This week we meet at Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs. Since this ball team came to town 22 years ago, we have had a summer meeting every year at Hadlock, all except one. Join us and ask Bill Blount why we go there and why we missed one year at the ball field, if you’re interested.
The home runs and double plays will be provided by the Franks and Burgers; stolen bases by the Ice-Cream sandwiches, aka Sea Biscuits; and the cheers by Club Members. Bring a friend…prospective member…your children...your parents/grandparents...or extended family…smell the fresh-cut grass...smile in the sunshine...and enjoy some time away from the daily grind.
Directions to meeting site at the ballpark: Go to the main gate and signs or ushers will direct you to the meeting site....the picnic area down the first base line. Go Sea Dogs!
Jess Knox, self-described agitator and organizer, spoke this week on the goals and objectives of the Maine Startup & Create Week (MSCW). “Growth matters,” he said, “Maine Startup and Create Week is designed to create serendipitous collisions to bring together people to talk about startups.”
Knox seeks to build on the work of other Maine organizations that are attempting to build high growth and high impact startups. Asked to identify some of the faster growing startups, he pointed to Ocean Renewable Power Company (whose CEO Chris Sauer spoke to Rotary last April 10), Direct Vet Marketing, CashStar, Putney, and Certify. Jess also made the point that Portland is becoming known for its startup culture because “entrepreneurs are telling other entrepreneurs.” Popular Mechanics named Portland the “fourth best city in the country to start a business,” he said. “Would I have picked Portland? It doesn’t matter. The city is becoming known for this and it’s great publicity.”
Knox pointed out that this kind of publicity and the efforts of MSCW resulted in exposure to the team at Rise of the Rest, a nationwide effort begun by Steve Case, founder of AOL, who wanted to find a way to stimulate entrepreneurship in smaller cities. Since 2014, his team has visited 14 cities and invested $1.5 million in new ventures. “Members of his team participated in MSCW last year; came back this year, and were so impressed with the growth here, Steve is coming to put on an event where he will invest $100,000 in a venture who wins his pitch contest.”
The whole purpose of Maine Startup and Create Week, according to Knox, is to connect big thinkers and inspire them to act and make positive things happen. “The idea of having communities open to new ideas is not just about startup businesses,” he said. “It’s also about population growth and other issues, developing innovative approaches to all of our problems, and creating social innovations.” One of the challenges faced in Maine, Knox said, is that “nobody wants to be the fancy person.” But it matters. “Someone has to stand up and say, ‘I’m going to do world-class things.’”
Maine Startup and Create Week is a growing success. In its first year in 2014, 711 tickets were sold; this year 1,486, with ticket revenues increasing from $17,000 in 2014, to over $32,000 in 2015. Plans are already underway for MSCW 2016.
President Bowen called the meeting to order at the Clarion Hotel where a packed house of 59 Rotarians and 6 guests were in attendance. Bruce Jones researched his invocation, reading a poem by a charter member of our club, John Calvin Stevens. His circa 1917 poem had a pertinent refrain, “He profits most, who best serves fellow man.” Paraphrased from Rotary’s motto adopted in 1911 that led up to the more familiar Rotary motto, "Service Above Self," adopted in 1950. Kathy Grammer led us in the patriotic song.
We recognized and sang to our club’s members whose birthdays are in August.
Bob Traill recounted a bit of Rotary history covering the Roaring Twenties. At the time, our relatively young members, in the less than a decade-old club, marveled at early 20th century inventions like talking movies, airplanes and Thompson submachine guns. We were a fun-loving club with pranksters. Bob told a story where a woman greeted a member at the bachelor’s table with several children in tow. She said “Hi, husband!” to one of the bachelor’s embarrassment. The woman turned out to be a male member of the club in flamboyant women’s clothing, with borrowed children from the Boys and Girls Club.
President Bowen reminded us of the great work being done by Christine Force, soliciting donors for the Centennial Gala, coming up soon on September 12th. We are shy of our $30,000 sponsorship goal. Please sign up now and ask your local contacts to attend or help sponsor the event. Senator Angus King is our Keynote speaker.
Laura Pawlendzio conducted the weekly raffle ($407), with Gracie Johnston drawing the King of Clubs, so the pot grows for our next meeting.
President Bowen remarked that there was an absence of Rotarians in the news, except for 2nd Vice President Don Zillman,whose name appeared with about 6000 other runners participating in the Beach-to-Beacon road race. Way to go, Don!
What’s the biggest club in district 7780? Portsmouth, NH at 160 members, now plus 5 said President Bowen. He and the club president of Portsmouth have challenged each others clubs to a membership drive. We should be able to bring in more members this year with the attraction of this being our 100th anniversary! Invite a friend to our meetings and let’s see that Portsmouth bears the consequence (yet to be determined) of coming up short.
Alex St. Hilaire invited club members to support the United Way initiative “Book Buddy.” Portland ConnectED pairs up first graders with volunteers. Training is provided. This ties in nicely with Portland Rotary’s CHE initiative 'Childhood Hunger and Education.' Contact Alex for more information at: alex.st.hilaire@td.com or 689-8185.
John Curran announced the Dominican Benefit Concert happening on Friday, Aug 28 at Brunswick Landing. This supports the club’s International Service initiatives in La Romana, Dominican Republic. We're looking for Rotarian volunteers to help at the event, as well as donations and sponsorships to support the cause. For more information or to volunteer, contact John at: curraj1@mmc.org or call him at 232-5478.
Gus Karlsen announced that we have almost enough funds to sponsor one boat in this weekend’s MS Regatta on Saturday, August 15, 2015. Portland Rotary has helped with this initiative for many years. Contact Gus if you would like to help support this cause, or would like to 'crew' on a sailboat: karlsen@prodigy.net or 239-1568. For more information on MS Harborfest and the Regatta, go to: http://eventmam.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Special/MAMGeneralEvents?fr_id=26096&pg=entry
President Bowen asked for volunteers that are needed for the Boys and Girls Club 'Steak and Burger Dinner' on Thursday August 20, 2015 at USM Sullivan Gym. For volunteering, contact Bob Clark at 874-1069 or bclark@bgcmaine.org
Janelle LoSciuto announced that Jim Willey has donated the much-coveted Captain Underpants book series in our CHE book donation initiative. Do you think you can outdo Jim? To donate youth books for this project, please contact Janelle at: jlosciuto@marchofdimes.org or 831-4113.
The 3-H team is securing accommodations for the March 12-19, 2016 service project in La Romana, Dominican Republic. We will be staying in a villa (or 2) and need a head count of those traveling and working with the team. Interested club members can contact Liz Fagan at elizabethfaganslpd@gmail.com, or Dick Giles at maragiles@yahoo.com
With our CHE cause in mind, here are a couple of our members who volunteered for the Feeding Minds - Feeding Bodies project in partnership with the Greater Portland United Way, reading to youth at one of the summer free food sites.
If you are interested in being a reader at one or more of the locations, please contact Laura Young at: lyoung@mainecf.org
Invocator:Julie L'Heureux Program Reporter: Ben Lowry Bits & Pieces Reporter: Ben Lowry Registration/Greeter: Adam Shepherd Sell Meal Tickets: Alex St. Hilaire Raffle: Jake Bourdeau Badge Box: None Collect Meal Tickets: Loretta Rowe Song Leader: Amy Chipman Pianist: None Sgt-at-Arms (Early): Bruce Moore Sgt-at-Arms (Late): Dave Putnam
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 George Crockett
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.
President Bowen called the meeting to order at the Clarion Hotel where a packed house of 59 Rotarians and 6 guests were in attendance. Bruce Jones researched his invocation, reading a poem by a charter member of our club, John Calvin Stevens. His circa 1917 poem had a pertinent refrain, “He profits most, who best serves fellow man.” Paraphrased from Rotary’s motto adopted in 1911 that led up to the more familiar Rotary motto, "Service Above Self," adopted in 1950. Kathy Grammer led us in the patriotic song..JPG)
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