What an amazing syrup fundraiser! We exceeded $14,000 in sales. Thank you! This will provide funding for several of our critical programs, especially international outreach including to Ukraine & Kenya. Please join me in thanking Roland and Brian for all of the hard work to make this a reality. Syrup will be available for pickup or shipping on June 5.
Upcoming Meetings: We had a fun meeting at Dizzy Birds last week and we'll have another one this week, with an in-person speaker from the Biddeford Climate Task Force. The food is great, there's parking, the meetings are interesting, and the Sergeant-at-Arms has been in a good mood. Plus, we always want to grow our club -- how about bringing a guest?
We had an excellent and interesting presentation from Amalie Sonneborn & Lily Collins from The Ecology School. There was very good Q&A and discussion. Here is a link to their website. They are growing and hiring.
Happy Dollars (the SAA issued no fines but ordered that all, without exception, must give something they are happy about):
Amalie from The Ecology School: has a new puppy
Lily from The Ecology School: almost gardening season
Melissa: great picture of grandchild
Dr. Joe: Grandson Noah is coming to visit
Mike Burman: spring is here
Jeremy Ray: gave a very generous happy $50 to be back at an in-person meeting
Jim Godbout: happy for the spirit of Courage and that we are meeting together
Joyce Valenti, happy $10, a tribute to her late husband who passed away a year ago today, and was a lifelong Rotarian who led a lifetime of Service Above Self
Marty: happy to see everybody, good food, good meeting, good speakers
CJ: happy to be back
Peggy: happy to be back
Joe Fullmer: nice to see the ducks and geese back on Peter Pond
Jen: Marty forgot to write it down
Kathy Shea: happy for the spirit of kindness and pay-it-forward that the Club exemplifies
On 3/23/2022, we had a very compelling presentation from PDG Sergii Zavadskii of RC Kyiv. This was our largest Zoom meeting ever, with members of our club, and clubs all over the world, adding up to more than 100 people. We had attendees from at least six countries (USA, Ukraine, Canada, Jordan, UK, & Romania).
There are 62 Rotary Clubs in Ukraine, eleven of them in Kyiv alone. During the presentation, Sergii, who is an executive in the chemicals business and has two sons in the military, was not in Kyiv but had taken his grandchildren to a rural, hopefully safer area in western Ukraine near Uzhgorod and zoomed in from there.
Thanks in particular to Roland Gagne and Melissa Cilley for arranging the presentation, and to Brian Dallaire for capably managing such a large meeting.
Sergii showed this map of where clubs are vs the fighting, and attempts clubs are putting together to supply food and medicine:
Today at noon, we'll have a follow up meeting, hosted by Melissa Cilley on Zoom.
Topic: Conversation with Ukrainian teen and her grandmother who fled to Romania Time: Mar 24, 2022 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
PS: missed yesterday's presentation from Sergii? Here's how to access the recording:
Following yesterday's presentation by Dacian Coita, Roland and I discussed ways we could help as a Club. Marty is already working on a Club donation. Additionally, we'd like to make it easy for you to personally support Ukrainian mothers and their children who are escaping the violence.
If you would like to help through ANY level of donation, please do so through one of the following two methods before next Tuesday, March 8th:
1) Venmo your donation to @Treasurer-BSRC and add "Ukraine support" when it asks you "What's if for?"
2) Drop off your check at Apex Youth Connection. We have a donation box for donor forms in the back of the building if you come by at night or over the weekend. Please write the check to Biddeford-Saco Rotary (NOT to Apex Youth Connection!), and add "Ukraine support" in the note. I will gather the checks and deliver them to Sue on Tuesday.
Your donation of any amount will be combined with all other Rotary gifts and we will send them together for a powerful impact! Please dig deep and give. If you have seen the footage of children pulled away from their fathers, brothers, and grandfathers who they may never see again, you know how much they need us. Just to know we care will give them strength. Thank you!
Happy New Year! I'm excited for 2022, and it gives me a chance to provide some updates on goings-on at our Biddeford Saco Rotary Club:
We have a new member proposed, Phillip Mateja. He is sponsored by Heather Gendron. Phil is a Realtor and has volunteered with the National Athletic Trainers Association and the Knights of Columbus. He has been to a few meetings and was approved for membership by the board at our December meeting. However, I did not do a good job of "posting" or announcing his prospective membership at our last two meetings (our process for new members is attend a meeting as a guest, be placed on the agenda for board approval, followed by announcing or "posting" the proposed new member at two consecutive club meetings, then induction at a meeting). So, if you have concerns about adding Phil to our club, please contact me ASAP, otherwise he will be inducted at our meeting this Wednesday January 5 at Ricetta's at 12:15.
Speaking of new members, it has really been great to see you stepping up and getting so involved with our programs, and bringing new energy to our group. Volunteering and getting involved is the best way to get to know the Club, and you have been doing that. Welcome!
More volunteer opportunities: Wreaths Across America is seeking our help at St Joseph's Cemetery on Saturday January 15 at 9AM to pick up the wreaths we placed last month. Cold, unglamorous work -- our specialty :)
Before too long it will be time for our Raised Bed Gardens to be built and delivered. Look for a note from Ken Farley about that in the next couple weeks. We hope to provide as many as fifteen or twenty "gardens ready to go" for area families in need this year. The work involves building, delivering, and filling the raised beds with dirt. Again with the unglamorous work.
Someone who does a lot of unglamorous work for the Club but doesn't always get much mention is Brian Dallaire. Thank you Brian for setting up all the Zooms, the meeting invites, and the website.
Please do register for our weekly lunch if you get the chance. It helps us plan. But then we always have extra food, so don't hesitate to just show up if your plans change -- we love to see you.
Omicron is a wild card. We do have masks available at the restaurant, will make them more prominent, and Zoom is always an option which seems to be working fairly well. We'll be discussing this at the Board meeting Wednesday morning, so please bring your ideas and concerns to your favorite board member (listed on the left column of the website).
Our signature holiday program Adopt-A-Family was a great success. We helped a record number of families, a total of 97 children. So rewarding. Thank you for participating, and thanks again to Karen Chasse and Heather Gendron for coordinating. All this was made possible by our Raffle, which was a huge success, and provided us the budget to give the most we've ever given this year.
Speaking of thanks, here's to our nominating committee for developing a strong slate of officers for 2022 (starting in July). As we head into our 102nd year of Service Above Self, we'll be in good hands.
Sometimes I don't do enough to mention our international activities. Lots of communities around the world can use our help, and Roland Gagne does an amazing job keeping us involved.
Internationally, we have two projects underway:
Monday, January 3rd (today!) at 9AM we’ll be holding a Zoom meeting with Rotarians in Uganda; a local Portland, ME environmental engineer; and two community members from Biddeford to discuss/review water project proposals received for a hydrogeological study for a community near the borders of Rwanda and DRC. Our club will be helping fund and support this project. Any Rotarians interested in joining the Zoom meeting, email Roland for the link: rotaryroland@gmail.com. And here’s a Google Earth link to the community in Rwanda where the proposed water project is being developed: Rwanda Water Project
The Children’s Rescue Center in Kisumu, Kenya is in need of support for orphaned children being cared for at the center. We continue to engage with the center to understand the most pressing needs that we can support. Anyone interested in joining the discussion, email Roland at rotaryroland@gmail.com.
Looking ahead, we have exciting programs in the works. For example, in March we'll be doing our Maple Syrup fundraiser. It was a big success last year thanks to Roland Gagne, and we have it in the works again this year, so don't buy any syrup between now and then... also, in late April, we are looking at a new event, together with the Rotary District 7780 Recovery Initiative, called a "Recovery Workforce Job Fair"... In May, We'll be back at St. Joseph's Cemetery, where together with students from Biddeford Schools, we place flags on veterans graves for Memorial Day... and in June we'll have our essay contest, which provides a chance for student authors to show their stuff. Lastly, coming up soon, we'll be looking for volunteers to help sort, organize and hang pictures and historical articles at the newly renovated lodge at West Brook Skating Rink. More with the unglamorous work.
The Biddeford Saco Rotary Club now accepts Venmo! You can pay your dues, the golf fundraiser, fines & happy dollars, foundation giving or anything else you’d like to pay directly to our bank account.
If you don’t have Venmo, please download the app and set up an account. It’s very easy. And it’s especially helpful that you can pay with your phone while we don’t meet in person.
Please send payments to @Treasurer-BSRC and put a note with your name (if it’s not identifiable) and what you’re sending money for. I can also try to answer questions if you respond to this email.
CLYNK bags are available at Whimsical Me on Main Street Saco. Stop into Heather’s store to pick-up several bags. Drop your bags off at the CLYNK DEPOSITORY In the Hannaford Shopping Center. Scan the bag tag on the outside of the door and place the bag inside Help us support Roland Gagne’s school in Kenya. A few cans and bottles goes a long way to improve the lives of these children. Let’s fulfill our commitment. .
Thank you
Roland
Our Club is in first place of 10 Rotary Clubs who participate in this program! But Saco Bay is gaining on us.
Rotary Club of Biddeford Saco
Total Raised
$3,208.95
Containers CLYNKed
57,008
Saved enough energy to light 79.7 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 15,085 miles.
Diverted enough containers to fill 579.8 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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