This week!!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. Registration is still open at: https://rotary7780.org/event/rotary-rocks/ If you have a friend or colleague you'd like to bring, please let President Michael Foley know ASAP. We have one free ticket to this event!
Rotary Night Out - Sebago Brewing - Tuesday Oct 29 5:30PM. 616 Main St, Gorham. Invite your friends and colleagues to join us for a social night out at Sebago Brewing's Tasting Room. Light appetizers. Cash bar.
Veterans' Appreciation Lunch - Friday November 8, 2019 - Portland Rotary will be hosting its 5th Annual Veterans' Appreciation Luncheon on Friday, November 8, 2019, 12:00 noon at the Seasons Event & Conference Center at the Ramada Plaza, 155 Riverside St, Portland, Maine. Veterans free, others $25. Registration required. For complete information, go to the Portland Rotary Club website at portlandrotary.org and on the right side, click on Veterans' Appreciation Lunch or click HERE.
Westbrook's Veterans Day Celebration - Monday November 11, 2019. Ceremonies at Riverbank Park 11AM to honor all veterans. Celebration at American Legion Post 197, 300 Conant Street following the ceremony.
Annual Christmas Party - Tuesday evening December 10, 2019. 5:30PM at the home of Judith & Ed Reidman, 7 Enchanted Lane, Westbrook, ME. More details to follow.
Festival of Trees Tips for Charity Luncheon - Friday December 13, 2019 11:30 or 12:30 - We'll have our Rotary table again this year. Watch here for tickets to become available.
The Locker Project - TLP will be returning to Westbrook High School, 125 Stroundwater St, Westbrook, on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month, with some exceptions due to holidays. Arrive by 1PM for set up. Done by about 2PM after clean up. Check in and out at the front office. Upcoming dates include Oct 9, 23 and 30, Nov 13, and Dec 11. An additional date may be added in Nov and/or Dec as we get closer. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Christine Johnson.
Update 5th Annual Southern Maine Cornhole Invitational sponsored by Gorham Business Exchange in partnership with Westbrook-Gorham Rotary - Saturday October 26, 2019. $50 per team (2 people) through Oct 22, $60 thereafter, starting at 1PM. Gorham Sports Center, 215 Narragansett St, Gorham. Custom cornhole boards for your family or business $275. Leader Board Sponsorship $100 (see below). To register or purchase a board or sponsorship go to : https://www.gorhambusiness.org/cornhole-tournament-2019
Cornhole Tournament “Leader Board Sponsor” – This is an opportunity similar to a “hole sponsor” at our golf tournament - $100. We will have screens at the tournament running a page with “Leader Board Sponsors”. Please consider becoming a sponsor and asking others to help. We are also looking for a signature “Tournament Sponsor” - $1,000. This would be a great opportunity for a business in our area to put their stamp on this event. If you have ideas for either Leader Board or Tournament Sponsor, please contact Ethan Johnson or Aaron Paiton.
Update Socktober Sock Drive for Westbrook Schools - It is that time of year again. Cooler/cold weather is coming and the Westbrook Community Board is sponsoring a sock drive for the Westbrook Schools. If you’d like to help, please bring items to one of these upcoming Rotary meetings: Tuesdays Oct 1, 8, 15 and 23. Socks needed for Pre-K through age 18 (children’s sizes 6-7.5 or XS up to adult sizes). Underwear for elementary through middle school age sizes also appreciated (extra small to medium, boys and girls).
Winter Gear Drive for Westbrook Schools – During the month of November, we’ll be collecting winter gear for kids. Hats, mittens, boots and coats for all ages. Scarves for older kids. Collected at meetings: Nov 5, 12 and 19.
Reading Friends - Read weekly with 1st or 2nd graders at Gorham's Village School, 12 Robie St, Gorham. From about 9-10AM on a weekday morning of your choice. This program will likely start up again by mid-October. Watch here for more details. Even if you can only commit to a few weeks in the fall, winter or spring, consider joining this important work for literacy. If interested, contact Christine Johnson. Registration and a basic background check are required. Go to this link to register: Reading Friends Volunteer Form Village School Gorham for "child's name" enter Rotary Volunteer, under Teacher select "other" and enter "Reading Volunteer".
Westbrook’s Adult Education Program continues to grow, especially in the CTE programs through WRVC. There are currently about 150 students enrolled in courses that include English language, diploma classes, and heavy equipment.
Westbrook's program is gaining positive publicity and will be featured in an upcoming issue of Maine Biz. The program will also receive an award from the Association of General Contractors, a group that holds a 5K with proceeds given to scholarships for adult education programs. Additionally, 13 adult students received their CNA license (13 out of 13 passed!) and participated at a pinning ceremony on Sept 19, 2019.
Shelli Pride, the new Director of Adult Education for both Westbrook and Gorham will be our guest and speaker at our lunch meeting on October 8, 2019. We hope you can join us to meet Shelli and hear more about the great work being done in the area of Adult Education in Westbrook and Gorham and through Westbrook Regional Vocational Center.
We are pleased to announce that funds raised in our Polio Plus cans reached $185 in the first quarter of the 2019-2020 Rotary year. This is the largest amount seen in any one quarter in quite some time!
The club will match this amount and forward a check to the Rotary Foundation this week. With our club's match followed by the Gates Foundation double match, your $185 turns into $1110 to continue the fight against polio!!
Thanks to everyone who donated through the cans this quarter. Your ongoing support to finally eradicate this disease once and for all is making a difference.
Fortune shined on Pat and Cliff Plummer recently with two raffle wins. Pat won a recent raffle at a lunch meeting and Cliff won the 50/50 raffle at the Golf Tournament on September 17, 2019. The total take between the two raffles was about $240. Ever generous, Pat and Cliff have decided to donate their winnings towards literacy in Guatemala.
Immediate Past President Bill Chadwick and Vice President Scott Linscott each have ongoing projects in different parts of Guatemala through their churches. These raffle proceeds will be divided and donated to purchase books for their next trips over the winter.
On September 10, 2019, Foundation Chair Steve Rand was pleased to award long-time member Alexander Juniewicz a Paul Harris Fellow. This recognizes his ongoing commitment to Rotary and to our Rotary Foundation. Thanks Al!
On September 10, 2019, Westbrook-Gorham Rotarian Owens McCullough, Sr VP Sebago Technics, introduced us to two of his employees – Rich Stone and Kira Harmon. Both Rich and Kira are graduates of WRVC - Rich in Computer Repair Technology and Kira in Drafting. They both also attended SMCC and Rich is currently studying to Architecture at University of Maine Augusta. Both are experts in the emerging field of high definition surveying.
High definition surveying is used for a large variety of projects. For example, it can be used for 3D documentation of historic buildings for restoration without removing pieces of the building, as they did at Bate College for window restoration. It can be used for terrestrial laser scanning of larger sites, like the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in Bucksport and the old quarry at Rock Row in Westbrook. It can also be used for conceptual modeling.
Sites are set up with targets and spheres on walls and on the ground to start the process. These are mapped and used to help “stitch” a survey together. The process is very accurate and much faster than traditional surveying by capturing millions of data points. The impact on the site from the survey is minimized over traditional methods. For example, a recent survey at the Jetport terminal was complete in one night without disrupting passenger traffic. It can be used to quickly scan the existing profile of a road or topographical location and can be used at night to avoid traffic disruption.
The high definition surveying team can record the historical (current) condition of a site based on the intensity of wavelengths returned. Different materials like glass and brick reflect different wavelengths back to the scanners. This new technology can be used in conjunction with traditional methods, like as-built plans, to provide a baseline of existing conditions that can help with future work on a building or can be used for later comparison.
The technology has been in use at Sebago Technics since 2013, but the field is still evolving with equipment remaining quite expensive. Use of drones is also emerging in this field, but those are also very expensive at this time.
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. Sign up today!!
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Fortune shined on Pat and Cliff Plummer recently with two raffle wins. Pat won a recent raffle at a lunch meeting and Cliff won the 50/50 raffle at the Golf Tournament on September 17, 2019. The total take between the two raffles was about $240. Ever generous, Pat and Cliff have decided to donate their winnings towards literacy in Guatemala. 
On September 10, 2019, Foundation Chair Steve Rand was pleased to award long-time member Alexander Juniewicz a Paul Harris Fellow. This recognizes his ongoing commitment to Rotary and to our Rotary Foundation. Thanks Al!
On September 10, 2019, Westbrook-Gorham Rotarian Owens McCullough, Sr VP Sebago Technics, introduced us to two of his employees – Rich Stone and Kira Harmon. Both Rich and Kira are graduates of WRVC - Rich in Computer Repair Technology and Kira in Drafting. They both also attended SMCC and Rich is currently studying to Architecture at University of Maine Augusta. Both are experts in the emerging field of high definition surveying.
minimized over traditional methods. For example, a recent survey at the Jetport terminal was complete in one night without disrupting passenger traffic. It can be used to quickly scan the existing profile of a road or topographical location and can be used at night to avoid traffic disruption. .jpg)
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