Opening Ceremonies: President Rebecca Toci called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm with opening remarks and the pledge of allegiance.
Rebecca thanked Carl Lusby for serving as Sergeant at Arms, Michael Houslen/Clyde Cushing for setting up Zoom, Ashley Johnson for taking notes and everyone for helping set up and take down the meeting.
FYI: Please note that the time of club meetings have changed to start at 5:30 pm beginning January 2026. Club meetings will be 1 hour 5:30 – 6:30 pm. We will try this for the winter months. Please be at the meeting a little before 5:30pm.
Starting April 7th – The weekly meetings will go back to 6:00pm
Birthdays and Anniversaries: Each week birthdays and anniversaries wishes will be sent from the club via email with an electronic greeting card. Be on the lookout for yours!
Congratulations to the Ellsworth High School Cheerleaders for winning the State Competition 4 Years in a row!
Rotary Business/Upcoming events/Volunteer Opportunities:
February 17th Club Meeting: Will be held at KidsPeace at 5:30pm.
Save the Date! Chili Cook Off – March 3rd at Marc Rich’s House! Bring favorite chili recipe for everyone to taste. Or just come to taste all the yummy food. Marc will provide corn bread and red/white wine. Location is 22 Pleasant Street in Ellsworth.
Rotary Ladies Night: Once a month at 4:30pm at the Black Moon on Main Street in Ellsworth. An email will be sent out on the date, Please RSVP to JoAnn Rodick.
Join a Rotary Committee: We encourage club members to join a committee within the club. Learn more about Rotary and how you can help!
Rotary Bylaws: The committee is currently reviewing the club bylaws.
Donation Checks: $500 to The Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center and The Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic. The Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center offers hope, knowledge, and support to cancer patients, their families, caregivers, and friends by providing a source of information, social services, and compassion through all stages of the cancer journey.
The Ellsworth Free Medical Clinic has volunteer healthcare providers who care for patients and a small office staff to oversee the clinic operations. Their mission is to provide free, high quality primary care with compassion and respect to the uninsured and inadequately insured. Volunteer healthcare professionals also assist patients to gain access to healthcare at all levels and to secure affordable pharmaceuticals.
Tea Donations for Meadow View Residents: For the second year in a row, we are making donations for the YMCA Valentine care packages that are distributed to residents of Meadowview Apartments on Valentine’s Day. We are collecting boxes of tea (any variety) to donate to the YMCA who are making Valentine care packages for the residents of Meadowview Apartments. We need around 80 boxes of tea to include a box for each resident. If you could bring boxes of tea to our Rotary meeting on Feb. 10th and/or JoAnn Rodick will buy the tea for you if you want to give a cash donation, that would be greatly appreciated!
Door Prizes: Marc Rich, Linda Elliott, Gene Pellerano, Peter Farragher, Ray Williams, Nancy Mayo, Marian Wells, Debbie Ehrlenbach and Rebecca Toci.
50/50: $8 to Clyde Cushing
Happy Dollars– 3rd quarter Happy Dollars will be going towards The Waterville Rotary Club President who was badly hurt on Thanksgiving Day. Several Rotarians shared happy thoughts.
Guest Speaker: This week’s guest speaker Julia Miller. Julia is the Director of Prevention & Sexual Assault Service and has been in this position with AMHC for 6 years but has worked in the field of advocacy on and off since 2012. She oversees programming for Youth Prevention, Sexual Assault Services and the Children’s Advocacy Center across Aroostook, Hancock and Washington Counties.
Next week at Rotary: February 17th meeting will be held at KidsPeace at 5:30pm.
Polio Cups: Reminder to donate to Polio! For every $1 donated, 7 children are vaccinated.
Respectfully submitted Ashley Johnson
