District Governor Claudia leads a parade of Rotarians from seven different clubs across the Casco Bay Bridge to call attention to the Polio Plus initiative.
All hands on board! Congratulations to District 7780 on your financial contributions and your public appearances in your red shirts. Highlights of the month included a walk across the bridge in Portland, Pints for Polio all over the District, Polio Plus Society members pledging $100 or more per year, Bingo for Polio, matching funds, happy dollars, and generous contributions.
Our own Mike McGovern, Chair of Rotary's International Polio Plus, traveled to Germany this month for the World Health Summit. At this summit, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed to $1.2 billion to support efforts to end all forms of polio. Another Polio and Rotary superstar, AnnLee Hussey, was interviewed by News Center Maine on October 20 in anticipation of World Polio Day on October 24. You may view her interview here.
One of my goals as District Governor was to ask every club to register a Polio giving pledge for the year. Every club in the district has accomplished this, and many have already exceeded their goal. We are using the green stick on our theme banner to dig deeper and persevere in our goal to eradicate polio in the world. We are this close!
As you know, November is Foundation month. I suggest signing up for "Every Rotarian Every Year." EREY makes contributions very easy. Four of our clubs have 100% EREY participation. I also suggest that you attend the One in a Million Foundation Gala on November 4. You can register here.
One more thing, don't miss the video which will introduce you to Bailey Island, home of the District Celebration on June 10, 2023. Click here to check it out!
Peace,
Claudia Frost
District Governor
Rotary Club of Brunswick
Morse High School Interactors raise awareness of Polio eradication with a 'purple pinky' initiative.
The Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset met on Saturday, September 24 to pack a container with crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and other medical equipment for Crutches for Africa. This event brought ten area Rotary Clubs together. A special thanks to 22 members from the collaborative Rotary Clubs of South Portland Cape Elizabeth, Freeport, Yarmouth, Westbrook-Gorham, Brunswick Coastal, Saco Bay, Saco Bay Sunset, Bethel, Sebago Lake Windham, Portland, and Scarborough who manually loaded the container. The shipment is going to Uganda. Rotarian Dennis Robillard has been spearing this event for 13 years.
By: Sarah MacGillivray, Secretary and Public Image Coordinator, District Foundation Committee, RC of Bath Sunrise
November is Foundation Month! This month’s article practically wrote itself; it couldn’t be a better example of Connecting the Dots! As it was time for me to start writing, the news came in that our District had been awarded a $25,000 special disaster relief grant for a Ukraine project. We received full approval three business days after submission! Explained in the simplest terms and please forgive me for breaking it down to bare basics, there are more steps, but here are the important ones:
District Rotarians gave more to the special Ukraine relief fund: more than $66,000 last spring (thank you);
Championed by Carol Marcotte, the Saco Bay Sunset Club began to build bridges to a club in Poland;
Working with Rotarians in Ukraine, Carol and the teams prepared a grant application;
The money will now fund repairs to a convent housing refugees from Eastern Ukraine.
{Editor’s Note: Bob Gravino, District Foundation Committee, Sub Chair Peace & Reconciliation, was so amazed by the work done in the Kennebunk Rotary Club for Polio month, that he asked for a larger front-page article in the November Newsletter.}
Each week during October I gave a ten-minute discussion on the history of Polio Plus. I recalled how Dr. Benny Santos submitted a proposal in 1979 to Rotary International’s 3H committee pledging that if Rotary purchased the polio vaccinations, the Philippine Rotarians would mobilize and eradicate polio from their country. This project was the catalyst for Rotary’s initiative to eradicate polio globally in 1985. Using the Philippine project as an example, I emphasized DG Claudia Frost’s comments during her presentation at our club that ideas /actions begin with Rotary Clubs and it is the District’s and RI‘s role to support these efforts and help bring them to scale.
By: Emma Bodwell, Chair, International Services Committee (DISC), RC of Bridgton-Lake Region
On Saturday, October 20, 2022, over 30 Rotarians attended the second International Café of the 2022/23 Rotary Year. Those attending got an update on the Amani Kids project working to improve the lives of 200 kids per year who are living on the streets in Tanzania. The project is in the process of applying for an RI Global Grant. For more information or to contribute to the grant application, contact Chris Hamilton at (207) 242-2559 or by email.
The Café provided a comprehensive update on the situation in Ukraine and the disaster relief grants being used by various Clubs and Districts to provide help through an RI InterCountry Committee (ICC). Claudine Schooley, President, of ICC USA – Ukraine, provided information about the urgency of the situation in Ukraine. In total, $15 million has been dedicated by RI to further this work. There is $3 million remaining which must be awarded by the end of December 2022. The grants, in $25,000 increments, are being used to help Ukrainian people simply survive. The Saco Bay Sunset Club was awarded $25,000 to install a new roof on a monastery that serves as a shelter for displaced Ukrainian women and children. This grant received approval in a record three business days, according to Carolyn Johnson. Waiting in the wings for the final expenditure of the Saco Bay grant is one prepared by Kathi Perkins of the Westbrook-Gorham Club supporting school supplies and more for Ukrainian children in Romania. In addition to Iryna Timanyuk and Volodymyr Pylypenko who joined the Café from Ukraine, Diana Nestorova from District 7910 in western Massachusetts participated too. Diana mentioned that her district is on its third $25,000 grant. For more information, contact Claudine Schooley at (805) 796-8351 or by email.
By: Brenda Pollock, Chair, Public Image; President of Biddeford-Saco RC
ONE VOICE, EVERY CLUB - The District’s Public Image committee’s message ONE VOICE, EVERY CLUB is what our committee is working towards in 2022-23. We can help any club in our district that may need some assistance with press releases, website development, Facebook ads, and more. Our PI team is committed to helping the clubs in our District improve our public image in 2022-23. We’re asking each club to reach out for help with these five items. ONE VOICE, EVERY CLUB. The Public Image Committee meets every third Thursday of each month at 5:00 p.m. for a one-hour meeting via Zoom. If you would like to join us, please email our team here for the link.
The Rotary Indigenous Partnership Committee, RIPC, remains diligent in its efforts to forge positive relationships with Maine’s Indigenous Communities. An outgrowth of the outreach team formed in 2020 under the leadership of then DG Peggy Belanger, RIPC remained active during the pandemic but was unable to travel.
Understanding that the opportunity to forge positive relations with indigenous communities requires time, trust, and patience, the Team is continuing to explore specific projects.
By: Jeffrey Slaton, Annual Giving Chair, District Foundation Committee, RC of Saco Bay
Welcome back, friends. I begin this month’s letter with a simple question:
Why give to Rotary?
For the eleventh consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S. The Foundation earned recognition for demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency.
By: Dick Hall, Vice Chair, Northern New England Regional RLI, Past DG, RC of Portland
RLI Northeast offers a training program for clubs and districts looking to train Rotarians as leaders at local levels in three full-day sessions, followed by graduate seminars. The program is perfect for any Rotarian who wants to gain a good understanding of the full breadth of Rotary. For District 7780, there are training locations in New England and New York, with a planned session in our District in the spring. Visit the RLINEA website for the current schedule of upcoming events.
Faculty is carefully selected from among Rotarians with outstanding leadership abilities, prepared to conduct innovative participatory course sessions.
RLI has divisions around the world. The Rotary Leadership Institute is not an official training program of Rotary International. The Rotary Leadership Institute of Northeast America now includes 21 Rotary Districts in northeastern and middle Atlantic states, Bermuda, and part of Canada.
Former District Governor, Andy Glazier is the District RLI representative and organizer of the spring session. I am serving as the Northern New England Regional RLI Vice Chair. Please feel free to contact me at 207-749-9186, or by email for more information.
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Are You Going to the Rotary Convention in Melbourne?
My wife and I are planning to attend the convention May 27-31, 2023. My parents attended several Rotary conventions while my dad was a Rotarian in District 7910. At that time, a district Rotarian planned an extended tour and often 10-20 Rotarians and partners would travel and tour together. I like that idea and have contacted a District 7780 travel agent to plan a 10-day tour of Australia before the convention.
Please contact me if you want to hear more about these plans.
Dick Hall
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IN MEMORIUM
Dr. Douglas Tigert
April 22, 1938 ~ October 19, 2022
RC of Damariscotta-Newcastle
The Damariscotta-Newcastle Club is sad to announce the death of longtime Rotarian Doug Tigert. He was Chair of the Club’s Foundation Committee for many years and set the bar high for others to follow within the Club and Rotary District 7780. Doug was proud to be a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow recipient. He was passionate about the Rotary Foundation and instrumental in obtaining Rotary International Grants for "Pure Water" projects in several countries he visited. Our condolences to his family. Doug will be sadly missed by all. View the obituary here.
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