This week!! 40th Annual Westbrook Together Days – Friday-Saturday May 31-June 1, 2019 at Riverbank Park. Presented by the Westbrook/Gorham Chamber of Commerce. Events throughout the two days starting with a concert at 6PM Friday, performances starting at 12PM Saturday, and continuing through fireworks at 9:45PM Saturday. 7AM Pancake Breakfast to Benefit Boy Scouts, Parade Saturday 10AM from Longfellow St to Riverbank Park. Raffles and auction to benefit scholarships.
This week!! Westbrook Together Days 5K - Saturday June 1 8-9AM – start at Westbrook High School with a great course through neighborhood streets – run, walk, push a stroller. $15 benefit WTD. Register at: https://runsignup.com/Race/ME/Westbrook/WestrookTogetherDays5K
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.
FBC Yard Sale – Benefit Guatemala 2020, Saturday August 3, 2019. Donations accepted. Contact Scott Linscott linscottphoto@gmail.com
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: 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
New This Week!!Steak & Lobster Dinner - Benefit Discover Downtown Westbrook - at Brea Lu Cafe, 9 Cumberland St, 4:30-8:30PM. Two dinner seatings 5:30 and 7PM. Tickets $35 single, $60 couple. Purchase at: Steak & Lobster Dinner Benefit DDW or contact Abigail Cioffee, abigail@downtownwestbrook.com
This Week!! Friends of the Walker Memorial Library Annual Book Sale - Saturday, June 1, 2019. Come on down to browse and purchase.
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
The Locker Project Summer Food Distribution - Every Wednesday during the summer from June 19 through August 21. Starting on June 19 at FBC 733 Main St Westbrook 4:00-5:30PM. FBC will alternate weeks with other locations: June 26 at St Anthony's Parish Hall, Brown St, 6-7PM; July 10 & 8/21 at Avesta 2 Walker St, time TBD; July 24 River St River Event, 5:30-6:30PM; August 7, Community Policing Center, 192 Brown St, time TBD. 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
Lynn Leavitt, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Westbrook, was our guest at speaker during our Rotary Night out on May 21, 2019. With a curbside recycling rate of 25%, Westbrook creates about 50,000 lbs of recycling and 150,000 lbs of trash each week. Annually, that means 2.6M lbs of recycling and 7.8M lbs of trash. With a current tipping fee of $70.50 per ton for trash and no fee for recyclables, we have a huge incentive to recycle properly and reduce waste.
Westbrook tries to make recycling as easy as possible with single stream (no sorting), and weekly curbside pick-up. Bins are provided by the City and repaired or replaced due to normal wear and tear. Most trash in Maine is incinerated at an Ecomaine facility that turns trash to energy, reducing the space needed by burying the resulting ash. Still, we’d like to recover and recycle as much material as possible.
Many materials are recyclable such as paper, cardboard, plastic glass and metal. However, a growing problem is contamination in the recycling stream. When people mix trash in with their recycling, the whole load can end up as trash, costing extra. For example, if you place recyclables in a plastic bag to “keep it neat”, the whole bag will be diverted to trash. Other common contaminants that compromise a recycling load include paper towels, napkins, milk/juice cartons, candy/chip wrappers, clothing/shoes, plastic straws/utensils, receipts, plastic bags, filmy plastic and Styrofoam.
Good paper is larger than 2”x2” and not coated, laminated or heavily soiled. Envelopes with their windows are okay, cardboard coated with cheese from your pizza is not okay. Many paper plates are coated with a plastic (laminated) so cannot be recycled. This is true of milk cartons, juice cartons and most pet food bags which use paper/plastic laminates that cannot be separated for recycling.
Plastics should be rigid and contain a recycle symbol with numbers 1-7. Filmy plastics like grocery bags, sandwich bags, shrink wrap, etc, cannot be recycled. When in doubt, put the item in trash. Plastic shopping bags can usually be recycled at any store that provides them for purchases. They just cannot be put into single stream recycling as they will disrupt the operation of the separating process.
Another common contaminant is clothing. If the clothing is still in good shape, donate it to your thrift store of choice. If in poor shape, Goodwill will take this type of item as they can be ripped for use as rags. Otherwise, clothing and footwear belongs in the trash. Finally, we learned that we should rinse containers, but they not need to be pristine.
At the conclusion of her talk, we asked Lynn to sign a book for the Walker Library.
For a complete list of Do’s and Don’ts, visit: http://www.westbrookmaine.com/207/Single-Sort-Recycling . While this list is provided by the City of Westbrook, it is applicable to most communities in the Greater Portland area with single stream recycling.
The annual awards ceremony for graduating students of WRVC was held in the Westbrook High School auditorium on Thursday May 23, 2019. The program recognized CTE student of the year Derek Corbett (Heavy Equipment Operation) and winners from recent conferences and state competitions for Skills USA, DECA, and Future Business Leaders of American; in addition to National Technical Honor Society inductees.
Outstanding students from each program were recognized by their instructors and presented with a gift appropriate to that program. An outstanding student from each sending school was also recognized by the principal or assistant principal from that school: Bonny Eagle, Gorham, Scarborough, Westbrook and Windham.
Instructors announcing Outstanding Students
Dozens of scholarships and toolships were awarded during the ceremonies totaling over $43,000. These included about $10,000 from the Westbrook-Gorham Chamber of Commerce, who’s funds are largely raised during Westbrook Together Days (coming up this weekend!). The total also included $2250 in 8 toolships and $10,500 in 21 scholarships from Westbrook-Gorham Rotary.
Thanks again to the selection committee of Pat Plummber, Cliff Plummer and Judith Reidman. Special thanks to Pat Plummer who presented to all of the students. Best of luck in future endeavors to all the graduates.
The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. Rotary members contribute their skills, expertise, and resources to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems. From providing clean water to promoting peace worldwide, Rotary Foundation grants bring service project ideas to life.
As we approach the end of this Rotary year, don’t forget the great matching opportunity provided by our club. For every dollar you donate to the Foundation, up to $100, the club will match that donation in your name. If you sign up for Rotary Direct for the first time, we’ll add $25 more. This is a great way to become a Sustaining member of the Foundation ($100/year). Its also a good way to more quickly gain a Paul Harris Fellow ($1000 cumulative giving) or the next PHF Level.
The deadline for donations to receive the match for the 2018-2019 year is June 11, 2019 (our second meeting in June). This will give our Foundation Chair Steve Rand a chance to pull reports, complete the matching funds paperwork, and submit it all to Rotary International by June 30.
To donate on line go to: https://my.rotary.org/en/donate or bring a check to an upcoming meeting made out to Rotary Foundation.
Chartering Event & Service Project - Saturday June 15, 2019 at Camp Hinds 146 Plains Rd, Raymond, ME - John Messer/Rotary Training Center. Charter Event for District 7780's newest club New Voices 9-10:30AM, Service Project 10:30AM to 3:30PM. Service project is to help get Camp Hinds ready for RYLA 2019. Come for one or both events. RSVP NewVoices7780@gmail.com
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/
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,look for a sign-up sheet and an upcoming meeting or 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 July 23 & 30 and August 6 at lunch. Dates are also available in September.
Here is the list of upcoming speakers and programs:
* 5/28 - Stu Simon- Port Resources
* 6/4 - Club Assembly
* 6/11 - Chris LaRoche - Westbrook Housing
* 6/18 - No Meeting - See you at RotaryFest
* 6/25 - Changeover
* 7/2 - No Meeting- Happy Independence Day
* 7/9 - Kathi Perkins - Romania Exchange Trip
* 7/16 - Lobster Bake
* 7/23 - TBD
* 7/30 - TBD
* 8/6 - TBD
* 8/13 - Jennifer Crosby - Northern NE Passenger Rail Authority
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Another common contaminant is clothing. If the clothing is still in good shape, donate it to your thrift store of choice. If in poor shape, Goodwill will take this type of item as they can be ripped for use as rags. Otherwise, clothing and footwear belongs in the trash. Finally, we learned that we should rinse containers, but they not need to be pristine.
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