Welcomed everyone and introduced Brenda P to welcome her guest.
Brenda Pollock introduced a special guest, her granddaughter, Maddison Thayer. Maddison was a recipient of the Charitable Contribution after she suffered an accident to her hand.
Maddison Thayer Nine-year-old Maddison is going into fourth grade at Biddeford Intermediate School. She has a younger brother (3 yrs. old), Hunter and “Fabulous Mom & Dad”. Maddison came today to thank the Biddeford – Saco Rotary club in person, for “your” generous donation. On May 19th, Maddison’s left hand got caught in a running treadmill resulting in full-thickness burns to her left hand. She and her family traveled to Shriners Children Hospital up to three times per week for treatment. Her recovery is expected to be a long, up to seven years, but her wounds have closed. She now wears a compression glove twenty-three hours a day for the next year. At Shriners, she is treated by eight top specialists. As her way of saying thanks to everyone, Maddison made “a traditional family favorite recipe” Peanut Butter Fudge.
We thank Maddison for coming in and for the treat! Her experience has impelled her to be an advocate for treadmill safety and is requesting companies to add a release bar feature on new treadmill devices.
Sargent-At-Arms Matt S.
Maddison was asked to help by collecting the money.
HAPPY DOLLARS
Ken finished the Beach to Beacon 10k race
Wowed by Maddie, Maddie dollars were donated by Joe, Julie, Brenda, Elaine, Peggy & Conrad
Conrad was happy to have his children and grandchildren visit – always a treat
FINES
Marty – Welcome back to our club after visiting every other club. That’ll be a buck.
Sarah & Mark T – Happy Birthday – Pay a buck.
Kristen – Happy second anniversary with our club – costing you a dollar.
President Joe –First, fine is for the pants you stole from Kermit the Frog. The second, the TACK again. You spoke about the importance of attendance – well good job with that. Look at the attendance today.
$1 for anyone who did not attend either the Kinney Shore or the After Hours events.
Bill – You left out attendance in the TACK.
Bernice – for the coffee or lack thereof coffee
Julie – did I see you post bunnies on a Facebook yard sale? That’s a buck.
Peggy – parking up top. You look like you’re 29. Now, now. Mark T. paid the fine on her behalf.
Anyone who works at Saco Biddeford Savings – you are fined a dollar for making us all look bad with the new ad in the Courier about donating a portion of credit card funds for supporting the lunch program.
Alicia – you gave my seat up to Jackson so you owe a buck.
Roland – we’ve had this award sitting around collecting dust for four meetings waiting for you to get back. You owe a dusty award buck.
Luci – I am fining you for being transferred to the Saco branch.
President Joe announced Morgan Stoner has been nominated for membership by Mark N. This is Morgan’s first posting so he was unable to attend the meeting. He works in post-production as a sound engineer and has a medical marijuana company.
Update: Earl Goodwin is doing well. He hopes to return to the club in the fall.
Business After Hours was a good event and thanked the Chamber and everyone who attended.
The Alzheimer’s Walk has now raised $700 to date.
Reminder: AUG 23 is the JOINT MEETING of the ROTARY CLUBS. It will be held at Duffy’s. Time
Bernice – The backpacks will be distributed on August 28 at the Second Congregational Church and Seacoast Chapel from 12-2 and 2-4. Volunteers are needed. Contact Bernice if you’re able to help.
Jackie sent thank you cards to the supporters of the Kinney Shores event.
The ROTARY house insurance was due. $1,407 was approved for construction insurance coverage. Josh assumed ½ of the cost of the insurance.
Jim M presented two requests: A $500 donation for Maine Inside Out on Aug. 11th . It was approved and the funds will be drawn from the Company B fund. The second request was for City Theatre. A $600 donation to place a ½ page ad in their program book. Since this committee can only authorize up to $500, Ken made a motion to forward the request to the board for consideration. Peg seconded motion. All approved.
Their 24 Hour Confidential Hotline is: 1.800.239.7298
PJ introduced our speaker.
Betsy is Coordinator for one of nine centers of a Maine coalition to end domestic violence. Before coming to Maine, Betsy worked as a Victim Witness Coordinator in Manchester, NH for six years and three years in Dover NH as Domestic Violence Specialist.
Betsy began with some by presenting startling stats: One in three women and one in seven men are victims of domestic violence. Their agency receives more than 300 calls per month. Some of the services the organization offers are:
24-Hour Hotline
Emergency shelter
Transitional housing
Legal assistance for victims
Obtaining parental rights
Assisting with divorce matters
Outreach services such as Support & Education Groups
Fifty percent of all Maine homicides are domestic violence related. This number is one of the highest in the country.
It would not be impossible for this organization to be able to operate and meet the needs of the communities we serve if not for the organization’s volunteers.
Last year, 1,500 calls came from York County alone. 245 were from Biddeford and 113 from Saco. Their agency is the busiest agency operating in the state with the least amount of resources.
Last year stats were:
40 people spent an average of 300 nights in a shelter.
400 people came to support groups.
Just under 100 volunteers offered 500 hours of their time.
Two of their fund raisers include Nicole’s Run ( in honor of Nicole Oliver whose death resulted from domestic abuse ) and the Atlantic Plunge.
There is an upcoming training session on Sept 8th to volunteer for Kids Watch and on Sept 11th for anyone interested in serving as a phone volunteer. Please contact Betsy if you are interested in attending a training session.
PJ added that the organization is working diligently within the educational system as a way to educate our youth. President Joe added that Seeds Of Hope in Biddeford has a $50,000 loan pool to assist people transitioning to new housing.
President Joe presented our guest speaker with an official Biddeford-Saco ROTARY mug. Thank you, Betsy, for everything you do for our communities and for taking the time to share this information with our club.
Coming up to the 100-year anniversary of the Rotary, it is clear this organization has a long consistent history of giving back to the community and international service. Many of the archives featuring the men and women who have made this possible may be seen in the Richard Martin room at the Community Center in Biddeford.
In a financial report from May 1987, there was a balance of $5,875.72 with Edward D. Jones. No additional records were found prior to this. In February 1993. the club invested $25,000 to the fund and in 1996 added another $10,000. In 1998, the fund grew to $58,290. In October – November of 1998, there were some bequests and transferred $10,0000 from the house fund. The money was moved to Key Financial that year. The year-end 1998 was $105,370.
In 1999, an investment policy was written with a goal of growth and preservation of principle. The Past President scholarship fund committee was appointed to oversee the investment. From 1999 – 2011, the fund dropped below $100,000 prompting a spending policy to be added.
In 2011 – the fund, $147,949, was moved to Charter Oak. Today the fund is at $208,293.52.
This year, this fund will be providing $10,600 in scholarships.
Mark read from a paper copy of The TACK Re: Harold Boudreaux made the largest in Rotary’s history to the organization. In 2009 Company B was established. In 2010 an investment policy and spending policy was created based on CPI and a 3-year rating average. The monies are invested in Chamber Oak as of August 1st and the balance is $195,132.70. To date, this fund has donated back $37,000 to the community.
President Joe presented Mark with a Rotary coffee mug for his presentation.
President Joe announced the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club’s Charitable Funds committee has received $8,600 from Company B and another $5,000 from the club.
Calling all walkers! We need you and hope you can join us on September 15th to Walk to End Alzheimer’s. We’re meeting at York County FCU in Biddeford at 8 am on 9/15. We’ll car pool to York to register before 9. The ceremony begins at 9 and the 2 mile walk begins at 9:30 at the York Beach Ball Field on Railroad Ave.
Please go to act.alz.org, click ‘find a walk’ at the bottom of the page and type in Biddeford Saco Rotary. You can join our team or donate to our team if you’re not able to walk with us. Our club is trying to raise $2000 for Alzheimer’s research. Invite your friends and family! It’s a fun morning. Roland usually brings donuts!
First, thank you all for making my first meeting great. I really am honored to hold the position. I get to follow some fantastic folks who have served as great stewards of our great club.
I wanted to write an article for the TACK because sitting outside on the deck for our first meeting was not really conducive to giving some words about what I would like to see us accomplish over the next 12 months.
Our motto this year is “ Be the Inspiration”. I will make sure to put the banner out this week. So, what are some of the goals we need to accomplish so we can “Be the Inspiration”- more meetings; not really. One of my biggest goals is to not waste your time. You are willing to give one of the most precious possessions you own, your time. I recognize that fact and will do my best to utilize your time to the fullest.
Seriously, as president elect everybody feels that they can give me their advice regarding what is wrong with the club and I have to agree with them on some issues. Even little ones like the check in sheet that we use to check in members every week, it was not working for everybody so it was reformatted and updated; you can thank Julie, our Secretary. People are not crazy about our meeting space, the food, the acoustics, the temperature, the number of meetings we have, etc. Until someone can come up with a better venue we will be at Run of the Mill for a while. I secretly fantasize that a nice hotel with a great restaurant will open with a beautiful dining room, perfect for hosting meetings. A guy can dream.
With respect to meetings, we will still have some 50 or so. I will do my best to be there every week however, I don’t expect you to. I will be proposing a new focus on service work instead of attendance. In order to do that I will need help with a lot of ad hoc committees for the in meeting service projects I want to propose. For example, I want to make a “birthday party in a bag” geared towards children, for the local food pantries. The bags will have everything for a child to have a birthday party. It will include, cake and frosting mix, table cloths, candles, etc. My vision is that 3 to 4 people will go shopping for the items on a Wednesday meeting day instead of coming to the meeting. The following week the club will assemble the bags at lunch- that will be the “program”.
I plan on having at least 3 in service meetings such as the birthday bags, hygiene kits for some of the shelters, writing cards and letters to service men and women serving. Help me think of some more.
Another project will be field trip meetings. I have already contacted the 3 principals in the local elementary schools, just realized I did not contact St. James… I told the principals that we have 20 to 30 volunteers that would love to show up at their schools on a Wednesday from 12:15 to 1:30 to participate in a project. We could read to the kids, have lunch with them, rearrange furniture, etc. . One principal has already emailed me and is very excited about the idea.
We will still have a club assembly meeting the first Wednesday of the month. The meeting will be a briefing on what happened at the Board meeting earlier in the day, a classification talk or two, charitable fund committee discussion and vote and any other issues that need to be dealt with.
In order to accomplish all of the things we want and keep people informed it is going to take communication. Bill Kany has agreed to take over the TACK this year. He has 12 volunteers who will each be responsible for the month. The TACK, Facebook and other social media will be important this year as we tackle our ambitious meeting schedule and goals. We have also added all of our past presidents to our email list so that they get the TACK and can be aware of the club happenings.
I have not planned any new fundraisers. If you have an idea let’s hear about. I have picked the following people for committees, if I am wrong and you are not interested please let me. My goal with most of the committees is to leave it up to the chair to recruit members. The list is as follows and is not complete:
TACK Bill Kany
Charitable Giving Jim McAllister
Scholarship Heather G and Fausto
Front Desk Heather M
Foundation Brian D
Website Brian D
Past President Keith J
Awards Bill Kany
Stuff the Bus Lucie K
Alzheimer Walk Sue G
Beer Fest Ken F
Wine Fest Conrad, ?
$100 raffle Karen / Earl
Prom / Dance Bernice
Program Chair Conrad W
Youth Protection Officer Chief Ray Demers
Youth Service Paulette B
In closing, 2018/2019 will be a good year to be a part of Rotary; to be the inspiration for people we interact with. I know people get a chuckle when I say my prayer “ Dear Lord, you give us so much yet expect so little in return. Let us live through your example.” I am not overly religious but, I do realize how lucky I am, how fortunate I am. I have been given so much. And as a result I have a deep need to want to give back; I know you feel the same way. Isn’t that why you joined Rotary.
Ads space is available in the Tack & eTack newsletters. Also included is ad placement on the website. Rates are $100 for 1 year. Please contact the webmaster, Brian Dallaire for more info.
Energy: Saved enough energy to light 58.8 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 11,131 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 424.8 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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