Biddeford and Saco Rotary - Newsletter

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WEEK IN REVIEW

President Steve promptly called the meeting to attention. The singing of the patriotic song was briefly delayed while Joe desperately tried to make up his mind as to which song to sing…. “I’m So Lonely”, “Ebony and Ivory”…. Finally, “God Bless America” was chosen. Somehow Karen Chasse was roped into helping Joe lead the group.

Tom Wells led the assembly in the Four Way Test –unbeknownst to President Steve that he would later be fined for assigning this task to Tom!

Phil Denison provided the invocation.

President –Elect Julie introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Andrea Otis-Higgins joined us from Saco Bay and George Wandell had his grandson Ben with him.

Phil Denison provided the “Rotary Moment”. Phil discussed the “Annual Program Fund” of which 160 countries and 7 continents take part. It takes every Rotarian every year donating to this fund to keep it going.

***HEAR YE ….HEAR YE …***

Vice President Frank Dumais :

“Bid High- Bid Often” --- It’s Auction Time!

There will be an auction committee meeting on Tuesday, January 05, 2010, at York County Federal Credit Union in Biddeford (by Ruby Tuesdays & Wal-Mart). At this time we will assemble the Rotarian solicitation packages for the kick- off and also discuss committee assignments. Please make every effort to attend.

Kick off for the 21^st Annual TV Auction will be next week, January 06, 2010! Please make every effort to attend so you can receive instructions with your solicitation packages. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year and it will take all Rotarians working together from both clubs to make this another success!

President Steve Morin:

Sheds: President Steve announced that the Center of Technology sent over a check for $1,725.00 for sheds that were sold.

Board Meeting: The first board meeting of the new year will be held on Tuesday, January 06, 2010, at 7:45 a.m. in the Rotary Room at the J. Richard Martin Community Center in Biddeford. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Director Joe Moreshead:

Joe was all apologies for sending out an e-mail to who he thought was the entire club. It started looking like he just omitted the “lady Rotarians” but then he admitted the ladies were on a “lovely list”. It turns out that he piggy-backed on an e-mail that another Rotarian had sent out instead of sending the e-mail via our website. Luckily, our web master, Brian, will be the speaker at our January 20^th meeting where he will go into the specifics of how to successfully use and navigate our web site. Joe was trying to get word out to everyone that we were still in need of some committee members for the Company B Fund. The job of these members is not to invest the money but to spend it! There are currently 7 members that have signed up with Dave Lowe leading the pack. President Steve said that we weren’t limited to 7 members, however, the number had to be “odd” to prevent any ties. If you have any interest joining this very rewarding committee, please contact either Joe Moreshead or Dave Lowe.

BREAKING NEWS……

Chuck Hennessey: Chuck has been in contact with some of the members from our sister club in Bideford, England. In May they will be arriving in Maine to help us celebrate our 90^th anniversary. There will be a committee planning meeting to discuss their visit immediately following our regular weekly meeting on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. All are welcome to attend!

50/ 50 Drawing: The $24.00 pot was won by President Steve – thanks to George’s grandson Ben. Steve asked Ben to draw the winning ticket ….this seems just a little too suspicious!

SAA Karen Chasse

SAA Karen had to have her purse delivered to the front so she could pay a fine for her singing talent. Joe’s fine wasn’t far behind!

Happy Dollars were handed out by Frank Dumais for the new addition of an 8 week old Golden Retriever puppy. George Wandell was happy for his grandson Ben’s 8^th birthday which happened to be today. Unfortunately for Ben he had to sit through our rendition of “Happy Birthday” …he had a look of terror on his face because he heard us sing earlier. Karen was happy for the new addition of her nephew, Noah - but also happy that he wasn't hers. Julie gave a happy dollar (or maybe sad dollar) for her daughter Alysia trying her culinary arts skills for New Year's dinner and also a dollar for coming from her annual review at work where she discovered they would keep her around for another year. President Steve was happy that he had $10 left in his wallet and Earle was happy that he made money at the casino.

Fines were handed out to Joe for his part in the singing debacle at the opening of the meeting. I also heard something about him not knowing the words to God Bless America ?! President Steve handed over 10% of his winnings from the 50/50 drawing plus a dollar for unfairly asking Tom Wells to lead us in the Four Way Test when he hadn't been at a recent meeting for a refresher. Frank Dumais didn't seem too happy about his birthday according to SAA Karen and she didn't help his cause when she asked him to hand over a buck. No memory problems with SAA Karen, unfortunately for Brian whose cell phone rang twice during the meeting last week. George Wandell was nailed for an inappropriate song choice. Speed demon Joe was caught exceeding the parking lot speed limit - while scaring Heather M. so she couldn't exit her vehicle. Joe was also accused of "double- dipping" for the Saco Garden Club - a possible request for the Garden Club from the Company B Fund is forthcoming. SAA Karen made up any shortfall of fines this meeting with the "deck accident" that recently occurred in Biddeford. All bankers or anyone in the finance industry were fined for possibly financing the deck, Frank Gooding was fined for possibly supplying materials for the deck, all insurance agents were fined for possibly insuring the property without a proper permit and finally all of the attorneys who are going to be standing in line waiting to sue!

With no further items to be brought before the club, President Steve adjourned the meeting at 1:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by President-Elect Julie Villemaire

Neil’s Motors, Inc.

Quickprint Color Center

Saco Biddeford Savings Bank

Southern Maine Medical Center