season! Remember,
there will be no meeting on December 23rd or December 30th.
Last Week at Portland Rotary: Adam Costa, Lone Wolf Media "Look What We Found" | by Tom Talbott
Bruce Jones introduced our guest, Adam Costa, Head of Production for Lone Wolf Media, an independent television company that produces broadcast programming for national and international clients including Hulu, National Geographic, History Channel, PBS, Smithsonian Channel, and many more. Aside from his duties hiring and assembling the crew for each project, Adam has served as free-lance camera operator, writer, video editor and actor!
Adam came to Lone Wolf out of school, but didn’t stay too long, eager to get to LA to be a “hotshot” Hollywood director. However, an early experience at LW revolved around a NASA Mission Control story, “Failure Is Not An Option." Hearing the firsthand personal stories of the crew, people who changed the world, well, it changed Adam’s goals and perspective.
Adam explained that they’re not producing commercials or video you would see on local stations, but for 25 years, Lone Wolf, based in an unassuming little building in the Mill Creek neighborhood of South Portland, has been making “fact-based entertainment”. Example: In 2022 they produced a series on the Bermuda Triangle called “Into Cursed Waters” for the History Channel, currently airing on Tuesday nights. In the premiere, they went searching for a WWII rescue plane lost in 1945. Instead they found a 20-foot section of the space shuttle Challenger, which you might have read in the news a few weeks back. CNET News Article Said Adam, "Yeah, that was us!"
Adam shared a 10-minute video celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Lone Wolf, clips from shows that have been created over the years. Much of the filming is shot right here in Maine. When reenactments of a scene are needed, the “Lone Wolf Players” often step into the acting role. What that means, is anyone from the Lone Wolf office that isn’t too busy gets the part! Adam confessed to being “killed” on film about 25 times.
He described the work like a contractor building a home, with the one exception that they have to first convince someone that they need a home. Lone Wolf develops an idea, and then shop it to the networks. Once sold, Lone Wolf subcontracts writers and camera operators, and they collaborate to make the film. Upon delivery, the network owns the film, and does what they want with it. Ask Adam where the show runs, and he often doesn’t know! Lone Wolf produces about 25 hours of programming per year.
While you may not immediately know much of their work, two that drew immediate recognition was “Maine Cabin Masters” - Lone Wolf produced the first two years of the show, and a film called “The Rivals”, featuring Cape Elizabeth and Mountain Valley High School football teams squaring off. Now that we have the insight from Adam’s presentation, we’ll be keeping a sharper eye out for Lone Wolf work on the tellie!
BITS AND PIECES | by Bill Blount and Tom Talbott
Friday December 16, Portland Rotarians gathered in the Cantina in the Italian Heritage Center, President Bruce Jones calling the meeting to order. Jerry Angier led us in the Pledge and Charlie Frair (photo) provided a moment of reflection, citing eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon who wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, questioning the existence of Santa Claus. The charming response read by Charlie was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial.
After lunch, President Bruce reconvened stating that our active club has a full agenda for the meeting. Julie Chas (photo) announced our visitors and guests.
Brian Nickerson executed the raffle, with our guest speaker pulling the familiar “PTG” from the box for a chance to win the pot. Long odds to pick the Queen of Hearts from about 50 cards in the deck, but if anyone has experience it’s Paul Gore. Hey, the pie chart would show that Paul funds about 50% of the entries, and his generosity typically leads to recycling winnings back into the club! Alas, the winning card is still a needle in the haystack – no winner this week!
Paul Harris Fellow Award
Foundation Chair Patty Byers announced that it is a special honor to present a Paul Harris Fellow Award to individuals outside of our club who have made significant contributions to the community. In turn, she presented a Paul Harris Fellow to Jane Britt, President of Sysco Northern New England, to express our gratitude for the many years of support Sysco provided to our annual Thanksgiving meal program at St. Vincent de Paul’s Soup Kitchen. Unfortunately, Jane called in to report that she had just tested positive for Covid, and had to cancel. Fortunately, former Portland Rotarian, now of the Palm Beach, FL club, Dick Giles was in town, and he accepted the award on behalf of Sysco. Let it be known that Dick was a former executive at Sysco, and it was he who originally organized this Thanksgiving event donation, so it was very apropos! (Photo - Patty, Bruce and Dick)
It's Official - Congrats to Our New Club Officers
Ellen Niewoehner, chair of the Nominating Committee announced the nominations last week, so today it was time to officially vote and elect our club officers/directors for 2023-2024. Dick Hall - President 2023-2024, Patty Byers – President Elect (President 2024-25), John Thompson – Vice President (President 2025-26), Tom Nickerson – Secretary, Dick Hall /David Small -Treasurer. Four Directors Terms running 2023-2025: Quinn Slayton, Emily Crowley, Maggie McGauley, and Dave Ertz. Club Protection Officer- Alan Nye, and Sergeant at Arms: Jake Bourdeau. It was a unanimous vote, all in favor of our nominees, no nays, and no abstentions. Congratulations all!
Youth Services Award
Jan Chapman introduced our Youth Services Award for the month. This award of $1000 is presented to a high-achieving high school student from each of the Portland area schools, with the school making the nomination. Jan is our liason to Portland High School, and introduced our recipient, Alison Mina.There to cheer Alison, were her parents, Cindy and John. Telling us why she was selected, Jan introduced Laurie Medieros, Portland HS counselor. Laurie says working with teens gives her hope and inspires her, and Alison was no exception. She noted Alison has volunteered for Special Olympics, Tri For A Cure, Meals for the Heartland, and numerous other programs, while serving on Student Council and Executive Board. She is also a leader on the soccer, hockey and sailing teams, and was selected to the National Honor Society. Taking the microphone, Alison thanked the club, and gave us some great news that she has just been accepted to Colby College! Congratulations!
Nan Heald Honored
Late news, it was announced that the Nan Heald, our Portland Rotarian who passed away earlier this year, was honored by Pine Tree Legal Assistance (PTLA) with the creation of the Nan Heald Black Fly Fellowship. This new initiative will focus on ways to increase access to free civil legal aid in Western Maine. Nan was the Executive Director of Pine Tree Legal from 1990 through 2022.
Thanks IHC
President Bruce took a moment to recognize the staff of the Italian Heritage Center who work hard each week to prepare and serve our meals. He presented the staff, those who could stop for a minute, with a bonus check to show our appreciation. No time to spare – there were two other events going on at the same time!
Sharp Dressed Man
Eric Lusk,in the spirit of the late great sportscaster Lindsay Nelson, pulled out the holiday threads, showing us what style really means. On the right, Bill "The Dude Abides" Blount approves.
Imagine a world without polio.
With your help we can eliminate this devastating disease! Please join us.
Club Executives President Bruce Jones President Elect Dick Hall Vice President Patty Byers Treasurer Dick Hall Secretary Bill Blount Board of Directors Ellen Niewoehner,
Bob Clark, John Thompson, Ben Millick,
Quinn Slayton Sergeant-At-Arms Jake Bourdeau
The Windjammer is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
Contributing Editors Bill Blount, Jake Bourdeau, Dick Hall,
Erik Jorgensen, Julie L’Heureux, Ben Lowry,
Tom Nickerson, Tom Talbott, Laura Young
Program Chair:Dave Putnam Managing Editor Tom Talbott
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season! Remember, 
Adam came to Lone Wolf out of school, but didn’t stay too long, eager to get to LA to be a “hotshot” Hollywood director. However, an early experience at LW revolved around a NASA Mission Control story, “Failure Is Not An Option." Hearing the firsthand personal stories of the crew, people who changed the world, well, it changed Adam’s goals and perspective. 
After lunch, President Bruce reconvened stating that our active club has a full agenda for the meeting. Julie Chas (photo) announced our visitors and guests.
Ellen Niewoehner, chair of the Nominating Committee announced the nominations last week, so today it was time to officially vote and elect our club officers/directors for 2023-2024. Dick Hall - President 2023-2024, Patty Byers – President Elect (President 2024-25), John Thompson – Vice President (President 2025-26), Tom Nickerson – Secretary, Dick Hall /David Small -Treasurer. Four Directors Terms running 2023-2025: Quinn Slayton, Emily Crowley, Maggie McGauley, and Dave Ertz. Club Protection Officer- Alan Nye, and Sergeant at Arms: Jake Bourdeau. It was a unanimous vote, all in favor of our nominees, no nays, and no abstentions. Congratulations all!
Jan Chapman introduced our Youth Services Award for the month. This award of $1000 is presented to a high-achieving high school student from each of the Portland area schools, with the school making the nomination. Jan is our liason to Portland High School, and introduced our recipient, Alison Mina.There to cheer Alison, were her parents, Cindy and John. Telling us why she was selected, Jan introduced Laurie Medieros, Portland HS counselor. Laurie says working with teens gives her hope and inspires her, and Alison was no exception. She noted Alison has volunteered for Special Olympics, Tri For A Cure, Meals for the Heartland, and numerous other programs, while serving on Student Council and Executive Board. She is also a leader on the soccer, hockey and sailing teams, and was selected to the National Honor Society. Taking the microphone, Alison thanked the club, and gave us some great news that she has just been accepted to Colby College! Congratulations! 
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