Meeting number 2 down and a few more to go. I thought today’s meeting went pretty well. We even had Turkey on the menu. Every past president I have talked to has said they had such a good time as president of the club. I was always a little hesitant to let anybody offer up my name for the position. I can say after a few weeks in I am glad they did. Ask me in a few months how I feel, I think it will still be fun. I have always enjoyed building things and was never satisfied with the status quo; I hate maintenance of an organization, a necessary evil to a certain extent. Part of our mission statement at my company deals with our commitment to continuous improvement in our process and people. We actually measure those metrics.
I hope we can share the same passion and commitment to continuously improve our club as past presidents and members have. We are off to a great start- thank you! I am looking forward to sharing with all of you how many actual service hours we provide over the year- a real measure of success; not how many meetings you were at. If we have 75 members and each member gives 16 hours a year in service work, that is 1200 hours. We can do a lot in 1200 hours! Think “Earl the Pearl Goodwin” selling over 70 raffle tickets- how many hours did that take him? Jim Godbout’s beach extravaganza on the 28th, how many hours is he and all of the other volunteers putting in? I want to know, so doesn’t Julie our secretary. I want to be able to show people what we really do. So let’s figure out a way to record those hours. The base line metric is 1200 hours- the challenge is now!
I had a member email me today apologizing for not having been to the last few meetings and with the intention of missing a few more; work and family sometimes can get in the way of Rotary. I told her the same message I have been telling you- let’s focus on service and not attendance. What she doesn’t realize is that I am going to ask her to put together our first in service meeting project for 09/19.
The project will be to make birthday parties in a bag for the shelters and food pantries. After listening today to Elaine Fournier from Open Hearts / Open Hands, she even mentioned that she gives new items as birthday gifts to children. One thing Elaine did not mention is that the building she is housed in also houses the Saco Food Pantry. Elaine’s organization is an addition that was added to the food pantry. It was built by Rotarians like Carl Goodwin and others.
In closing, if any of you have some kids clothes you want to finally get rid of than bring them to the meeting and I will make sure that the items get to Elaine. If you have a “crappy” bike bring that too. We can throw it in the back of my truck and deliver it to Bronwyn.
Remarked that Mark was a Certified Public Actor. Encouraged everyone to go see The Producers, a funny play with some amazing actors.
Welcomed Hailey to our club.
Announced Tammy Ackerman is looking for a treasurer to serve on their board. Anyone interested in volunteering with ENGINE, please see Tammy or email them from their website: http://feedtheengine.org/
Attendance is at 53% for the organization. Following discussion at the Board Meeting, Julie will be creating a new form where Rotarians will be able to report their volunteer service. The goal and challenge for the club is to volunteer 1,200 hours this year.
Thank you to the TACK Sponsors who have generously donated.
Thank you, Brian Dallaire, for managing the TACK sponsor drive.
50/50 was won by Ken F.
Announcements:
Business After Hours will be hosted by the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club and the Biddeford Saco Chamber of Commerce on Thursday August 2nd from 5 – 7 at The Run Of The Mill. P.J. announced that each guest will be offered two drink tickets, there will be a 50/50 and a business card raffle.
Sue G. spoke about the Alzheimer's on September 15th. The goal is to raise $2,000. They have collected $400 to date. Registration is at 8am and the event will begin @ 9am. It’s a two-mile walk and everyone is encouraged to participate.
Sargent At Arms Bill Kany:
Happy Dollars:
Steve M. Will be vacationing in Granada this December
Ken F. Donated his 50/50 winnings to Red Ribbon
President Joe – His son who competed in a 48 – hour endurance race at Sunday River, completed a race and he and his team placed pretty well out of 50 teams.
Sabine – Had ten happy dollars for the ten degrees cooler her house is after a Jim G. came to do some air conditioning work.
Joe G. – Is heading to Pebble Beach for a vacation next week.
Fines:
President Joe – 1st fine for wearing melon colored pants; 2nd Rotary information missing in the TACK; 3rd – forgot details of the upcoming Alzheimer’s Walk.
Steve M – For exposing his pipe cleaner legs.
Jackson – Being a Cub Scout doesn’t truly qualify as a deep dark secret.
Paul D – Glad you’re back fine.
Alissa – Fined for not having a deep dark secret.
Jim M – Welcome back… that’ll be a buck.
Mark – Fined $1 for wearing a dress and asked not to do it again.
Tammy – Back after a long departure – only to announce she needed a volunteer treasurer.
Heather – For running to work when no customers are waiting at the door.
Jeremy – Fined for his choice of clothing – specifically his shirt.
Don P. – For losing his run for Mayor resulting in Bill K’s free transfer station closing.
All Credit Union employees were fined $1.00
P.J. – for her shameless introduction of the Chamber’s Business After Hours.
Brian – Known as a well-traveled man, he dragged his wife with him to a Rotary meeting. Fined also for having been seen picking up a prescription when he could have made it himself.
Ken F- for his Merrimack Napping Pod
Mark Tuller – For coming back after a long absence.
Jim G. – was fined for a sign advertising “his” Lord Halo Boon Sauce beer in the meeting room.
Coming up to the 100-year anniversary of the Rotary, it is clear this organization has a long consistent history of giving back to the community and international service. Many of the archives featuring the men and women who have made this possible may be seen in the Richard Martin room at the Community Center in Biddeford.
In a financial report from May 1987, there was a balance of $5,875.72 with Edward D. Jones. No additional records were found prior to this. In February 1993. the club invested $25,000 to the fund and in 1996 added another $10,000. In 1998, the fund grew to $58,290. In October – November of 1998, there were some bequests and transferred $10,0000 from the house fund. The money was moved to Key Financial that year. The year-end 1998 was $105,370.
In 1999, an investment policy was written with a goal of growth and preservation of principle. The Past President scholarship fund committee was appointed to oversee the investment. From 1999 – 2011, the fund dropped below $100,000 prompting a spending policy to be added.
In 2011 – the fund, $147,949, was moved to Charter Oak. Today the fund is at $208,293.52.
This year, this fund will be providing $10,600 in scholarships.
Mark read from a paper copy of The TACK Re: Harold Boudreaux made the largest in Rotary’s history to the organization. In 2009 Company B was established. In 2010 an investment policy and spending policy was created based on CPI and a 3-year rating average. The monies are invested in Chamber Oak as of August 1st and the balance is $195,132.70. To date, this fund has donated back $37,000 to the community.
President Joe presented Mark with a Rotary coffee mug for his presentation.
President Joe announced the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club’s Charitable Funds committee has received $8,600 from Company B and another $5,000 from the club.
Sabine – her three wishes were always to move to Maine, have a Boxer and to buy a special Volvo. Although she always hoped to be an architect, she graduated with a degree in economics. She moved to Maine and purchased The 1964 House in Biddeford and operates a B n’ B welcoming guests from around the world.
Sabine has been a Real Estate agent for 18 years and has purchased several homes. She is pleased to announce the launch of her newest company Clean Slate Builders. Their Motto is Renovate Homes; Rebuild Lives & Strengthen the Community.
Okay, Mr. President (President Joe that is) which is it? Does attendance (like size) matter or not? You campaigned on a platform of more service and less attendance requirements and you were unanimously elected. Okay, in reality Bernice stepped aside, we begged you to step in, and you agreed, but we still had to vote you in. But, you have said repeatedly that we don’t have to worry about attendance and instead you want an aggregate of 1,200 Rotary service hours out of the club. We were all feeling warm and fuzzy about that. Now, when I say “we” were all feeling warm and fuzzy I mean the 6 people (I doubled my earlier estimate) who read the Tack (same readership as the Journal Tribune) and the 30 or so members of the Club who come to the meetings because the rest of the club has no idea about this alleged shift in focus from attendance to service.
On August 1, however, you made a point of telling the Club that when the Board met on August 1 it spent time talking about the members of the Club who have poor attendance. Now, I realize we have to pay the RI dues for all of our members, but if the members are paying their dues and not showing up for meetings it is not a dues issue, it’s the old attendance issue. Now, if members are not paying their dues then they should not be members of the Club at all. So Mr. President what’s the true story, does attendance count or not?
Having busted the President’s hump about whether attendance is required or not, let me make a few observations. Three weeks ago I sat across from Chuck Hennessey. Chuck has been in the club forever but I am sure many of you do not know Chuck who was career military and then the owner of an insurance agency until he retired. I had no idea that Chuck has lived on Little Sebago Lake for years and that he has a bunch of grandkids. I only learned that because I went to a meeting.
Two weeks ago we played Rotary trivia and learned some cool things about some of our members. We learned those things because we were at the meeting. We also laughed a lot and got a great break from the day.
This week we heard all about our Past Presidents’ Fund and our Company B Fund. We learned about those funds because we are at the meeting. Our Club is very unique in having that kind of money available. Other Clubs have little or no reserves to use or fall back on. I know about the funds because I was at the meeting.
Furthermore, Sabine gave a great classification talk. She was very funny and she has led a cool life. She has done things about which I had no idea and she has started a business/ community service organization which is absolutely incredible. She set goals at a young age and achieved them. I would not know all of that, and I would not have enjoyed her delivery if I missed the meeting.
In the end it is nice to think we are not going to get drummed out of the Club for missing a few or a lot of meetings if we are otherwise contributing to the overall good done but the Club, but there are the intangible benefits of laughter and knowledge that come from showing up at a meeting every now and then.
Calling all walkers! We need you and hope you can join us on September 15th to Walk to End Alzheimer’s. We’re meeting at York County FCU in Biddeford at 8 am on 9/15. We’ll car pool to York to register before 9. The ceremony begins at 9 and the 2 mile walk begins at 9:30 at the York Beach Ball Field on Railroad Ave.
Please go to act.alz.org, click ‘find a walk’ at the bottom of the page and type in Biddeford Saco Rotary. You can join our team or donate to our team if you’re not able to walk with us. Our club is trying to raise $2000 for Alzheimer’s research. Invite your friends and family! It’s a fun morning. Roland usually brings donuts!
First, thank you all for making my first meeting great. I really am honored to hold the position. I get to follow some fantastic folks who have served as great stewards of our great club.
I wanted to write an article for the TACK because sitting outside on the deck for our first meeting was not really conducive to giving some words about what I would like to see us accomplish over the next 12 months.
Our motto this year is “ Be the Inspiration”. I will make sure to put the banner out this week. So, what are some of the goals we need to accomplish so we can “Be the Inspiration”- more meetings; not really. One of my biggest goals is to not waste your time. You are willing to give one of the most precious possessions you own, your time. I recognize that fact and will do my best to utilize your time to the fullest.
Seriously, as president elect everybody feels that they can give me their advice regarding what is wrong with the club and I have to agree with them on some issues. Even little ones like the check in sheet that we use to check in members every week, it was not working for everybody so it was reformatted and updated; you can thank Julie, our Secretary. People are not crazy about our meeting space, the food, the acoustics, the temperature, the number of meetings we have, etc. Until someone can come up with a better venue we will be at Run of the Mill for a while. I secretly fantasize that a nice hotel with a great restaurant will open with a beautiful dining room, perfect for hosting meetings. A guy can dream.
With respect to meetings, we will still have some 50 or so. I will do my best to be there every week however, I don’t expect you to. I will be proposing a new focus on service work instead of attendance. In order to do that I will need help with a lot of ad hoc committees for the in meeting service projects I want to propose. For example, I want to make a “birthday party in a bag” geared towards children, for the local food pantries. The bags will have everything for a child to have a birthday party. It will include, cake and frosting mix, table cloths, candles, etc. My vision is that 3 to 4 people will go shopping for the items on a Wednesday meeting day instead of coming to the meeting. The following week the club will assemble the bags at lunch- that will be the “program”.
I plan on having at least 3 in service meetings such as the birthday bags, hygiene kits for some of the shelters, writing cards and letters to service men and women serving. Help me think of some more.
Another project will be field trip meetings. I have already contacted the 3 principals in the local elementary schools, just realized I did not contact St. James… I told the principals that we have 20 to 30 volunteers that would love to show up at their schools on a Wednesday from 12:15 to 1:30 to participate in a project. We could read to the kids, have lunch with them, rearrange furniture, etc. . One principal has already emailed me and is very excited about the idea.
We will still have a club assembly meeting the first Wednesday of the month. The meeting will be a briefing on what happened at the Board meeting earlier in the day, a classification talk or two, charitable fund committee discussion and vote and any other issues that need to be dealt with.
In order to accomplish all of the things we want and keep people informed it is going to take communication. Bill Kany has agreed to take over the TACK this year. He has 12 volunteers who will each be responsible for the month. The TACK, Facebook and other social media will be important this year as we tackle our ambitious meeting schedule and goals. We have also added all of our past presidents to our email list so that they get the TACK and can be aware of the club happenings.
I have not planned any new fundraisers. If you have an idea let’s hear about. I have picked the following people for committees, if I am wrong and you are not interested please let me. My goal with most of the committees is to leave it up to the chair to recruit members. The list is as follows and is not complete:
TACK Bill Kany
Charitable Giving Jim McAllister
Scholarship Heather G and Fausto
Front Desk Heather M
Foundation Brian D
Website Brian D
Past President Keith J
Awards Bill Kany
Stuff the Bus Lucie K
Alzheimer Walk Sue G
Beer Fest Ken F
Wine Fest Conrad, ?
$100 raffle Karen / Earl
Prom / Dance Bernice
Program Chair Conrad W
Youth Protection Officer Chief Ray Demers
Youth Service Paulette B
In closing, 2018/2019 will be a good year to be a part of Rotary; to be the inspiration for people we interact with. I know people get a chuckle when I say my prayer “ Dear Lord, you give us so much yet expect so little in return. Let us live through your example.” I am not overly religious but, I do realize how lucky I am, how fortunate I am. I have been given so much. And as a result I have a deep need to want to give back; I know you feel the same way. Isn’t that why you joined Rotary.
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Energy: Saved enough energy to light 58.8 lightbulbs—24 hours a day—for a year.
Emissions: Saved the emissions equivalent of driving a car 11,131 miles.
Volume: Diverted enough containers to fill 424.8 lobster traps.
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