I have now been President for two months so I can really appreciate even more the efforts of my predecessor, Ken Farley.
Truth be told, at our last meeting in June the Club took so long to make fun of me that we did not really have adequate time to acknowledge and thank Ken Farley for his efforts as President of our Club. Throughout his year, Ken demonstrated his vast knowledge of Rotary and our Club. Ken knows our budget inside and out and managed it ably. He knows all about Rotary Youth Exchange and expressed his concerns about the way that program is now being run. He continued to provide an incredible amount of leadership and work for the auction to insure that it went off smoothly, including yet again writing the script for the auction.
Perhaps most impressive to me was the fact that a few key members of our Club, for a variety of reasons, had to leave during the Rotary year. They had important responsibilities like coordinating our programs or the dictionary project. Most members of our Club probably did not know that Ken ultimately took on those responsibilities in addition to his responsibilities as President.
Clearly, however, Ken's legacy is going to be bringing in 10 new members to our Club during his Rotary year. That is a very impressive number at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract new members to almost any charitable organization. Ken worked closely with his membership chair, Karen Chasse, to work to increase our membership and I am sure that he appreciates the efforts of our Club members to sponsor new members.
I am very excited that Ken has agreed to take on the role as Membership Chair as Karen transitions over to our Marketing Committee, and of course, we owe Ken a huge thank you in taking on the beer festival event and we all need to support him in that effort.
While way too late in coming, we all owe Ken a big thanks for his hard work and leadership this past Rotary year.
President Bill started the meeting off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Phew! No singing required today!! Karen Chasse led the 4 Way Test and Joe Bassett led the Invocation again this week.
Today President-Elect Lucie Kay announced our visitors. We had our guest speaker Past Assistant Governor Marty Helman. We also had a visitor, Mark from UNE.
Past Assistant Governor Marty drew the 50/50. Elaine Palmitessa won $24 which she kindly donated to the Alzheimer’s Walk.
SAA’s Joe Moreshead, Karen Chasse and Denis Elie were up next for some fun and some fining!
We had a lot of happy people in our little Rotary Group today!!! Joe Bassett was happy his grandson came home safely from Japan. Fausto’s daughter turned 5!! I’m not sure if this was a happy dollar or an angry dollar, but Ruben bought a boat…and pardon my language but it was said multiple times… a shit brown 1978 Buick LeSabre. Fausto would like to thank Joe for the boat because it was purchased after Ruben and Joe had lunch. Fausto is going to buy Ruben a pimp hat, coat, etc to go along with his new car. Below is a picture in case you didn’t know what it looked like!
Karen had a happy dollar! She is finally recovering from 2 girls’ night’s sleep over. Not a lot of sleep to be had in that household last weekend! Bernice was happy that her son made it back to Beijing safely! Paul Deschambault had a guilty dollar… he followed Past President Ken’s instructions on sharing the Facebook event for the Celebration of Suds. He received numerous nasty messages from family because it’s the same day as his nephew’s wedding. Whoops! Past Assistant Governor Marty Helman gave a happy dollar because she was happy to be part of our Rotary Group today.
Onto the fines… Joe was a little upset no one was in the paper this week. He did however find Will Kany in the paper so President Bill had to pay the fine. Karen pointed out that President Bill signed up for the Alzheimer’s Walk but has yet to donate. Denis fined Fausto for his red shorts – why didn’t anyone fine Joe for his yellow shorts??? Karen fined Diane for not showing up at the front desk. Denis fined Past President Ken for not knowing the difference between Bank and Band. Joe fined Matt Early for being late and then announcing he was late – apparently his last name means nothing. Karen fined Past President Ken for hurting President – Elect Lucie’s feelings because he only asked for Bank sponsorships. What is wrong with a Credit Union? Joe fined the entire group if you have not signed up to walk in the Alzheimer’s Walk. Scooters also had to pay $2.
President Bill then thanked Sarah for coming to the meeting right from Prom. He also thanked Emily for taking on the TACK as a new member. There was a small amount of pressure to make it fun... I hope I did okay!!
President bill begged everyone again to sign up for the Alzheimer’s Walk on September 19th. He said if you aren’t signing up because of transportation, they are coming up with a solution! We have raised $1,356 –without match!!!! We are currently in 4th place for fund raising. With the match from the club we will be in 3rd place!
Reminder that the meeting of 09/23 will be held at Deep Brook Golf Course after a round of golf for those who wish to play. There will be a sign-up sheet coming around in a couple of weeks.
Past President Ken Farley gave a quick update on the upcoming new fundraiser, “Celebration of Suds at the Falls”, which is being held on Saturday, September 26. Posters are available to hang in our places of business. Joe Moreshead was able to have another brew company sign up. We now have Smutty Nose. There are a total of 8 breweries that are donating their time and staff. We are still looking for a band… Past President Ken accidently said Bank and President Bill kindly pointed out the Bank sponsorship was taken care of. Past President Ken is looking for food!! If anyone knows of a food truck or a company willing to sell their food at the event let him know!! President Bill wanted to remind Matt that it is a casual event, the tie and suit coat were not required.
Today’s speaker was Past District Governor Marty Helman. She started off by thanking our group and telling us we are doing everything right! All of our members gave to the foundation. 1/3 of our members gave $100 or more and 2 members gave $1,000 per year!!! 90% of the money donated to the Rotary Foundation goes to the services provided by the Rotary Foundation. We as Rotarians decide where the money is spent using grants. Rotary has two different Grants; 1. District – small donations that go to where the clubs want them to go; 2. Global – larger donations that gets voted on by the board.
Global Grants can involve other countries. Typically Global Grants go to Third World Countries because our money goes further there, but they can still fund the United States.
The board members for Rotary do NOT decide where the money goes. The board decides policies and the actual clubs decide where the funds go. All Rotary Groups are invited to meet at Seminars (planning projects). This is where all the decisions are made. The next Seminar is September 19 at USM in Portland. You can sign up on the district website if you would like to attend and be a part of the money decisions.
Rotary has three different Funds: Annual Fund, Polio Fund, and the Endowment. The Annual fund is based on what funds come in that are not designated to a particular fund. The Polio Fund is funded when people request to fund Polio. The Endowment Fund goes to programming and scholarships. Rotary selects one individual to attend the Rotary Peace Center at Duke. It is a 2 year Peace and Conflict program. Anyone can nominate someone to attend and the nomination forms are on the district website. The individuals that attend could be the next Noble Peace Prize Winner.
Matt Early asked the question “how does the money get split?” Unless the money is slated for a certain fund it all goes into the annual giving. When you are online donating, you can select the drop down to decide where you want your money going. Apparently Joe Bassett was waiving at the flies flying around the room. Marty thought he had a question.
In the evening on August 16, Holly and I drove up to Naples to watch comedian Bob Marley perform at the Freedom Café. The show was on the lawn behind the café and we were told to bring our own chairs. The setting was actually right on the shore of Long Lake with the stage set up on the first dock of a small marina behind the restaurant.
It was quite crowded when we got there but we found a space on the bank of the lake and we were about to unfold our chairs when I heard someone yell: “Bill, careful or you and your chair will roll right into the lake.” I turned around to see two couples sitting at a picnic table. I recognized two of the individuals as people I have known for some time. They were former clients with a long standing successful contracting business. In fact, they were three years ahead of me at TA. I remember him as a big athlete and she was a cheerleader. They were high school sweethearts who got married and settled right here in Saco. I even remembered her from years before when I used to deliver her family’s paper. In any event, given our precarious perch on the edge of the lake, I asked them if we could join them at their picnic table and they welcomed us over.
Holly and I sat down across from each other with Holly sitting next to the woman I knew and I introduced Holly to both of them. It had been a while since I had seen them, but they were very engaging with great Maine accents. I had forgotten that she had been sick for some time and that illness had aged her well beyond her cheerleading days, but who am I kidding, we have all aged. It was really nice to catch up with them before the show started.
Bob Marley was really on that night. His material was fresh and his interaction with the crowd, especially the people on the boats behind him, was quick and hilarious. I could not help but notice how much my friends laughed and I actually thought to myself if laughter is the best medicine then she is going to be fine. As the show ended we all headed to our cars and she felt so bad for us because we had to drive back to Saco that night (they have a camp up there and only needed to go a short way). We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Fast forward to Wednesday the 19th. When I got home I was greeted with the news of the tragic stabbing at Shaw’s. At 10:45 PM as I lay in bed reading, Holly read a text from our daughter, Erin, who works as a pharmacy tech at Community Pharmacy when she is not in pharmacy school. They had identified the Shaw’s assailant and Erin recognized her as a rather disturbed person who frequents downtown Saco. She also texted that the victim was Wendy Boudreau. It was Wendy Boudreau and her husband Jeff who we sat with at the Marley show.
I do not write this to emphasize how small and interwoven our lives in a small community can be. I write this to emphasize how short life can be. This tragedy is a stark reminder that we should not put off until tomorrow what we really want to do today. If we have things we have been meaning to say, say them. We do not always have a lot of time to do good in the world so do it right away. I always assume I have plenty of time to get certain things done, but Wendy’s death is a stark reminder that we do not always have the luxury of time./
Wendy Boudreau went to Shaw’s to do her groceries like I am guessing she had done 100s if not 1,000s of times before.
Thank you to this year's Board of Directors for your leadership of our club: (front row, l-r) Laurie Jo Ready, Treasurer; Bernice Wood, Secretary; Bill Kany, President; Lucie Kay, President-Elect; Jackson Brown, Vice President: (back row, l-r) Susan Gajewski, Asst. Treasurer; Peggy Bean, Asst. Secretary; Andy Grief, Director; Joe Moreshead, Director; Rob Moody, Director; and Ken Farley, Past President.
In honor of World Polio Day, which is recognized on October 24th, Rotary District 7780 and Seacoast Rotary Club of Portsmouth, NH are sponsoring “Bridge the Gap to End Polio” on October 24, 2015 at 9 AM.
Imagine buying a house for only $32,500, qualifying for an $8,000 tax credit and helping students receive scholarships all at the same time. It may sound too good to be true but it is all part of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club’s House Project. Each year for the last thirty years, the students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology (BRCOT) build an energy efficient modular home and all the proceeds from the sale benefit scholarships for Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach High School seniors.
“The Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club currently gives $21,000 a year out in scholarships to local high school students who continue their education,” stated President Bill Kany. “The Rotary House Project is a substantial fundraiser to support these scholarships while helping the students at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology to learn valuable skills.”
This year’s house is 1,008 square feet (24’ x 42’) and features two bedrooms, one bath and is well insulated with an energy recovery ventilation system. The buyer is responsible for relocation (approximately $10-$20,000 depending on distance of the move), appliances, foundation, septic, flooring, paint and heating options.
For more information, contact Rotarian Carl Goodwin at 207-590-4644.
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.
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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