Our May 29, 2019 meeting, started like all previous meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Sabine’s rendition of the Four Way Test which President Joe seemed to surprise her with much like the Socratic method frequently used in law school. Sabine passed, though I think she was looking to phone a friend. Joe Bassett led us in an invocation and then we got down to business.
Our President Elect, Fausto, made a cameo appearance and introduced Carol Deschambault. It must have been a big anniversary or something if Paul was bringing her out for a Rotary lunch.
Instead of President Joe counting his number of elapsed weeks he kind of summarized the four he has left. He impressed upon the reasonably sized group to try and make the Past Presidents’ meeting on June 12 at which we get to thank our past leadership for building the foundation of our club. Sabine pointed out the real significance of that meeting is that we get lobster rolls. Joe also asked people to attend the Awards Day meeting on June 19. For those of you who have been in hibernation for the last few years, Awards Day is when we get to thank people in and out of the Club for their good work in helping those less fortunate or otherwise making our communities better. It is also the opportunity of the President of the Club to give out a few club awards to thank people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for the club and the people we help. So, while we will not be giving out free stuff that day (unless you are an award winner), please try and attend to help honor the people who do win awards.
I should also note that the loudest applause of the day came when Joe reminded us that his presidency is winding down. I suspect in the next few weeks we may start to hear about the budget and committees for next year as we transition to President Fausto, or maybe not.
Carol Deschambault then drew the 50/50 and I won and gave it to stand-in Sergeant of Arms, Heather McLean who was concerned that she did not have a lot of material. As it turns out a lot of people were happy including:
President Joe because he said after his last trip to his urologist “he does not have to go anymore”. I am not sure how you can go the rest of your life without peeing. Do you sweat a lot? I think all creatures need to pee, but apparently not our President Joe.
Dr. Joe was happy to give out a distinguished Maine Humanities Award to a Cape Elizabeth sophomore last week.
Fausto was happy about something Dr. Joe gave him (not sure what).
Brian Dallaire was happy that after our Foundation Day we have raised $6,630.00 toward our $7,000.00 Foundation giving goal and more than half of our club has donated.
Mark Nahorney was happy that he saw Earl and he seemed to be doing well.
Reegan was happy that June 5th is the United Way Day of Caring and if anyone would like to help on that day from 9:00 to 3:00 you can reach out to Reegan and she will help to assign you to a project.
Conrad had another successful Memorial Day BBQ despite his failure to invite Heather.
Denis Elie was happy that his daughter Emily got her driver’s license and that he had an eco-cardiogram and they confirmed he has a heart notwithstanding rumors to the contrary. Of course, it was suggested that his heart is cold and black, but it is there nonetheless.
Carl Goodwin was happy about this trip to Italy to go to his niece’s wedding.
Heather did have a few fines including fining Fausto who apparently only has to wave and he gets whatever beverage he wants delivered to him and because when the sun comes out the guns come out. I have not seen the sun so I have no idea what she is talking about. She fined Sabine for needing help with the 4 way test and she fined Brian for being adorable at which point I threw up in my mouth just a little.
The rest of the meeting focused on thanking people for donating to the Rotary Foundation. We had a good crowd which President Joe suggested was because there was free stuff to give away (though it was technically not free because you had to donate to the Foundation to get into the drawing). Club members brought in some nice stuff from shower heads, to small trees, to wedding magazines to gift bags. Numbers were drawn and people could either select an item from our vast selection or steal an item already selected and the exchanges were spirited. Heather McLean’s Whimsical Me canvas bags changed hands more than, … well it was stolen a number of times as was Morgan’s Stoner and Company sweatshirt. Everyone (or almost everyone) seemed to have a good time and most people there seemed to have donated. So miss a meeting and you can miss a lot including a good time.
Since I have the pen, I would like to echo President Joe’s appeal to have club members try and attend the meetings on June 12 and 19. June 12 is Past Presidents’ Day. We have had some very impressive and dedicated past presidents who have done so much to make our Club what it is. The least we can do is show up and thank them.
Awards Day is our chance to use two of the most powerful words in the English language – “thank you”. There are so many people who do great things for others and who never get recognized for their contributions. They don’t do what they do for recognition. Their motivations are varied but the end result is that they make our communities and/or the lives of others better. They deserve our thanks and they deserve our presence at the meeting without a bunch of members scooting out on them. At the same time, Awards Day is a chance for our president to thank members of the Club who have stepped up during the year. These awards recipients are the ones who pick of the slack for the rest of us. Again, they deserve all of us being there to thank them for what they have done. So, if you are one of those members of the club who finds it hard to make meetings, please make a little extra effort to be there on June 12 and 19. You will be glad that you came.
This Wednesday, June 5th, will be the final board meeting for this Rotarian year.
I would like to make sure that our records are as accurate as possible. With that said, if you have not reached out to me recently, I am asking you to please send me an email (jvillemaire@sbsavings.bank) by end of business tomorrow (Tuesday) with any service hours that you have put in. If you were part of putting the macaroni dinners together, I've got you covered there as I was also in attendance. Heather Gendron also provided a listing on behalf of the scholarship committee.
Also, if you have been attending any committee meetings, outside of our normal weekly meeting, please let me know that as well so I can make sure you get credit for a make-up. This goes for any district meetings as well.
I am only aware of Marty, Peggy Bean and Fausto attending the Flags for our Veterans project. If you were able to help out & aren't listed, please let me know so I can log your time.
I will be putting the final touches on the report by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow evening so any updates you can provide asap would be greatly appreciated! If you don't have access to send an email, you can send a text message to me at 207-286-5474.
Thank you all for everything you have done this year for the continued success of our club!
We invite you to make a contribution in any amount to the Rotary Foundation. We have a goal to increase the rate of participation in this year's campaign.
The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.
The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of US$26.50 to more than US$1billion. It has one of the largest and most Donating to Rotary means clean water and sanitation. Health and hope in areas that were once ravaged by diseases like polio. Economic development and new opportunities. Your financial help makes all this happen, and more.prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.
Donating to Rotary means clean water and sanitation. Health and hope in areas that were once ravaged by diseases like polio. Economic development and new opportunities. Your financial help makes all this happen, and more.
It's quite easy. Make your checks our to the club or even better yet, you may contribute on line directly on the RI website. (link is found on our website home page).
We are currently at total contributions of $6,735 of President Joe's goal of $7,000. So far 40 members have contributed.
If you are not able to make it on the 29th, please make you contributions either to me or Sue G. no later than June 12, 2019 so they may be recorded for President Joes year.
As an added benefit, the club will match your contributions up to $100, accelerating your achieving year-after-year total contributions towards the $1,000 mark with the recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow.
We finally voted on a slate officers at last week’s meeting. One of the highlights was that Alicia G was nominated for a director’s position on the Board and she accepted. I am proud to announce that we have a slate officers for the 2019/2020 Rotary Year. The list is as follows:
President: Fausto Pifferrer
President Elect: Don Pilon
Vice President: open
Treasurer: Sue Gajewski
Secretary: Julie Villemaire
Past President / Board Joe Moreshead
Directors:
Heather Gendron
Conrad Welzel
CJ Cote Dubois
Alicia Girard
Haley Thompson
Thank you to all, especially the folks who have stepped up to assume stewardship of our great club. We still need a Vice President though. It is my goal to have someone in the role before my term ends this summer. The strength of our club is us, it is us who determines the future of this club. Think about serving for a year, think about your commitment to service- maybe this is a way of achieving your own personal goals developing leadership skills, communication skills, building a network of friends and peers all while stewarding a great organization and getting a firsthand view of how important this club is to our local community, statewide, nationwide and global communities as well. It all starts here in the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club.
1988 Tobie Nathanson 1989 Robert Melville 1990 A. William Kany, Jr. 1991 Myra Van Fleet 1992 Conrad Crepeau 1993 Dennis Flaherty 1994 David Lowe 1995 Robert Provencher 1996 Andy Michaud 1997 Edward Caron 1998 Ester Emmons 1999 Rene Fredette 2000 John Wasileski 2001 Carrie Shaw 2002 Alan Nelson 2003 Joe Grondin 2004 Lou Chantigny 2005 Curtis & Sonya Gerry 2006 Wayne A. Sherman 2007 Kevin Savage 2008 Robert H. Begin 2009 Roland Eon
2010 Robert Nichols
2011 William Douglas Sanford
2012 John Andrews
2013 Paul Remmes
2014 Leo P. Menard, Jr.
2015 Leon Chick
2016 Andy Greif
2017 The Esther Residence
2018 Laurie Bruce
Public Sector:
1988 Joan Susi 1989 Clayton Cartmill 1990 Dennis Dutremble 1991 Robert G.Dodge 1992 Debra Choroszy 1993 Ellen Dunton 1994 Bryce Milne 1995 Dr. Thomas H. Reynolds 1996 Rebecca Dyer 1997 Donna Dion 1998 Tom Lizotte 1999 William Soucy 2000 Roland “Ron” Michaud 2001 Carl J. Stasio, Jr. 2002 Dick Tryon 2003 Gen. Wallace H. Nutting 2004 William Johnson 2005 Mark Johnston 2006 Renee S. O’Neil
2007 Sherry Sabo 2008 Eric Cote 2009 Carl Walsh
2010 Senator Barry Hobbins
2011 Chief John Duross
2012 Jerry Lapierre
2013 Roger Beaupre
2014 Carlton D. Pendleton
2015 Michael Tremblay
2016 Alan Casavant
2017 Bill Paterson
2018 Robert F. MacKenzie
Humanitarian:
1988 Richard Nason 1989 Dr. Andre Fortier 1990 1991 1992 Agnes Flaherty 1993 1994 Dr. Francis J. Kleeman 1995 Donald W. Charland 1996 Rita Riley, Dick Lagarde 1997 David Beattie 1998 Roger Coulombe 1999 Tony Gatti 2000 Ruth Anderson 2001 James Audiffred 2002 Mary’s Walk 2003 Roland Gagne 2004 Thomas Haley 2005 Leon Tranchemontagne 2006 Father Reynald Labarre 2007 David & Carolyn Flood 2008 Andy Greif 2009 Burton Howe
2010 Julie Villemaire
2011 Rick LaChance
2012 David Lowe
2013 Phillip Dennison
2014 Paul Deschambault
2015 Dennis P. Robillard
2016 James Godbout
2017 Jim McAllister
2018 Reverend Shirley Brown
Vocational Service Award:
2000 Carl Goodwin 2001 A. William Kany, Jr. 2002 Ron Gagnon 2003 Steven Foran 2004 Frank Paul 2005 Wayne Hapgood 2006 Dr. John Fitzsimmons 2007 Arthur R. Willey 2008 James McAllister 2009 James Godbout
Our Club is in first place of 10 Rotary Clubs who participate in this program!
Total Raised: $2,510.15
Containers CLYNKed: 45,633
Energy: Saved enough energy to light 63.4 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 11,999 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 460.4 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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