On Christmas eve-eve, we celebrated the holidays at our own Holiday Inn. As usual, our club historian extraordinaire, Russ Burleigh, was at the podium, with the talented Kathy Grammer tickling the ivories and offering her skilled voice as accompaniment.
The theme of the program was “The Bells of Christmas” and we were provided with a combination of history lesson and sing-along that got the large crowd into the Christmas spirit, with an acknowledgement to other celebrations within our club, the nation and the larger planet. It was interesting that the bells of Christmas were originally used to ward off evil spirits, but became intertwined with the Christian holiday in the many, many songs that have become part of the lexicon of Christmas.
“Ding Dong Merrily on High,” first published in 1589 as a dance instruction tune, was updated in the 1800’s and has become a holiday favorite. After warming the room with our voices on that piece, Kathy tried to get us to join her in singing “Kling Glockchen Kling,” a German holiday song. Our effort was strong, but the results were lacking. “Sliver Bells” was a vast improvement. Written for the movie, “The Lemondrop Kid,” starring Bob Hope, the song became an instant hit…but not as big as “Jingle Bell Rock,” which has become one of the most popular songs in history. Our Rotary chorus nailed each of these and felt increasingly confident as Russ continued on. When he began discussing “Campana Sobre Compana,” a Spanish tune, we were brought back to the reality that all of us need to maintain our day jobs.
Russ introduced us to the controversy that has swirled around “Jingle Bells” since 1857, when James Lord Piermont wrote the popular tune. Both Medford, Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia claim to have been the “birthplace” of the song, which interestingly was the first song played in space, in 1965. There has been no resolution to the dispute, but we New Englanders adopt the “snowier” explanation of Medford.
“The Bells of Finland” was followed by a fascinating description of how “I heard The Bells on Christmas Day” was written by Portland’s own Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Kathy gave us a warm rendition of the song and we concluded our meeting with a sign-a-long of “Silver Bells,” which allowed us all to leave the meeting and head out into the cold with the warmth of Christmas bells chiming in our heads.
Many thanks to Russ and Kathy….and a very happy holiday season to us all!
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.
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. 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.
The Interact Club at Portland High chose a holiday food drive as a service project. Donations were made by Interact members and others. Seven holiday baskets, that included turkeys with all the fixings, were delivered to families in need today.
Rotarian David Talbot has been instrumental in the "Crutches4Africa" (C4A) Rotary District project. Dave spent some serious time in the hospital recently. An email was received from Dave's family, that President Laura shared with the Club members at our last meeting:
"Happy New Year.....that’s what we are looking forward to.
We have had a huge year of enormous adventure. We went to Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Uganda, Korea, Atlanta, Nashville, Texas, Phoenix and the Denver Health Hospital. The longest and most exciting trip was to the hospital on November 4. I do mean exciting, we had so many prayer warriors and friends come around as David suffered a string of heart attacks, had a number of stents placed at different times, Needed a half hour of CPR after the stents and a second pacemaker..Ok so like I said, huge adventure. Jazmine and Candice lived at the hospital with David after Aunt Mae went back to Az.
Life support was an interesting interval...not one we care to repeat. David is slowly regaining his voice, strength and sense of humor. He never lost his sense of gratitude and thanksgiving. Every caregiver he has had has loved having us as a family. We never lost hope despite the organ failures, dialysis, and scary events he endured.
God is surely in control and has work for David to do yet to come. One lesson learned, and message we want to pass along to all of you is to love one another deeply without reservation. You do not know when things will change forever. David was able to appreciate a living eulogy, so to speak.
So many people wrote and told him how much he meant to them and so many others. Why not let people know while they are living what you might want to say at their funeral. Rejoice in all your relationships, forgive those who have not been kind, bless those who do not bless you. Try reaching out to virtual strangers, they might become your best friends.
Rotary friends have been a blessing, and sent many ambassadors to visit all the way from Atlanta, and Evergreen. Our churches have been amazing too. Plenty of prayer partners from Lookout Mtn. Church, and closer to home, St. Johns, and New Denver Church put us on their meal train and sent food while Candice was at the hospital 24/7. Help came from friends and prayers from everywhere in the world.
We gave away over 12,000 mobility devices this year already. We have about 3,000 on the high seas right now, and plan to ship two more before March is over. Other team members with some experience will be jumping in with both feet to keep C4A running smoothly.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New year!
Love and hugs,
David, Candice and Jazz, the dog (and two parakeets Sunshine and Snow)”
One of the many trips the International Service Committee's 3-H (Hearing, Hands and H2O) Project Team will be making to the Dominican Republic (DR) will be in early 2017.
The Batays in the Dominican Republic are located some 15-20 miles outside of the city, where night darkness is intense. Access to electricity is very limited and without light, the safety of the inhabitants is an issue. The 3-H team would like to take 70-100 collapsible portable lights with them on their upcoming trip and are looking for volunteer donations of $15 per light to help fund this important project.
(Photo: Dick Giles demonstrating a portable solar light.)
For further information or if you would like to help, please contact Elise Hodgkin atportlandrotary@maine.rr.comor 899-6342. You may bring your cash/check to a meeting or mail your check to: Portland Rotary, P.O. Box 1755, Portland, ME 04104. Please make your check payable to Portland Rotary Charitable Account. Make a memo note on the check: for DR solar lights.
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 Loretta Rowe: lrowe@maine.rr.com. Your input will be appreciated.
PROSPECT BUSINESS (Sponsor)
Benjamin Millick Clark Insurance (Justin Lamontagne)
Ognjen Nikolic Ogo Sense LLC (Russell Voss)
Terri St Angelo Anderson-Watkins Insurance (Linda Varrell)
The following is a list of projects happening within our club that you have an opportunity to volunteer and help with. If you know of other opportunities, please contact Loretta: lrowe@maine.rr.com
When
Project Who to Contact
Soup kitchen 4th Wednesday ea month
Preble Street (4-6:30 p.m.) Oct 26th
Resource Ctr Erik Greven
Game Night Last Tuesday ea month
Cedar Unit Mike Fortunato or
ROTARY DOUBLES TENNIS LEAGUE Fall/Winter Session 2016
Congratulations to TEAM 5, who managed to eke out a one-point victory over TEAM 4. It was a great and competitive season. Thank you all for making it the success that it was.
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The theme of the program was “The Bells of Christmas” and we were provided with a combination of history lesson and sing-along that got the large crowd into the Christmas spirit, with an acknowledgement to other celebrations within our club, the nation and the larger planet. It was interesting that the bells of Christmas were originally used to ward off evil spirits, but became intertwined with the Christian holiday in the many, many songs that have become part of the lexicon of Christmas.
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 
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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!
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