The Locker Project at Westbrook Community Center – 4-5:30PM Wednesdays July 12 and 26. Two volunteers needed each day of these two dates. Volunteers help arrange produce and groceries on tables, then assist students and parents with bagging the food up to take home. You will be a welcoming presence, making sure people know they are invited to take food. Everyone is invited to bring food home with them. Contact Christine Johnson
Dinner at Chipotle Westbrook – School Spirit tastes great! On Wednesday July 12 from 5-9PM at Chipotle, 11 Main St Westbrook. Tell the cashier you are supporting WHS Class of 2018 and 50% of proceeds will benefit the class.
Community Dinner – At FBC 733 Main St Westbrook. Third Saturday of every month. 4:30-6PM. Next dinner is July 15. See story below.
Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race – Our own Mike Foley is running to raise funds for Let’s Go, a program of The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. Read more about Let’s Go at letsgo.org . Show your support for Mike by donating at his page: Mike Foley Lets Go Beach to Beacon . Race is August 5.
Summer Concerts in the Park - Once again, legionnaires will be selling grilled and other food items at every Wednesday night concert in the park from July 5th until August 21st. Please come enjoy the free music and support your local veterans at the same time.
Ronald MacDonald House - Ongoing - Pat and Cliff Plummer are back and collecting can tabs for RMH. Aluminum can tabs from beverage cans, pet food cans, tuna cans, etc, all are worth money in quantity. Please consider saving your aluminum tabs over the summer and bringing them to a future meeting (Tip: before putting cans in your CLYNK bag, pop off those tabs!). The Plummers have been working on this project for quite some time and would appreciate our help this year.
Donate to our Club's Charity through Amazon Smile – Ongoing - If you order items from Amazon.com, even if not very often, you can help Westbrook Gorham Rotary Club Charities. Go to http://smile.amazon.com/. Search for our Charity and select it. You may need to login to your Amazon account before being able to finalize your selection. Then, when you shop Amazon.com (always starting from http://smile.amazon.com/) a portion of every purchase will be donated to our charity.
CLYNK for Literacy – Ongoing - Keep those cans and bottles coming! Drop off your filled CLYNK bag at any Hannaford (drop off locations can be found at: https://www.clynk.com/locations/maine/ . Thanks to those who have contributed bottles so far to help purchase books that we donate for each speaker. If you need more CLYNK bags, they are available at each meeting.
This is the first of what we hope will be a periodic series of stories about charitable activities taking place in our community - activities in which our members are involved. To share your story, contact Christine Johnson.
The Open Door Kitchen provides a free monthly community meal at First Baptist Church in Westbrook. The cost is underwritten through the church budget, a generous grant from The Narragansett Number One Foundation and donations from individuals. Each month, volunteers prepare nutritious meals for over 125 guests from the Greater Westbrook area. Their stated goal is to provide a hot, nutritious meal and make connections with others in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
According to Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club member Scott Linscott, this meal meets a couple of key needs: 1) it gives elderly on a fixed income a night out to connect and socialize while volunteers wait on them at their tables and 2) it provides a good meal for some who have few resources. Some guests might, in fact, be homeless while others are just young families stretching food budgets.
There are always volunteer opportunities for those who would like to help. People who want to help serve the meals arrive at 4:15PM. Those who would like to help cleanup, do dishes, etc, arrive by 5:45PM. There is also need for “intentional diners”, those who just want to sit, eat, chat, and listen to the stories of their fellow diners. If you would like to help, please contact Scott Linscott.
The Community Meal is held every third Saturday of each month, 4:30-6:00PM.
On Tuesday evening June 27, 2017, Rotarians from across District 7780 gathered at Camp Hinds in Raymond to celebrate the start of the new Rotary year. Due to inclement weather (rain and thunder storms!), we met in the lower level of the newly-opened dining facility for fellowship and a short program.
The group then moved upstairs to meet the assembled RYLA campers and staff, and enjoy an energetic dining experience. Attendees were encouraged to "mix it up" with Rotarians, RYLA Attendees, and RYLA Staff members sharing tables and stories. The meal concluded with singing of the "Purple Soup" song...... you had to be there.......
L-R: Woody Beach, Dr Wayne Lopez, Christine Born Johnson, Gorham Interact Pres and RYLA Facilitator Aaron Farr, and one of the guests of honor Rev Bill Chadwick. Missing the photo op was Jason Beever, a one-time Boy Scout camper and staff member at this very camp for several years back in the 70-80s.
During our changeover luncheon on Tuesday June 27, we thanked outgoing President Jason Beever for another year of service to our club. Then incoming President Bill Chadwick shared his vision for our new year. Bill shared his enthusiasm for meeting the challenges set before us by both our new District Governor Dave Underhill and RI President Ian Riseley.
This year we in Rotary will be working hard at “telling our story” to raise awareness, attract new members, and help Rotary International tell our collective story. While awareness of Rotary has increased in the past few years, there is still a lack of understanding about what Rotary does in our communities and around the world.
To this end, Bill suggested several action items:
Complete a calendar audit of all the “fund raising events” that we do annually. The intent of the audit is to fully account for every event that our club does and place it on a club annual calendar. This can include everything from our annual golf tournament to our weekly raffle.
Review all the “service projects” we are committed to, from local literacy to clean water in Guatemala to cash donations to organizations we support.
Clearly identify all grants and scholarships. This includes scholarships to WRVC, RYLA and DECA and Rotary UN Day support.
Create a summary of our house project to share with new and newer members. This should include information about how we partner with the City and WRVC to identify land, develop and execute a plan, and disburse scholarships.
The goal is to identify all that we are doing, associate activities and events with our calendar to enable successful engagement, and provide transparency to our members regarding our projects and finances. This will allow us to generate and provide empirical data through Rotary Club Central which aggregates data across all clubs and districts.
In addition, Bill set primary goals for the coming year.
Six Areas of Focus - Re-orient our energies as needed to align with Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus. This includes qualifying each new thing that we commit to as a club within this framework while still honoring commitments to historical projects.
Foundation Giving – He would like to see our Foundation giving continue to grow as it has over the past few years. This includes continuing our matching program for members who donate up to $100 per year. He would also like to see us add to our Paul Harris Fellows, increase those at the various Paul Harris Plus levels, and encourage a member or members to become a major donor to the Foundation with lifetime giving of $10K+. We are now engaged in Global Grants and our role in the District and beyond will be become more significant as members engage in more District and Global projects. Our giving must keep pace with our leadership in service.
Membership Growth – Bill would like our membership committee thrive with directives to secure new members to our club. To that end he is planning to request funding focused on securing new memberships. He would like to see 10 new members engaged in this coming year and identify ways to maintain the members that we have both by engagement in service and through participation in club development.
Interact/Rotaract/RYLA/Youth Leadership – Empower faculty advisors to develop successful programs in Gorham, Westbrook and in the new Rotaract Club at St. Joseph’s college, encourage cross organizational engagement in programming and service projects. Support growth in membership for all clubs. Continue support for RYLA, Rotary UN Day, Interact Conference and other leadership development opportunities.
Bill’s hope is to generates pride, exploration, and the desire to share the values of Rotary with others. In short, he hopes that better understanding how significant our club and project already are will inspire us to greater levels of success and service.
We have been receiving many requests to provide programs recently so have not assigned members to specific weeks as we have done in the past. If you have an idea for a program, please contact Christine Johnson. We are currently seeking programs for August and beyond.
Here is the list of upcoming dates with speakers and their sponsors:
7/11 - No Lunch Meeting - See you at the Lobster Boil
7/18 - Matt Collins - Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR)
7/25 - Aaron Farr - President GHS Interact Club - Ethan Johnson
8/1 - Club Assembly
8/8 - TBD
8/15 - Shannon Cilento - Summer Intern Downtown Wsbk Coalition - Phil Spiller
8/22 - TBD
8/29 - Chief Bob MacKenzie - Kennebunk ME - District Recovery Initiative
9/5 - TBD
9/12 - District Governor Dave Underhill - Bill Chadwick
Portland - Fridays 12:15PM at Holiday Inn by the Bay or Clarion
check website for current week's venue
Portland Sunrise - Thursdays 7:15AM
Cumberland Club 116 High St Portland
Falmouth - Mondays 4:30PM
American Legion Post 65 Depot Rd Falmouth
Scarborough - Tuesdays 5:45PM
Cabela's 100 Cabela's Blvd Scarborough
Sebago Lake Rotary Club - Thursdays 12:15PM
Dena's Lobster House & Tavern 765 Roosevelt Trail Windham
OR you can always claim a make up by attending Rotary-sponsored events of our club or other clubs like fundraisers, selling Christmas Trees, by volunteering at our Golf Tournament or our Road Race, or by attending District events or training. Just let our Secretary Mike Foley know when you have participated in any of these activities at mfoley@me.com
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