Biddeford and Saco Rotary - Newsletter

Have an announcement? Send your Rotary news to Helene.plourde@kennebunksavings.com. Notices received by noon on Monday will be included in the TACK for that week.

WEEK IN REVIEW

01/27/2009

The meeting was promptly called to order today at 12:15. Paul D lead us in his version of the viral video hit "Pants on the Ground" and then quickly segued to the more patriotic classic "My Country 'Tis of Thee" or as known in some quarters as "America". Note to club members when recruiting new members- ask them if they can sing. Bill Kany, ESQ. did the Four Way Test while Papa Kany gave us our offering for the day. Phil D is missing in action so we were not treated to another Rotary Foundation minute. We did not get an attendance report this week whereas the attendance reporter was not in attendance. PE Julie introduced Jim Clingensmith's guest Stephanie Desjardins from Jimmy the Greeks and Lucie Dunigan's guest Rene Oyster. If you can't tell by now I am stalling; our food was delivered hot from the kitchen. Today's lunch was salad, broccoli /cauliflower and carrot medley with baked stuffed Haddock.

Today's Announcements:

Jake D announced that as of lunch time we had sold 476 (????)cases of fruit. He said that there are still a third of the membership that has not turned in their orders.

Frank Dumais as opposed to Frankie D joined up with Earl Goodwin to talk about the auction. We have 69 items from the required 410 that we need. Of those 49 are from our club. Earl cautioned members that this past year has been tough and that some of our supporters who in the past may have given us $100 might pare that down to $25.00. We will probably be finding ourselves having to put in a little extra effort. Items can be dropped off at Lucie D. and Rene's office at the York County Federal Credit Union behind Ruby Tuesdays on Route 111 or Jim McAllister's company, McAllister Machine located in the Saco Industrial Park.

Tom Wells son, Andrea sent us a thank you note for our support for the group he is working with, LIn Gap. We matched Tom Well's donation of $1,000.00

President Steve announced the club's board meeting next week, 02/02 at the Rotary room located in the J. Richard Martin Center. The meeting starts at 7:45 AM

Jim Clingensmith announced a meeting for the Past Presidents Scholarship Fund Committee that will start after our meeting on 02/03.

Dave Lowe let us know that George Wandell is home from his surgery this week. Dave said that George is doing well. We hope he returns soon.

Earl Goodwin let us know that while long time member Gil Domingue has not been attending meetings he is till working his butt off for Rotary. I think Earl said Gil sold 30 something cases of fruit. Brother Gil our prayers are with you.

Laurie Jo announced her Chocolate Fair for St Andre Health Care on 02/06 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at St Andre's on 407 Pool Street. All proceeds support St Andre's resident summer vacation trip to Camp Waban.

$50/$50 was won by Bruce Ruben- hey Bruce don't spend all $34 bucks too quickly.

SAA Karen Chasse was up next:

No one seemed happy today. SAA Karen managed to get a few happy dollars from Joe (myself) for maneuvering the cost of the community garden shed our club sponsored from $5,000 down to $2,600! Way to go! Julie was happy she didn’t get stopped by the three cop cars she sped by to make the meeting, Bruce was happy for winning the 50/50 and Karen was happy her daughter is a basketball superstar.

Fines were given out to:

Bill Kany Sr and Roland Eon for Karen’s physical pain from training again in order to run for the Kerrymen Pub Road Race this March.
Jim Audiffred just because it has been a while and he was late.
Jake Desrochers for not being supportive of Randy Forcier’s P90X routine that is causing him to barely move.

· Bill Kany (lawyer) for TA’s Board of Trustees overseeing the TA Middle School and not having good communication.

Steve Morin for getting our hopes up that Bill Kany (lawyer) was going to do this week’s invocation.
Laurie Jo Ready and Earl Goodwin (who took off) for solicitation dollars.
Dana Lane and Julie Villemaire for being late.
Scooters were charged $3 because the program was classification talks.

Today's Program was a return to the old ways and I think everybody liked it based on the positive comments. We had the pleasure of having in the words of our beloved deceased Richard Martin, two "lovelys" present classification talks. Heather McLean and Hydie Knuckles are smart, pretty, engaging, funny, mothers, wives, friends and so much more. I am impressed by their commitment to their families, community and Rotary.

Heather is the perfect example of the "you can take the girl out of Maine but you can't take Maine out of the girl". Heather grew up on a small farm in North Berwick and attended local schools. She got her undergrad degree at a small college in Marietta, Ohio called Marietta College; club member Andy Greif also attended the same school, however, Heather made it perfectly clear that it was long before she got there. Even more impressive are her graduate credentials having received a Masters degree in Journalism from the prestigious Columbia University in New York; Heather ,please do not critique this- please.

While her Columbia classmates had dreams of working for the big names in press Heather accepted a job in Sitka, Alaska. While she pursued her career in journalism chasing down school board leaks and bear maulings, yes bear maulings, she developed a yearning to be entrepreneurial. While she said no one from Sitka ever died from the bear maulings which by the way happened 3 to 4 times a year Heather had to move on. (Joe, you kept saying "beer maulings." Beer maulings????)

Her first adventure after her stint with the paper landed her in the role of Director of the Sitka Music Festival which showcased musicians from the lower 48 and Canada. She found life in this job because of her trips to Anchorage. One of the side benefits of trips to Anchorage were things like Nordstrom, food stores similar to Whole Foods, the symphony, more then the one cute guy back in Sitka. While Sitka might be the biggest city in the USA in terms of land mass the population was only 8,000 people and few thousand bears, moose seals, etc..., etc..

Needing more, Heather finally jumped in and started a gift boutique and restaurant in Sitka that catered to the large cruise ships that would double the population of Sitka when they showed up. After 4 years in the business she heard Maine calling or any place that had a Nordstrom, symphony, culture, life. After looking at a number locations with her husband Brent and daughter Sabina they bought, sight unseen, an 1850's farmhouse in Biddeford. The ad on the internet for the house was like some over weight, middle aged guy that is unemployed and living with his mother in the basement trying to get a date on these dating websites and he describes himself as handsome, physically fit, financially independent and ready to go. Heather's "never before seen" farmhouse turned out be that middle aged guy who is nothing like he said in his ad. However, I have had the pleasure of having dinner at Heather and Brent's home and it has been beautifully restored; the country kitchen is awesome.

When Heather moved to Biddeford it only made sense that she would reach out to Rotary and I am glad she chose us. Heather is a past president of the Sitka Rotary Club. Today Heather, Brent and Sabina have fully assimilated into their surroundings. Heather is actively involved with the Community Bicycle Club, Portland Symphony Orchestra and a few other groups.

While Heather sold her business in Alaska she is still very entrepreneurial. She is an artisan producing soy based candles and goat's milk soap at her farm named Winter Cherry Farm. Other products include beaded bracelets and necklaces, hand made note cards and lavender filled eye pillows. She and Brent farm over an 8,000 sq ft organic garden. Heather said that " nothing I do is fancy and it's all useable". I drove by the farm the other day and saw the Rhode Island Reds out by the road.

She is a member of the Society of Southern Maine Crafters. The society runs the Stone Soup Gallery on Main Street in Saco. Stop in and check out her products.

Our next Rotarian to speak was Hydie Knuckles. It is a such a treat to hear about our fellow Rotarians where they are from, what they do, what they are passionate about. Hydie has been in the club for a few years and has been an active member working on a number of committees. If you missed the meeting this week you missed the fact that Hydie as a young girl was Miss Junior Potato Blossom, guess where she is from? Hydie grew up in Aroostook County doing those things that kids from the County do. Can you imagine kids in southern Maine picking potatoes and raking blueberries?? While these jobs were performed by most kids in the 'county' even to the point that schools were closed at harvest time to do these jobs I think the kids down here would have nothing to do with it.

Hydie shirked her farm duties in her senior year at Ashland High School to become an exchange student. Her senior year landed her in Brazil. We will have to ask her about carnival.

Hydie moved to southern Maine to pursue an education in fashion merchandising and cosmetology. She furthered her education at the American College of London. This led to a position working with some of Europe's top models and British Vogue. Back in the States she got recruited into banking where she worked for a number of years. Her last banking position was as branch manager of the Town & Country Credit Union. Hydie was laid off a year ago and like Heather she had an entrepreneurial sense about her too. Hydie went back to school and took classes that dealt with career exploration and now is currently enrolled in some psychology classes.

Between the prodding of her husband and other family members Hydie pulled the trigger and launched another career move this time being her own boss and in control of her own destiny. She saw a niche and has been filling it. Hydie specializes in hair and make up for individuals and groups usually in a setting of their choice as opposed to coming into a shop. An example would be going to someone's house to do a wedding party. Hydie did mention one touching story about how she helped a senior woman with just the simple task of washing her hair. This woman was incapable of washing her own hair and was so very thankful that Hydie did it. She thanked Hydie and told Hydie that she felt so clean. The act of washing someone's hair is a pretty intimate act. Let's face it you are touching somebody and are in their personal space. I am sure that the woman probably appreciated the fact that Hydie was there and being close more then the fact that her hair was being washed. A lot of seniors do not get that personal touch. At Counseling Services Inc., we practice alternative therapies and some of those include those therapies that include touch, massage, etc..., etc... and when Hydie was relating this story I just thought of the work at CSI does.

If you see Hydie driving a pink Cadillac then you know that she uses Mary Kay cosmetics in her business. Like most Rotarians, Hydie has other pursuits and interests outside of Rotary. Next month she will do the hair and makeup for a fashion show being put on by another Rotarian Lori I from Simply You. Hydie was talking so fast I did not catch who the fashion show was for but I am sure it is a worthy cause.

Hydie loves living in the area because even though it is a long way away from the county, she has two brothers who live locally and who also have 4 boys between them. Hydie and her husband have a 5 year old daughter and from the sounds of it all they are very close family; sounds like a family from the county.

Respectfully submitted,

Joe Moreshead

Thanks Joe for your very descriptive and fun notes on our meeting. You too could have the pleasure of reporting on our meetings.

Watch for a TACK sign-up sheet to be circulated at our February 3rd meeting.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

Helene, Ye Editor

Neil’s Motors, Inc.

Quickprint Color Center

Saco Biddeford Savings Bank

Southern Maine Medical Center