I attended the Bideford Rotary Club's meeting last Thursday. It began at 7:45am our time but it was 12:45pm their time. The meeting began with a roll call followed by the 4 Way Test, apologies, any news about Rotarians not in attendance and a speaker.
Back to what apologizes are. According to Jacquie Willoughby, "the apologizes are a rather hang over from when a minimum attendance was compulsory to stay a Rotary member. You were either present at the meeting, absent with a good excuse-one that you had passed on to the President or the Secretary(the apology) or just black mark absent! A minimum attendance is not required any longer.
The only reason we have a roll call and keep note of apologies is so that we can be aware of members we haven't heard from for a few meetings and in "fellowship" follow up to check all is ok and ensure no one slips through the net."
There are some good practices here that perhaps our club might want to consider implementing.
Finally, the Mini-Golf Family Fundraiser is quickly approaching. Please go online to sign up to volunteer Saturday or Sunday at one of three mini-golf courses. We need your help to make this a successful fundraiser.
Start signing on at 12:00 PM. Meeting starts at 12:15 PM.
Hi All
I’ve received a number of responses back from the survey Julie sent out regarding in person meetings or Zoom meetings. The opinion of members leans slightly to continue the Zoom meetings. Although the governor has begun to loosen regulations in the state the data indicates the number of cases has increased and I suspect as vacationers come back to Maine the numbers will increase. Unless anyone strongly objects I suggest we continue Zoom meetings until after Labor Day.
Best
President Don
--
Don Pilon
In addition, from the District Governor:
There is pressure from some to restart in-person Rotary meetings and activities.
The current official guidance from Rotary International is that there will not be any mandatory in-person Rotary meetings this calendar year.
The current advice from me is that it is too early – too high of a percentage of our membership is vulnerable, for a variety of reasons.
In any case, it is good for all of us in leadership positions, in and out of Rotary, to be familiar with our current state guidelines. These two websites update daily.
President Don started the meeting promptly at 12:15
Ken - recited the Prayer
Jim – 4-way test
Don announced the District Governor will be joining our club for a meeting on September 2nd. We should consider making a gift to Polio Plus in his name for his visit.
Brenda Updated the club on the upcoming ZOOM event of the Essay contest. Thursday, July 16 at 6:30pm.
Don announced we were not successful at getting the $5k district grant for the Covid-19 committee. They had approximately $158,000 total. Most of the clubs did submit applications and they heavily weighted NEED of the club when deciding how to award the grants. We did not score well in that area. They did notify me to say that there may be something coming to us however it would not be for a large sum of money.
Don announced the upcoming gold tournament is confirmed with the following locations committed to participate: Schooners, Rafter Falls & Pirates Cove. We will have a 54-hole tournament this year. This is how we feel we can raise money this year:
3-$1k facility sponsors.
54-$100 sponsors
plus raffle tickets sales.
We hope we can raise $10k this year. Please volunteer if you’re available for this event. We’re getting some Rotary hats to further promote the club. We will need some additional Raffle items. Red sox tickets will be great. Please let Don or Hailey know if you’re able to donate or help in any way.
Joe M. Sent out the sponsorship list from last year to the board. We will all be soliciting on behalf of this event. As you are successful at soliciting sponsors, send Joe and email and CC Susan so she can send the invoice out for sponsorship. Thank you!
Don received the Paul Harris +1 for Mark Tuller – Don will be delivering this award to Mark this week.
Conrad - COVID 19 committee meeting tomorrow at 3pm.
Conrad - August 15 and 22nd will be the two days that we are painting the congregational church kitchen. Please sign up to help if you can help. It’s a lot of work.
Speaker today: Summer on Main Street with Heather MacLean.
Heather MacLean has a shop on Main Street in Saco and graciously shared her experience as a new business owner during this pandemic. We were treated to a video of a tour of her store. “More than 70 percent of our products are from Maine. We sell Sea Bags, made on the waterfront in Portland; Seawicks Candles, made on the waterfront in Boothbay Harbor; and pottery, jewelry, cards, wall art, specialty foods, and dog treats and toys all made in Maine. Two of our featured artists live right here in Saco and two others are from OOB and Scarborough. We love local artists”!
Heather went on to share some of the challenges she encountered being a small business owner. Having to run every aspect of the business alone is a challenge. She’s appreciative of the support shown to her from the locals. They help get her through the slow months. The pandemic hit and luckily, she had just updated her website that helped with keeping the doors open, so to speak.
“Finding time for myself and my family is difficult. I love what I created here. I’ll be drawing a $25 gift card for someone who attended this meeting”.
Thank you, Heather.
Please be sure to visit whimsicalmaine.com or stop by her shop at 239 Main Street, Saco.
JOE – Happy Dollars
Dr. Joe $6 for being here today
Marty – for Marty and Fausto for the radio show on WGAN.
Fausto – Marty thank you for helping get the message out. And another for the works of taking over Ramada. My first company opened 35
Conrad – Because of the late night television show. Watch this BBC television show filmed in Biddeford England.
Don – Happy dollar for Mark Tuller’s Paul Harris award.
FINES
Roland – for the lake behind you.
DON – Three dollars. Do you have an agenda? Why are you changing the order? Stop putting me off and skipping over me. Another for saying you didn’t get an email. And a third for the crappy list you sent.
Heather M and Sara G for walking your dogs on the beach.
Fausto – for ignoring us on the beach.
Jane F. Nice to see you and I need a son dollar. He’s just great
Kristin – phone going off during the meeting.
NON-Voters – all give a dollar.
Fausto – another dollar for walking around.
Brian – Fining you too for not playing the right song I sent.
Please sign up if you are interested. To date 9 have. Conrad is looking for someone to lead this project.
The Covid-19 Crisis Relief Subcommittee has found a need for a community service project that will help the Bon Appetit meals program.
It will be to paint the kitchen at the 2nd Congregational Church in Biddeford this Summer and we need volunteers to plan out the program.. We are also asking if any one wants to take on a role of helping to manage this project.
It will take several different days because it will need to be done in sections, first scrape and washing, then painting. Lots of area to paint but not a lot of space to do it.
Saturday’s work well for the church and a couple of hours most weekday mornings if they have enough notice.
We encourage all club members to participate and to bring family(spouses) to help.
Brian has sent out an event invitation to gage the number of interested participants.
I wanted to share the letter I received for the donation the made to the Ronald McDonald House in Portland. Don, for you information, one of the winning essay winners contacted me after the funds had been disbursed to the COVID committee, that she wanted to make her matching contribution to the Ronald McDonald House. Fausto and I decided we would just pay for it ourselves in her name.
Thank you Fausto for paying $40 of the $75 donation. 😊
In March of 2020, the Rotary Club of Biddeford Saco launched a COVID-19 Crisis Subcommittee to address the immediate needs the pandemic caused in the communities of Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach. In phase one of their response program, the committee addressed the immediate need for food and PPE supplies for the elderly, at-risk youth and for our veterans.
In the second phase of their crisis project, the committee will continue their focus on ensuring food and PPE supplies are available to our seniors, at-risk youth, and veterans. In addition, the project will support organizations and small day cares that will be overwhelmed by an increased demand for basic needs: PPE supplies, food and other requirements or changes to their facilities as a result of executive orders. They will also add an education initiative for children and at-risk families, that will address food insecurities by teaching small scale agriculture in the production of crops and livestock.
To volunteer, donate to the Rotary Club or for more information on the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club, please email us.
To apply for crisis assistance and consideration for help with food, PPE supplies or for more information regarding the agriculture education initiative, download the COVID CRISIS Subcommittee Request Form.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, for all of that contributed.
Rotary Club of Biddeford-Saco, ME (6294), District 7780
Members 57 Goal $7,000.00 110% AF per capita $135.53 Annual Fund $7,725.15 Polio+ $1,163.00 $0.00 $0.00 Total Foundation Contributions $8,888.15
All Active Rotarians 52 Existing Active Rotarians 49 Sustaining Member Rotarians: 24 Percent Sustaining Members: 49.0% 1 July Members 57 Annual Fund Per Capita: $135.53 Average TRF Giving: $155.93
All-Time Giving:
$270,205
In the future, there will be a line item for a $50 contribution on your twice yearly club invoice. Of course you may increase that if you wish when you remit!
Congratulations to the following multiple Paul Harris Fellows for this year:
UPDATE: Clynk requests that you hold you bags for 3 days before dropping them off and tie a string or ribbon to show compliance.
Our Club is in first place of 10 Rotary Clubs who participate in this program! But Saco Bay is gaining on us.
Total Raised: $2,687.85
Containers CLYNKed: 48,585
Environmental Impact:
Energy: Saved enough energy to light 66.9 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 12,668 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 491.4 lobster traps.
Fill up those green bags. If you need more bags and/or labels, just let Julie Villemaire know and she can hook you up…no charge!
Simple fill with returnables and drop off at any Hannaford.
Alternately, if you already have a CLYNK account of your own, you can designate you funds as a donation. Hit the Donate button and search for Rotary and you'll find our account.
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