Good  Morning,

 

We had a great program the other week with Donna Dwyer of “My Teen Place” , https://myplaceteencenter.org/ . Everybody pretty impressed with their approach to teens. The Westbrook Rotary club has been huge supporters of My Teen Place. As a result we got an invitation to meet there and have lunch.

 

We will hold our April 24^th meeting at “My Teen Place”  located at 755 Main Street, Westbrook. We will meet at 12:15. Folks may want to carpool to the meeting. We will talk more about it at our meeting tomorrow. It would be cool if we could get a school bus or something to take us up as a group.

 

Regards,

Joe

 

Our April 17, 2019 meeting, or as President Joe calls it, week 43 started like most of Joe’s meeting with Joe leaving us guessing about the meeting agenda.  I liken him to a boxer who has been hit one too many times and he is staggering to the bell, though Joe has seemingly staggered most of the year.  Oh, now I get it.

 

When we did get back on track Heather Gendron led us in a rousing version of the 4 Way Test and Joe Bassett inspired us with prayer.

 

Our visitors for the week included Tyler Simmons. Apparently it is not penance enough that your Dad is Matt Simmons but you also get dragged to Rotary during your vacation when Mr. Mom is in charge.  We were also visited by Kathy Shea’s sister, Madeline (I think), Bob Lester ( a retired credit union guy) and our past President, Dick Lagarde who was part of the presentation.

 

Joe announced he had to leave early so he would leave the meeting in the capable hands of Conrad Welzel (week 1 for him).

 

REMEMBER NEXT WEEK’S MEETING IS AT THE MY PLACE TEEN CENTER LOCATED AT 755 MAIN STREET, WESTBROOK.  THE MEETING WILL START AT 12:15 AND IT WILL BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CLUB TO SEE WHAT COULD BE REPLICATED IN BIDDEFORD.

 

Joe also reminded us for the 43^rd time that on May 11 (that’s a Saturday) we will helping with Rise Against Hunger which is a hands on event during which we will help to put together 10,000 meals.  The event will be at the Saco Elks Club on the Ocean Park Road starting at 9:00.

 

Joe also announced the Don Pilon was holding a meeting right after our meeting to discuss plans for a miniature golf tournament fund raiser.  If you want to help out see Don.  Otherwise dust off your rubber headed putters (that’s a type of golf club with a rubber coating on it), press your knickers and get ready for some golf.

 

Finally Joe reminded us that the Scholarship committee is meeting on April 30 to review applications.  For more details about the meeting and how you can help please contact Heather Gendron.

 

President Joe then thanked Conrad for his great work on programs, informed everyone that Roland now has a Romanian Rotary badge for his trip to Romania, and encouraged everyone to pull their Rotarian Magazine out of their recycling bins and look at the District 7780 article on the Opioid Crisis with pictures of Chief MacKenzie from Kennebunk and a picture of John Bouchard from the Saco Bay Club.  The article also references our Red Ribbon Committee and its efforts.  Steve Morin claims he has the Rotarian Magazine in his lobby because his customers read it, fall asleep and don’t realize how long they have been waiting to pick up their car.  Joe circulated his copy of the Rotarian Magazine which had his Chinese takeout order and a little Duck Sauce on the back of it.

 

It was announced that we might try to do a Seadogs day again.  Visiting Rotarian Bob Lester mentioned that the District is trying to put a Seadogs day together with details to follow.

 

Tyler Simmons drew the winning 50/50 ticket which was won by Kathy Shea who seemingly wins every time she attends a meeting.  It also happened to be her birthday.

 

Matt Simmons then did is sergeant at arms thing.  He asked his son to collect the fines and he declined.  Smart kid.  Matt then solicited happy $:

Matt then demonstrated his weekly level of preparation to his son by fining President Joe for still not having it down after 43 weeks (he initially forgot the 4 way test) and for his pink shirt and hospital slippers. Now I understand why President Joe had to leave early, he was due back at the hospital.  And that was really it for fines.

Peggy Bean then introduced our program which included past President Dick Lagarde and Don Bisson talking about the Biddeford Food Pantry which is the oldest food pantry in Maine having been founded by Rita Reilly in 1981.  Our club has regularly supported the Biddeford Food Pantry and Dick acknowledged that fact.  Dick is now retired from the world of business and municipal finance and he is volunteering at the food pantry while growing a wicked nice captain’s beard.

Don Bisson has run the food pantry for the last 11 years.  He indicated that demand is up 3% this year and people are typically given 3 weeks’ worth of food when they come in.  They serve Biddeford, Dayton and Arundel and any communities that do not have their own food pantry.

 

Don informed everyone that the Biddeford Food Pantry bought its building after raising $55,000.00 in two months in a capital campaign.  He thanked Saco and Biddeford Savings and Rick Hull for making hat happen.  Dick tried to thank Lucie as an employee of Saco and Biddeford Savings at which point I really reached for a barf bag.  He said the purchase of the building was a miracle because otherwise their rent was going to become unaffordable.

 

Dick announced the pantry’s Miracle of Sharing initiative in which local businesses can support the pantry with a payroll deduction program and a company match.  He indicated that his former employer, Prescott Metal started such a program about a year and a half ago and they have already funded 1,500 meals for the pantry which has ongoing costs like spending $2,200 monthly on food purchased from the Good Shepard Food Bank and over $600 in electric bills for their lights and refrigeration.  Don did point out that all of the workers are volunteers.

 

If your business might be interested in a payroll deduction program for the food pantry please see the information below and contact Dick.

 

The highlight of the meeting was the apparent result of a Rotarian’s consumption of a special order meal of the Run of the Mill burritos with extra black beans.  While the Rotarian tried to pass off her (no it was not Lucie … this time) gas (pun intended) as the sounds of a construction reciprocating drill the tears in my eyes indicated otherwise.  The woman could be a chemical weapon.  I should note that she was very polite and repeatedly said “excuse me” though it was frequently difficult to hear Dick and Don over the noise.  Reduced fiber might be in order. 

 

Hello Fellow Rotarians,

 

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.

 

 

Respectfully,

Joe Moreshead