Every week I make a point of thanking members of our club for things that they have done to help our club be successful. I am truly sincere with each such thank you. Being president of a Rotary Club is not always easy, but I can tell you that being president of our club is much easier because of your efforts. Case in point: we asked members of the club to donate money to enable us to help out our Interact Club that is raising money and collecting food to help families at Thanksgiving. With the generosity of our club, Sarah Neault was able to buy 27 turkeys (not Cornish Game Hens, but turkeys) and she still has $397.00 to give to Interact for their project. The generosity that each and every one of you demonstrates blows me away. Thank you all.
In case you were sleeping at our last meeting or in case you have read nothing we have written for the past few weeks WE ARE NOT MEETING ON NOVEMBER 25TH. The day off will give us all more time to travel or to cook. If you do show up at the meeting on the 25th please say the Four Way Test for me.
Paul Deschambault has reported that we have 17 families and 42 children, ages 1 to 18, that we will be assisting with our Christmas giving. That is a lot of families to shop for so if you can make it to Walmart on December 2 at 6:00 PM to shop please do so.
Fausto will be back from Cuba and will be hosting a Rotary Friendsgiving on December 3 at his home on North Street. Blue Elephant Catering will be supplying the food and drink so we know it will be good! If you are planning to attend please bring a new unwrapped toy (Fausto said “for a boy or a girl” which I am assuming leaves out pets). Also please bring a wrapped “As seen on TV” gift for a Yankee swap. If will be fun time and a nice chance to simply relax during what is always a hectic time of the year. And yes, Virginia, it is a makeup. The time will be confirmed next week.
Finally, I hope that you all have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your Rotary vacation.
Bill led us with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Four Way Test expertly recited by Susan. Joe began our prayer with a moment of silence for those in Paris.
Lucie welcomed all our guests: Sabine, Conrad, Don, Raye, Jeff and and Chris. She also reminded us that there is no meeting next week on 11/25.
Happy Dollars:
Jim is happy that Frank donated $35 to turkey fund.
CJ is happy she isn’t hosting Thanksgiving.
Matt is happy that Bill is all dressed up!
Don is happy that he was able to help cook a meal for veterans in Biddeford on Tuesday.
Karen is happy to split a $1000 raffle win with her brother.
Bill is happy the food drive is over so Lucie will stop calling him.
Jim is happy that his wife Lynn decorated the tree. Thank you Lynn!
Paul is happy that he and Carol have seen so many concerts lately.
Fines:
Bill for his father winning $500 at the raffle.
Chris for messing up and letting the cat out of the bag regarding Karen’s new job.
Karen for a new job at the Biddeford School system.
Lucie for leaving the raffle party without paying for her drinks.
Lucie for the extra cold weather for the food drive – it was freezing!
Don for being in a Chamber event brochure.
Matt for having a tight tee shirt on at the food drive.
Jeff because he’s a guest.
Raye because she’s a guest.
Laurie Jo for not being on the school board any longer.
Joe B. for the Salvation Army being at market Basket on our food drive day.
Lucie for missing Chris as a guest.
Bill for telling Tony that Karen would do PR for all clubs.
Chris for being late.
Jim for being late.
Scooters are $2.00
Bill reminded everyone not to show up next Wednesday. Our next meeting is December 2nd. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Earl left a list of raffle winners on each table. Thank you to both Karen and Earl for the good food and fun raffle event. Attendance was great.
There are brochures available from the speaker last week - “Young People in Recovery”. Please take one if interested.
We are sending around a basket to collect for turkeys for the Interact students to deliver. Please be generous. Sarah will use the money collected to buy turkeys on Friday for the food pantries.
Thank you to Lucie for organizing a great food drive. We had help from the Saco Explorers, Interact students, and great club participation. Thank you to Julie for adding up all the ounces of food. And Joe was a big charmer at Market basket to get food donations.
Don Bisson was given a check for $1320.72 for the Biddeford Food Pantry.
Helen and Danny were given a check for $1320.72 for the Stone Soup Food Pantry.
Thank you to Sarah for organizing the Interact students who attended the food drive and made all the posters for display at the event.
Paul announced that we have 10 families and 29 children signed up so far for our Christmas giving. Please get names in as soon as you can if you know any other families in need.
Bill said we received a thank you card for the money we donated to the Thornton Academy food drive.
Please help Saco Bay Rotary to load trucks for Crutches for Africa this Saturday at 10 am on Gooch Street.
Ken was given a pin for recruiting Mark Nahorney into the club.
Lucie picked our 50/50 winner of $35.00. Frank Gooding donated his winnings to the turkey fund.
Sarah said we raised $360 today for turkeys.
Don announced that there would be a Charitable Committee Meeting after our lunch meeting today.
Our presentation today is from the McArthur Library in Biddeford. CJ introduced Melanie Coombs who is the head of Adult Services at the library. Melanie introduced Jeff and Deanna who will be speaking before her.
Jeff Cabral is the Library Director. He said that McArthur Library is a private non-profit library that relies on private donations, city funding and endowments to operate. They currently have 13 people on their board and they rely heavily on the advocacy of the board and community. The Adult Services department offers many programs, public access computers and wireless internet. There are many challenges with the older building including sound and wiring. They are adding acoustic tiles. He thanked the Rotary for our donation in 1995 for the addition.
Deanna Gouzie is the Children’s Library Director. They offer programs for kids up to the 5th or 6th grade. Some of their programs include:
Story time
Summer reading programs
Book groups
Free summer lunches
Early literacy skills
Kids read & write
Melanie Coombs said the library answers a lot of reference questions about buildings and places in Biddeford. They have over 6000 old photos saved digitally. She thanked Renee DesRoberts for being their professional archivist. The library offers many free services including:
Free Consumer Report access
Free genealogy and family history at www.ancestry.com
Staff reading recommendation services
Pet training instructions
Music
Printing boarding passes
How to start a business
Melanie also writes an article for the Biddeford Saco Courier every week.
The nominating committee met and the following were nominated:
President - Lucie Kay
Past President - Bill Kany
President Elect - Jackson Brown
Vice President - Bernice Wood
Treasurer - Laurie Joe
Assistant Treasurer - Sue Gajewski
Secretary - Elaine Palmetessa
Assistant Secretary - Peggy Bean
Peggy Bean needs more volunteers! Please let Sarah Neault know if you are available to serve as the Tack Reporter on October 14 and October 21. Thanks.
Invocation: Joe Bassett
PROGRAM IDEA???? PLEASE CONTACT Brian Dallaire, PROGRAM CHAIR or a member of the Program Committee. Remember it is the responsibility of every member to help get Programs for our meetings.
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.
.jpg?&time=635731032561782875 "VenueMap"){kind=small}
