For our February 9th virtual meeting our guest speaker was Shenna Bellows Maine Secretary of State. #ellsworthrotary #peopleofaction #wearerotary
On Tuesday, February 9th at 6 PM, our club had a virtual meeting over the telephone and internet via Zoom. President Laura Pellerano started the meeting.
Invocation was read by Ross Baldree.
The Pledge Allegiance was led by Ross Baldree
Guests: Bob and Mary Thomas
Visiting Rotarians: Dave and Betty Parsons
3rd Quarter Happy Dollars: Happy Dollars will go towards the THAW Fund. The Heating And Warmth Fund helps people stay warm and stay safe. THAW is a community fund created in 2006 to help people afford heat through Downeast Community Partners.
The Heating and Warmth (THAW) fund provides emergency heating assistance to people in Hancock and Washington counties. THAW funds step in when all other aid has been exhausted.
The following Rotarians gave Happy Dollars: Dave Wells, Laura Pellerano, Carl Lusby, Gene Pellerano, Marian Wells, Lincoln Ehrlenbach, Fred Beyer, JoAnn Brown and Jo Cooper.
Don’t forget about Polio Plus and EREY! Please consider making a donation.
Happy Dollars and Polio Donations: Treasurer Debbie Ehrlenbach would like all Happy Dollars and Polio Plus donations to be mailed in a.s.a.p. to Rotary Club of Ellsworth, PO Box 741, Ellswoth, ME 04605.
Rotary Business:
- Invocation Sign-Ups: Please contact Rob Hemenway to help with the invocations.
- Rotary Blood Drive: The next blood drive is Tuesday, February 23rd. Max Dietshe will send an email to sign-up. Please help if you can.
- ClubRunner Mobile App: Reminder this is wonderful tool allowing membership directory data to be available at your fingertips as well as other club information such as weekly newsletters, upcoming events, guest speakers and meetings. It is a great companion to our ClubRunner website.
- 4th Quarter Happy Dollars: If anyone has a suggestion please let Laura Pellerano know.
Guest Speaker: This week’s guest speaker was Maine State Secretary Shenna Bellows. Shenna is Maine’s 50th Secretary of State, sworn into her first two-year term in the position on Jan. 4, 2021. Secretary Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State.
She previously served two terms in the Maine Senate from 2016-2020, representing 11 towns in southern Kennebec County. In the Maine Senate, she served as Senate Chair of the Labor and Housing Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee. She was a 2020 presidential elector in the Electoral College.
Shenna most recently led the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine as executive director from 2018 to 2020. Previously, she owned Bellows & Company, a non-profit consulting business, where she worked with organizations such as the Sierra Club’s Maine Chapter, Consumers for Affordable Healthcare and the Maine Women’s Lobby. She also served as interim executive director of LearningWorks. In 2014, Secretary Bellows was the Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Maine.
From 2005 to 2013, Shenna was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. She was a member of the first Right to Know Advisory Committee and the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition. She served on the Executive Committee of the 2009 and 2012 ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and co-chaired a successful 2011 statewide ballot campaign to restore same-day voter registration. She was an original member of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting.
Shenna grew up in Hancock and is a graduate of Ellsworth High School. She holds a B.A. in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College. She volunteered with the Peace Corps in Panama and AmeriCorps VISTA in Nashville, Tennessee.
Respectfully submitted by Ashley Johnson
