November 29, 2016 Newsletter

 
 
Opening Ceremonies: President Carl Lusby called the meeting to order. 
 
Invocation was given by Laurie Fogelman and we said the Pledge of Allegiance. The Greeter was Micki Sumpter and Newsletter Notes were taken by Tracy Shaffer.  Sergeant at Arms duties were conducted by Cindy Shoppe.
 
Make-ups:  Make ups were reported from the Cateo project.  Thanks to Clyde, Carl and Lincoln.
 
Visiting Rotarians: Liz Graves – Bar Harbor Club, visiting to help with press release for Movember fundraiser.
 
Guests:  The three judges for the Movember project were introduced:  Gretchen Wilson, Dr. Martin Corlik and Mark Rosborough. Additional guests included prospective member Fred Beyer and co-speaker for the evening Mike Fisher.
 
Birthdays: Birthday congratulations were extended to Jack Frost, Scott Kimball, Alison King and Carl Lusby.
 
Club Anniversaries: Congratulations to Dug Kell and Peter Farragher for their Rotary service milestones.
 
Wedding Anniversaries: None reported.
 
Door Prizes: Door prizes were won by Clyde, Gretchen, Julie, Rob and Cindy.
 
Rotary Minute: Jo Cooper reported on a “pass the bell” fundraiser idea reported in the Rotary magazine. 
 
50/50: Scott won the 50/50 and donated the pot back to our current Happy Dollar charity, Project Hope.
 
Happy Dollars Highlights:
The highlight of our Happy Dollars portion of the evening was Gretchen giving a $200 check to the Gifting Experience on behalf of her child who selected the charity based on her liking the idea that the kids involved in the program got an opportunity to buy their own presents for their loved ones.
Other happy dollars were given by Julie, Rob, Marian, Jack, Tony, Heidi, Cindy, Dave, Tracy, Dan, Irv, Dr. Corlik, Peter, Laurie, Mark, Carl.
 
 
Rotary Business:  
 
Movember Contest Judging:
8 Rotarians participated in the 28-day contest to grow and groom a beard to support men’s heath.  Participants were:  Dom, Jack, Peter, Carl, Dave, Lincoln, Rob and Gene. The three community judges (Gretchen, Dr. Corlik, Mark) tallied their votes and awarded first place to Rob, second place to Jack and third place to Dave.  Carl thanked Dave for organizing this for the club again this year and noted that proceeds will be going to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital to support men’s health.  Thanks were extended to all participants and the winners received a recognition certificate.  Dave will be following up with prize winners to distribute winnings from the contest.
 
Reminders:
Carl reminded Rotarians of the following opportunities and upcoming events:
  1. Consider participating in the on-line Gifting Tuesday fundraiser presented by Child and Family Opportunities (CFO) to support their programs.
  2. Sign up for first snow day contest.
  3. Help with Gifting Experience, Saturday December 10.  Jack reported that we have about 18 children participating this year. Hours will be from 10 AM – Noon. 
  4. Clyde reported that our month of service at Loaves and Fishes starts December 1.  Please continue to sign up as we need more volunteers to complete the roster.
  5. The second recognition night for HCTC will be held December 13 in the Moore Community Center auditorium.  Cost for the meal will be $13 plus door prize ticket.  Buffet will include sirloin tips and chicken parmesan presented by Robin and Wayne.
  6. The Rotary Holiday party will be held in the Moore Community Center Auditorium on December 20th.  A selection of finger foods will be catered by Robin and Wayne with beer and wine available and part of the $15 ticket price. The Yankee Swap will be held as usual for those wishing to participate.
Program/Speaker:

Rotarian Laurie Fogelman was our featured speaker and also introduced a co-speaker, Mike Fisher.  Both Laurie and Mike recently ran in the November election for State Representative seats for Maine Districts 137 and 136, respectively.
Laurie recapped her experience with both humorous recollections and examples of poignant moments on the campaign trail, which focused a great deal on door to door canvasing. She noted that she was recruited by her party to run and felt it was an opportunity to express our motto, “Service above Self.” 
She said it was a positive experience and she enjoyed meeting people in her district.  It was an eye opener and gave her a first had view of some of the challenges, including some overt examples of poverty, that make up her geographically large district.  Advise for others that may be interested in running for state government included joining a party as that association provides some guidance, training and structure, forming a campaign team to help you locally since party resources are limited for local “on the ground” support and planning to “do doors” and canvas people at their homes since that is the number one way in the state to influence voters according to the party.
Mike added that his district was not as geographically large as Laurie’s and he enjoyed doing doors as well as meeting with various community groups during his run.  He noted the importance of being present to listen to people and that the representative position really starts at that point – listening to people’s challenges and extending a spirit of care and concern to the citizen.
He discussed the value he found in running as a clean election candidate and noted how important it was to have access to this program, especially running against a third term incumbent.
After a brief question and answer period, Carl thanked them and presented speaker’s mugs. 
Meeting was adjourned at 7:21 PM.
 
Respectfully submitted by Tracy Shaffer
 
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