So I would rather be lucky than good. For example last Saturday at “Stuff the Bus” I was totally aware of the N’oreaster coming and thought “this is gonna suck” . The rain didn’t come until 10:00ish. By time my shift was done at 11:00 Paul D and his wife Carole would have to deal with the crappy weather joined by Tony Leblanc. I can’t wait to hear how the rest of the day went in the wind and rain.
I want to thank Lucie K and Dave Lapaulo from Saco Bay for pulling this off. I had a blast hanging out with Lucie and Lucie. It was cool to say “ hey Lucie” and both would respond. Of course I am talking about Lucie Kay and Lucie Hatch. Phil Hatch was there too. Phil and Lucie have been in Rotary forever. I wonder how many husband / wife couples are in Rotary? I can’t believe that CJ Cote Dubois showed up. After all, every development in town has her face plastered all over the place. Andrea and I drove through the new development right after the bridge on Route 5 in Saco and every lot had a CJ sign on it. Kathy Shea and Conrad worked the other door without the benefit of a vestibule or covered area like us. They got really wet. However, Conrad had the whole foul weather gear outfit from the boots to the waterproof pants and coat. I watched Kathy push a cart full of canned goods across the parking lot in the rain- she looked a little washed up and still had an appointment at 11:00- that is dedication!
For all of those that volunteered thanks. Our little effort netted some food, cash and most of all fellowship and camaraderie. My biggest thrill was to see the reactions of the people that donated food or money. They left Market Basket feeling good- that they too had made a difference. You could see it in their face faces, their smiles, their eyes; I think it is pretty powerful medicine for the soul.
I guess that is one of the main reasons I belong to Rotary. I really like the positive feedback from people when we engage them. Whether it is fellow Rotarians or the people we connect with through service there is always this positive vibe happening.
So that is another service project in the bag for our club. I think it is safe to say that the “Stuff the Bus” project was far more successful than our beer fest. Had you been at the meeting last week and joined the 15 or so Rotarians there was a lively discussion about it. Maybe this is our last festival, maybe we combine it with the wine tasting, maybe we try and get more volunteers to help, to show up, maybe a lot of things.
Ken worked really hard on the fest we owe him a big thank you. I can’t point fingers because then I have 4 pointing back at me. However, I could feel and hear the frustration from folks who did work or attend the event. I hope to have a report on the fest this Wednesday at our meeting.
Our next project is our second largest fundraiser and will require everybody’s participation. I am talking about the $100.00 raffle. We have talked about this being Earl the Pearl’s raffle after all he would always sell 70+ tickets out of the 250 we print. We need to come together this year and sell Earl’s tickets.
That means that each of us will get extra thickets this year to sell. The good news is that Earl’s tickets should be an easy sell. We will need to contact those people associated with a particular ticket number and see if they will buy it aging this year. It won’t be a cold call whereas they have a history of buying a particular ticket number.
Karen should have tickets available this week or next. The drawing will be December 12th at Duffy’s from 5:00 to 7:00. We will serve light hors d’oeuvres and have a cash bar available. The raffle drawing is also going to serve as our regular Wednesday meeting.
Hope to see you this Wednesday.
Regards,
Joe
