Rotary Night Out - Our next Rotary Night out will be May 21 starting at 5:30 PM. Mister Bagel 609 Main St, Westbrook. Members $10. Cash bar.
WRVC Awards Ceremony - Thursday May 23, 2019. 7PM Westbrook HIgh School Auditorium
Rotary Fest - Saturday June 22, 2019 9AM-5PM. Fort Williams Park, South Portland. Free!! Rain location The Point, 345 Clark's Pond Pkwy, South Portland. Please register to to make sure we have enough food and craft materials: https://rotary7780.org/event/district-conference-1/
Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club Changeover - Tuesday June 25, 2019. Join us at our regular lunch meeting when we thank Deb Shangraw for her service this year and welcome Mike Foley.
Locker Project Fresh Food Distribution – In this school year, produce distributions at Westbrook High School will take place the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month with additional days as needed: May 8 & 22 and June 12. Any date changes will be announced in the Scribbler. Arrive around 12:45 PM depart by 2:15 PM, unless otherwise noted. Help lay out food on tables and interact with the kids to encourage them to take items. Everyone is invited to bring food home with them. If you can help on any of these dates, please contact Christine Johnson. For more information, or to donate, visit their website: mainelockerproject.org
This week! Crutches4Africa Container load - Saturday May 11, 2019 9AM-1PM 30 Gooch St, Biddeford ME.. Come help at this ongoing District project where we'll be loading our 9th container in preparation for shipment. We are expecting David Talbot, founder of C4A, to join us that day.
Friends of the Walker Memorial Library Annual Book Sale - Saturday, June 1, 2019. If you have books to donate, please drop them off at the library front desk befoe June 1.. Books should be in good condition. Or come on down on June 1 to browse and purchase.e
Purses with Purpose – Thursday June 6, 2019 ,11:30AM-2PM - $50 at Woodlands Club Falmouth, 39 Woods Rd Falmouth. Fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Portland. To donate auction items or to purchase tickets: https://rmhcmaine.org/events/pwp/pwpportland/
Maine Cancer Foundation Twilight 5K – Thursday June 6, 2019 – Sponsor Mike Foley as he runs for this fundraiser. To support on line: Maine Cancer Foundation Twilight 5K- Support Mike Foley Maine Cancer Foundation was started in 1976 by a group of concerned citizens eager to do more for Maine in the fight against cancer. We lead a state-wide effort to foster and grow the most promising and effective cancer-fighting efforts available to the people of Maine through a combination of grant-based financial support and coalition building.
RYLA Registration Volunteers – Sunday June 23 starting at 8:30AM. Camp Hinds, Raymond. Volunteers needed to help with registration and collecting forms as students arrive. For more information contact: Phil Giordano at Philtastic7780@gmail.com
Update The Locker Project Summer Food Distribution - Every Wednesday during the summer from June 19 through August 21, 4:00-5:30PM. Starting on June 19 at FBC 733 Main St Westbrook, alternating weeks with the Community Center 426 Bridge St. If you can help on any of these dates, please contact Christine Johnson.
Westbrook Strong 5K and Matt's Mile Kid's Fun Run - Saturday July 13, 2019. Riverbank Park. Run, sponsor or donate. This race is in memory of Matthew Rairdon who's life was tragically taken in November 2013. Proceeds benefit nursing scholarships. For more information: https://runsignup.com/Race/ME/Westbrook/2ndAnnualWestbrookStrong5KandMattsMileKidsFunRun
Congratulations to Gorham High School Interact Club who raised over $6000 for the American Cancer Society through their Relay for Life. With an original goal of $4000, they blew past this number and nearly doubled what they raised in 2018!
Students play Kan Jam
& Mrs Nelson gets in the act with Spike Ball
About 80 students participated over the course of the day from 7AM to 7PM on Sunday May 5. Parents, teachers and their children also came out in support of the fundraiser. For 12 hours, at least some members of the group were constantly active – walking the track, or playing spike ball, tennis, Kan Jam, and frisbee. They were kept well fed by donations from Mister Bagel, Aroma Joes, Subway and Gorham House of Pizza.
This event at Gorham is part of the larger Portland event being held on June 1. With seniors graduating in mid-May, holding a separate event in Gorham allowed the seniors to participate and made it easy for the community to come out to support them. There is still time to support them at this link: GHS Interact Relay for Life Fundraiser
Many folks from across the community came out on Saturday May 4 to help clean up around Westbrook. This included local politicians, kids and a few Rotarians who met at one of three locations to sign-in and pick up bags.
Joseph Foley, Garry Rairdon, Lynn Leavitt, Mike Foley
Thanks to Scott Linscott, Michael & Joseph Foley, Phil Spiller and Christine Johnson for their efforts. Also, thanks to Deb Shangraw for bringing a large box of delicious pastries for the volunteers at the park.
Just prior to our last meeting, we heard from Kathi Perkins in Romania. She is traveling as part of a District 7780 delegation on a Vocational & Cultural Exchange trip.
Kathi says that it has been a great trip so far. The Rotarians from Bucharest clubs are very warm and hospitable. One of the clubs is conducted in English, primarily for expats living in Romania for the short term. They observed several projects including an after-school program for musically talented children, a pediatric hospital where Rotary has been supporting the creation of a cardiac surgery unit, a day & boarding school for profoundly deaf children from pre-school to high school and including a vocational program, and a day & live-in hospice program for both kids and adults. At the boarding school, classrooms were cheery and well-equipped, thanks to Rotary and the staff the team met who were enthusiastic about their work.
Exchange of banners in Bucharest & music students
On May 1 (Labor Day in Romania) they left Bucharest headed for Sibiu. They did some site seeing along the way that was arranged by a local Rotarian. They also stopped briefly in Bran, the location of the castle that has become known as Dracula’s Castle. The next morning, they started the day with a visit to a hospital where they met one of the doctors who repairs spina bifida in children. Kathi says that his work is fascinating and the hospital has many similarities to American hospitals. They also toured the city of Sibiu where they were preparing for a summit of EU presidents the next week.
Since then, the team has continued traveling around Romania. They have stayed with host families, attended Rotary meetings and discussed community needs with local dignitaries. The team returns on May 13. We’ll look forward to the team presentation about the trip at RotaryFest on June 22. Plus we’ve also arranged for Kathi to present to our club on July 9.
Rotary Fest (AKA District Conference) - Friday-Saturday June 21-22, 2019 - Fort Williams, Park Cape Elizabeth. Free!! Friday service project and cook out for volunteers. Saturday packed with fun and educational events for adults and kids, and another service project opportunity. Rain location The Point, 345 Clark's Pond Pkwy, South Portland. Register at https://rotary7780.org/event/district-conference-1/
District Changeover - Tuesday June 25, 2019, 5PM at Camp Hinds, Raymond. More details to come.
For listing of all District-wide events, visit: https://rotary7780.org/events/calendar
Children's Books for Pantries - We continue to supply new and gently used children's books to food pantries about every two weeks. We have been fortunate to obtain a regular supply of used books from Goodwill Buy the Pound. We also periodically obtain new books from a couple of sources at little cost. However, the need is always greater than the supply. If you, a family member, friend or colleague have children or grandchildren who have outgrown their books, we'd love to have them to share with children who will love them. All ages from babies to young teens. We can also always use large print books for older readers. Bring to any club meeting or contact Christine Johnson for pick up.
Can Tabs for Ronald McDonald House - Thank you for continuing to collect can tabs.It's and easy way to help a wonderful organization! Just keep a small plastic bag or small jar in your kitchen, on the counter or in a drawer. As you go to toss your returnable can into your CLYNK bag, simply twist off the tab first.
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. Thank you for your ongoing support of this fundraiser!
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.
If you have an idea for a speaker or program, please contact Christine Johnson at cejinmaine@gmail.com or Phil Spiller at pdsflynavy@gmail.com . We are also interested in ideas for periodic evening meetings, service projects in lieu of meetings, or in-meeting service projects
We currently have program openings on May 28, July 23 & July 30 at lunch, as well as May 21 and June 25 in the evening. Dates are also available in August.
Here is the list of upcoming speakers and programs:
* 5/7 - Meet the Culinary Arts Students
* 5/14 - Alicia Milne - Dev Director Ronald McDonald House
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