11/30/18 Bits & Pieces

President John Curran welcomed 49 members and 4 visiting guests to our meeting and asked David Small to give the invocation on Friday. In honor of the holidays, David presented his modified version of “A Thanksgiving Prayer for a Winter Day.” Shortly thereafter, Queenie led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and we followed that by singing ‘America the Beautiful.’

Please congratulate PP Dick Hall as the next District 7780 Governor for 2021-22. With his extensive Rotary resume, we can understand why he was elected. 

Peggy “Queenie” Wescott has been voted in as the next honorary member of the Portland Rotary Club. PP Peter Goffin (at left with "Queenie") presented this achievement after discussing the many ways that Queenie has helped our club and Rotary’s endeavors through her many years of service and club membership.  

Recently Portland Rotary’s Jesse Harvey presented on a discussion panel following the public showing of “Recovery Boys” at the Portland Museum of Art. Keep up the great work, Jesse!

Dave Putnam (at right) presented on Long Creek’s game night. Rotarians baked pies and spent their monthly Tuesday evening game night with the boys in the Cedar Unit. Several Rotarians helped, including: PP Don Lowry, PP John Marr, PP Jim and Barbara Willey, Mike Fortunato, Dave Putnam, and Erik Greven. Dave Putnam observed that the kids were having a good time, and that it’s worthy time being shared with them. The group meets once a month on a Tuesday evening. If you would like to join them, contact Jim Willey (jimandbarbarawilley@gmail.com) or Mike fortunator (michael.k.fortunato@gmail.com.

Rusty Atwood, in charge of the weekly raffle, had the speaker select a ticket from the can, for a shot at a pot of over $1200. To no one’s surprise, a ticket with three initials was selected. Some of you may be thinking HHH, but it was the PTG ticket that was selected. PP Paul Gore (at left), thought for a while, channeled his luck, and ultimately picked the Queen of Hearts out of a ten card stack. Coincidentally, he noted the Queen of Hearts was picked in honor of Queenie. 

Ben Millick reported on the Club’s New Mainer Task Force, where several Rotarians are reaching out to service organizations who are helping new Mainers in their communities. The club will be hosting speakers on this topic in the coming months, and the committee is speaking to several organizations with this focus. The club is evaluating potential club partners moving forward, so if you are interested in this topic, please reach out to President John Curran, Ben Millick, or Max Chikuta. 

On December 5 at noon, there will be New Mainer Task Force event where you can tour Learning Works, and see how they are helping some new Mainers locally. 

Member Dave Smith has had some health issues recently, and he is asking for those Rotarians that have some cheer, to stop by and say hello. Have a speedy recovery, Dave. 

Gracie Johnston (at left) reported on the Thanksgiving activities at Saint Vincent DePaul, where over 50 volunteers helped serve at least 106 Thanksgiving meals. Gracie also called for volunteers for the Salvation Army’s lunch-time bell ringing to be held in Monument Square in the coming weeks. Good news, based upon her email this week, it looks like all the volunteer slots have been filled.    

For more than 40 years, a number of Portland Rotary's members have been involved with helping with Meals on Wheels on Christmas day. For more information, you can contact PP Larry Gross at Southern Maine Agency on Aging at lgross@smaaa.org. 

The Crutches4Africa, December 8th event is being rescheduled. Stay tuned for the new date.