District Governor Official Club Visit - Tuesday August 20, 2019, 11:30AM. We encourage all members to come hear from our 2019-2020 District Governor Andrew Glazier of the Kittery Rotary Club.
25th Annual Golf Classic - Tuesday September 17, 2019. Noon. Gorham Country Club. 93 McLellan Rd, Gorham.
Rotary Rocks! - Saturday October 5, 2019, 9AM-4PM. Abromson Community Center at USM, 88 Bedford St, Portland. A one day Rotary experience featuring projects of the Rotary clubs of our District. Open to the public, all current and future Rotarians. This event will serve as the 2019-2020 District Conference. For updates go to: www.rotaryrocks.info
This week! 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: July 10 & Aug 21 at Avesta 2 Walker St, 4:00-5:30PM; July 24 River St River Event, 5:00-6:30PM; August 7, Community Policing Center, 192 Brown St, time 4:00-5:30PM. If you can help on any of these dates, please contact Christine Johnson.
3rd Annual Rotary-Kiwanis Food Drive – Saturday August 17, 2019, 10AM-2PM. Hannford Dr at Saco Biddeford Savings. Food drive to restock High School and Middle School pantries for the new school year. To volunteer to help that day, contact Sarah Hutchins <shutchins@egcu.org>
Westbrook-Gorham Night at the Seadogs - Monday August 19, 2019, 5:30-10PM. Game time 7PM. The Portland Sea Dogs, AA Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, will host Westbrook/Gorham Community Night at the ballpark as they take on the Reading Fightin' Phils, AA Affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket purchased through this link will be donated to Rotary to benefit "Just Love" and "The Westbrook Recovery Liaison Program: Westbrook-Gorham Night at the Seadogs - W-G Rotary Fundraising Link
Feast at the Falls: Fundraiser for Discover Downtown Westbrook - Thursday August 22, 2019 - $75. Celebrate local food and drink on Westbrook's amazing riverfront. You'll be treated to a 5-course farm-to-table meal by the chefs at Frog & Turtle, 33 Elmwood, Casa Novello, Lenny's, and Black Dinah Chocolatiers, perfectly paired with local beers. Only 72 seats available and all proceeds support Discover Downtown Westbrook's mission to make the downtown a walkable, livable, thriving destination. Sign up at: Feast-at-the-falls-tickets on Eventbrite
It’s that time of year again. Time to start work on our 25th Annual Golf Classic to be held on Tuesday September 17, 2019 at Gorham Country Club.
The Golf Committee will meet immediately following our regular meeting on Tuesday July 23. Get ready to start soliciting your usual contacts for major sponsorships, teams, hole sponsorships, and raffle prizes. Look for an updated brochure in the near future. Also, look for a possible new website option for team and sponsor sign-ups and payments. More details to follow.
Our annual Lobster Bake was a rousing success with over 60 Rotarians, family and guests in attendance at the home of Henry Saunders and Karen Reilly on Sebago Lake on July 16, 2019 (pictured left with Wayne Lopez). We were joined by Immediate PDG John Lobosco and his wife Sue as well as DG Andy Glazier and his partner Pam Gray.
Again this year, Walt Stinson and Dan Willett steamed and sold hot dogs to raise money for Polio Plus. This extra $20 raised will kick-start a new year of fundraising to eradicate polio.
Andy, John, Pam & Sue (L). Walt & Dan
After some time for fellowship and socializing under the towering pine trees, we enjoyed a buffet of sides brought by attendees along with our lobster or steak. Dinner was followed by dessert and a few rounds of songs from the Rotary songbook.
A huge thanks to the many people who help make this happen every year: To Henry and Karen for hosting. To Nelson Harmon (pictured above right) for organizing the sign-ups and lobsters. To Wood Beach for playing the bagpipes at the flagpole. To Dan Willett and Walt & Elaine Stinson for cooking the corn, potatoes, lobsters and hot dogs. To Mike Foley for grilling the steaks. To Henry, Cliff Plummer, Dan Willett and all of the others who made the location ready for a great event. To Scott Linscott for great photos of the event.
From April 27 to May 13, 2019, our own Kathi Perkins took part in an District outreach trip to Romania along with three other Rotarians from District 7780. They flew through Turkey to reach Bucharest where they started their Romanian adventure. This adventure ultimately took them across the breadth of the country through Sibiu to Oradea.
In Bucharest, the District 7780 team was greeted by Rotarians who treated them like royalty. During their two days in that city, they met Rotarians from 5 clubs and visited projects that included an after-school enrichment program, an academic and vocational school for the deaf, and Casa Sperantei hospice. Romania is now part of the European Union. Medical professionals can easily travel for better pay, so Romania struggles with not enough doctors and other medical professionals. The largest NGO in Romania is this hospice for both adults and children.
They traveled north and west to Sibiu on May 1 on their way to Oradea. They visited two castles in the Carpathian Mountains, including Bran Castle (also know as Dracula’s Castle). While in Sibiu they stayed with Rotarians and toured a local hospital with a special program to treat children with spina bifida – a project of a local Rotary Club. The rest of their trip from May 2-12 was spent with multiple clubs in Oradea.
During their time in Oradea, they stayed with local Rotarians and learned a lot about the region and how Rotary is helping. The Oradea club funds economic development grants to local start-up businesses, although existing businesses looking to expand can also apply for the grants. Romanians pay income tax, but this money goes back to the towns in which they work not where the employees live. As a result, towns work hard to develop local businesses and expand business opportunities.
The District 7780 team saw lots of hands-on projects like a back-pack food program for school children, a program for autistic children, children’s theater, and a summer art camp. A signature program that they were shown is a foster care/orphanage program in which the kids live in houses. Each house has 12 children with two “parents”.
Near the end of their trip they toured a village school in Cojuba Mare. They saw old computers and old books in a very small library. The village has limited medical care and there is arsenic in their water. Kathi noted that there are many opportunities for additional Rotary projects in this area.
District 7780 Romania Team Roland Gagnon, Melissa Lesniak,
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.
Volunteer at Preble St – Register as a volunteer then select as few or as many volunteer shifts as you want. These can be working in the Receiving Center accepting, sorting and stocking donations; helping prepare and/or serve breakfast, lunch or dinner; sorting or distributing food pantry items; or other activities listed on the volunteer page. For more information and to learn how to register as a volunteer: https://www.preblestreet.org/you-can-help/volunteer/
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 service projects in lieu of meetings, or in-meeting service projects.
The following lunch dates are available for your program:
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Our annual Lobster Bake was a rousing success with over 60 Rotarians, family and guests in attendance at the home of Henry Saunders and Karen Reilly on Sebago Lake on July 16, 2019 (pictured left with Wayne Lopez). We were joined by Immediate PDG John Lobosco and his wife Sue as well as DG Andy Glazier and his partner Pam Gray.
From April 27 to May 13, 2019, our own Kathi Perkins took part in an District outreach trip to Romania along with three other Rotarians from District 7780. They flew through Turkey to reach Bucharest where they started their Romanian adventure. This adventure ultimately took them across the breadth of the country through Sibiu to Oradea. .png)
The District 7780 team saw lots of hands-on projects like a back-pack food program for school children, a program for autistic children, children’s theater, and a summer art camp. A signature program that they were shown is a foster care/orphanage program in which the kids live in houses. Each house has 12 children with two “parents”.
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