This Week's Meeting: Derek Volk, Man of Many Boxes
Derek Volk is a Maine businessman, best-selling author, former radio personality, and nationally recognized public speaker. He is the owner of Volk Packaging Corporation, a third-generation family-owned and operated corrugated box manufacturer in Biddeford,
Derek and his son Dylan have traveled across America speaking to thousands of people in 22 states about autism after authoring the Amazon Best Seller Chasing the Rabbit: A Dad’s Life Raising a Son on the Spectrum. Derek’s book, which has over 200 Five Star Reviews on Amazon, is available at Chasing the Rabbit website. He and his son have traveled all across the United States sharing their story with tens of thousands of people. He is currently in production for a new book called Go For Third which discusses the lessons he gleaned from coaching many levels of softball and how they relate to the culture of business leadership.
Derek, along with his family, was named the 2015 Spurwink “Humanitarian of the Year.” That same year, Maine Biz named Derek to their NEXT List, recognizing him as one of Maine’s business trailblazers. In 2021, Derek was inducted into the Manufacturer’s Association of Maine’s “Manufacturer’s Hall of Fame.”
Volk Packaging Corporation has been the recipient of the Governor’s Award for Business Excellence, Institute for Family-Owned Business’ Family Business of the Year, and The Wolak Customer Service Award. They are one of the few small manufacturers ever named to Maine Best Places to Work. He is a grateful supporter of veterans’ organizations and created the "Volk Packaging Heroes Wall" as a way to honor members of the US Armed Forces, past and present.
Last Weeks Speaker: Paul Drinan, "Friends of Fort Gorges" | by Tom Talbott
Paul Drinan, Exec, Director for the “Friends of Fort Gorges” organization, came to share with us both history and present-day efforts to preserve this historic military fort in Casco Bay. Built between 1858- 1864, the fort is now a park, accessible only by boat.
Paul started by asking how many of us in attendance had ever visited the fort, and was pleasantly surprised at the strong showing. The Friends program incubated in 2014 and was officially founded in 2016. The focus is on “restoration, preservation, and stewardship” of the granite structure.
(Photo: Doreen Rockstom with Paul Drinan.)
We would learn interesting facts, such as the design of the fort was virtually the same as the famous Fort Sumter, where the 1861 battle sparked the Civil War. The exterior granite walls are actually separate from the interior casements, where the cannons would be placed. Fort Gorges has three sister forts; Fort Preble/South Portland by SMCC, and Fort Scammel on House Island, Casco Bay, and Fort Knox up in Bucksport. Gorges, Scammel, and Preble formed a triangulation, where in if an enemy ship were to enter the bay area, it would have to navigate through the gauntlet of Gorges and Scammel, and then forced to turn broadside into the 32 cannons of Preble.
The only way to get to Gorges is by boat, although kayaks seem to be the most popular method. Back in a 2016 study, it was estimated that 6000 people visited the island, and probably is more in the 8-10,000 range these days.
Paul spoke about the opportunity of seeing the Fort become a much larger tourist attraction with various art and music events, as well as a walking facility. He pointed to a NYC project in Manhattan called the “High Line”, a converted old railroad line that is 30 feet above ground. It is now a very popular walking trail for both locals and tourists. Showing photos of Fort Gorges, one could easily visualize the same type of attraction.
Currently Gorges is a city park owned by the City of Portland, but other priorities and budgets have minimized the efforts to maintain it to any useful degree. The fort roof is overgrown with invasive plant growth, and upkeep overall has been minimal. The 501c3 non-profit Friends program has made some headway, starting with a project with the Army Corps of Engineers back in 2017. At that time the project focused on making the fort safer by replacing metal gates and railings.
Paul said that there has not been a formal proposal to the City to sell the property, but would really be supportive of the idea of the property becoming a state park. In the meantime, the Friends submitted an application to the State for a $1.1 million-dollar grant. The primarily use of this funding would be to rebuild the granite wharf that would open up boating opportunities for both personal as well as commercial use, such as Casco Bay Lines.
The vision – preservation and restoration, and see the Fort become a real attraction for locals and tourists, with a calendar of events during the seasonal months. Right now, the thought is primarily on simple preservation, getting ahead of the inevitable curve of time and decay. Yes, there are volunteer projects, and Paul wrapped up by welcoming the idea of discussing ways for Portland Rotary to be involved. Sounds interesting!
Bits and Pieces | by Dave Patterson
Still recovering from Thanksgiving week, we opened our December 8th meeting with President Dick Hall on the gavel. Coach Talbott lead the club in a rousing cheer to kick things off.
GUESTS: Two guests, one our Speaker for the day Paul Drinan, and the other prospective member Cort Hepler. Welcome!
UPCOMING DISTRICT EXCHANGE: Nicki Curtis was chosen to go to Poland as a part of the District Exchange program. She is very excited for the trip, and we’re sure to get updates on this as we get closer to the date.
CLINK, CLINK, CLINK: President Dick collected $161 last week from the Clink Bags program. This program provides much needed assistance to families in need this winter who are having trouble paying for their heating bills. Empty bags are available for pick up at every meeting.
FULL DECK: Nothing like the feel of a new deck: Paul Gore conducted the raffle this week for a new pot of $100 after the big win last week of $410. President Dick reminded us that for every winner of the raffle, the club donates to the club’s charitable fund. Bill Ross was chosen to take the shot, he eyed the 1 in 52 chance, and just missed. However, he recovered to make an important announcement......
YOUNG LEADERS: RYLA Update: Bill Ross provided an update on the Rotary School Liaison Meeting for RYLA. The Youth Services Committee is discussing ways to encourage students to consider TYLA as a great leadership development experience. The Committee is also looking for a volunteer from the club for a liaison for Casco Bay High School. Please reach out to Bill or John Thompson if interested.
NEW SLATE: Bruce Jones announced the Nominating Committee's selection for the slate of officers for next year. They are as follows: Incoming President Patty Byers, First VP John Thompson, Second VP Justin Lamontagne, Secretary Tom Nickerson, Sergeant-at-Arms Jake Bourdeau, and Treasurer Dick Hall. The Committee also welcomed new Directors Nannette Ranger-Duncanson and Art Howe. There were no nominations from the floor. Photo- Nannette, Patty, Dick, and Justin!
RINGING IN THE HOLIDAY: Tom Ranello spoke to the group about the club’s bell ringing efforts in coordination with the Salvation Army at Shaws in the Northgate shopping center. Per Tom, they are half way to their goal. Jim Willey and Tom are both contributing $250, and the club is adding $400. The fundraising goal this year is $1400. Well done to all the Bell Ringers who are pitching in. Roxane Cole joins Tom and Jim at the bucket.
T'IS THE SEASON: Patty Byers shared that we should all have received our annual appeal letter supporting the Rotary Foundation. So far, the club is at ⅓ of $18,000 annual fund goal. We are also making great progress towards the club’s Polio fundraising goal. Moving forward at club meetings, members will be able to easily donate to the Foundation via New QR codes at every table. For our newsletter click here.
EDITOR NEEDED: "He who controls the media, controls the people." Senior Windjammer Editor Tom Talbott is going on a cruise in January, and is looking for help in putting the Windjammer together while he is away. This is a great opportunity to learn a skill that will look good on your resume. He is also looking to add a new editor to the group from a new club member. Please reach out to Tom is you’d like to participate.
THANK YOU NOTES: The club received two thank you notes last week and President Dick shared them with the group. We heard from Carolyn our Youth Service Aware Winner who said she planned to use her award to help pay for her tuition this year and from the staff of Munroe School for the generous boot donation.
HAPPY DOLLARS: We had two Happy Dollars this week. Justin’s ACL is feeling better and he was able to ski for the first time since his injury earlier this year. Peter Goffin had $5 Happy Dollars as a thank you to all of those who have volunteered to be members of club leadership.
DOMINICAN TRIP PREVEW: Liz Fagan sent in a note with two online links to provide some views of the work being performed in the Dominican Republic, that our Rotary team will be experiencing on their trip this January. First link is for the book, "Gabriel: A Sugar Kane Kid" now on sale online, with proceeds going to help the mission. Second is the Centro De Protesis YouTube channel, to hear directly from people who have been helped, and to keep you informed of the work being done. The Centro De Protesis mission is to Our Mission is to provide prosthetic legs and arms to amputees, with counseling support and physical therapy, at no cost.
NEW MEMBER NOTIFICATIONS:
First Notice: Cort Hepler of Portland has been sponsored for membership by Charlie Frair. Cort is the Head of Marketing for Alacrita Consulting out of Boston and was a Rotarian previously from 2017-2019. His name will be published a second time and then his application will be voted on by the Board of Directors.
If any Portland Rotarian would like to offer a comment on a proposal, please send it to our Club President, dickhall7780@gmail.com. It will be shared with the Board of Directors prior to a vote on the application.
Speaker Schedule
December 22 - Quinn Slayton, "Holiday Karaoke!"
December 29- No Meeting - Happy New Year!
January 5 - Carolyn Delaney, Journey Enterprises Media - Journey Magazine
January 12 - Rich Brooks, Artificial Intelligence
Club Executives President Dick Hall President Elect Patty Byers Vice President John Thompson TreasurerDick Hall Secretary Tom Nickerson Board of Directors Bruce Jones,
Ben Millick, Quinn Slayton, Zachary Newell,
David Ertz, Maggie McGauley Sergeant-At-ArmsJake Bourdeau
The Windjammer is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
Contributing Editors Jake Bourdeau, Erik Jorgensen,
Julie L’Heureux, Ben Lowry,
Zach Newell, Bruce Moore,
Tom Nickerson, Dave Patterson,
Tom Talbott, Laura Young
Program Chair Doreen Rockstrom Managing Editor Tom Talbott
Paul started by asking how many of us in attendance had ever visited the fort, and was pleasantly surprised at the strong showing. The Friends program incubated in 2014 and was officially founded in 2016. The focus is on “restoration, preservation, and stewardship” of the granite structure.
The only way to get to Gorges is by boat, although kayaks seem to be the most popular method. Back in a 2016 study, it was estimated that 6000 people visited the island, and probably is more in the 8-10,000 range these days.
UPCOMING DISTRICT EXCHANGE: 
FULL DECK: Nothing like the feel of a new deck: Paul Gore conducted the raffle this week for a new pot of $100 after the big win last week of $410. President Dick reminded us that for every winner of the raffle, the club donates to the club’s charitable fund. Bill Ross was chosen to take the shot, he eyed the 1 in 52 chance, and just missed. However, he recovered to make an important announcement......
DOMINICAN TRIP PREVEW: Liz Fagan sent in a note with two online links to provide some views of the work being performed in the Dominican Republic, that our Rotary team will be experiencing on their trip this January. First link is for the book, "
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