Something New! Instead of a club meeting/lunch this Friday, our club will gather in a purely social and festive manner this Thursday night. This concept was introduced by Mike Fortunato, and received enthusiastic response. That said, we hope everyone makes a concerted effort to join in the fun! Again, no club meeting this Friday!
It starts with a new member orientation at 4:00 PM, for members who joined since January 2020, followed by social for all 5:00-7:00. It is $20 per person and a cash bar. President Bruce Joneswill be treating all new members and all guests to their first drink paid by the club.
There will be no guest speaker, there is no "meeting" agenda - just mingle and and enjoy each other's company!
June 11th Pig Roast Fundraiser!
Mike Fortunato is trumpeting the upcoming Pig Roast on June 11th, 3p-7p. This is a joint event with the Italian Heritage Center and we are hoping for at least 150 people. For tickets - go to EventBrite, by clicking here! All proceeds will be donated to the Ukrainian relief fund managed by Rotary International. In addition to great food, there will be a cash bar, an exceptional band, and a 50/50 raffle. The whole thing being held outdoors, under the tent! Family, friends, $25 PP. Join us!
Meeting of May 20th: Kevin Hancock - "Mission Matters"
| by Juliana L'Heureuz
Past president Laura Young introduced Kevin Hancock. In greeting the Rotarians, Kevin reached out to Portland Rotarian, “Coach” Rusty Atwood, who is highly respected as a successful basketball coach for high school and college students.
Rotarians were fortunate to hear some of Kevin’s motivational talk once before. In thanking the Rotarians for our “Service Above Self” mission, he explained how his career and business success is inspired by supporting mission and values leadership, among the company’s employees. Hancock Lumber has been rated as among the best places to work in Maine for several years.
He is the CEO and the seventh generation in his family to lead the family-owned Hancock Lumber, with 620 employees. His experience as a CEO convinced him about how the employees are the company’s important asset. “People are more likely to support a project if they helped to create it,” he said.
“Mission Matters” is the theme he believes has described the success of Hancock Lumber. He explained how traditional leadership models have not kept up with a population of employees who are yearning for another model, one that disperses power and strengthens the voice of others. He advocates for deploying this model within companies.
In 2014, he was walking alone in the Navajo desert during sunset, contemplating about leadership. He was looking into the red rock mountains, when five words popped into his head. “In nature, power is disbursed.” Kevin asked the desert, ‘Where is your headquarters, where is your CEO?’” He asked, how does this desert function without oversight? He called this his “sunset moment.”
“In nature power is disbursed.” The leadership power of nature is scattered, and diffused. and lives in creatures big and small. Humans ultimately aspire to organize in that same way. This is a different way of looking at leadership. He had the chance to try it, because of his leadership at Hancock.
Two important epiphanies impacted him. Back in 2010, during the peak of the housing and mortgage collapse, he acquired a rare voice disorder with no known cause or known cure. For about four years, he worked hard to speak using more than just a few short sentences. Without his voice, he learned how to develop strategies for learning how to speak less. He put the responsibility for answering an employees’ questions by turning the answers back on them. At first, this was a defense mechanism, but then he was struck by the knowledge that people did not actually need, most of the time, a top down, boss centric instruction. What the employees actually needed was encouragement and safety to trust their own voice.
Epiphany number two happened when he visited the poor Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Southwest North Dakota. It is one of the biggest, historic, disenfranchised reservations of the Sioux nations in the United States. He met a group of people who managed an entire community that did not feel like they were heard because of the way they were treated by those who were giving them direction from the top down. He learned how there are lots of ways for people to learn now to be heard.
He concluded that leaders probably manage and direct the voices of others rather than to liberate them. He felt his speaking difficulty could actually help to inspire in ways to help others. The company changed its mission to focus on being an “employee centric company”. They now have one “first priority”, that is to support the experience of the employees. “If we can give everybody a voice, if we can disperse power, support employees to feeling safe, we can advance our success. If employees are thriving, they will figure out how to create a world class company”.
“What if we could create an organization where everybody led, where every voice felt heard, respected, valued, trusted and empowered?” Learn more about Kevin’s leadership by visiting the company Hancock Lumber website.
Bits and Pieces|by Dick Hall
Meeting kicked off with Past President Bowen Depke presiding as guest host, and Gervin KAH and Rich Campbell running the Zoom. David Small gave us a special Memorial Day invocation, with brief history of the holiday followed by repeating the poem recited by Kathy Grammar at Portland Rotary 5/23/14, Ann Caswell’s “America”. Jim Willey led the pledge to flag.
Bowen welcomed visiting Rotarian Kirk Duffy who is back as a guest. Kirk and construction come to Maine in the summer. Brian Nickerson led the raffle; Ron Bennett’s name was pulled but did not win the $300. Rob Chatfield gave Ellen Niewoehner a pin he picked up during their service trip to India, where they both attended a district conference
Dave Putnam introduced the student award presenter, Lisa Hicks from PATHs. Lisa told us about Sefania Missamou and her service to the community. Sefania will attend Howard University to study computer science. Sefania’s designated charity is Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. (photo)
Patty Byers (photo) picked the names for the (8) circle of five who will get Paul Harris recognition. Each circle has five members who commit to giving at least $200 per year to the Rotary foundation. One from each circle is picked annually to receive the Paul Harris recognition earned by the circle. Patty brought eight special family hats to share. Winners were Roger Asch, Jan Chapman, Peter Goffin, Dick Hall, Bill Blount, Michelle DiSotto, John Thompson and Jim Vicenzi. The eight circles represent an annual commitment of $8,000 to the Rotary Foundation, which is about ½ of the club goal. Bowen noted that Juliana L’Heureux brought this program to Portland from her previous club, Bath. Dick Hall mentioned he hopes to have two clubs adopt it themselves for next year.
Mike Fortunato (photo) spoke enthusiastically about the Pig Roast June 11. It takes place at the Italian Heritage Center from 3p-7p, with a goal of 150-200 people. It starts with you! Go to EventBrite, by clicking here to get your tickets. All proceeds are going to the Ukrainian relief fund managed by Rotary International. Great food, cash bar, live music, a 50/50 raffle. It will be big, and your presence will make it better!
Laura Young (photo) announced that the new Rotary "Believe There Is Good In The World" tee shirts are in. See Paul Gore if you ordered one. Laura also announced that we are partnering with the Boys and Girls Club to restart the Summer Reading Program for kids 5-8. Readings will be on Tuesday and Thursdays, 1:00p-1:30p at the Boys and Girls Club Sagamore Clubhouse, 21 Popham Street in Portland. Sign up through this LINK or contact Laura if you want to be scheduled to read to the kids. David Small has already committed to every Thursday. Side note - On nice days, reading will be outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine!
Ellen Niewoehner reported that we had a very successful tree planting Thursday. 6 trees were planted by the 12 people who attended on the Marginal Way Trail. Our first adopted section of the trail is behind Marginal Way U-Haul, between Cove and Plowman Streets. Ellen says we will repeat the tree planting again in June. Ellen also announced a tour of ECO Maine, Thursday June 23 at 10:00 AM. Please sign up or Ellen if you want to attend. See how Portland’s waste is handled. Guests are welcome, but space is limited. (See photos below)
Speaker Schedule
May 26 | NEW! Thursday Night Club Social at Italian Heritage Center - 4pm New Member Orientation,
5pm-7pm everyone!
May 27 | No Meeting
June 3 | Speaker TBD
June 9 | Thursday Night Club Social at Italian Heritage Center - 5pm
June 10 | No Meeting
June 17 | Nick Lund, Maine Audubon, Migratory Birds
June 24 | TImothy Brosnihan, Victoria Mansion
President-Elect Bruce Jones will turn over the bell to these Past Presidents to guest host the following meetings: June 3rd: Ellen Niewoehner • June 17th: Roxane Cole • June 29th: Ben Lowry
Club Executives President-Elect Bruce Jones 1st VP Dick Hall 2nd VP Patty Byers Treasurer Howie Herodes Secretary Michelle DiSotto Board of Directors Ellen Niewoehner, Mark Foster, Bob Clark, Roger Fagan, John Thompson Sergeant-At-Arms Dave Putnam Club Administrator Alice Alexander
The Windjammer is published online by
The Rotary Club of Portland, Maine.
Contributing Editors Bill Blount, Jake Bourdeau, Dick Hall,
Erik Jorgensen, Julie L’Heureux, Ben Lowry,
Tom Nickerson, Tom Talbott, Laura Young
4th Q Program Chair: Roxane Cole Managing Editor Tom Talbott Co-Production Alice Alexander
Something New! Instead of a club meeting/lunch this Friday, our club will gather in a purely social and festive manner this Thursday night. This concept was introduced by Mike Fortunato, and received enthusiastic response. That said, we hope everyone makes a concerted effort to join in the fun! Again, no club meeting this Friday!
Meeting kicked off with Past President Bowen Depke presiding as guest host, and Gervin KAH and Rich Campbell running the Zoom. David Small gave us a special Memorial Day invocation, with brief history of the holiday followed by repeating the poem recited by Kathy Grammar at Portland Rotary 5/23/14, Ann Caswell’s “America”. Jim Willey led the pledge to flag.
Dave Putnam introduced the student award presenter, Lisa Hicks from PATHs. Lisa told us about Sefania Missamou and her service to the community. Sefania will attend Howard University to study computer science. Sefania’s designated charity is Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. (photo)
Patty Byers (photo) picked the names for the (8) circle of five who will get Paul Harris recognition. Each circle has five members who commit to giving at least $200 per year to the Rotary foundation. One from each circle is picked annually to receive the Paul Harris recognition earned by the circle. Patty brought eight special family hats to share. Winners were Roger Asch, Jan Chapman, Peter Goffin, Dick Hall, Bill Blount, Michelle DiSotto, John Thompson and Jim Vicenzi. The eight circles represent an annual commitment of $8,000 to the Rotary Foundation, which is about ½ of the club goal. Bowen noted that Juliana L’Heureux brought this program to Portland from her previous club, Bath. Dick Hall mentioned he hopes to have two clubs adopt it themselves for next year.
(photo) announced that the new Rotary "Believe There Is Good In The World" tee shirts are in. See Paul Gore if you ordered one. Laura also announced that we are partnering with the Boys and Girls Club to restart the Summer Reading Program for kids 5-8. Readings will be on Tuesday and Thursdays, 1:00p-1:30p at the Boys and Girls Club Sagamore Clubhouse, 21 Popham Street in Portland. Sign up through this 
