Week in Review 4/26/2017

Posted by Julie Villemaire on May 03, 2017
 
President Lucie promptly started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed up by a little mixed up version of the 4 Way Test led by Matt Simmons.  Jim Audiffred provided the invocation.
 
Vice President Bernice Wood introduced visiting our visiting guest, Tim Michalak.
 
Next Thursday, May 4th, from 5:30 -7:30 p.m., 280 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, there will be a Fireside Chat for new members.  Please get in touch with President Lucie if you did not receive an invite.
 
Mark your calendars for Friday, May 26, 2017, for the Flags for our Veterans projects.  Our club gets together to help one of the local Veteran posts place flags for over 1200 Veterans in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Biddeford.  We usually meet around 8:00 a.m. near the caretakers building (West Street entrance).  If we have enough volunteers, it takes less than 2 hours to complete.  You can get a little exercise in while experiencing a great fellowship opportunity.
 
Jim Godbout provided an update on what was happening for Red Ribbon Week.  He mentioned that the Red Ribbon Committee was able to collect enough sponsorship funds to cover the cost of the red t-shirts that were going to be handed out to all of the students in Biddeford, Saco & OOB. 
From the Journal Tribune:  Tonight’s (4/27) tri-community presentation will encourage individuals and their families to reflect upon current trends in drug use and what the community can do to promote healthy behaviors without the influences of illegal drugs or other misused substances.
A number of individuals are slated to speak at the event, including Bronwyn Barnett, executive director of Biddeford’s Community Bicycle Center and Ryan Esbjerg of Flex Your Face University, who will speak about the organization’s goals of celebrating life’s small moments.
Bill Paterson, director of Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition’s Project Alliance at the University of New England, will also speak, his topic is the importance of living drug-free and will give a presentation on "Marijuana and the Adolescent Brain."
 
Every high school student will be receiving free Red Ribbon T-shirts, Godbout said — that’s 3,000 students wearing a shirt custom-designed by An Ho, a member of Thornton Academy’s Class of 2018, who won the Rotary Club’s T-shirt design contest.
Red Ribbon Awareness Week is sponsored by Biddeford Savings, Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution, P&C Insurance, Maine Magazine and CHHC’s Project Alliance.
The 50/50 pot was won by Debra Burrows and donated back to the Red Ribbon Committee!
 
9th Annual BINGO:  Don’t forget to sell your tickets!  Each member was given 4 tickets at today’s meeting.  If you didn’t get any, Julie will have them for you next week.  The event will be Sunday, May 21st. Doors open at noon time with games beginning at 2:00 p.m.  The Rochambeau Club staff will be running the event for us this year so we don’t need volunteers to run it.  We need you to come play!!!! We are still in need of sponsors for the games.  If you or someone you know would like to sponsor a game, please let Julie know.  The cost of the sponsorship is only $100 and will get your business listed on the game listing given to each player.  It will also be announced throughout the event and will be listed on the Rotary website.  Sponsors are also able to hand out advertisement, swag, etc. at the actual event.  If you need an electronic version of the Bingo poster, please let Julie know.  It can be customized to include your contact information if you’d prefer.
Happy Dollars were up next:
Don Pilon was happy to his Tim Michalak, from Norway Savings, as his guest today.
Dr. Joe’s wife is recovering nicely from surgery!
Kristen Lane is happy to be back.
Laurie Jo happy to celebrate her birthday –(04/27).
Julie not as happy to celebrate her birthday (4/28) – the 11th anniversary of her 39th birthday.
Paul Deschambault says that his wife Carole is happy to announce their 45th wedding anniversary.
Bronwyn was happy that the CBC won the Bangor Savings award.
Sarah was happy to have met up with a TA student and they were jazzed up about the Red Ribbon events!
Fines followed:
Jim G. was fined for causing Matt to know something over and breaking it.
Elaine Palmitessa for causing confusion with all of her license plates.
PP Bill was fined for paying someone to say his name and beautiful in the same sentence.
President Lucie was fined for the credit union no being a sponsor of Red Ribbon week.
Adam was fined for stealing a seat & wacked with t-shirt (that’s what my notes say but I’m sure there’s something missing in between…..)
Nicole and Julie were fined for wearing “flowery” clothing when everyone knows that it’s April showers that bring the May flowers.
Rae was fined “just because” – although she gave $2 because she was special.
Randy was fined for watching basketball games in Spanish & had to reach out to his Facebook friends to come to his rescue.
 
Heather Gendron announced that she would be picking up scholarship applications from the high schools on 04/28.  Tuesday and Wednesday  (May 2nd and 3rd ), from 3-5 p.m., she needs volunteers to review the applications.  She needs at least 7 people to help choose the top 3 winners from each school who will go on to a final live interview process.  Each recipient will receive a one-time  $1,000 scholarship.  This has been changed from the $1,000 each year for 4 years.
Jim Godbout announced that the Rotary House will be getting flooring next week (which is actually this week by the time you read this) and then the plumbing will follow.  He swung by the new Rotary house at 574 Main Street.  He said he will have the students draw up some plans and will present to the club for approval.
 
Today’s presentation was from Kathy Reid and the OOB Natural Helpers. Kathy was excited about the events of Red Ribbon week and the way they were able to partner with BHS and TA.
Amanda, who has been in charge of the OOB Natural Helpers for about 6 years, talked a little about the program.  She mentioned that last year Rotary helped with the funding which provided training with Day One which they were able to pass down to the high school students.
They have between 20-25 Natural Helpers and new students come on each year.  They are typically not Freshmen because they are still adjusting themselves.
They learn how to become active listeners and look for signs.  Sometimes the kids reach out to the Natural Helpers themselves.
They watch for Red Flag issues (i.e. eating disorders, emotional issues, abuse, suicide, etc.).
They focus on anti-bullying.
They have a “Kindness Day”.
They do a “Sticker Shock” event with Officer Porter- They go around and put stickers on the alcohol as a reminder that purchasing alcohol for minors is illegal.  They hope to do this twice a year – around Super Bowl time and the holidays.
The group would like to meet weekly but manages to meet at least once a month.  They do meet more frequently if there is an event coming up.