Week-in-Review 1/6/2016

 

President Bill promptly started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.  PP Roland Gagne flawlessly led the group in the 4 Way Test which was followed up with Jim Audiffred and the invocation.  Because it was the first meeting of the month, our fellow diners at the Pub were blessed with the angelic voices of Rotarians.  This was also the meeting that we toast our sister club in Bideford, England.  Bill chose ale instead of wine for the toast simply because he liked it more.    

Both President-Elect Lucie Kay and Vice President Jackson Brown were MIA so President Bill introduced visiting Rotarians & Guests.  He was able to handle this difficult task without incident-seeing as there were no visitors at the time.  Charles from the Chamber was able to slip in a little bit later so Bill announced his name after he spotted him in the crowd.

President Bill mentioned there were 5 more people being proposed for membership to our club!  It’s a good thing their full names were posted at the front desk for all in attendance to see.  I apologize for not having the full names to post here.  I was not expecting to take the TACK minutes (Chris Indorf-you owe me) and I was apparently not fully in the TACK zone.  Their first names are:  Jane, Paulette, Sabine, Justina and Don.  If you did see their names and have any comments, please let Bill & Bernice know as soon as possible.  I’ll follow up with someone who actually knows what’s going on & we will update our website with the correct info.

President Bill also announced that the board had accepted the resignation of Jake Desrochers.  

Don’t forget the joint auction kick-off meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 20th at Run of the Mill Pub, 12:15 p.m.  Please feel free to start soliciting items early!  If you have any questions about the auction, don’t hesitate to give Jackson Brown a call or any of the Rotarians who have had the pleasure of spending time at this amazing event.  Please make every effort to attend this kick-off meeting.  Jackson Brown & Tony LeBlanc (Saco Bay Rotary) will make sure everyone is armed with the tools they need to help make our largest fundraiser (for both clubs) a huge success.  That success won’t happen without every Rotarian from both clubs rolling up their sleeves and jumping in!  New Rotarians, don’t despair.  The veteran Rotarians are more than happy to help shed some light & take you under their wing for participation in your first auction. It truly is a remarkable event with the end result being a significant benefit for our local communities in which we live and serve.

President Bill reminded members that we have some funds set aside to provide fuel assistance for people in our communities.  The request still needs to go through our charitable committee.  The form can be found on the front page of our website.

The $37.00 50/50 pot was won and then donated in its entirety to the newly established Red Ribbon committee by one of our new members, Pierre Giroux.

SAA’s Joe, Keith and Karen took the floor to collect happy dollars and then dole out the fines.  Joe was on a mission because apparently he was called on the carpet at the board meeting for not contributing enough to the bottom line of the budget.  He had high hopes of making up some ground.  Some of the happy dollars & fines included:  PP Steve Morin, took his wife to the top of Mount Washington, attended a black tie event and danced the night away.  He then gave a sad dollar because someone had broken into his business that same weekend.  PP Karen was happy that her daughter Julia was accepted to her first choice of colleges for nursing (UMO) and also for starting her new job and still enjoying it after a full week.  The SAA couldn’t wait to fine Karen so they hit her up for brown nosing and also her pretty picture found in both the paper & electronically.  Conrad was happy that he is going to be a grandfather again.  CJ was happy to have lost 5 pounds during the holidays.  Fausto was happy for his business, Blue Elephant Catering, being nominated for a very special award in Vegas.  The award is the equivalent of the Oscars in catering.  President Bill gave a nauseous dollar for PP Karen’s new “Biddeford Tiger” ID badge that she was proudly wearing.  Laurie Jo was fined for causing Keith’s OCD disorder to come out when she left the shade “crooked” when trying to keep the sun out of Julie’s eyes.  Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished.  Josh, Josh and Rollie were all fined “visiting” dollars.  President Bill was fined a “congrats dollar” for making it halfway through his year.  I’m not sure what deal SAA Keith was making with President Bill but he said something about “Bill” and “saving money” in the same sentence. PP Karen fined all of the insurance people for only showing up to a meeting when “drinks” were served.  President Bill was fined for his “fashion sense”.  SAA Keith asked the crowd who was happy the holidays were over.  Several people raised their hands…costing each of the “Grinchs” a buck.  People in the education field were fined for having to spend time at BHS.  The SAAs needed more money so they called upon President Bill to open his wallet and part with yet another buck.  Sarah Neault was hit up for a “casual wear” day and Chuck for not being fined in a while.  They ended the collection with a final “attitude buck” from President Bill.  

Jim Godbout announced that the Red Ribbon committee recently met with the local schools.  Karen took part in taking some extensive minutes that will be shared.  Jim said they developed a plan of action.  They left the educations with a homework project to help develop young mentors.  There will be a core group in each of the schools.  They talked about “addiction” in general, not just drug addiction.  There was great momentum.  We are going to be the driver for this program and are working on creating branding.  The board voted to make The Red Ribbon committee a standing committee within our club.  A press release will be coming.  This committee has raised an astounding $16,590.00 in such a short time!!

House Project:  Demolition was expected to wrap up on Saturday, 01/09.  The board voted to approve an agreement with the City of Biddeford (with a couple of changes).  They also voted to approve having the roof done before any more damage is done to the inside of the building.  The City will be deeding the property to us.  President Bill will be working on clearing up the title.