News of The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine July 8, 2020
President Ellen Niewoehner Takes the Reins
   
     Ellen Niewoehner will share her vision for Portland Rotary this Friday as she begins her year as President. Ellen, a resident of Portland, has been a member of the club since being introduced by Peter Goffin in 1998. She is a Paul Harris Fellow.
     Ellen is a vice-president in the commercial banking division of Partners Bank. A graduate of Bucknell University with a BA in Economics, she earned her MBA at Northeastern University, and an MS in Hotel Management at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ellen grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She started her career with the goal of working in food and beverage management but ended up in hotel sales for eight years before moving to the world of commercial banking.
     In addition to her active Rotary involvement, she serves on the board for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine. While she loves skiing, camping, and music festivals, her favorite times are spent with Iceman, her big black Hanoverian.
 
 
View From City Hall | John Marr
     
     It’s a cliché to say, “where did the year go?!”, but for President Amy Chipman there’s much more to that.  At our June 26, 2020 meeting, we met somewhere in cyberspace and could not share a plate nor raise a glass to celebrate now Immediate Past President Amy Chipman as her grand year came to a close and a new administration leads us into a “new normal”.  Looking back to July of 2019 seems to be such a stretch that the Hubble telescope is needed.   When Amy took on the mantle of President last year, she followed in her father’s footsteps, and how she has made him proud!  When Amy started in July, we were thinking in terms of social participation and parties of fellowship.  However, by the time the year changed, the world changed, and none of us anticipated the advent of a new roaring twenties bringing forth pandemic and pandemonium that would be transformative and that our comfy meetings at the Clarion Hotel would turn into virtual meetings conducted via Zoom, which has become as common as “Google it”.  Though the world was turned upside down, our leadership team headed by President Amy, helped us safely “break on through to the other side”.
 
     While the year was disrupted, it was not to diminished in its impact.  Amy called upon her son, Sam Chipman, to help put together a collage of the accomplishments of our determined and indefatigable committees.  Looking back, we had the inaugural Corn Hole Tournament at North Yarmouth Academy with Ben Delcourt and his crew pulling together a fun event which garnered $5,000 to help the club carry out our helping deeds.  Bill Blount brought us out to the ballpark and a day with the Sea Dogs.  Despite the imposition of the pandemic, our effervescent Gracie Johnston kept us involved feeding the needy at Preble street and, of course, we had our Thanksgiving dinner at Saint Vincent DePaul Hall for those who may not have family to celebrate with.  The duo of fearless Charlie Frair and tireless Paul Tully decided that a magnificent Veterans Day luncheon was not enough and came up with a new fund raiser with Flags for Heroes which generated an additional $2,000 in working capital.  Recalling the fabulous Veterans Day event when we were notified that serving staff had not been arranged, the Duo jumped in and called upon club members to serve meals, proving the motto of “Service Above Self”.
 
     Our Youth Service Committee has taken to guidance of childhood, health and education with our continued assistance to the clients at the Long Creek Youth Development Center with mentoring and monthly support meetings.  We continued to read to the kids at the Lyseth School where every child gets to take the book we read as a group home with them.  While the school year may have been truncated, this did not preclude the Youth Committee from continuing to recognize an outstanding student who reaches out and assists in making their community a better place. The New Mainer Task Force of Ben Millick, Abdullahi Ali, Steve Mortimer, Mark Foster, Mariella Uwimana, and Bob Martin worked with several immigrants and provided advice and counsel on starting new businesses.
 
     The need to continue to help those affected by substance use disorder is not going away and we have not given up our willingness to help.   Our outreach has been renamed the Recovery Task Force.  Gracie and her associates are helping meet the need of finding jobs for those in recovery. Our International Committee and their projects are nothing less than amazing.   Roger and Liz Fagan started the Hearts for Hearing outreach in India in the 90’s, but had to move the project to the Dominican Republic where the initial hearing aid project has now expanded into clean water solutions, solar lighting assistance, and prosthetic devices. The committee has added a new focus in India under the leadership of John Curran.  President Amy joined John Curran and Rob Chatfield in India for an amazing experience, and new ideas are already underway as a result.
 
     Those who couldn’t make President Amy’s farewell address missed out on an amazing compilation of the accomplishments that YOU helped Amy accomplish during this hectic year.  Thank you, Amy, for taking everything that we threw at you during this tumultuous year and turning it into something we can point to with great pride.   WE APPLAUD YOU AND THANK YOU!  What a difference a year makes, eh Amy?
Bits & Pieces Bob Martin
  • Charlie Frair opened our meeting of 42 participants connecting from home, camps, and patios, by sharing two quotes. One, from Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, which he dedicated to out-going President Amy Chipman: “It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” The other, of uncertain origin, he delivered in honor of Ellen Niewoehner’s turn as in-coming president: “People don’t want to be managed; they want to be led. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
  • Roger Asch shares that he will undergo knee replacement surgery on July 6 and recuperate at home for the first 2 weeks with help from his three children.  “Thereafter I will be unable to drive but will have a hope for visitors and rides to physical therapy, work and errands for the next 2 weeks.  Maybe zoom in to Rotary in between PT, naps and non-remote work.” 
  • Terri St. Angelo, joined from her camp, noting the meeting was her last with the club as she and family have retired to Florida.
  • Bob Fowler wrote a note of appreciation for the Club’s contribution to Milestone Recovery to help those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Camp has been canceled for 2020 according to Phil Giordano. The decision was based on concerns expressed by campers and parents about social distancing and overall safety. Planning is underway for 2021.
  • John Thompson shares an update from Norah Tafuri of the Baxter High School Interact Club about their mask project:
  • I'm glad to say that the majority of our participants have finished making their masks. Like we did with the fabric, we plan on meeting sometime next week to return our completed masks back to Alida for donation. I'm hoping we'll have a clean, conclusive end- but I get the sense that some students may submit their PPE a week delayed. I plan on compiling all information surrounding the details of their creation and donation, along with our final count, in a brief summary report. I sent a final call for pictures in yesterday's update to the group. Thus far, I've collected these in the attachments below; I anticipate more will come shortly. This has been a fantastic project, and I dare say a successful one. Though we've had quite a few bumps, I believe it's brought our Interact members together. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to do it. Stay well.
Rachel Chapman Awarded Youth Scholarship
 
     David Putnam introduced Kevin Stilphen, Principal of Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) who shared the accomplishments of Rachel Chapman, recipient of this month’s Youth Service Award. Rachel is a resident of Peaks Island.
     
     Stilphen noted that she is an “amazing young woman” who has participated in a project to build a kitchen for a family in Costa Rica, and has learned to be an accomplished welder. He said that her participation in school and community activities demonstrated extraordinary character and willingness to help others.
     
     Rachel thanked the Club for her award and noted that she had selected St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as her charity. She will attend Southern Maine Community College and pursue a degree in nursing.
A Moment of Reflection
 
Singularity
 
   (after Stephen Hawking)
 
Do you sometimes want to wake up to the singularity
we once were?
 
so compact nobody
needed a bed, or food or money—
 
nobody hiding in the school bathroom
or home alone
 
pulling open the drawer
where the pills are kept.
 
For every atom belonging to me as good
Belongs to you.   Remember?
There was no   Nature.    No
 them.   No tests
to determine if the elephant
grieves her calf    or if
 
the coral reef feels pain.    Trashed
oceans don’t speak English or Farsi or French;
 
would that we could wake up   to what we were
— when we were ocean    and before that
to when sky was earth, and animal was energy, and rock was
liquid and stars were space and space was not
 
at all — nothing
 
before we came to believe humans were so important
before this awful loneliness.
 
Can molecules recall it?
what once was?    before anything happened?
 
No I, no We, no one. No was
No verb      no noun
only a tiny tiny dot brimming with
 
is is is is is
 
All   everything   home
 
--Marie Howe
 
Speaker Schedule
July 10| Ellen Niewoehner
July 17 | Nick Callanan, Maine Outdoor Film
July 24 | Peter Monro, Citizen Climate Lobby
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