Minutes of November 27, 2017
At 07:15 Club President Bob Guerette welcomed guest speaker Kathy Smith, Executive Director of Habit for Humanity, to our meeting and called the meeting to order. After leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance he then called upon Bob Beaumont for the invocation. Bob encouraged us to continue to serve those less fortunate then ourselves, both locally and globally.
Prez. Bob then gave us an update on absent member Gordon Donley, who is virtually never absent. On Wednesday, prior to Thanksgiving, Gordon had a heart attack and was admitted to Maine Med for testing, resulting in a decision for triple or quadruple heart surgery to be performed Monday, November 27 (he was scheduled to be prepped for surgery as our meeting started). Bob G had visited Gordon in Maine Med on Saturday, reporting that he was in good sprits and looking forward to a full recovery.
Under Announcements we had the following:
Our next “Fill the Backpacks” for Mid Coast Hunger Prevention is 5:30, Tuesday, December 12.
Our “Build” day for Habitat is Saturday, December 9.
Bell ringing for Salvation Army at Wal-Mart is Saturday, December 16.
Ron McLaughlin passed around the sign up sheet for our Adopt a Needy Family.
Prez. Bob will proceed with scheduling in informal social for members and spouses / significant others to be held at Flight Deck Brewery on Brunswick Landing. (Subsequently scheduled for 5 – 6 PM Thursday, December 14)
Prez. Bob called upon Russ Andrews for Happy / Sad dollars. Russ had happy dollars for his 33rd wedding anniversary, donating a dollar for each year to the Rotary Foundation. Fred had as happy dollar for a visit with his 86 year old Mom. Ron M. had a happy dollar for a Thanksgiving Day visit with family in Connecticut. Bob Beaumont had a happy dollar for Kathy, our guest speaker, and for having 21 family and friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Joel also had a happy dollar for Kathy and wishes for Gordon’s speedy recovery. Bob Davis had a happy dollar for our speaker and for a nice Thanksgiving holiday. Bob G. had a happy dollar for a nice Thanksgiving and for the end of hunting season.
Bob Davis then more formally introduced our guest speaker, Kathy Smith, Executive Director of the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, Seven Rivers Maine. The Seven Rivers designation refers to the seven rivers in the mid-coast region and the general size of the area served, encompassing the 31 distinct cities, towns and villages that make up all of Sagadahoc and Lincoln Counties plus Brunswick and Harpswell from Cumberland County. Kathy gave a very informative presentation on the evolving mission of Habitat and changing business model. She stressed that the mission remains providing affordable housing and that eligible families need to be working and capable of making monthly mortgage payments with “sweat equity” often comprising the down payment and the volunteer labor contributing to keeping the cost down. She described the current effort building a modular home on Middle Street in Bath as one that is intended to lower the initial cost and shorten the build time, hopefully contributing to the ability to build more homes annually. She outlined the difficulty in locating affordable land for future homes and the desirability of finding buildable lots in town, reducing transportation costs for future residents. Kathy also explained the more recent “weatherization and modernization” program intended to reduce utility costs for low income families and eliminate safety hazards from deterioration of older homes, allowing residents to remain in existing, paid for homes, rather than be forced to move to more expensive housing. She also explained to ReStore operation that is open to the general public and contributes funds to the overall Habitat mission.
An interesting and informative program. Thanks Bob Davis for setting it up.
Our speaker Monday, December 4 is Mary Hanley, New Hope for Woman.
I look forward to seeing you all there.
Submitted:
Tom