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.

ROTARY WEEK IN REVIEW MAY 12, 2010

After the usual opening ceremonies, PE Julie Villemaire, 2010 PET University valedictorian, welcomed visiting Rotarians and guests. Phil Denison, departing from his Rotary Foundation minute, read a thank you note regarding our Haiti earthquake response donation. The donation went to purchase gasoline/fuel, oxygen tanks, radiology supplies, medicine, hospital services and food. The ever vigilant Phil’s presentation took exactly one minute. A special thank you to Tom Wells, who made a personal donation to the much needed cause.

Julie reported that our most recent fundraiser narrowly averted disaster when Bingo Billy Kany was unable to call the numbers due to the onset of swine flu (nothing else would have kept him from bingo and work). Fortunately, President Steve (re-enacting his early days as a little league baseball player) came off the bench and did a commendable job despite well deserved heckling from the fans. A special thanks also to Earl “Ball Man” Goodwin. While the final tally has not been calculated, the 104 players (up from last year’s 85) and the volunteers all will attest that Rotary Bingo was highly successful.

Chuck Hennessey, our Club’s ambassador to England, presented a fun filled itinerary for the upcoming Bideford, England Rotary visit. By the time you read this, your overseas visitors will have joined us for a lobster bake. Our traditional Wednesday meeting will be held in the evening with a 5:30 social hour, 6:30 dinner and Improv show at 7:30. Thursday’s highlight will be a bus trip to North Conway with various stops to and fro including lunch at Horsefeathers.

Past Presidents Day will be held on May 26. Currently 18 Past President’s have accepted the invitation. If you are a Past President and have not yet responded, please give Keith Jacques a call. Alan Red Bull Nelson (has anyone else noticed that he has not fallen asleep lately) reported that the Scholarship Committee is actively meeting with candidates and invited Rotarians to participate in the interviews.

Jim McCallister won $35.00 in the 50/50, but only after keeping us all in suspense while he read, re-read and re re-read his ticket to confirm that he had won.

Sergeant at Arms Karen “I am behind on my budget give me a break” then began collecting happy dollars from Dennis (12^th anniversary), Leon (UMO graduate), Bonita Pothier (happy to be here), President Steve (6 weeks and counting), Ken F. (seconding 6 weeks and counting), Chuck (they are almost here, Iceland better not mess it up), Jim C. (I like Rosa Scarcelli), George Wandell (I love Rosa Scarcelli), Julie V. (bingo), Roland (son’s bingo winnings), Karen (my mother-in-law loves the polite boys) and Jim A. ($60 check celebrating his 39^th anniversary and …………..). After hearing from way too many happy people, Hitman, Karen fined Jim C. for something that nobody understood and Jim A. for his public service announcement. Editor comment – if you don’t fine him do you think he would stop talking? Heather was fined for solicitation prior to the meeting (I thought that was illegal) and Steve for his active campaign for prayer rights. Frank G. was fined for his mad rush out the door after his phone rang, Randy for a mother award (?), and Paul D. as the representative for non-dues paying Rotarians. Jackson, Josh, Jake and Dana were fined for being late and Ron, George and Earl for making fun of Karen. Karen then fined everyone who did not have 100% attendance. While that did present hefty dollars, not as much as would have been raised if she had fined all of the Rotarians who have made fun of her instead of just Ron, George and Earl.

Our guest speaker Bonnie Pothier presented a slide show on her 15 day vacation through China with her brother’s family. Ten years prior, her brother had adopted his daughter from China. They were returning so his daughter could visit her homeland. They visited Beijing, Chungquing, the Yangtze River, Yi Chang and Nanchung. Her river cruise took them through an area where the largest dam in the world had been built to provide power to the rest of the country. The construction of the dam displaced three million people. While that may seem like a lot of people, Beijing has a population of 30 million and Nanchung, a small city by Chinese standards, has a 6 million population. That’s a lot of people. To put it in perspective, Beijing’s population is about 1 million times the amount of Rotarians that attend our weekly meeting

Thanks Keith J for taking notes. Great job!!!!

Hope to see you all tomorrow night at the Captain's.

Helene, Ye Editor

Neil’s Motors, Inc.

Quickprint Color Center

Saco Biddeford Savings Bank

Southern Maine Medical Center