I have had certain moments in my life that stand out and will never be forgotten. For example, I will never forget my oldest son’s first varsity lacrosse game when he ran down an opponent, laid out and checked the ball from the opponent’s stick to keep it in the offensive end. It was a pure show of determination. I remember my son, Andy, who had a small part in Westside Story at Thornton, but he stole his primary scene with sheer enthusiasm. Finally, I will never forget my daughter Erin’s heartfelt valedictorian speech when she graduated from TA in which she acknowledged the contributions of her standout teachers. All of those events and many more like them caused the pride and me to well up from my toes until the pressure seeped out around my eyes. My skin prickled in a good way, and it took all that I could muster to keep from screaming how much their actions meant to me (truth be told I was screaming at the lacrosse game).
I had the same sense of pride and a deep feeling of appreciation on Tuesday night at the community kickoff event for Red Ribbon week. As I watched and somewhat participated in the evening as it unfolded, I was blown away not only by the substance of the presentations but also by the sense of accomplishment – we did this. Of course, by “we” I mean Jim Godbout, Andy Greif, Karen Chasse and the rest of the Red Ribbon Committee. It was an incredible first step in what I hope will be a long and successful journey.
Just as I have continued to have those moments of tear generating pride associated with my children, I am confident that I will continue to be equally proud of all of the efforts of our Club. Red Ribbon is the most recent shining example of the power of our Club and what we can do as a team. I thank you all for your hard work on behalf of the Club and on behalf of our communities.
On an unrelated topic, the Fireside Chat was a fun and I hope educational event for our new members. A big thank you to Ken Farley for putting the agenda together and thanks to Bernice for keeping the meeting moving along. Thanks to the veteran members who provided the education and thanks to the new members who came and participated. I hope that the chat was a good lesson about the power of our club and its ability to have a good time while doing good things.
President Bill Kany led us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the 4-way test led by note taker extraordinaire Karen Chasse.
The invocation was led by Joe Bassett and President-Elect Lucie Kay noted we have no visiting Rotarians and guests. She was grateful that she would not have to pay another fine for pronouncing a name wrong.
The 50/50 was won by Jim Godbout (who is the new lucky Earl Goodwin of our club) and he donated 100% of it to the Red Ribbon Committee Fund. He may just have good karma.
Thank You! – Bill thanked the following people this week:
• Andy, Jim and Karen for last night’s Red Ribbon Committee kick-off event. It was fantastic.
• Mark Nahorney for hosting our lunch at UNE last week. It was very informative.
• Craign Pendleton and the Chamber of Commerce Board for allocating 10% of the proceeds of their Annual auction in November, which will be matched up to $2,500, to our Red Ribbon Committee.
New Inductions:
• Delilah Poupore sponsored by Peggy Bean and Don Pillon.
Leftover Auction Items: Bill auctioned off two leftover auction items.
• Dunegrass Foursome ($160 value): Went to Don Pilon for $60
• On The Go Hair Designs ($120 value): Went to Naomme Paris for $45
Dates to Know:
• Fireside Chat: Tomorrow, April 28th at 5:15pm (or is it 6pm as the TACK said?) at Duffy’s in Old Orchard Beach. All new members are highly encouraged to attend and any veteran members are welcome as well.
• Board Meeting – Next Wednesday, May 4 at 7:45am at P&C Insurance. All new incoming Board members are encouraged to attend for a smooth transition as July approaches.
• May 18 – Our meeting will be at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology. In the past this has always been a great BBQ with the kids.
• May 21 – We will be gathering to at the Community Bicycle Center to do a community project working on the Clifford Park Trails behind their building.
8th Annual Bingo – Julie asked everyone to please do everything in their power to pre-sell their four tickets. They are $20 each and includes an entire packet of 10 regular games (up to 48 cards!) for the whole morning. The date is Saturday, May 7th at 10am with doors opening at 8am. It will be held at The Rochambeau Club. Last year we pre-sold 80 tickets which helps with profit but you can also buy tickets at the door if people ask. If you do not have your four tickets, please contact Karen at Julie and Lucie will not be at next week’s meeting and time is running out!
Red Ribbon Committee – Any Greif updated the group on how the Red Ribbon Awareness Week has been going, including the successful kick-off last night. So far there have been several wonderful presentations at all three schools and TA did a mock accident this morning with the Police, Fire and Lifeflight participating. We have issued a survey and would like everyone to take a few minutes to provide feedback on their experiences/thoughts. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JT5MT5D
Speaker – Our speaker today was Thornton Academy’s Headmaster Rene Menard who spoke on the NTMA-U Registered Apprenticeship program. He started by thanking our club for their $5,000 donation toward this program. Bill noted each year the President is allocated, with Board approval, the option to choose a community project to support and Bill chose TA’s new program because his Dad spent most of his life in the manufacturing field so it was important to him to support this effort.
TA is an independent school with a public mission. They have an obligation to ensure all students are prepared for any path they would like to pursue; therefore, they have dedicated one and a half staff positions to getting kids out into the workforce for internships so they know how important it is to contribute to the local community. The idea for this program started with a Chamber Breakfast about manufacturing being alive and well but the local businesses struggled with finding qualified, skilled workers. They began by visiting the three local manufacturers and asked “How can we help?” and soon after TA was the first High School in the Nation to offer this program.
Marcel Bertrand from Arundel Machine showed them an educational program designed by the National Tooling and Machining Association. The curriculum is designed by the industry for the industry and is also an apprenticeship program to earn college credit. TA utilizes the online curriculum so students can work at their own pace and the curriculum can be changed instantly based on the needs of the industry at the time. Within months of launching, they did online components and hands-on work/internships at local manufacturers giving the students real-life experience. They have students who already have highly-skilled, highly-compensated jobs lined up and they haven’t even left school yet. Their starting pay this past summer was $19 an hour with benefits!
Al Young who oversees the program discussed the partnership with Pratt & Whitney where they can get hands-on component to gain employment. It also helps with students with soft skills and those who are looking to continue their degree (i.e. engineering). At Pratt & Whitney, if they work there for a year then their school is paid for! Six of the eight seniors will earn an NTMA credential in Applied Precision Machining in June.
The program offers multiple pathways for students:
1. School to work, do not want to go on to college.
2. Those who want a two-year degree in Precision Machining.
3. Those who want to enhance their resume and pursue a degree in engineering.
Last year they had 10 students enroll. This year they already have more than 100 students whom have shown interest or signed up for the program.
Tom, a dual machinist instructor at SMCC, noted this program is paramount to build work ethic and keep kids in school. He has seen the “lights come on” in kids who begin to enjoy the academic focus when it gets a little bit more abstract. The ultimate goal is to connect students with a real-world experience. The trade needs people and we need to get them young and active as the fundamental skill set is vital to developing a trade.
The below list of nominations were read. No nominations were heard from the floor. Paul Dechambault made a motion to accept the slate of nominations, Jeremy Ray seconded the motion and the club voted unanimous.
Peggy Bean needs more volunteers!Please remember it is up to the TACK coordinator to ensure that someone is taking the minutes each week during your assigned month. If you aren’t able to take the minutes yourself, please reach out to fellow members for volunteers. Please forward the minutes to Julie Villemaire and Brian Dallaire so they can get them posted for the rest of the members.
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.
Energy: Saved enough energy to light 36.0 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 6,817 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 249.3 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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