Miss a meeting miss a lot- last week we had the pleasure of having Jim G’s wife Lynne and his son John and daughter -in-law Vero and baby in the oven. Last night Jim became a grandfather to little Annabelle - sorry Jim and Lynn if I got it wrong.
Last week’s meeting was pretty good even though it had political overtones. I was told before and during my reign with the crown by a few well-meaning Rotarians that we don’t do political shit so I was surprised that Ross LaJeunesse was the program speaker for the day. Check Roger out at, https://www.rossformaine.com/ . I liked this guy; will he be able to beat Sarah G and then my girl Sue. Time will tell; I wish him good luck. He is running for the right reasons; his heart is into it. The other option is that this guy is a masochist and is just looking to get beat up. He knows what he is getting into- he has the guts to jump into something where he knows 50% of the people probably don’t like him and don’t even know him. Oh- the state of affairs today. Let me quote a King, as in Rodney- “Can’t we all just get along? “
So, the web we weave- turns out that Ross is Jim Godbout’s wife Lynn’s first cousin. Lynn brought Pam Cardin to meeting also as well as the 2 ½ kids mentioned above. Morgan Stoner brought his wife and the other guest was ?????
Heather did her Sargent at Arms thing fining a number of people and collecting a boatload of happy dollars- I think she might be over budget. I got fined because she thought I might have missed my dog while he was away at school. Bill Kany the bully got fined, yeah bully, he made fun of me and my dog. I think he got fined for being besties with Keith Jaques but not willing to acknowledge it. Jim L showed up in a nice however, very wrinkled shirt. Jim, your young, hip- Joe Biden “C’mon man!” Can’t remember who else got fined- maybe Conrad for having a party and not inviting Heather.
Conrad and Heather announced the Wine Tasting for February 8th at Duffy’s- sell your tickets- if you get lucky you might meet Dan the bartender who is winning on Jeopardy- tonight is night 4
Jeremy Ray got up and spoke of his experience over the last few days speaking with principals and other administrators. Of course, when you see someone after the holidays you always ask- “so, how were your holidays”, suffice it to say that anybody reading this probably had pretty decent holidays with family, friends, food, etc. That isn’t the case for some of our local kids. Jeremy recounted the stories he had heard. Kids were talking about how dad got arrested or mom OD’d on Christmas eve or their family got broken up or if “I cleaned my room more Dad wouldn’t have left mom”. Ross’s comments included talking about him saying we need to do more; we can do more. Jeremy echoed, quoted Ross’s remarks.
As a result, Jeremy wants to hit this problem head on. He is not really sure what he is going to do except to somehow have a place open during February and April breaks so kids can go there, have food, have counselling, a safe space, etc. He thinks he can do a February program for around $6,000.00.
Rotarians are not going to sit idlily by and quickly sprang into action. Jim Godbout motioned to spend $1,000.00 from Red Ribbon, Fasuto committed $1,500.00 of his President’s Fund and other folks stepped up.
The investment committee met after the regular meeting so I hung around to meet with Kristen Lane, Dennis Elie, Todd from Charter Oaks Capital Management, and – I am sorry- I can’t remember who the other person was. Todd reported out on the two funds we have with the recommendation to stay the course.
The Company B Fund has a balance as of Jan 13,2020 of $ 213,747.92. We started this fund on Nov 28, 2010 with a $150,000.00 beginning balance. We have also withdrawn a total $36,850.00 since the plan’s inception. The CBF’s mission is to provide financial aid to local needs with an emphasis on military / veteran’s needs.
The Past Presidents Fund has a balance as of Jan 13,2020 of $ 218,307.76. We started this fund on July 20, 2011 with a $147,948.66 beginning balance. We have also withdrawn a total $16,369.00 since the plan’s inception. The PPF’s mission is to provide scholarships.
And another take on the Jan 22 Medeting.
Don Pilon started the meeting promptly at 12:15, Joe B did the invocation while I did the 4 Way Test. Marty Grohmam introduced Jane Foley and Reny (Jackson I hoped I spelled it correctly). We had another guest who was supposed to meet Alicia – where are you Alicia??? Heather, I hope you made note of that fact. Marty wasn’t around last week because he was in South Korea on an education mission represent Lee Academy. While there Marty visited a local Rotary Club. He said that there were at least six clubs just in the town he was in; of course, the town had 3.5 million people. Marty brought back the club’s flags. He enjoyed the meeting, the singing and fellow ship.
You read above about Jim’s granddaughter. Jeremey was ecstatic- he should be- he won the 50/50. He also announced that as of last week’s wanting to “do something”, he received enough money to fund both the February and April programs that he wants to do. I applaud him for his efforts and those members of the of the club that stepped up.
Heather was on the mark today not collecting Happy Dollars but, happy ten’s and fives and maybe even a twenty. Jeremy donated back his winnings; Joe B got another year on his contract to Mrs. B- this will mark 58 years together- pretty amazing. You know Jim G was happy, Conrad was happy for Jim and the money just continued to flow. Fines followed, Catlin Tito for fashion, Ken Farley for fashion – I should have taken notes- sorry. I also was not planning on writing this so you get what you pay for. Honestly, I am writing because I want to do more for the club too!
Today’s program was about Goodwill and the great work that they do. Our Goodwill is part of Goodwill of Maine, NH and Vermont. Check them out at https://goodwillnne.org/ . They do more than you think. It was kind of cool to hear that Goodwill actually started in Boston in 1909 serving the immigrant Irish population. It is a good story how they have grown from their small beginnings in Boston.
The meeting adjourned at 1:15
