Posted by Dick Hall

(The meeting started on a light note when this reporter heard PP Paul Gore tell Alan Levenson that he was “looking particularly lovely today.”)

President John Curran welcomed 47 members, 2 visiting Rotarians and 3 guests to a warm summer meeting. Bruce Jones presented us with the invocation, taking quotes from an acceptance speech from a Junior Achievement awardee. Its contents spoke about the importance of compassion in business and personal life and gave us examples of where we can introduce compassion to everything we do.

Mike Fortunato lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and PP Bill Blount led us in "My Country Tis of Thee."


1st VP Amy Chipman introduced her guest and potential member Francine Laporte, and PP Peter Goffin introduced Mary Finnegan, a Portland Rotary member from 15 years ago. Mary had already received hugs and special welcomes from several members.


President John welcomed Immediate Past President Don Zillman back to Maine from the Southwest  and mentioned that PP Kris Rosado was currently in Germany. He also told us that Jesse Harvey was back from CT where he was trained to be a Recovery Coach Trainer for our Opioid Task Force.


President John read a nice thank you note, addressed to IPP Don Zillman, from the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at the Maine Law School. The program teaches law students how to be effective advocates and supports them in their work at our southern border.


PP Larry Gross, speaking on behalf of himself and his Vocational Service Co-chair PP Jack Carr, was planting the seeds for future vocational service opportunities. He told us that vocational service is one of the pillars of Rotary Service and is included in the Declaration of Rotarians (Page 7 in the Roster). Vocational service uses professions as a way to serve. He cited the example where Jack Carr uses his engineering profession to mentor students at Portland High School, toward getting their own engineering degree.


There was a long list of August birthdays, and several anniversaries. Matt Tassey was the longest anniversary member on the list, 32 years of Rotary.


Jesse Harvey told us that he just completed the training to become a trainer of recovery coaches.  He will be leading the CCAR Recovery Coach Academy (RCA) training sponsored by Portland Rotary, with a grant from District 7780. The dates are Sep 4, 11, 18, and 25 and the class is 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM, with 30 minute break for lunch on ones own. To register, go to: https://goo.gl/forms/bcKuR0eutmspR7zw1. RCA Class applications are due by 6:00 pm 8/16/18. In order to be certified, one must attend all classes. The grant is supplying the scholarships for attendees, and attendees must agree to four hours of community service per month. We had registration for a previous course which was cancelled, so we have (12) carried over applications. This leaves (13) more spots. (See separate article for further details.)


Terri St Angelo, event coordinator, talked about the Maine Cornhole Tournament, which will be held Aug 23, 2018 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM at NYA’s athletic fields, 148 Main Street, Yarmouth, rain or shine! It features bracket elimination, end-of-summer BBQ, Team champion & consolation prizes. Proceeds will benefit the Rotary Club of Portland’s local service projects and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine scholarship for full-tuition to attend NYA. For further details and to register, go to: https://orange.nya.org/cornhole/. Then Terri invited PP Roxane Cole (below left) and PP Jack Carr (below right) to demonstrate how the “sport” was played.

 

 


 

Gus Karlsen (at left) told us this is the last year he will be Collector-in-Charge for the MS Regatta. Gus brought the trophy we won last year for the service club division, and proudly displayed it up front. It is the 8th time Portland Rotary has won this trophy. Gus gladly collected $50 or $100 from anyone this week, and he will be back next week, so he asked that we “bring our checkbooks.” Usually Portland Rotary has been able to sponsor two boats, at $500 per boat. Gus would like to do that again.


With Jan Chapman conducting this week's raffle, which was over $800, Mike Reed's name was drawn. Mike pulled the Jack of Diamonds from the deck and it was not enough to win the pot that continues to grow.