School Supplies for Oratorio School - FBC Westbrook and Scott Linscott are collecting school supplies which their team will carry to Guatemala in mid April. Items needed include: teacher supplies, tissue packs, hand sanitizer, colored pencils, markers, stickers, scissors, glue, glue sticks, staplers, and staples, No reams of paper as they are too heavy to transport. Supplies can be brought to any meeting on or before April 3.
Gorham Marketplace - Saturday March 31, 10AM - 3PM. University of Southern Maine, 37 College Ave, Gorham. This is a free event that is family friendly. Come check out the dozens of local businesses showcasing their products and services. Live performances and demonstrations throughout the day; as well as the Easter Bunny, Slugger, and Southern Maine's famous Phil Smith - Magician on the Move! The Gorham Food Pantry will be collecting food donations at this event. Check out their website for more information on how to help. http://gorhamfoodpantry.org/
CLYNK for Literacy - Ongoing - Don't forget to keep filling those bags to help fund the children's books we ask our speakers to sign for the Baxter and Walker Libraries. Extra bags are always available at our meetings. If you have been working on filling a bag for a very long time (6 months or more), please consider returning it and starting a new one. Next pay-out date is April 1 so please return full bags before March 31! Thank you for your ongoing support of this fundraiser!
The Locker Project - Note Dates through end of School Year. Fresh food and baked goods distribution at Westbrook High School in the cafeteria. Two or three volunteer needed for each of these upcoming dates. Approx 12:45-2PM each time. Sign in at front office and go to cafeteria. Wednesdays April 4. 25, May 2, 16, 30 and June 13. First event at Westbrook Community Center will be June 27. Help lay out food on tables and interact with the kids to encourage them to take items. 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. This a great way to de-stigmatize free food distributions, particularly in the case of fresh food that would otherwise be wasted. If you can help on any of these dates, please contact Christine Johnson. For more information, or to donate, visit their website: mainelockerproject.org
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.
Can Tabs for Ronald MacDonald House – Ongoing - Let’s keep collecting those can tabs over the winter months so we'll have a big donation in the spring.
There are lots of upcoming opportunities for networking, sharing, and learning with Rotarians from across our District. Sign up NOW for any of these upcoming District Events:
District Training Assembly - Saturday April 7 at York County Community College in Wells. Cost $20. Club will pay fee but you must register yourself for this event. Register at: 2018 District 7780 Training Assembly If you are having trouble registering, please contact Christine Johnson for assistance.
Party with a Purpose 2018 - Fundraiser of Portland Sunrise Rotary - Wednesday May 16, 5:30PM at Dimillo’s - $30 - Raising funds for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. Live and silent auction. Tickets are available at the door as well as on line at https://fundraising.mmc.org/mccp/rotarysocial
5th Annual Touch a Truck – Fundraiser and Family Fun Event of Scarborough Rotary – Saturday June 2, 10AM-2PM, Scarborough Downs - 90 Payne Road - Scarborough, ME $5 person/$20 family. Get up close and personal with Fire Trucks, Police Vehicles, Bucket Trucks, Tractors, Heavy Equipment, Delivery Trucks, School Bus, Book Mobile and so much more. Concessions available and other vendors - Pony Rides, Music, Face Painting and more.
9th Annual Golf Tournament – Fundraiser of Bridgton Lakes Region Rotary – Saturday June 9, 8AM - Bridgton Highlands Golf and Tennis Club. For more info email George Klauber: georgeklauber@gmail.com
If you have not done so already, please provide your Rotary-related volunteer hours since July 1, 2017 to Sarah Hutchins. Reponses are required no later than April 3,2018. Her email is shutchins@egcu.org
Mike Foley has calculated total hours for the Christmas Tree sale, so we are all set with that project. Please provide any hours you have worked in support of our other projects like the House, Golf Tournament, Reading Friends, Locker Project, Guatemala projects, Food Drive, Literacy Project, or any other volunteer effort you have done where you represented Rotary. Sarah will need your name, the project name/description and the total number of hours.
This information is being gathered as we work to qualify for the District Governor’s Award. The volunteer hours and funds expended/donated will be entered into a Rotary International database which is designed to capture and better quantify the efforts of Rotarians all over the world.
On Thursday evening March 22, Rotarians representing several clubs in the Portland area met to discuss membership best practices. The conversation covered both member attraction and member retention.
Some interesting ideas on recruitment:
Create Prospects List – Develop a list of friends, family members, past Rotarians, business colleagues, local business people, people members do business with, classifications not represented in your club. Assign current members to start “working” the list to develop relationships that may lead to membership.
Welcome Ambassador – These are people separate from the “greeter”. When a guest arrives, the greeter calls on an ambassador to welcome the person, introduce them to members, and stay with them during the meeting.
Membership types – Family membership with a reduced fee for the spouse. Corporate membership where a business leader is the actual member, but anyone from the business can attend a meeting and volunteer on projects. Honorary membership to recognize a community leader.
Share the Rotarian – Instead of tossing your copy of the Rotarian, put a club sticker over your address label and place it in the waiting room of offices you visit.
Newspapers – Post meeting times in the paper each week, including interesting speakers that may attract interest. Submit articles with pictures about local fundraisers and events, this can also include highlighting what Rotary does around the world.
Some interesting ideas on retention:
New member mentor – Assign each new member a “mentor” or “buddy” who is responsible for helping the new member become and remain engaged. Keep in touch, especially if the new member has not attended a meeting or event in a while.
Engage people early and often – Get new members involved in a project or committee right away. Find out what they are passionate about and help them find an outlet for that passion in your club.
Rotate seating – Encourage all members to sit with different folks each meeting.
Recognition – Thank members for their efforts. Use those Foundation points to award a Paul Harris Fellow or move a member closer to the next level. Recognize milestones like birthdays and anniversaries.
Reduce/vary meetings – Periodically hold a meeting at a different time or at a different venue. Chose to hold fewer meetings per month or designate a service project in place of a meeting monthly or quarterly.
Joint meeting or project – Hold a meeting or complete a project with a neighboring sister club.
Member Satisfaction Survey – Periodically conduct a member survey to identify areas of strength and weakness.
Maine has 20 official Maine Network Communities. One of the newest is Gorham which achieved that designation last November at a Maine Downtown Center celebration in Westbrook. Dan Nichols of the Gorham Village Alliance organizing committee was our guest and speaker on March 20, along with Tom Ellsworth, the Gorham Economic Development Corporation Director (GEDCD). We also welcomed Gorham Town Councilors Ben Hartwell and Sherrie Benner.
The GEDC has been around since 1991 and is funded by the Town of Gorham. Tom is their first director. Economic development is fundamentally: 1) job creation and 2) tax base retention and expansion. Tom pointed to two recent examples: Sebago Brewing, which had outgrown its space, was retained through hard work to help them find their new location on RT 25, and then they attracted Lone Pine Brewing to take over the former Sebago Brewing space in the industrial park.
Dan Nichols (L) and Tom Ellsworth (R)
GEDC has developments their own loan program. This program has been used to improve store signage along Main St. Also, anyone who has visited Gorham recently has seen the flurry of construction. This includes a building that will house apartments and a bowling alley that is being constructed by Great Falls Construction on the road behind Hannaford. The two existing industrial parks are now full and a new one is being targeted for land off RT 202.
About 18 months ago, Gorham started discussions with the Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center program. The Gorham Village Alliance (GVA) was formed and has 20 core volunteer members. As a Maine Network Community, funding is derived about 1/3 from community funds, 1/3 from fundraising, and 1/3 from local business.
Dan Nichols
The GVA structure includes an Organization Committee to build partnerships and common goals; a Promotion Committee to build a positive image, promote community pride, and improve consumer and investor confidence; an Economic Vitality Committee to strengthen downtown’s existing assets while building and diversifying the economic base; and a Design Committee to get the main streets into top physical shape, creating a walkable inviting atmosphere. It should be noted that our own Ethan Johnson is on the Economic Vitality Committee.
The GVA is participating in the Gorham Marketplace event being held March 31 at USM (See Opportunities above). They also plan on holding their first “Sparkle Project” in late April to clean up the Village District from the wear and tear of the winter season. Westbrook-Gorham Rotary members are invited to participate!
For those interested, the GVA meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month 6-7:30PM at Gorham Savings Bank.
Rotary is about fellowship, as well as service to our community. Even if you must miss a meeting, you can remain engaged by attending Rotary-sponsored events of our club or other clubs like fundraisers, by 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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