Tarlan Ahmadov, Program Manager of Refugee & Immigration Services and Language Partners, a program of Catholic Charities Maine (CCM), was our speaker on August 23.  Dick Lebrecque introduced Tarlan who was born in Azerbaijan, at that time part of the Soviet Union. Prior to his immigration to the US, he graduated from Baku University with a Masters Degree in History and Social Sciences.  Tarlan worked in Education in Baku, and later joined the non-profit sector, combined with consulting business to the Consulate of Azerbaijan in Tehran, Iran. Tarlan has worked in different capacities with local and international NGOs, such as IFES and Social Research Center, and speaks several languages fluently. He joined CCM in November 2003 as a volunteer and was hired as a Resettlement Case Manager the following year.

 

Tarlan spoke to us about the current world refugee situation.  In 2015, 65.3M people left their homes, with most from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. Only 21.3M of those were accepted as refugees by United Nations definition. A refugee is defined as a person who is unable to return to their own country because of well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

 

Thanks to Mike Foley, with some small assistance from Christine Johnson, for cleaning out and reorganizing our storage close at WRVC last week.  We found several item of interest that we’ll be presenting to the Westbrook Historical Society, including these badges and attendance insignia from the past.

 

 

Note the two different styles of badges, with hangers representing perfect attendance achievement. Assuming there was an owner of the badge on the left, he had 34 years of perfect attendance at the time this badge was returned to the Club.  If you think you know who that was, let us know so we can include that information with the donation. Also, please share information about the 5 year stars pictured and the older 100% bars shown at right.  

 

Finally, note the background is a sheet of membership cards found in a box of Secretary's records. Membership cards are a practice that has fallen out of use by many clubs, including ours. However, a Google search indicates that RI membership cards are still in use around the world.

 

 

Andrew R. Turcotte, Westbrook Fire Chief, has submitted his application to join our Westbrook-Gorham Rotary. He is on the board of directors of Atlantic Partners EMS. He is active with Michael T. Goulet Traumatic Brain Injury & Epilepsy Foundation and Special Olympics Maine.  He is a former Big Brother and youth soccer coach. Atlantic Partners EMS is dedicated to providing high quality educational and training services to healthcare facilities, public safety organizations, private/public sector corporations, and emergency medical services.

 

Andrew holds degrees in Paramedicine, Community Paramedicine, and Nursing, and is in the process of finishing his MBA. He is a member of the International Association of Fire Chief's and is an active member in their EMS Section.  He has also has completed many other intensive programs and certifications in fields of paramedicine and nursing.  He spoke to our Club in March of this year about the Sister Cities fire department exchange program between the Greater Portland area and Archangel Russia.

 

Andrew and his wife Allison live in Windham. He is sponsored by Deb Shangraw, who is currently on a roll.  Thanks Deb!