Opening Ceremonies: President Rebecca Greenlaw called the meeting to order and we all said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rotary Opening Words: Rebecca Greenlaw
Sergeant at Arms: Carl Lusby
Zoom – Michael Houslen
Thank you to all who helped set the room up and take it down. We appreciate it!
Guests- John Shoppe
Birthdays: Rob Hemenway and Peter Farragher.
ROTARY BUSINESS:
Rotary Food Drive for Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry Update: The Food Drive at Hannaford to benefit the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry was a tremendous success on many levels. Community support was amazing with a total of 112 turkeys and $878 in cash donations! 1,568 pounds were donated!
A total of 26 EHS students helped during the day and were still full of enough energy at the end of the food drive to empty the food truck and stock shelves. Thank you to everyone! Those in need in our community will benefit from your time and generosity.
EHS Interact Club: Emmaus Center Winter Drive: The EHS Interact Club is collecting items for the Emmaus Center from November 12th-22nd. You can bring items to the High School or at the weekly Rotary Meetings.
Downtown Ellsworth Christmas Parade: Saturday, December 7th to escort Santa. Marc Rich will provide the trailer. Contact Clyde Cushing.
"MOVEMBER" MUSTACHE GROWING CONTEST - MENS HEALTH AWARNESS MUSTACHE GROWING CONTEST 1 NOV. THROUGH 26 Nov. All donations go to MCMH Urology Dept. for screening equipment. *SUPPORTERS CAN ALSO PARTICIPATE BY DESIGNATING A PARTICIPANT and if the participant wins, share in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winning. *Judges will consider fullness, neatness and facial improvement on Dec. 3rd. Entry fee is $5 per person.
19th Annual Gifting Experience: Saturday, December 14th. Everyone meets at Ellsworth City Hall at 9:30am. Looking for volunteers to help with shopping with the kids. Contact Jack Frost.
Nominating Committee: It is that time of year for considering a leadership position in the club. Nominations for Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and President Elect are available. Please see anyone on the Board to express your interest in one of these positions.
Club Holiday Party: Tuesday, December 17th. We will be wrapping gifts for KidsPeace. If you are interested in shopping for gifts, please contact Rebecca Greenlaw and she will give you the card info.
We will also be signing Christmas Cards that will be sent to local assisted living centers and doing a cookie exchange to give to local first responders.
Join a Rotary Committee: Rebecca Greenlaw encourages club members to join a committee within the club. Learn more about Rotary and how you can help!
Volunteer Hours: Please let Tricia Quirk know if you have volunteered in the community outside of Rotary.
DeMeyer Field Update: Debbie Ehrlenbach and Peter Farragher updated club members of the DeMeyer Field Project. $159,310 was raised and we have spent $50,000 for ordering the playground. It is here and being stored at E.L. Shea. RF Jordan is preparing the frame installation at free of charge. The goal is to have the playground for ready by the Spring of 2025. Hammond Lumber and students of HCTC will be helping with the project.
Get Well Card: A get well card was passed around for club members sign for Jodie Cushing.
Door Prizes: The lucky winners were: Dave Wells, Jo Cooper, Carol Jordan, Rebecca Greenlaw, Jack Frost, Peter Farragher, Julie Clark and Kent Weisner.
50/50: $9 to Mary Beth Harmon
Happy Dollars: 2nd Quarter Happy Dollars will go towards: Our Rotary International Project; specifically, to assist Centro de Prótesis y Terapia Física, a vital program that serves individuals in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and several Central American countries who have lost limbs. This program is dedicated to helping those affected regain their mobility and independence through access to prosthetics and physical therapy.
The following individuals gave Happy Dollars: Mary Beth Harmon, Jack Frost, Kelly Brown, Debbie Ehrlenbach, Marian Wells, Jo Cooper, Peter Farragher, Carl Lusby, Dave Wells and Gene Pellerano.
Club Assembly: The following Committee Chairs shared a summary from the past quarter and introduce any new plans over the next couple months.
Polio Walk Update: Tricia Quirk shared we had three walks with a total of 39 walkers and raised $2,000. She thanked co-chairs Nancy Mayo and Mary Beth Harmon for their help.
Treasurer Update: Rhonda Parker was absent. Debbie Ehrlenbach presented her report. The club currently has currently $35,746. The first half of dues have been paid and we will be presenting donation checks to Camp CaPella and Comfort Cases soon.
Club Service: Clyde was absent. Rebecca Greenlaw shared the upcoming speakers and activities for the next two months. They can also be seen on the club website. If any club members have guest speaker ideas, please reach out to Clyde Cushing.
Public Relations: Ashley Johnson shared she does Weekly updates on Club Website and Social Media such as speakers, events. Take weekly meeting minutes with photos and sends out the weekly club newsletter to membership. She emails weekly guest speaker bio & Zoom Link to membership.
Ashley has designed and printed Interact Brochures, Polio Walk Signs and Flyers, Rotary Food Drive Signs.
Press Releases were sent out for Pancake Breakfast, Autumn Gold Breakfast, Rotary Food Drive, Membership Night. All seen in the local papers, Ellsworth Chamber and heard on 97.7 Radio. Channels 2,5, & 7 have started coming for interviews at our projects over the last two years.
Updated Partner List on the Website: We have a total of 23 partners. She encourages all members to Create a My Rotary Account on Rotary.org. This is a great opportunity to learn more about Rotary International, the Foundation, the District we are a part of and what our club is working on for this year and so much more!
Ashley also encourages all club members to have ClubRunner Mobile. This is a 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.
Vocational: Laura and Gene Pellerano shared the first HCTC night scheduled for this year on Tuesday, December 3rd at China Hill. The other two dates are February 4th and May 6th. The Honor’s Banquet is April 15th. We will be giving out eight $1,000 scholarships at the banquet.
The EHS Interact is small but mighty this year. Their advisor is Katie Woodward. They are currently working on gathering supplies for the Emmaus Center Winter Project until November 22nd.
Rotary Learning: We will continue to strive to get members more active in Rotary learning! Discussed general lack of enthusiasm of club members to participate, looking for some fun ways to make this enjoyable, Rotary Learning Center!
Adult continuing education Graduate Recognition: They have talked to Annie Sargent and asked if we could get this going this year. We believe we can structure it like the Honors Banquet and just have certificates and door prizes for the graduates, or some other form of recognition.
Children’s Literacy: Is there enough interest to restart the children’s literacy program by suppling readers in the Library for story time? Thank you to Tricia Quirk for doing this last week!
We are awaiting some more information from Ellsworth Middle School on a
possible program which would take place on Friday Afternoons and will allowing middle school youth to participate in small service projects.
Moore Center: Moore Center has requested a plaque to recognize Rotary for a past donation which purchased a bookcase for a book exchange in the early childhood center. We are working on this.
Community Service: April Hartford listed all the service projects we did over the 1st quarter! We have done so much! Thank you! We look forward to working in the community over the next quarter especially around the Holidays.
Community Giving: Cindy Shoppe shared the committee starts the year with a budget of $6,000. She reminded everyone we do not accept appeals. We look forward in assisting the community.
International: Kelly Brown shared what the International Committee is and welcomes more members to join. We had a successful Autumn Gold Pancake Breakfast. The proceeds for that goes towards our international project; specifically, to assist Centro de Prótesis y Terapia Física, a vital program that serves individuals in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and several Central American countries who have lost limbs. This program is dedicated to helping those affected regain their mobility and independence through access to prosthetics and physical therapy. The 1st quarter happy dollars will go towards this project as well.
Foundation: Lincoln Ehrlenbach shared The 2024-2025 goal for the annual fund is $6,000, as of November 19, 2024 the club has contributed $1,275 to the annual fund. The 2024-2025 goal for polio is $2,000. To date the club has contributed $994 for polio. The club raised $1,147 from the two polio walks. Polio, 2 to 1 match from the Gates Foundation and explained why club members need to give to EREY so the club can qualify for district grants. As of November 21st all polio money has been sent into Rotary International.
This year so far, we have 10 members give to Every Rotarian Every Year, 9 sustaining members, who gave $100 or more. The club per capita is $25 member.
Did you know that their contributions directly support Rotarian-led service projects that provide clean water, promote peace, develop communities, save mothers and children – and will one day eradicate polio?
Thanks to the generosity of donors around the world, Rotary raised more than $395 million in contributions that are already helping provide people with essential items such as water, food, shelter, medicine and clothing.
We are grateful for donors like you, who are dedicated to Doing Good in the World. So, if you have not given to the Rotary Foundation this year, please consider a gift today.
Paul Harris Recognition: Debbie Ehrlenbach was awarded a Paul Harris +5 pin. Thank you for your generosity!
Polio Cups: Reminder to donate to Polio! For every $1 donated, 7 children are vaccinated.
Rebecca Greenlaw thanked all club members for their support!
Reminder there is NO MEETING next week; Tuesday, November 26th. We hope to see everyone at the next meeting on Tuesday, December 3rd for HCTC night!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Respectfully submitted by Rotarian Ashley Johnson
