President's Message 11/16/2015

President's Message for the Rotary Tack

 

Just a view thoughts or items:

 

              

               Just another  reminder that if you would like to help our Interact Club that will be giving out turkeys and other food items for Thanksgiving baskets please bring in some extra money for this week’s meeting and we will pass a donation basket around.  I promise not to forget this time.  If someone wants to give an actual turkey (perhaps you have a fresh one tied up in your back yard) please bring it to the meeting and see Sarah Neault .  Sarah will eat lunch with your turkey and then bring it to where it needs to go.  Sarah has also agreed to take our cash and shop for turkeys at the end of the week and she will get them to Interact.

 

               To follow up on Paul Deschambault’s  email, if any of you know a family that is struggling and could use some help at Christmas please complete the Adopt-a-family form and get it to Paul or Bernice by November 18.

 

               On Saturday the 14^th, the power of Rotary was on display.  Our hardy club members, along with some Interact students and some of Saco’s Explorer students, braved to cold temperatures to collect food and money for the Biddeford Food Pantry and the Stone Soup pantry.  At the same time the Saco Bay Rotarians were collecting food and money at the Saco Hannaford and Old Orchard Beach Shop ‘N Save.  Between the two clubs, with a little help from the Scarborough Rotary Club, we collected over 3,200 pounds of food and $3,104.05 in cash (including the credit union’s $500.00 contribution and the club’s $500.00 contribution) which equates to another 15,520.25 pounds of food or a total of 18,725 pounds of food.  That food will go a long way in helping the people of Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach.  I want to thank everyone who came out and helped, but I particularly want to thank Lucie Kay and her staff for all of their hard work on this event.  The food drive shows what hard work and commitment can do to help others.

 

               Finally, for those of you who may have missed our meeting on November 11, our speaker was a young man named Matthew Braun.  Matthew is now 25 years old.  He grew up in Cape Elizabeth in what sounded like a successful caring family, but there was something missing in Matthew’s life and he turned to drugs.  By 18 he was addicted to opiates and he was breaking into homes to steal prescription medications.  By 19 he was a heroin addict.  With the help of others and his own desire he has gotten himself clean and is now helping others with addictions while speaking to students and groups like ours to bring awareness to the misuse of drugs and other substances.  He has also started the Biddeford chapter of Young People in Recovery.  He demonstrated courage and resolve not often found in a person of his age.

 

               I talked to Matt after our meeting and he wanted me to share his contact information with you.  He can be reached at matthew.car.braun@gmail.com and his phone number is 776-0420.  I was extremely impressed with Matt and I asked him if he would be willing to speak when we do our program in the area high schools and he said that he would.

 

               The very next day in the paper there was a story about David Zysk, a 33 year old advocate for people with addiction issues.  Mr. Zysk was a heroin addict who had been clean for 4 years.  He overdosed and died alone in a motel room.  As sad as the story was about Mr. Zysk, I could not help but think of Matt Braun and the demons he has to deal with.  I can only hope that he does not suffer the same fate as David Zysk.  Matt has found meaning in his life by converting his suffering to helping others, but the grip of drugs never completely leaves you.  Let’s all hope for Matt’s continued strength and success.  At the same time perhaps Matt and David Zysk can inspire all of us to get involved in our efforts to do what we can to discourage the misuse of drugs.

 

Thanks Bill