June 11, 2019 Newsletter

Our club was pleased to host our 42nd annual Paul Harris Fellow Recognition event this week. Named for the founder of Rotary International, this award is given to community members, Rotarians, and this year for our club’s first time, a local business, that exemplify the ideals of Rotary through work and community service.

Paul Harris Fellows were awarded to:

-Todd Wagstaff for his work with the Ellsworth Challenger Little League and @Downeast Adaptive Youth Recreation, two organizations focused on providing sports experiences for those with physical and mental challenges. 

-Janet Bunker Stratton for her work as a hotline volunteer with @The Next Step for four years. Janet also works as a court appointed advocate for children who may be taken from their parents due to abuse or neglect. 

-Bob Hessler for volunteer work with many local organizations including Everybody Eats-A Free Community Meal, @Friends In Action, City of Ellsworth, Maine Recreation Committee, Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, and our club. Maine Shellfish Ellsworth.

-Stu Marckoon for his work, both as an employee and a volunteer, for the Town of Lamoine and the Lamoine Volunteer Fire Department. Star 97.7

-Rotarian Clyde Cushing II was honored for his work at the Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School, as a volunteer with the Ellsworth Fire Department and Senator Hale Hose Company, and his service to our club as Community Service Director and in other roles. 

-Rotarian Gene Pellerano for his service with the Trenton Vol. Fire Dept., the Friends of the Ellsworth Public Library, and as the International Service Director for our club, going on and organizing several wheelchair projects for us.

-Tradewinds Marketplace and it’s owners, Chuck and Belinda Lawrence, were honored as an area business which gives back to our community. They have dedicated a percentage of the profits from gasoline sold at their stores to cancer care at local hospitals. These donations have totaled over $1 Million to date. They are committed to building a community center for the Blue Hill peninsula to be operated by the Down East Family YMCA, James Russell Wiggins Center. Blue Hill Public Library Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center.