Hey Folks,

Can you believe February is over. We ended the month with a great meeting at Biddeford Middle School.  Our first order of business was to nominate and elect Haley Thompson of Thornton Academy to our board. I am really excited about her coming on the board for a 2 year term as a Director.

 

Thank you Jeremy Ray and Karen Chasse for making the meeting happen today especially after two snow days. I really want to recognize Ms. Lee the teacher and her students for putting on a fantastic lunch at the Tiger Café. The 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders started us off with small Caprese Salad on a tooth pick or cherry tomatoes with a leaf of fresh basil. Lunch consisted of a choice of three soups a pasta fagioli, chicken with orzo and a corn chowder. I had the chowder and then followed that up with the chicken and orzo. Both were served with homemade crackers. I passed on the garlic bread but it did look good. My favorite was the chicken with orzo. The hot bowl of soup was chuck full of chicken and orzo that had a really nice balance of herbs and spices. The students finished us off with a choice of mini cheesecakes with fresh fruit on top or a fruit cup.

 

After lunch we got to ask students questions. These 16 students that worked for us, some were servers, some were cooks, etc. were really excited to participate in the program. These students are also cooking at home for their families. All 16 Rotarians at the meeting had a really good time being there.

 

We got to meet Marty G’s 7^th grade daughter who is participating in the STEM program at BMS. We also got to watch Sabine drool over all for the sewing machines that were in the class, I mean dining room. We also learned that the culinary program ends at 8^th grade.

 

I was surprised to learn that the Center for Technology does not have a program for kids wanting to pursue a career in the food and hospitality industry. The reason is pretty simple, they don’t have the space or the money to build a kitchen. Jeremy Ray mentioned that they would be happy if they even had an offsite space for a kitchen.

 

This is a nice segue to bring up what I think are two great opportunities in front of us. The kind of events that don’t happen all that often. I would like to start a conversation with all of you about two initiatives that we can share in. Obviously I am still on my sugar high from the extra cheese cake I had yesterday; we should talk about helping BRCOT get a culinary program going. The other initiative we talked about Monday night at Red Ribbon Committee meeting on Monday  night was Thornton Academy’s campaign to build a new field house. Lionel Gym was designed for a school of 650 kids, TA now has over 1700 kids.

 

Our club has a rich history of supporting our communities by participating in projects that have a high level of permanency and visibility. Examples are MacArthur Library, The Truslow Center and more. Yesterday, I drove by Rotary Park and I was honored to see our sign at the entrance. It was Rotarians that were behind converting a dump into a year round playground for everybody. So let’s start those conversations about Biddeford and Thornton and do we want to be a part of it.

 

I plan on addressing these initiatives with the Board at our next meeting on March 6^th before I present them to you, the membership. I ask that you keep your minds open so that we can have meaningful conversations on these issues and whether we want to get involved. As Rotarians we can be the inspiration for our community. There is no other group like us.

 

Regards,

Joe Moreshead