President Lucie started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by Sarah Neault with the 4 Way Test and finally Joe Moreshead with the invocation.

 

President-Elect Jackson Brown stood to introduce visiting Rotarians and guests, of which there were none.

 

 

Announcements:  There is a new member posting at the front check-in area.

 

Fireside Chat is tomorrow night (05/04) at Lucie’s house.

 

May 6^th is a joint day with Saco Bay Rotary for OOB Ballpark – 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  May 13^th is slated for the rain date.

 

BINGO!  Please sell your tickets.  Spread the word – Sunday, May 21^st – Doors open at noon time with games beginning at 2:00 p.m.  The event will be run by the Rochambeau Club this year for the benefit of our Polio Plus & Charitable Giving programs.  SPONSORS ARE NEEDED!  We need to collect $1,400 in sponsorships and have only $600 committed so far. Please contact Julie Villemaire at villemaire@maine.rr.com or 286-5474 if you are able to sponsor a game or know someone who can.

 

Rotary House meeting next Friday at 8:00 a.m. at Nicole Carroll’s house.

 

 

Red Ribbon week was a success!! Round of applause!!

 

Friday, May 26^th, we will be helping to place flags in St. Joseph’s cemetery on West Street in Biddeford (near Ray’s Market) from 8:00 a.m. until approximately 9:30.

 

 

The 50/50 pot of $34 was won and generously donated back by Susan Gajewski.

 

 

 

SAA:  Happy Dollars:  Julie Villemaire- vacation; Dana Lane – to be back; Josh Elllis- married for 2^nd time; Dr. Joe – wife outing to house & Hannaford; Adam- happy going to Lucie’s; Roland- Dad is home after illness; Lucie has a new fancy car; Elaine is happen Shannon is joining; Peggy Bean- happy for a good night’s sleep (resulting in missing the board meeting); Matt happy with Sarah for insurance

 

Fines:  Jeremy- happy LePage isn’t here??; Chris- part-time Rotary member;  Day of Caring $ from school people; Joe M. for special delivery of cake; Heather G. for texting (Karen did it with Siri- but Lucie paid); Bernice for 11 years in Rotary; Susan for getting hurt at the gym; Adam for pin-ups; Roland for not being fined before; Joe for his pink pants(aka known as salmon); Jim G. for hi photo in Post Scripts; Roland for “prostitute”.

We did not have a speaker today but we did have an induction of our newest member, Shannon Kazinski, who was sponsored by Elaine Palmitessa.  Welcome Shannon!

 

 

Post-Auction Auctioneer, Jackson Brown:

Season Tickets to the Mavericks- Jeremy Ray $10

1 Week of OOB Rec – Don Pilon $35

Maine Indoor Track Karting (2 passes) – Adam Parent $35

Private Swim Lesson at Saco Sport & Fitness – Adam Parent $30

$50 GC to KFC/ Taco Bell – Julie $40

Oak Wooden Bowl – Heather MacLean $70

 

 

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 4^th, 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!

 

9^th 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 21^st. 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 11^th anniversary of her 39^th birthday.

Paul Deschambault says that his wife Carole is happy to announce their 45^th 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 2^nd and 3^rd ), 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.

Our chairman for the awards committee, Bill Kany has requested your input.

 

Again it is time for the Awards Committee to get together to select worthy recipients for the Club’s public sector, private sector, humanitarian and vocational awards. Included herewith is a description of each award and some past recipients of each award. What the committee needs from you are suggested award recipients in each category. Please note, that in almost every instance, the awards are given to people suggested to the committee by members of our club.

 

Please note that while award recipients are frequently members of our club, they do not have to be members.  In fact,  most of the time the recipients are not members of the club.  I would also point out that even if you do not have an idea for an award recipient for one particular category, please give us as many suggestions as you can for the other categories. We would appreciate it if you would get back to us as soon as possible with your suggestions. Awards day is tentatively scheduled for June 21, 2017. We do need to meet to ultimately decide on the award recipients and then the awards need to be ordered and engraved so please get your suggestions back to us by May 8.

 

If you have any questions regarding any of the award categories, please contact me (Bill S. Kany at 602-7381 or email me at kanyw@sbsavings.com) or the other members of the committee, Rollie Eon, Joe Moreshead, and Keith Jacques.

 

Here are the award descriptions.  I have attached a list of the past recipients of each award.

 

The Private Sector Award is awarded to a citizen whose good works have been performed independently of their employment in the private sector. Recipients work for the public good, while being privately employed or not employed by a government or community entity. An example of a past recipient would be a building contractor who works towards helping the hungry through setting up a self-supporting meal program.

 

The Public Sector Award is awarded to a citizen who, in the course of their employment or funding, serves the public with government and/or public monies. Recipients are usually employed by a government agency, hold a political office, or have their good works funded in the course of their employment. An example of a past recipient would be a state senator who has worked towards promoting the good of the community.

 

The Humanitarian Award is awarded to a citizen, private or public, who has done exceptional work to further the good of humanity in the community. Past Recipients include a nurse who set up a hospice program in the area.

 

The Vocational Service Award is awarded to a citizen, private or public, who has done exceptional work to promote vocational education and vocational programs.

 

 

NAME(S)                                                                   Reason for Nomination

 

 

 

 

NAME(S)                                                                   Reason for Nomination

 

 

 

 

NAME(S)                                                                   Reason for Nomination

 

 

 

 

NAME(S)                                                                   Reason for Nomination
 

 

 

From Bill Kany

 

The 9^th Annual BINGO Fundraiser to benefit the RI Polio Plus Program and our Charitable Giving Program, will be held on Sunday afternoon this year instead of a Saturday morning.  Games will start at 2:00 p.m. with doors opening at noon time on May 21st.  The BINGO games will be run by the Rochambeau Club crew this year (as a test) in hopes that more of their “regular” Bingo players will come back. This is serious business for many of the players and they don’t enjoy the games or attend as often when it is a fundraiser and they don’t have the “professionals” calling the game.  The Rotarians have always done a good job but we are going to change it up a little and see if we have a better turn out than the last couple of years.  I’m really hoping that this will be the year for the best showing of Rotarians at this event.  This may be the last year that we do the event so I’d like it to go out with a bang!  With the Rochambeau Club volunteers, ALL of the Rotarians and their families will be eligible to actually play the game!  . 

 

We will still need to get sponsors and pre-sell tickets.  There will be guaranteed $1,400 in prize money handed out.  If we get enough in sponsors, pretty much everything we raise is profit.  There is very little expense to this fundraiser.  The more tickets we can pre-sell the better off we will be.  There are no refunds, so if someone buys a ticket and decides not to come play at the last minute, we have their donation.  Tickets will be $20 and will cover all of the regular games.  There will be a few additional games, including a winner take-all,  that can be purchased at the door.  Sponsors who donate a $100 or more will have their name printed on the game program that is provided to all players and will be announced throughout the event.  They can also hang signs and/or hand-out trinkets, coupons, etc. to attendees.  Their name will also be listed on our Website and Facebook page.  If you are interested in sponsoring a game or know someone who is, please get in touch with Julie Villemaire (call or text 286-5474 or email villemaire@maine.rr.com).