Liz Hall from the Bicycle Coalition of Maine will be our speaker this Friday.
Liz grew up in central Vermont, mountain biking around the Green Mountain National Forest almost every day of the summer. She was a Rotary Exchange Student from 2003-2004 in Normandie, France, and still touts this experience as being one of the most formative of her life. After graduating from George Washington University in 2008 and working in Washington, D.C., the years thereafter, she moved to Portland in late 2012, and began working for the Bicycle Coalition of Maine in January 2013.
Liz took charge of the Coalition's event and development programs in January 2014, and loves working as the event director for the Great Maine Bike Swaps in Orono and Portland, the Maine Women's Ride in Freeport, and the Maine Lobster Ride in Rockland. She is the volunteer coordinator for the Coalition's week-long BikeMaine ride, taking place September 12-19, 2015.
What she loves most about bicycling is the community-building and economic impact this beloved pastime has on Maine's towns and cities. She will present to the Portland Rotary Club on the economic benefits of bicycling, as well as the upcoming BikeMaine ride, which infused over $395,000 into Maine's economy in 2014!
(Photo: President Bowen, DG Sheila Rollins and Mark Millar.)
Rotary District 7780 Governor Sheila Rollins was our featured speaker on Friday. She spoke about how it has been an “amazing journey” for her to become District Governor (DG) of our District 7780. Speaking to the Portland Rotary Club was her 20th presentation on her District journey.
Opening her talk, DG Sheila presented President Bowen with a check for $2,250, a project grant award.
Loretta Rowe received a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition for all she does for District 7780, including having done the composition of the District Directory and the details she manages for the District. DG Sheila also presented her with a special 2015-16 R.I. theme pin.
Rotarians in District 7780, especially our Portland Club, are already achieving the 2015-16 theme of being our “Gift to the World.” “Whatever we do as Rotarians, we want to do it along with the rest of the world,” DG Sheila said.
All Rotary Clubs have six focus areas and five Avenues of Service in common. Among our club’s activities she acknowledged were the local collaborations with Preble Street Resource Center and the Maine juvenile detention center at Long Creek. Our club collaborates with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine fund raising through the Maine Outdoor Challenge and volunteer work; providing volunteers to do the ringing of the bells for the Red Kettles with the Salvation Army at Christmas and the Childhood Hunger and Education (CHE) programs, including the 'Feeding Bodies and Minds' programs. International collaborations include the Dominican Republic 3-H programs for Hearing, H2O and Hands and Crutches4Africa.
Our Club's support of Youth Service activities include Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Interact and Youth Service Award scholarships.
DG Sheila encouraged Rotarians to visit and “like” Club and District Facebook pages and District newsletters. “Portland Rotary is already a 'gift to the world',” she said.
Our Club’s collaborations with the District 7780 events, as always, include increasing and retaining membership. Telling our Rotary stories is the most effective way we have to recruit new members. Literacy and hunger issues, both local and worldwide, will be in the forefront of activities. Encouraging the use of environmentally responsible practices will be an underlying theme to all District events. A 'Polio Walk' is scheduled for Saturday October 24, 2015 in Kittery at the Memorial Bridge.
Six areas of focus where all Rotarians are engaged are:
Peace and conflict resolution
Disease prevention, including polio eradication
Economic and community development
Water and sanitation
Maternal and child health
Basic education and literacy
Among other activities (although there may be changes) is an international project to support 1,500 Nigerian students with disabilities and chronic illnesses. This program will include obtaining 1,000 books in braille for teachers who are blind and are teaching children with blindness to help them with educational programs.
Anti-hunger programs include supporting the elderly who are experiencing food security challenges. In fact, 1 in 8 elderly are experiencing food insecurity. Rotary will work with 'Meals on Wheels' programs to improve food access to the elderly. John Dennen from Brunswick Coastal Rotary will chair this program.
A District 7780 Vocational Team will recruit clinicians with a Masters Degree or Ph.D., in Mental Health to travel to Argentina in South America in March 2016, to participate in an international exchange program to improve mental health care. An anti-slavery initiative is being proposed for how Rotary can participate in 'Voices for Freedom.' A 'Free to Work' smart phone application can be used to find the sources of apparel and consumer goods and thereby avoid products where human trafficking are used.
Support of the Rotary Foundation will help to get to the heart of the collaborations and programs where Rotarians are our "gifts to the world.” On September 19, a seminar at the University of Southern Maine (USM) will provide opportunities for District 7780 Rotarians to help determine where Foundation resources can be best utilized.
Meanwhile, the roots of all Rotary clubs are with club activities. Rotarians have fun during our activities and programs. It’s important to help the next generation of Rotarians by supporting Rotaract for those 18-30 years old.
Check www.myrotary.org for more information about how to become our "gifts to the world."
DG Sheila's parting words were to:
“Tell stories often and with passion,” and “take pictures, share often.”
A well-attended meeting was commenced by President Bowen Depke who invited Alan Nye to give the invocation. Alan helped us all to give thanks for the many good things, grand and less significant, that make our lives special and are worthy of our thanks. Russ Burleigh took to the key board and lead us in our melodic patriotic proclamation.
Our visitors were but two....we had DGE Dennis McLean visiting from Virginia and soon to become the District Governor in his District, along with Russ Burleigh and Kathy Grammer's guest Jean Murachanian, who is an art historian.
Rusty Atwood took on the task of presenting an historical look at Rotary's year 1925-26. Being in the midst of the “Roaring Twenties” didn’t seem like much to the Club at the time. Nothing salacious was mentioned in the notes and our investigator didn’t dig up any dirt.....after all, this is Rotary we are discussing.....just a bunch of interesting tid bits during this age of being 'Cool with Coolidge.' It was the year of the Scopes trial and the writing of Mein Kampf by the dastardly dictator to be, Hitler. On a much brighter and longer lasting note, Mount Rushmore was completed, while the 40-hour work week was introduced. A fellow by the name of Gannett was prominent in the year and canning of seafood was part of the dining. My how times change, but some things don’t!
Our lucky pluckee was Julie L’Heureux, but she decided being a maven of the journalistic arts was enough. She left the Queen of Hearts behind and the $400+ pot keeps growing to make it more interesting for others. Anyone who knows Julie knows that she is the consummate Rotarian and a most generous soul, so if she had won, she would be in a quandary as to what to do with her new-found riches, despite what husband Richard might want.
Keeping in touch with the 'Twenties' theme, we were enticed by KathyGrammer and Janelle LoSciuto to follow their beautiful voices and try to make the song “Five Foot Two” something more than a ditty for the baby. Alas, they might be of perfect voice, but are surrounded by many who are in need of lessons. We never made it through the second attempt!
However, there was some good music to be heard when Loretta (for Gus Karlsen) announced that the Club once again came through for the MS Society and raised $1000 to sponsor a couple of sail boats for the MS Regatta. We’ve been doing this for many years and it still feels as good as the first time! One of our boats came in second place behind the boat that was sponsored by the Falmouth Rotary Club.
Kris Rosado and many fellow Rotarians served up burgers at the Boys and Girls Club 'Steak and Burger Dinner' fundraiser on Thursday, August 20th. Bob Clark and his great team at the B-G Club sincerely appreciate the generous support we provide. Boys Club alumni, John Marr, learned that his Charlestown club is reputed by the Boston Duck Tour narrator to be the first club in the nation, or at least the oldest club, still in existence.
Invocator:David Small Program Reporter: Erik Jorgensen Bits & Pieces Reporter: Alan Nye Registration/Greeter: Erik Greven Sell Meal Tickets: Jan Chapman Raffle: Emily McEntee Badge Box: Lester Evans Collect Meal Tickets: None Rotary Moment in History: Peter Goffin Song Leader: Meredith Small Pianist: Russ Burleigh Sgt-at-Arms (Early): Bill Ross Sgt-at-Arms (Late): Tom Sukley
As we receive applications for prospective members to join our Portland Rotary Club, the names of the applicants will be included in our Windjammer. Any information and/or comments you would like to share will be handled confidentially. Please contact the Club Secretary (Loretta Rowe: lrowe@maine.rr.com). Your input will be appreciated.
PROSPECT BUSINESS SPONSOR Megan Devlin Italian Herit. Ctr Charlie Frair
Maxwell Chikuta Maine Med. Ctr Bruce Moore Andreea Paine Goodwill NNE Geo. Crockett David Lee HumanNature@Work Bowen Depke Katie Brown Locker Project Laura Young
The meeting minutes of the Portland Rotary Club's Board of Directors are posted on our website the month following their approval. From the "Home Page," click on the "Board Meeting Minutes" in the listing at the left.
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Rusty Atwood took on the task of presenting an historical look at Rotary's year 1925-26. Being in the midst of the “Roaring Twenties” didn’t seem like much to the Club at the time. Nothing salacious was mentioned in the notes and our investigator didn’t dig up any dirt.....after all, this is Rotary we are discussing.....just a bunch of interesting tid bits during this age of being 'Cool with Coolidge.' It was the year of the Scopes trial and the writing of Mein Kampf by the dastardly dictator to be, Hitler. On a much brighter and longer lasting note, Mount Rushmore was completed, while the 40-hour work week was introduced. A fellow by the name of Gannett was prominent in the year and canning of seafood was part of the dining. My how times change, but some things don’t! 
