First Rotary Night Out - Tuesday August 28, 2018. 5:30PM. In place of our usual lunch meeting, join us for an evening at Westbrook Common (also known as Blue Note Park) in the heart of Downtown Westbrook. Pizza on us to celebrate our first "Night Out"!! Friends, spouses and perspective members welcome. Henry Saunders will be giving a short talk on Westbrook Urban Renewal.
4th Annual Southern Maine Cornhole Invitational - Saturday October 13, 2018 1-6PM. At Gorham Sports Center. Benefit for Gorham Business Exchange. Sponsor a board or enter a team. Watch for updates on their Facebook Event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/508241312938195/
The Locker Project - Fresh food and baked goods distribution in Westbrook. Two or three volunteer needed for the final distribution of the summer at MPTC arrival 12:30 PM on Thursday Aug 23. Note new date and time. 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. If you can help on any of these dates, please contact Christine Johnson. For more information, or to donate, visit their website: mainelockerproject.org Look for Back-to-School dates shortly.
Rotary Annual Golf Classic - Tuesday September 18, 2018 - It's that time of year again! Follow this link to our webpage to download and share the brochure: 24th Annual Golf Classic Information Please work your local contacts for various sponsorship levels: $100 Hole, $450 Gold, $600 Platinum. Sign up a team for $360 or donate prizes and gift cards for our raffle. This is one of only two big fundraisers, so we need help from all members to make this a success.
My Place Teen Center Dinner w/Don Campbell - Wednesday September 19, 2018 6PM- Frog & Turtle Gastro Pub. Fundraiser for MPTC. $100 per person. Reservations required at: Call 207 591 4185 or e-mail Meghan@thefrogandturtle.com
Reading Friends - Our program at Village School Gorham - Starting in October. Commit to one day a week from about 8:50-9:50 on a weekday morning of your choice for the number of weeks of your choice. Or share duties with a partner. You will be assigned up to 3 students in either 1st or 2nd Grade who will read to you for about 15 minutes each. If you have not volunteered in the school before, you will need to complete the school-based background check at: https://www.gorhamschools.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=456678&type=d&pREC_ID=990378 If you have questions or need assistance with completing the form, please contact Christine Johnson cejinmaine@gmail.com
Read With Me - All three Elementary Schools Westbrook - Starting in October. Commit to one day a week on day and time mutually agreeable in selected school. Or share duties with a partner. You will be paired with two students with whom you will read 15-20 minutes each. If you have not volunteered in the schools before, you will need to complete the school-based background check. https://www.westbrookschools.org/volunteer If you have questions or need assistance with completing the form, please contact Christine Johnson cejinmaine@gmail.com
Run the Ridge Trail Race – Saturday October 20, 2018. Benefit for Discover Downtown Westbrook. Early bird registration is just $20 through the end of Labor Day weekend with discount code RTREARLY. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/671770303157442/
International Overdose Awareness Day - Friday August 31, 2018. 6PM Deering Oaks Park Portland, This year’s vigil will include speakers and education, as well as an overdose response training and narcan kits. For more information about this local event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1857867257849731/ For information on this international day: https://www.overdoseday.com/
Can Tabs for Ronald MacDonald House – Ongoing - Thank you for continuing to collect can tabs.Please bring your collection to any meeting this spring/summer. Pat and Cliff Plummer and looking forward to accepting them for Ronald McDonald House.
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.
The Maine Cornhole Championship - THIS WEEK! Thursday August 23, 2018 4-7PM. Portland Rotary's fun new fundraiser. Enter a team or sponsor the event. For more information: https://orange.nya.org/cornhole/ Proceeds support Portland and Yarmouth Rotary’s international service project in Kosovo, as well as Boys & Girls Clubs scholarship fund at North Yarmouth Academy.
Foundation & Membership Seminar - Saturday November 3, 2018 - 8AM. Husson College Westbrook. Educational seminar designed for Membership Chairs, Foundation Chairs, and other club leadership interested in these topics. Sign up details soon.
Rotary Fest (AKA District Conference) - Friday-Saturday June 21-22, 2019 - Fort Williams, Park Cape Elizabeth. Friday service project and cook out for volunteers. Saturday packed with fun and educational events for adults and kids, and another service project opportunity. DG John and the Planning Committee are working hard to make this a free event for all. Watch for more details.
Our 2nd Annual “Back to School” Food Drive was held on Saturday August 18, 2018. Thanks to President Deb Shangraw, Community Service Chair Sarah Hutchins, and Secretary Christine Johnson for organizing and running this event.
Waiting for Donations: Veronica, Dana,
Sarah, Amy & Roy
The Food Drive was again held in partnership with Westbrook Kiwanis. We also had support from Saco Biddeford Savings (SBSI), who let us use their lawn for great visibility on Hannaford Dr near the grocery store. SBSI, Evergreen Credit Union, Westbrook Kiwanis, and Westbrook Gorham Rotary each have pledged additional fund that will be donated directly to the Westbrook Community Food Pantry and the Westbrook High School Food Pantry by September 1. Some of the items received will also be used to help establish a new food pantry at Westbrook Middle School.
With donations and club funds, we expect W-G Rotary to write checks totaling nearly $1000. SBSI has committed to donating $250 directly to the pantries. Additional items and fund are expected to be donated this week from Evergreen and employees. All items and funds received through the end of the week will be donated directly to the pantries. If you would like to help, there is still time to bring items to our next meeting or to make a donation.
Thanks go out to Pat & Cliff Plummer for loaning us two tables and their canopy. It helped both to protect us from a few sprinkles and to provide better visibility. Also, a big thanks to Jean and Ed Reilly for picking up and transporting the food to the Community Pantry and to Veronica Bates for taking donations to the High School and Middle School.
The Annual Cornhole Tournament, a fundraiser of the Gorham Business Exchange, will be held Saturday October 13, 2018 at the Gorham Sports Center on Narragansett St in Gorham. The event is expected to start at 1PM. This is a family-friendly event. Soft drinks, snacks, pizza from Gorham House of Pizza, and beer from Allagash Brewing will be available.
We are pleased to say that Westbrook-Gorham Rotary has been approached by the Exchange and has agreed to be their fundraising partner this year. We have been asked to sell 10 cornhole board (pairs) for $250 and 10 teams of 2 at $50 ($25 per player). The boards will be customized for the business or individual and will come with a color-coordinated carrying case. Board sponsors/purchasers do not need to field a team. Teams/players do not need to purchase a board to enter.
This is a fun family-oriented activity that appeals to a broad age range. If you would like to enter a team or purchase/sponsor boards, forms will be available soon to sign up.
On August 14, Ethan Johnson introduced our speaker, David Willis. David spoke about the recent and upcoming events and activities of the Gorham Business Exchange (GBE). He also provided insight into the history and trends of supply and demand in the Gorham Real Estate market.
David Willis
The Gorham Business Exchange partners with the Gorham Times to feature a story on a local business about twice a month. They recently held the 21st Annual Marketplace, a family-friendly event feature 75 local businesses. In June, they held their 17th Annual Golf Scramble. Funds from the golf scramble are used to fund two scholarships each year. One scholarship is presented to a senior pursuing a degree in business and the other scholarship goes to a student who has shown an outstanding interest in civic affairs. We were pleased to hear that GHS Interact Club President Aaron Farr was the recipient of the civic affairs scholarship this year.
Their next fundraising event will be the 4th Annual Cornhole Tournament. This tournament will be held on Saturday October 13 at the Gorham Sports Center on Narragansett St in Gorham. Allagash Brewing is the beer sponsor each year and donates proceeds to the event. They are currently looking for a fundraising partner for this year. Editor Note: After the meeting, members of the board met with David and Ethan. We agreed that Westbrook-Gorham Rotary will be their partner this year. More info to follow.
Dan Nichols of Gorham Village Alliance,
David Willis & Ethan Johnson
David then moved on to speak about the Real Estate market in Gorham. The average sales price of a home in Gorham in the past 12 months has been $298K. About 150 homes in subdivisions have been presented to the Planning Board in recent months. However, the number of sales has slowed in the past year due to limited inventory, not demand. He stated that he also thinks banks are being more cautious in lending. In 2006, 30-year home mortgage rates were around 6.5%. Today’s rates are much lower and new home buyers are expecting to see rates below 5%.
Gorham has recently proposed a sprinkler ordinance for residential properties that could add as much as $10K to the sales price of a home. A member of the audience noted that Westbrook tried that a few years back, but did away with it. When asked about opportunities to expand housing stock in Gorham, he told us that he sees opportunities for affordable housing in the village center.
David is a lifelong resident of Gorham. He is a Broker at Willis Real Estate and is a past president of the Gorham Business Exchange. David graduated from Gorham High School in 2002 and from the University of Maine in 2006 with a degree in Marketing. He has been a coach for middle school basketball for several years.
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 are now scheduling programs for November.
Here is the list of upcoming speakers and programs:
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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