Relay for Life - The Gorham High School Interact Club is seeking donations for the team they have entered in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life to be held a University of New England Biddeford on Saturday April 8 . Use this link to go directly to the Gorham Interact page:
From there you can donate to the team or choose to donate to an individual on the team by using PayPal or a credit card.
Donate Life - April is National Donate Life Month - Celebrated in April each year, NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation. Visit www.donatelife.net for more information (see related story below).
Donate to our Club's Charity through Amazon Smile – 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. 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.
Reminder: There will be no lunch meeting on April 4 prior to our dinner event.
There is still room for a few more diners. If you would like to join us, please contact Christine Johnson at cejinmaine@gmail.com or 207-653-0869 right away.
Beginning at 5:45PM, the Westbrook High School Jazz Combo will entertain us. Dinner will begin promptly at 6PM, while the band continues to play. For more info about the meal go to: http://westbrookgorhamrotary.org/event/welcome-spring-dinner/
There will be a short program starting at 6:50PM. PDG Sheila Rollins will make a presentation to our club for 2015-2016 accomplishments, followed by the induction of our two newest members Scott Linscott and Becky Albert who will say few words about themselves. Their Classification talks will happen at a future date.
Finally, Bill Chadwick will provide us a report on his recent trip to Guatemala, our District Grant, and other works accomplished on that trip. We plan to wrap up promptly at 7:30PM.
I’m a dog. My human named me after the two transplant surgeons that saved his life in May of 2012: James Pomposeli and Liz Pomfret. They replaced his diseased liver with half of his son’s liver! My job was to help him recover from his surgery. Sometimes I cuddled up and rested with him and other times I made him walk and play with me.
You know my human as Scott Linscott. Today he is an active photographer, cyclist and always on the go. He is a big advocate of organ and tissue donation and speaks of it whenever he can. It saved his life!
April is Donate Life month. It’s the perfect time to go online at www.donatelife.net to register as an organ and tissue donor. Twenty people die in the United States each day waiting for the gift of life.
It was great to have Kiwanis President and School Board Member Veronica Leigh Bates at our meeting on March 28. She introduced our speaker Katie Brown Executive Director of The Locker Project (TLP). The mission of TLP is to connect food-insecure children in Maine with nourishing food to improve their learning capacity, health, and future.
Starting as a grass roots pantry to help out at snack time at East End school in Portland, TLP now works with volunteers in 23 schools in the greater Portland area, including WHS. The pantry at WHS was started in October 2016 and it the first TLP pantry in Westbrook. Expansion to the middle school is being planned.
Most students are under 18, so cannot register at a food bank. In addition, especially at the high school level, kids are too stigmatized to ask for food. To help get past this social discomfort, food has been distributed to various staff members around the school rather than being located in one central “pantry”. This allows staff members to casually offer a “snack” to students when they see a need.
The Locker Project has a relationship with the Good Shepherd Food Bank that allows them to acquire excess fresh food from local grocery stores as well as goods directly from GSFB. This partnership is available since TLP is registered as a non-profit organization and serves many schools where over 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunches.
Fresh produce provided by Hannaford and Shaws is displayed on tables in the cafeteria while school is in session. An announcement is made before the end of school encouraging students to stop by and take home this donated produce. At first the kids were reluctant – afraid to take too much. Now they understand that they should take what they need.
TLP can always use more volunteers! If you would like to help in Westbrook, you can contact Veronica Bates. TLP is not yet in Gorham, but if you are interested in starting a program at one of the schools there, contact Katie through their website: mainelockerproject.org.
L-R: Veronica Bates, Katie Brown, Rev. Bill Chadwick
Fire professionals and cadets from Archangel Russia, along with local Archangel Committee member Susan McCarthy, a fire-protection specialist, and South Portland Fire Dept Lt Chris Copp joined us for lunch on March 28.
This is the fifth trip of a bi-lateral exchange between the fire and rescue services of Greater Portland / Maine Warden and Forest Services in Augusta - and the similar departments in our Greater Portland sister-city of Archangel. This particular visit is called Project Brotherhood 2017, and included a 2-hour briefing on the program that kicked off the 2017 Maine Fire Chiefs Association annual meeting at Sunday River.
The first four visits - all in 2016 - were funded by a $100K US State Dept grant through the US Embassy in Moscow - one of 16 grants awarded to special programs in 2016 to foster US-Russia relations. This series of four visits was widely recognized as being the most visible, active, and having potential for follow-on success of all the grants awarded last year.
The four 2016 Moscow Embassy grant visits have focused on the many similarities and differences of the two cultures and departments in their approach to personnel training and health, equipment acquisition and repair, code compliance, and structural and procedural efficiencies. This current exchange of six Archangel delegates is fully funded via private donations, as the original grant money had been spent.
At the March 28 Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Meeting
L-R: Phil Spiller, GP-Archangel Committee
Sergei Kvashnin, Archangel Fire Dept. Team Leader
Susan McCarthy, GP-Archangel Committee
Pavel Kaliaev, Archangel Fire Cadet
Ekatrina Maksimova, Archangel Rescue Service Psychologist
Maxim Grigoryev, Archangel Fire Cadet
Svetlana Kuznetsova - Fire Prevention Specialist
Lt Chris Copp - South Portland Fire Dept
Vadim Kuznetsova - 4th grade Archangel student (son of Svetlana)
Before the group departed for Sunday River on Wednesday, they were guests on the Ray Richardson WLOB morning show. Anytime Archangel visitors are on the show, they are always one of Ray's most popular guest spots.
March 29 at WLOB Studios
A group photo at the end of the "Project Brotherhood" briefing - describing the four visits under the grant thus far. The 2-hour briefing kicked off the 2017 Fire Chiefs Association annual meeting at Sunday River this past Wednesday March 29th. Pictured are the Archangel guests, members of the Westbrook / Portland / South Portland / Scarborough / Jetport / Maine Fire Marshal / ME Warden Service / Maine Fire Service and members of the Greater Portland - Archangel committee.
District Training Assembly - April 8, 2017 at USM Hannaford Hall. All Club Officers are encouraged to attend, and there will be special sessions for Presdidents-Elect, Secretaries, Foundation Chairs, Grants administration and more. $25 Sign up at District 7780 website today: http://rotary7780.org/event/copy-of-district-training-assembly--usm/
2017 District Conference - May 19-21, 2017- Samoset Resort, Rockport ME. For more information and to sign up: http://rotary7780.org/event/copy-of-district-training-assembly--usm/
2017 International Convention - June 10-17, 2017 - Atlanta GA - Georgia World Congress Center - http://www.rotaryconvention2017.org
District Changeover Ceremony - Camp Hinds in Raymond - 5-10PM - The changeover ceremony will be followed by supper and the RYLA graduation ceremony
We have been receiving many requests to provide programs this year 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 two dates in May and are also looking out into July.
Here is the list of upcoming dates with speakers and their sponsors:
4/4 - No lunch meeting - Welcome Spring Dinner - New Member Induction & Cuatros Cayos Guatemala Project Update
4/11 - Karen Collins & Rev Mutima Peter - Intercultural Community Center
4/18 - See you at the Road Race on 4/17 - No Meeting
4/25 - Club Assembly
5/2 - Kate Wight - Jacquie Lortie - Gorham Village School
5/9 - Jason Beever - Meris Bickford Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals
5/16 - WHS Interact - Dr Bruce Dyer & Students
5/23 - TBD
5/30 - TBD
6/6 - David S. Nealley- Publisher MAINE SENIORS Magazine
6/13 - Andrew Turcotte - Russian Sister City Updates
6/20 - Betty Balderston - Elder Abuse Prevention
6/27 - Changeover Ceremony - Welcome Dr Bill Chadwick as our new President
7/4 - No Meeting - Happy Independence Day
7/11 - No Lunch Meeting - See you at the Lobster Boil
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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