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

05/05/2010

Lunch started merrily as we sang the national anthem, and Randy Forcier did an excellent job leading us in the 4-way test. Ken Farley offered the invocation, and the buffet looked and smelled delicious.

Phil Denison gave the Rotary Foundation Minute and said that as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar Alissa Nicole Creamer got a close-up look at how people recover from the ravages of war. While studying documentary filmmaking in Spain, she participated in a project supported by 60 Spanish Rotary clubs to fund rehabilitation of child victims of land mine explosions. Nearly every day for three months, Creamer visited with two Angolan children at a local hospital. She got to know their life stories and now she is telling her story to the world through a documentary film she is directing. She said: "I am confident that I am demonstrating a commitment to Rotary ideals, furthering peace and cultural tolerance through the work that I produce."

PE Julie Villemaire said the club will soon be putting up flags for veterans in the cemetery, as we do every year. She said she will announce the time when it is known.

Joe Moreshead thanked the club for supporting the community garden. People are working on their plots and planting, he said. The shed that the club helped purchase is going to look nice on the site, he said. President Steve noted that the funds are from Rotary and the Company B Fund.

Keith Jacques won the 50/50 raffle and promised to wear a spring-ish purple or pink tie at the next meeting.

When Karen Chasse asked for happy dollars, Joe noted that his son's crew team won another medal, and Phil announced that the YMCA has moved into its new childcare center and is looking to accommodate more children. Leon said he was happy that his daughter is graduating from college and that he didn't have to buy his ex-wife a present on her birthday. Karen announced that her son is doing well in track. The Kany's were fined for having birthdays and Bill Kany said a very funny thing.

Don had to pay for a comment he made to Karen at the buffet line.

Rosa Scarcelli, a Democrat running for governor, was introduced as the speaker. She is a 1992 graduate of Bowdoin College, is married with three children, and pleased everyone by saying that she thought our Rotary club was super fun.

Scarcelli was raised in Wilton, Maine and said she has felt grateful to be able to raise her own kids here. Upon graduating from college, she entered a family business, which provides affordable housing to thousands of people in Maine and across the country. Later she left the family business to start her own, but eventually went back to the family business when it needed her help.

Scarcelli said she turned around her family company and she can do the same in Augusta. She says she values her employees as her biggest asset.

She noted that people have had to "tighten their belts" at home because of the recession and she thinks the state needs to do the same. She said she is fiscally conservative, but also believes in social programs.

She said she will appoint people to her cabinet from all walks of life ... Independent, Republican, Democrat, old, young. The talent and knowledge is what is important, she said.

She said one of her goals is to create new jobs in the state. To do that, she said, the government needs to create a climate for business to expand. Another goal is to improve education. "We need to restructure the University of Maine system and align our community colleges with Maine businesses to ensure students are getting the skills and training employers need," she said in a Rosa for Maine flyer.

She said Maine is a state like no other and she wants it to be competitive. The state needs to be efficient and accountable, she said, and it needs to update its technology.

Scarcelli wants for there to be jobs available to help keep Maine's youth in the state.

"When I was growing up in Maine, many kids my age left the state for better opportunities. I want Maine to be a place where our families work and live together, where chasing a brighter future doesn't mean leaving Maine to do it," she said.

Jim Audiffred asked how she would reduce spending without having people pay more taxes.

Scarcelli noted that some programs will need to be cut and that the budget cannot be balanced solely by sharing the cuts. She said she would use business tools to evaluate programs. Programs cannot be cut without information, she noted, which will be a key in her plan. She said cuts should be made top down rather than bottom up. Transformational change, she said, is the key to success.

Joe asked Scarcelli why she is a Democrat if she is for conservative spending. She noted that she was born a Democrat and has known several inspirational Maine Democrats. Joe appeared skeptical that social justice could be paired with fiscal conservatism, but Scarcelli assured him it could.

For more information visit www.RosaForMaine.com <http://www.rosaformaine.com/

Thanks Heather M for taking the notes. Great job!!

See you all tomorrow. Remember to see Chuck or me to sign up for our special 90th Anniversary Celebration events. If you don't attend this year, you'll have to wait another 10 years for our 100th anniversary!!

Helene, Ye Editor

Neil’s Motors, Inc.

Quickprint Color Center

Saco Biddeford Savings Bank

Southern Maine Medical Center