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Program Committee: Next week is OOB police chief Dana Kelley, and the week after that (9/29) is TA Headmaster Rene Menard.
Charitable Committee (Joe M, Kristen L, Cheri, Jen F, Dan R): This group can quickly approve donations up to $500. The committee has a couple active donations they are considering. Still looking for more requests. There is one active request: Cheri would like to fund a recovery softball game/BBQ being put together by Recover2gether on Thursday September 30th from 7-10PM at Rotary Park (Rotarians welcome).
Rotaract: Our Club, the Saco Bay Rotary Club, and the UNE Rotaract Club are joining forces and taking part in the 2021 Beach Clean Up effort happening throughout Maine. Show up Saturday, September 25th, from 9 – 11 am at Bayview Beach in Saco. Bring gloves and good shoes and wear Rotary gear if you have it. You'll get an email invite to sign up.
Happy Dollars:
Joe M is happy he has the $7 he owes Brenda, but Brenda is on Zoom, so he can't give it to her
Dr Joe has $6: going to Chicago for granddaughter's wedding, and the Oqunquit Club's 2 Cent Sale raised almost $6K
Mark N is happy to be back after his hip replacement, and also to be going to a White Coat ceremony for his daughter, who is going to UNC medical school. Also, City Theater has "Ghost Train" starting Oct 13, get tickets now
Don P: happy to play in a golf tournament with Doug Willette from PC Insurance, Mark Brown of State Farm, and Matt Thompson, and they won!
Karen: happy about new grandbaby boy!
Conrad: sad dollar that his aunt broke her hip, but happy to see his grandkids
Bill P: happy that he is not matchy matchy with Conrad today... although it was close
Marty: $5 happy dollars to see Dan Reed back
Paul: $2 (hopefully the last of his two dollar bills!): sister State Sen. Susan Deschambault elected to Franco-Americain Hall of Fame
Roland: happy his father is settling in at St. Andre's, happy Bill Kany is ignoring me and thinks Bill's zoom name "Billk" is oddly appropriate
Heather Gendron: happy her oldest daughter graduated from SMCC's health tech program and just got promoted to MRI Tech
Cory (guest speaker): happy to be celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary
Jim G: not happy he hurt his back, but happy to be at meeting
Melissa: happy she is going to be a grandmother and will be "nana"
Brenda (on Zoom): happy Joe is going to finally pay up the $7 he owes her, she will give seven happy dollars that her daughter-in-law is a writer on the movie Hawkeye and two granddaughters are successfully competing in beauty pageants
In response, Joe hands over Brenda's $7 to the Club :)
Interesting speech this week from Cory Hutchinson, general manager of Funtown Splashtown (26 years at the park). Introduced by Jim Godbout (Rotarian Jim and his team have done a lot of the innovative plumbing work at the park). Cory talked of staffing challenges and the ups and downs of managing through a year of change, and the economics of park operations. Since rides require a minimum staffing for safety, some rides had to stay closed even when the weather's nice. Many missed the evening opening hours, but there wasn't staff to do it this year.
-Had to close in 2020
-Planned to open at 50% this year, then 100% was allowed at the last minute. Made planning difficult and lost momentum
-Normally has 550 employees in the summer, numbers were down significantly this year
-lack of J-1 Visa availability has been a problem, normally have 120 J-1 employees, only able to get 40 this year
-far fewer applications this year than normal, announced across-the-board raise, free family four pack season pass for all employees, which helped
-guest numbers were good, but had 11 rainouts in July
-The business is an area legend and is doing all it can to succeed in these difficult times. They hope to be open in the evenings more frequently next year.
-And yes, they still play ELO's Fire on High in the Astrosphere!
We hope to see you next week! Food will be provided by Cheri, and we're looking for volunteers for the invocation and to lead the Four Way Test. We will meet at the BRCOT through 10/13, after which we will switch to Ricetta's from 10/20 onward. As always, make the most of your membership, let us know what you are working on and what you need, and stay involved!