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Quick Updates from Marty:
- We were awarded a District Grant of $2000 to continue our successful Raised Bed Garden project! Thank you to Ken Farley as well as the entire Covid Committee, led by Conrad Welzel, for this success. We will hold the build next spring.
- The Venue Committee, consisting of Heather Gendron, Heather MacLean, and Conrad Welzel, has been working hard to find a landing spot that will support lunch and a hybrid meeting. Your suggestions are welcome.
- The Golf for Good event, set for August 14-15, is doing great with fundraising. We have now raised $8900. If you can cover a shift that weekend, we can raise even more. Also: would you please like and share the videos on our Facebook page? It’s a great way to thank and appreciate our headline sponsors. The videos were made by Dan Reed of Wizardly Media and feature Haley Thompson and her family!
- This Wednesday’s meeting is a fun, informal Ice Cream Social at Sweet Cream in Biddeford. There will be no fee and no Powerpoint. Bring a guest!
Meeting recap (thanks to note-taker Jess Muise of Engine):
Guests: Guest Speaker Dr. Don E. Hoenig, consultant and former State Veterinarian
Invocation by Melissa Cilley including a land acknowledgement
Next week’s meeting is 8/11 @ Sweet Cream at noon, ring bell at 12:15
Pepperell Center, 40 Main St, Biddeford, ME 04005
Fellowship, not a formal meeting – but will include Q&A with the business owners from Sweet Cream and Garsides
No lunch, but there is ice cream!
The week after that (8/18) will be at Biddeford Regional Center of Technology/hybrid meeting and feature Volunteer of the Year Holly Culloton
Announcements and updates
• Program Committee Update - welcoming program ideas.
• Venue committee working on a space to land. They are touring Ferry Beach Association next week
• Mini Golf Fundraiser - 57 hole sponsors, goal is 60
o Two new $1k sponsors
o We need volunteers – we made 3k last year from the collection jars at the events alone - sign up sheet
o Most of the $$ comes from Raptors and Pirates Cove, those are the target markets
• Rotary Park Garden Bed Project cutting party Thurs Aug 5 - have enough people to handle the cutting but please come by for fellowship
• Expect to assemble the garden beds at Rotary Park TBD pending corrugated metal materials delivery and location preparation
• Today is the first posting for a new member approved by the board the morning: Kim Regoulinsky, owner of Keep it Local Maine
• Michael Burman - discussing goals for the Rotaract Club please send suggestions
• Biddeford Saco Chamber of Commerce had a great Chamber Fest event August 3 in Mechanics Park
Happy dollars and fines by Sergeant-at-Arms Jim LaBelle:
- Mike Burman fined $2 for not knowing is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned (although Marty should be fined because he forgot the 4-way test banner)
- Jim $3 for great Chamber event
- Don for Golf event is going well
- Conrad happy he saw some deer and they weren’t in his headlights
- Mark N for Juston McKinney coming up on 8/14 at City Theatre
- Brenda -- $5 for granddaughter who is competing in a regional beauty pageant
- Jess – completed successful building project with help from her family
- Paulette -- for great support and funding for technical education in latest state budget
- Bill Paterson – family visited from TX
- Bill Kany – 37th wedding anniversary
Presentation on bees
• Our food systems rely on bees for pollination.
• Bees are insects. Without humans insects would be fine; without insects, humans cannot survive.
• Why do bees need a veterinarian? Bees as a food animal are regulated by the FDA.
• What is in the smoke used when approaching a beehive? Pine needles in the smoker alert them that something is happening
• Colony collapse disorder is likely a multifactor issue, not just RoundUp - many threats to bee populations including American Foulbrood, mites, viruses
Of note: Thank you to Paulette and her team at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology. The hybrid meeting worked well and everyone on both sides could be seen and heard with the Owl microphone and cameras, even from across the room. And thanks to Dr. Hoenig for a very interesting presentation!