I have now been President for two months so I can really appreciate even more the efforts of my predecessor, Ken Farley.
Truth be told, at our last meeting in June the Club took so long to make fun of me that we did not really have adequate time to acknowledge and thank Ken Farley for his efforts as President of our Club. Throughout his year, Ken demonstrated his vast knowledge of Rotary and our Club. Ken knows our budget inside and out and managed it ably. He knows all about Rotary Youth Exchange and expressed his concerns about the way that program is now being run. He continued to provide an incredible amount of leadership and work for the auction to insure that it went off smoothly, including yet again writing the script for the auction.
Perhaps most impressive to me was the fact that a few key members of our Club, for a variety of reasons, had to leave during the Rotary year. They had important responsibilities like coordinating our programs or the dictionary project. Most members of our Club probably did not know that Ken ultimately took on those responsibilities in addition to his responsibilities as President.
Clearly, however, Ken's legacy is going to be bringing in 10 new members to our Club during his Rotary year. That is a very impressive number at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract new members to almost any charitable organization. Ken worked closely with his membership chair, Karen Chasse, to work to increase our membership and I am sure that he appreciates the efforts of our Club members to sponsor new members.
I am very excited that Ken has agreed to take on the role as Membership Chair as Karen transitions over to our Marketing Committee, and of course, we owe Ken a huge thank you in taking on the beer festival event and we all need to support him in that effort.
While way too late in coming, we all owe Ken a big thanks for his hard work and leadership this past Rotary year.
Even though he was on vacation, President Bill promptly started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. PP Mark Tuller led everyone in the 4 Way Test. He had a slight dilemma when it came to saying “or” before the count down. He always thought we should be saying “of the things we think say AND do” not “OR do”. Joe Bassett provided the invocation. Vice President Jackson Brown took his maiden voyage and announced visiting Rotarians and guests. There were no guests in attendance today however we all welcomed Mike Thompson from the Boothbay Harbor Club. President Bill announced that we would be participating in “Club Trivia” after we eat with the theme being “Ken Farley Trivia”.
Next up were today’s SAA’s Karen Chasse and Joe Moreshead trying their best to add to the budget with happy dollars and fines. Julie Villemaire was happy that Joe Moreshead picked up the expense for her lunch and 50/50 ticket all for taking the minutes for the TACK. This tactic worked very well because SarahNeault agreed to the same deal for next week. Sarah was happy that her daughter started kindergarten –although she was told by her daughter to stop crying-so I think it may have been more of a sad dollar. Fausto was happy that Sophia started 3rd grade-he also didn’t handle the transition well. Our visiting Rotarian, Mike Thompson, from Boothbay Harbor Rotary, invited everyone to the Boothbay Harbor club. They built their own club house and meet on Thursday evenings. Mark Tuller was happy to be celebrating 37 years of wedded bliss and Alan Nelson for 53 years. That was enough happiness in the room so the fines started coming. President Bill was fined “just because”. Karen thanked Bill for a picture on the TA website in which he was wearing a lab code that says SMMC. Josh Ellis was fined for his picture in the paper. Susan Gajewski was fined for a really cute picture of herself at age 3 with Santa Claus. Joe fined the following people for their picture in the paper: Karen Chasse, Jackson Brown, Ken Farley, Laurie Jo Ready, Susan Gajewski, Bernice Wood, Peggy Bean, Rob Moody, Joe Moreshead and Fausto Pfieffer. These people all happen to be our board members. Don Lauzier was fined for sitting in the driver’s seat of the new forklift that was recently purchased for the food pantry. CJ Dubois Cote was fined for cell phone usage and also being the “last in”. Sarah Curley was also fined for her picture in the paper and Josh was fined but I didn’t hear the specifics. It had to do with his father and paying for a team.
Next up was a lot of fun at the expense of Past President Ken Farley. President Bill said that at Ken’s last meeting he didn’t really have a chance to Thank Ken and show his appreciation for the work the Ken did as president. By the end of the meeting we all learned the following information about our Past President, Ken Farley: All 5 Farley boys received a “luck of the Irish” tattoo when they turned 18. He has his hair cut every 3rd week. “Ken I”, was never one of his nicknames. The only book he ever read for fun is The Firm. The only place he can relax is at the beach. His favorite beverage for his “bubba” is orange vodka. He was a javelin thrower in high school. He reads Craigs List each night before he goes to bed to unwind. His favorite movie is the Shaw Shank Redemption. His current sport is bicycling. A visit to the hot tub helps him sleep at night. His father in-law taught him how to dry-wall.
Today’s speaker is Melissa Cilley from the Susan L. Curtis Foundation.
President Bill reminded everyone once again about the Alzheimer’s Walk on Saturday, September 19th. Bernice Wood is taking orders for T-Shirts. Cost is to be paid by member. I believe she said they were $8.00. If you aren’t able to make it to the walk, the shirts can be used for other Rotary events. It takes about 2 weeks for the shirts to come in so get your orders into her ASAP. Remember to ask your friends and family members to join us in this very worthwhile event. Joe Moreshead addressed the group about his experience with this terrible disease. His mother in-law started out with small things like putting her keys in the refrigerator. The severity of the disease became more apparent when they received a phone call stating that she was lost at UNE. He said the good thing was that she was always happy-always in a good mood. This isn’t always the case for everyone. It is a terrible disease for not only the person to go through but the family as well. Joe mentioned that the Southern Maine Area on Aging is a huge advocate for this type of disease if you ever need a resource. They were a tremendous help to Joe and his family. There was also a great article in the Rotary magazine recently. President Bill said that our team was doing very well so far and was in the top 5. Please take the time to make a contribution if you have not done so already. The on-line process is very easy.
Susan Gajewski reminded everyone that the meeting on 09/23 was going to be held at the Deep Brook Golf Course. Golf will start at 2:30 for anyone wishing to play. The cost is $20 per person without a cart. So far there are 9 Rotarians signed up to play. If you are planning on attending the meeting portion, please list your name so that Susan can made accurate arrangements for the food. The meeting portion will begin at 5:30 p.m. Please arrive between 5-5:30 p.m.
PP Ken Farley sent an updated e-mail to everyone regarding the upcoming Celebration of Suds at the Falls. There are 9 brewers who will be in attendance. Volunteers will be needed. Ken forgot the “official” sign-up sheet but he improvised and sent around another sheet for all to sign-up. There will even be live entertainment! The “Lower Village People”. Ken stressed to all members to “invite” people to the event through Facebook-don’t just “Share”. At the time of his announcement, over 1400 people had been invited. Ken provided a quick lesson to everyone on how to invite people on Facebook using their cell phones.
President Bill Thanked Julie Villemaire for working through getting the TACK out to everyone in the absence of Brian Dallaire. Elaine Palmitessa was Thanked for coming to the rescue of a dog who was locked in car. What is wrong with people??! He Thanked Isabelle Farley for providing the information needed for today’s trivia challenge. He also Thanked Fausto for bringing doughnuts to the board meeting and also providing more advertising. This beer fest could become as big of a fundraiser as our TV auction. It is good for the club and also good for the community. Looking to reach out to businesses for sponsorships.
The 50/50 raffle ($26) was won by Sarah Neault which she graciously donated to the Alzheimer’s Walk.
Peggy Bean announced that there would be a sign-up sheet circulating for the Front Desk Greeter Duty.
There is a posting for a new member and a returning member: Mark Nahorney, from UNE being sponsored by Ken Farley and Heather McLean being sponsored by Karen Chasse.
President Bill wanted to Thank Jim Godbout for bringing the drug addiction situation to the club. He also said that Jim would be donating $5k of his own funds to this endeavor. Bill mentioned that he has reached out to the Maine Bankers Association to see if they would be willing to participate as well as UNE’s pharmacy school. The goal would be to have a pilot program for our area. He wanted to reiterate that this program would be in addition to what is already out there. We wouldn’t be reinventing the wheel.
President Bill announced that some of the committee chairs were having a hard time getting responses from their committee members regarding setting up a meeting. Please make every effort to get back to the chairs of the committees.
PP Frank Dumais announced that there would be a meeting for the Dictionary committee immediately following next week’s meeting (that would be today 09/09).
Sarah Neault reached out to Ruth Shaw, advisor for the Interact Club. Their first meeting will be 09/09 at 2:00 p.m. at BHS in Ruth Shaw’s classroom. They have been asked to join us for the Alzheimer’s Walk.
Thank you to this year's Board of Directors for your leadership of our club: (front row, l-r) Laurie Jo Ready, Treasurer; Bernice Wood, Secretary; Bill Kany, President; Lucie Kay, President-Elect; Jackson Brown, Vice President: (back row, l-r) Susan Gajewski, Asst. Treasurer; Peggy Bean, Asst. Secretary; Andy Grief, Director; Joe Moreshead, Director; Rob Moody, Director; and Ken Farley, Past President.
In honor of World Polio Day, which is recognized on October 24th, Rotary District 7780 and Seacoast Rotary Club of Portsmouth, NH are sponsoring “Bridge the Gap to End Polio” on October 24, 2015 at 9 AM.
Imagine buying a house for only $32,500, qualifying for an $8,000 tax credit and helping students receive scholarships all at the same time. It may sound too good to be true but it is all part of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club’s House Project. Each year for the last thirty years, the students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology (BRCOT) build an energy efficient modular home and all the proceeds from the sale benefit scholarships for Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach High School seniors.
“The Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club currently gives $21,000 a year out in scholarships to local high school students who continue their education,” stated President Bill Kany. “The Rotary House Project is a substantial fundraiser to support these scholarships while helping the students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology to learn valuable skills.”
This year’s house is 1,008 square feet (24’ x 42’) and features two bedrooms, one bath and is well insulated with an energy recovery ventilation system. The buyer is responsible for relocation (approximately $10-$20,000 depending on distance of the move), appliances, foundation, septic, flooring, paint and heating options.
For more information, contact Rotarian Carl Goodwin at 207-590-4644.
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.
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