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Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
Speakers
Dec 07, 2018
Dec 14, 2018
Holiday History St. Nicklaus to Santa
Dec 21, 2018
Dec 28, 2018
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Executives & Directors
President
 
First Vice President
 
Second Vice President
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Immediate Past President
 
Sergeant-at-Arms
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Director Term End 2019
 
Director Term End 2020
 
Director Term End 2020
 
Community Service Chair
 
International Service Chair
 
Vocational Service Co-Chair
 
Vocational Service Co-Chair
 
Youth Service Chair
 
Rotary Foundation Chair
 
Club Protection Officer
 
Communications-WJ Bulletin Ed
 
Communications-PR External
 
Constitution/ByLaws Chair
 
Fund Raising Chair
 
Good Cheer Co-Chair
 
Invocation Chair
 
Meeting Day Chair
 
Program Chair
 
Membership Chair
 
Web Administrator
 
Administrative Coordinator
 
New Mainers Initiative
 
Opioid Task Force Co-Chair
 
Opioid Task Force Co-Chair
 
Welcome to the Rotary Club of Portland, Maine!
Portland Rotary
Service Above Self
We meet Fridays at 12:15 PM
The Clarion Hotel
1230 Congress Street
Portland, ME  04102
United States
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Rotary This Week
 
The Portland Rotary Club
will meet
Friday, December 7, 2018
at the Clarion Hotel
1230 Congress Street, Portland
 
 
 
*12/07/18 Deering High School Chorus - Holiday Program

The Deering High School Choral musical family will be presenting a holiday program for us this Friday. At Deering, the young people are committed to a high-quality choral program.

The vocal ensemble performs repertoire that is both stylistically varied and of high musical quality. Students are aware that being a member of the Deering Chorus is different from being in any other class. During rehearsals, students are asked to concentrate on greater refinement of previously acquired choral skills. These skills include diction, articulation, dynamics, octavo reading and producing a beautiful tone. Emphasis on part singing and sight reading are also part of this group. A great deal of time is spent on vocal and musical techniques, as well as performance standards. 

Many of the students who become involved in the choral program remain for their entire high school careers, primarily because being in a choral group is like being part of an extended family, as there is a special bond that is created among people who make music together. 

A select group of students from DHS's chorus, under the direction of Dr. Peter Stickney, will be performing selections that celebrate the diversity of the holiday season. In between songs, we’ll provide some narrative that relates to the context of each selection. Please be sure to join us!

11/30/18 Alain Nahimana, Ex Dir Immigrant Welcome Center

Alain Nahimana shared his personal history and the reasons he co-founded and is currently Executive Director of the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC).  Alain, who has been in the United States for 8 years is originally from Burundi. In his home country, he was a business owner, and currently speaks 6 languages. Like all asylum seekers, he was not permitted to work for 150 days while his application was being reviewed; he needed to survive on General Assistance of $50 biweekly for food, $25 biweekly for other expenses, and rent subsidy.

Alain's first job was as a janitor including cleaning of toilets. He then was lucky to get a front desk job at a refugee program, then on the phones for Time Warner. He left Time Warner due to the verbal abuse from clients. He moved on to a courier service, and then to Coordinator for the ME Immigrant Coalition. Alain told us this story to show how difficult it is for an immigrant, even one with a professional background and mastery of the language. 

Alain co-founded IWC to address the barriers for immigrants to overcome:  language, entrepreneurship opportunities, and personal aspirations. Because immigrants must work 2 or 3 jobs to support their families, there is no time left to attend classes and learn English. IWC has created a computer-based learning lab, to allow people to learn at their own pace during the time they have available. To address entrepreneurship, IWC is working with finance, accounting, and banking professionals to offer mentoring help; already 50-100 people have expressed an interest. To assist immigrants in defining their aspirations, IWC provides an Immigrant Business Hub, with a professional atmosphere and a suite of shared services. When an immigrant comes to that space, they can explore their dreams and not be mentally stuck in their present situation.

For more information, you can go to: www.welcomeimmigrant.org/

(Photo L-R: President John Curran, Alain Nahimana and PP Laura Young.)

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.
 

PRCC Says "Thank You Portland Rotary"

At PRCC, we are thankful....


...For the Rotary Club of Portland's gift of Thanksgiving Dinner and

...FOR THE MANY MEMBERS AND VOLUNTEERS WHO MAKE RECOVERY POSSIBLE FOR OTHERS.

 BY PASSING IT ON....WE GIVE TO ONE ANOTHER.

 

PRCC offers over 35 different recovery groups and activities each week. Our members hold meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART recovery, Refuge Recovery, Wellbriety, and many more. We also have groups for family members...Addict in the Family, and Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families. All groups are open and welcome new members and visitors.

That's not all...recovery is also about wellness, creativity, and celebration. Join us for yoga, the Artist's Way, Music Therapy, or Spoken Word night. Interested in Attitudinal Healing or a session of Reiki? For a full schedule, check out Facebook or our website at portlandrecovery.org.
 

Volunteer Opportunities
Following is a list of our Club's volunteer projects. If you know of other opportunities, please contact Loretta: lrowe@maine.rr.com
                              When
Project                  Who to Contact

Salvation Army       Monument Square
Holiday Red            11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Kettle Bell              Weekdays for the month
Ringing                   of December
                             Contact Gracie Johnston
                             gracie.johnston@newscentermaine.com
 

Preble Street           4th Wednesday ea month
Resource Ctr           3:30-6:30 pm
Soup Kitchen          Contact Gracie Johnston
                             gracie.johnston@newscentermaine.com
 

Game Night             3rd Tuesday ea month
Long Creek              Mike Fortunato
Youth Center           michael.k.fortunato@gmail.com
                              or Jim Willey
                              jimandbarbarawilley@gmail.com                       

 

This Week's Duty Assignments

Invocation:  Charlie Frair
Program Reporter:  Erik Jorgensen
Bits & Pieces Reporter:  Alan Nye
Registration/Greeter:   Jan Chapman
Sell Meal Tickets:  Jennifer Frederick
Raffle:  Dick Giles

Collect Meal Tickets:  Mac Collins
Sgt-at-Arms:  Dave Putnam

Rotary Meeting Locations

If you would like to mark your calendars,
we are scheduled at the following locations
through the end of 2018:

2018 
Dec 07 - Clarion Hotel
Dec 14 - Clarion Hotel
Dec 21 - Clarion Hotel
Dec 28 - NO MEETING
             Happy Holidays!

Blue BOLD dates are scheduled Board meeting days.

Any questions, please contact Loretta at: lrowe@maine.rr.com
 

Item Donations Needed
The following items are needed on an on-going basis. Please feel free to bring them to a meeting where we will collect and distribute them to the appropriate projects.
 
Crutches4Africa - Crutches, canes, folding walkers and wheelchairs to be shipped to Africa. Contact: Roger Fagan, drrogerfagan@gmail.com
 
Toiletries for the Shelters - Collect those tiny bottles of toiletries you are paying for during your next hotel visit and bring them home for members of our society who find themselves staying at a shelter and in need of personal hygiene products.