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

April 21, 2010

While President Steve was probably sitting on a beach in Florida with his toes in the water, President Elect Julie was beginning the weekly meeting with the ringing of the bell and then on to the Pledge of Allegiance. Paul Deschambault led the group with America the Beautiful and Keith Gosselin gave his best shot leading the Four Way Test. After about four rejections for a volunteer for the invocation, George Wandell finally gave the green light ~ thanks George! The weekly feast consisted of a turkey dinner buffet.

The business portion of the meeting would have started promptly at 1:45, however the gavel went MIA. President Elect Julie had to improvise to get the groups attention so rather than try to yell over everyone, she resorted to her teenage years and tried the old "whistle with two fingers" routine. It actually seemed to work better ~ but apologies were given especially to the folks at the table in front of the podium. Keith Gosselin eventually held up the gavel but Frank Dumais had the guilty smile.

Vice President, Frank Dumais, happily agreed to introduce visiting Rotarians and guests, although there were none to be seen!

Director Phil Denison provided a Rotary Minute. He referred to an article in this month's Rotarian magazine that had to do with shelter boxes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

** 90th Birthday Celebration Update ~ Chuck Hennessey provided an update on the planning for the 90th Birthday Celebration. There are still some opportunities that need to be filled regarding hosting our Bideford, England visitors. Tuesday - Marine Science Program & also ride to Lobster Bake; Wednesday - Maine Wildlife Park and also ride to Captains for evening Rotary meeting; Thursday - ride to the Park and Ride; Friday - one Rotarian to bring guests to Boston. Please give Chuck Hennessey a call to confirm times and get more specifics about what is needed.

**2nd Annual Polio Plus Bingo ~ Joe Moreshead gave an update on the Bingo event. License is in place. Most Rotarians have received their 4 tickets to try to sell. There are plenty of extra tickets so please get the word out! Packages can also be purchased at the door. We are still in need of some sponsors. So far the following businesses have committed to sponsoring: $200 McAllister Machine, $200 Precision Screw, $200 Saco & Biddeford Savings, $100 SMMC, $100 Kennebunk Savings Bank. We need a total of $1,400 in sponsorship funds. If you have any questions please contact Julie Villemaire at 602-7401 (or via e-mail) or anyone on the Bingo committee (Joe Moreshead, Francine Cram, Earl Goodwin, Roland Gagne, Bernice Wood, Frank Dumais, Frank Gooding). Last year we were able to make a NET PROFIT of $2,000 with only 84 players. Remember this isn't just a game for women. There were some men playing as well.

**Chuckles for Children ~ Heather Gendron announced a fundraiser that will benefit the new children's center that is located by the Journal Tribune in Biddeford. Please contact Heather for more information.

** Committee Assignments ~ President Elect Julie is still waiting to hear from several members on their committee preferences. There is still room for the following committees: The TACK -need a new editor. Helene has done a wonderful job with the TACK and she is willing to continue to help but would like to step down as the editor. International Youth Exchange, World Community Service, Website - we will possibly be switching to Club Runner which is supposed to be more user friendly with more customization capabilities and will also interface with the District. $100 Raffle and Awards Committee. There is also a new Vocational Committee that needs a chair and some members. Currently Carl Goodwin heads up the Vocational House Committee. An idea was presented by Roland Gagne that would involve the Center of Technology Automotive students as well as a non-profit group that recently did a presentation to the club. If you have any interest in this particular project please contact Julie as soon as possible. All of the committee are listed on the front of the "hard copy" TACK for your reference. Please get your requests into Julie by Saturday, May 1st so she can finalize the committees for next year.

** TACK Sponsorships ~ It is also time to start thinking about getting some advertising for your business by sponsoring the TACK! We will continue to have both an electronic version and hard copy. If we change our website provider to Club Runner, we will be able to list our sponsors on the website as well as a link to their website. It's a steal at only $100.00 for one full year!

** GSE Team will be arriving on April 25th and will be here until April 28th. There was an invitation on the table for each Rotarian to visit our guests at a chicken BBQ being held on Monday evening from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.

** OOB Ball Park Project ~ Don Lauzier announced that there will be a work party on Wednesday, April 28th to help get the field ready for the USCAA 2010 National Baseball Tournament being held on May 9th through May 15th. Please contact Don to get the exact time.

**Steven Saucier (Boy Scouts of America) ~ 2nd Posting - Please contact our Secretary Dawn DeSimone if you have any comments.

** Peg Levasseur (Biddeford Regional Center of Technology) ~ 1st Posting - Please contact our Secretary, Dawn DeSimone if you have any comments.

50/50 RAFFLE: The winner of the $27.00 went to Francine Cram who turned around and donated it back to the Polio Plus Bingo event! Thank you Francine!

HAPPY $'s / FINES: SAA Karen Chasse received happy dollars from the following people: Randy Forcier and Frank Dumais ~ I can't remember who but one of them was happy for surviving Pet Obedience school; Leon happy for the sunny day and getting to take his little car out; Dave Lowe for two weeks in Florida with zero complaints; Paul Deschambault for spending his 38th wedding anniversary at the Grand Canyon with his lovely wife Carole; Joe gave a jealous dollar for only getting to go to Woester; Karen happy for son turning 15 years -no more vacations for Karen. That was all for Happy Dollars and then the Fines started flying. Poor Keith got nailed for tanning before the TV Auction. Apparently he made his co-host Tony look like a ghost. He was also fined for telling people to call and "Stump the Chump". The last fine was for when he was trying to elaborate on a laser treatment for pets. He said something about "your pet may be suffering from arthritis but he doesn't tell you". Bernice was fined for the drive-through station at the bank not having the green "open" sign lit at 7:30. Karen waited for 10 minutes even though the drive-thru was actually open for business. SAA Karen challenged Joe to sell his 4 Bingo tickets to men ~ apparently Joe thinks Bingo is just for women. I'm not sure what happened with Lucie and Roland Gagne at their table but Lucie was fined for "work place violence". Roland was happy she was caught :) Keith Gosselin was fined for not cutting his hair since the last time he attended a meeting. Mark Tuller was fined for taking his badge home with him. The bad part was telling his fellow Rotarians not to say anything when SAA Karen was sitting right next to him. Karen fined herself for sending a text message during the meeting. Julie was fined for sending out an e-mail for Bernice on behalf of the Chamber for a workshop/seminar. (Next time maybe I'll read the bottom to see that Saco & Biddeford Savings was a major sponsor of the event.) Frank Dumais paid the fine for doing the crime (stealing of the gavel)! The following Rotarians were fined for showing up late last week for the essay contest presentations (meeting started at 12:00 p.m.) - Don Lauzier, Josh Fearon, Jim Godbout and Roland Eon.

SPEAKER:

Our speaker for today was Mary Ann Beal. (She stood in for Maryalice Crofton.) Mary Ann is a Commissioner for the Maine Commission for Community Service. She said there were 980 million tracked volunteer hours in the state of Maine. 32% of adult Mainers volunteer. They are working with what is referred to as the "Leaky Bucket Syndrome". This refers to people that show up to volunteer and end up leaving because they didn't have a satisfying experience. There are 26 Commissioners in 16 counties. Mary Ann spoke about AmeriCorps Volunteers being their largest vehicle with 1/4 million volunteers. She mentioned that she was going to be part of a presentation ceremony with the Governor tomorrow for the Volunteer of the Year award. There were 1100 nominations! She spoke about service learning vs. community service. She suggested everyone check out the website volunteermaine.org.

Respectfully submitted by Julie Villemaire

Thanks PE Julie for taking the notes while also standing in for Pres. Steve. Now that's "service above self!!"

As PE Julie mentioned, volunteers are still needed to help with our guests from Bideford, England. Why not talk to Chuck and see what your schedule will allow.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Monday May 17th -one (1) Rotarian and their spouse/partner/friend to take 2 of our visitors by car up the coast on a tour of Light Houses i.e. Two Lights, Portland Head, Old Port (Portland), up to Delorme Mapping, and Freeport LL Bean. Pick up about 10am and home by about 4pm. Chuck taking 3 visitors in his car.

Tuesday May 18th -2 Rotarians to take our 5 visitors to UNE's Marine Sciences Dept. for a tour starting at about 10 am.; followed by lunch at UNE and get them back home by about 1:30pm. to rest and change for the Lobster Bake. Either the same twoRotarians or two others need to pick them up at about 3 p.m. to bring them to the Lobster Bake Tuesday late afternoon and bring them back home.

Wednesday May 19th -one (1) Rotarian and their spouse/friend/partner to help Chuck take our guests to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray. Pick up time at about 10 am and home by about 3 pm to get ready for the 90th Dinner Celebration. Phil has volunteered to take our guests to our dinner. On Thursday May 20th - two (2) Rotarians to pick up our visitors and bring them to the Saco Park and Ride at Exit 35 for the start of our White Mt's/ Mt Washington/ N.Conway bus trip which should be back by 6 p.m. This is transportation to the Park & Ride in Saco. You don't have to go on the bus trip!

Friday, May 21st - Chuck will take our guests to their Boston Lodging.

Any questions?? See Chuck or reply to me and I'll get the info for you.

Helene, Ye Editor

Neil’s Motors, Inc.

Quickprint Color Center

Saco Biddeford Savings Bank

Southern Maine Medical Center