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Please note tomorrow's meeting (3/13) will be at Run of the Mill and we will reschedule our meeting at Center of Technology at a later date when we can have some students available to showcase the programs (no, not because of an expected snow day).
Opening Ceremonies: President Joe “Movember will never end” Moreshead opened the meeting and asked Past President Steve “near perfect attendance” Morin to do the Four Way Test which he handled like an old pro. Conrad “I need longer arms or glasses” Welzel then led us in an invocation which he ably read from an index card held secretly at arms’ length.
Visitors: We were visited by past member, I think, Tim “I don’t have enough needhams because Heather M took them all” Keene and Nicki Wyman, the branch manager of Bangor Savings in Biddeford.
Presidential Announcements: President Joe happily announced that Haley Thompson had agreed to fill the last Board vacancy but her election the week before was not effective because of a lack of a quorum. He also announced that Marty Grohman has agreed to take on the role of vice president in the club which means he should be club president three years out. After Pierre Giroux and Kathy Shea came in late we had an official quorum (1/3rd of the members in the club) and we were able to successfully vote in Haley and Marty. Congratulations to them both. This is proof that if you campaign hard and live a clean life you can get elected to higher office.
Joe also announced that Roland “where the hell is Romania” Gagne has been chosen to be part of the Rotary Cultural Exchange to Romania. Roland summarized the trip demonstrating that as of now he knows little about where he is going or what he will be doing.
Joe also announced that the Board approved a $1,000 donation to help support the renovation of a bathroom by Jim Godbout’s company for a family with a member with a serious illness. The Board also approved a $1,250 donation to a Kiwanis Club Rise Against Hunger initiative which will provide 10,000 meals to food pantries in the area. There will be a hands on component to this project on May 11 when we will be asked to help deliver meals. I do hope we are not delivering 10,000 meals that day because if there are about 25 active Rotarians and an equal number of Kiwanis that would mean 200 deliveries for each of us. The food might get cold.
Joe announced that the club has logged about 600 service hours so far so we are getting there. He also announced that the Board voted to approve a $1,200 donation to the Biddeford primary school and a school in Dayton so they can buy washers and dryers for kids who come to school with dirty clothes or who get dirty during the day. I am not sure what those kids do while their clothes are in the laundry, but perhaps school rules have changed a lot since I attended.
Joe also indicated the Club and Red Ribbon are considering a donation to Thornton’s capital campaign to renovate and expand Linnell Gymnasium or as Joe calls it “Lionel Gymnasium” undoubtedly named after the train.
Joe was also so impressed with the culinary arts program at Biddeford Middle School that he thinks we should support a culinary arts addition to the Center of Technology. I am sure we will hear more about that in the coming weeks.
Parking Problems: Parking continues to be an issue at Run of the Mill resulting in some very creative parking jobs and also resulting in Denis “the hell with this” Elie driving into and out of the parking lot without staying. Perhaps when all of the snow melts things will get better.
Sargent at Arms:
Matt “I spend hours each week preparing” Simmons welcomed happy dollars which included:
- Steve Morin announcing a fundraiser to support his son-in-law called Help, Hope, Live to be held on March 30 from 7-9 at the Eagles Club in Biddeford. I think, He was also happy because his wife now gets to babysit his grandson, Maverick. They are waiting on the arrival of their second grandson, Goose. While many little kids love Barney or Sesame Street songs, Maverick insists on listening to the Top Gun sound track over and over again.
- Dr. “I’m now naughty” Joe was a happy $5.00 worth including sucking up to Past District Governor Lawrence Furbish and our own President Joe.
- Mark “I get to dress up like a priest and impress my Mom” Nahorney plugged The Light in the Piazza starting this week at Biddeford City Theatre. The winner of 6 Tony Awards, Mark says the musical is outstanding and a must see.
- Conrad “Fun with Phonics” Welzel’s 5 year old granddaughter read to him on Skype or at least helped Conrad sound out the big words.
- Roland won the 50/50 and donated the money to our Clynk program which supports two young women going to school in Kenya.
- Tim Keene was happy for Fausto or Festus as he called him.
Matt announced a couple of anniversaries which are always cheap fines. Alicia for one year and Elaine for 7 years. Matt also fined past member Tim Keene or Keane for not bringing enough needhams. He fined President Joe for not knowing the bylaws, etc. He fined Peggy for losing her car in the parking lot. Hey who has not done that? He fined Julie for pouring a whole bottle of ketchup on her meal (actually the cover came off and I did not do it though I wished I did).
Guest Speaker: Surprisingly, our guest speaker was not someone that Conrad has known since he was a child like all of our past speakers. Conrad introduced Past District Governor, Lawrence “I own 30 bow ties” Furbish who visited us to talk about the Rotary Foundation. Our district is a strong supporter of the Foundation and our club is an even stronger supporter. The Foundation is one of the highest rated charities in the world and has a lot of money to support district and global grants.
He announced that polio plus has eradicated polio from everywhere except Afghanistan and Pakistan where the terrorist factions make it impossible to treat everyone.
He encouraged our club to send someone to the Grants Management Seminars so we can apply for grants. If you are interested see our Foundation Chairs, Brian Dallaire and Matt Simmons, yes, Matt you are a Foundation Chair and that has nothing to do with the Rotary House.
57% of our club donates to the Foundation. Let’s try and make it 100%.
Reminder: Our annual essay contest meeting will be on April 10 in the function room at People’s Choice Credit Union on the Industrial Park Road in Saco. Please make every effort to attend.