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JULY GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE
Wow, it’s a new Rotary year – a time for new officers, new committee chairs, a new annual theme “Rotary Connects the World”, and renewed energy and enthusiasm! Thank you to all of you who have supported Rotary so well for the past year. Thank you to all of you who are carrying on with your current roles and thank you to those of you who are stepping into new roles for this coming year.
Pam and I have recently returned from our Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany. Rotary International Conventions are exciting and motivating; at this event we rubbed shoulders with and interfaced with 25,000 of our closest Rotary friends from 170 countries, from around the world. Different languages, different customs, different dress, but all sharing the same love for helping those in need.
Here’s a link to an entertaining 14 minute video of Convention speaker Chris Wells humorously addressing Rotaract and “Do Goodery”:
Our Rotary family is a strong and wonderful organization; we accomplish so much good locally and around our world. You are a big, big part of that success. It is through your efforts that we are able to benefit and assist so many who find themselves in unfortunate, less than ideal situations. Whether your Club is working locally, nationally, or internationally, the good work you do helps our world to become a better place. Thank you for your involvement.
As you continue with your projects, one of our District areas of emphasis will be our GrowRotary! campaign, spearheaded by our Past District Governor Marty Helman.
GrowRotary! is our effort to increase the positive impact of Rotary by:
1. Increasing public awareness of the good we do;
2. Involving more non-Rotarians in our activities; and,
3. Offering more opportunities for creative Rotary participation.
Please mark your calendars: Saturday, October 5th, will be our exciting RotaryRocks! event. This one day, high energy, motivational event, will feature the good work and projects of our Rotarians and clubs. The event is targeted to the public and newer Rotarians, but is, of course, open to all.
Our Rotary International Director Jeffry Cadorette, an inspiring Rotarian with progressive ideas, will be visiting and speaking. Each Club will be asked to display a selection of their work/projects. The venue will be the Abromson Center at Southern Maine University, Portland, Maine. See you there!
Pam and I are looking forward to visiting your Club and meeting and chatting with you. We can hardly wait to hear firsthand about the wonderful work and successes of your Club. It’s exciting! See you soon!
Governor John LoBosco presents the New Voices charter to club co-president (and former Exeter club member) Sam Klemarczyk.
On Saturday, June 15, the New Voices District 7780 Rotary Club was chartered with 33 new members. The newly minted Rotarians – who range in age from 18 to 30 – are all graduates of the District’s phenomenal RYLA program. They were introduced to RYLA and Rotary youth leadership at age 15 as rising high school juniors, and since then, they have stayed active through the District’s RYLA Reset program for RYLA grads, RYLA workdays, and RYLA leadership opportunities. What these young people have in common is a love for what RYLA – and by extension Rotary – offers them in terms of positive youth development. But, with high school graduation looming, many of them were expecting to leave the Rotary orbit.
“We have a strong track record of getting RYLArians into Interact, if they aren’t involved already,” explains Phil Giordano, executive director of RYLA in District 7780 and past president of the Scarborough (Maine) club in that District. “Then they graduate from high school and go off to university, and we tell them to check out a local Rotaract club, or start one if there is none on campus. We lose many of them then – and more when it’s time for them to graduate college and concentrate on their careers.”
It’s a common problem throughout Rotary in North America. “We have the greatest pipeline in the world of young people coming up through RYLA, Youth Exchange, and Interact and Rotaract,” says RI Director Jeffry Cadorette, who participated in the Chartering. “Other organizations would kill for a pipeline such as we have. But we are only now beginning to learn to capitalize on it. New Voices gives us a critical tool to do just that and turn our Rotary youth alumni into Rotarians.”
This spring, it suddenly became evident to RYLA director Phil and me, as the District 7780 Growth Chair, that the changes enacted by the 2016 Council on Legislation meant that the young people could form a club of their own – a club that would focus on youth leadership and which would meet (mostly) on line, with three or four “live” events each year – events which the young people are already involved in.
Phil Giordano reached out to his RYLA leadership team, determined solid interest in a new club, and helped them get organized. First, the young people created their own Mission Statement: New Voices D7780 will be a new type of Rotary Club that is accessible to people of all geographies, abilities, and ages, and is for folks who share a passion for youth leadership development and service to others; our goal is to expand the traditional model of Rotary to as many people as possible.
Above left: RI Director Jeffry Cadorette looks on as the New Voices club leadership talk about goals and expectations for the new club.
Above right: New club members pose with RI Director Jeffry Cadorette and RYLA director Phil Giordano, past president of the Scarborough RC.
Congratulations to our incoming District Governor, Andrew Glazier and District Governor Elect, Peggy Belanger and to all the new Presidents in District 7780. May you all follow your heart and be inspired to do something awesome this new Rotary year. Thank you to John LoBosco and his team for their service and making the 2018/2019 Rotary year great.
Thanks to everyone who came and heard Team Romania speak about their International Outreach trip back in May! Melissa, Roland, Kathi & Phyllis presented their two week whirlwind of a trip at the conference at Fort William on June 22nd.
If your club is interested in learning more about their time in Romania - please reach out to Melissa Lesniak, Dover Rotary Club at 603-475-7476 or melissalesniak@kw.com and she will work with the team to come to your club!! There will be more information down the road as the team works on what they want to focus on, support, plan a project around, based on their eyewitness account while in country.
In regards to next year's District International Outreach, the focus will be on Central America. We are currently looking for suggestions, comments, contacts for this region. So if you are aware of a particular area and/or have contacts, and would like to have the committee consider it, please let us know! Here is the form you can use - or feel free to reach out to Emma Bodwell directly at 207-595-1138 or ebodwell@icloud.com
If you - or someone you know - is interested in traveling as a representative of the District in 19/20 - please let us know. We will be sending out applications in the next couple of months, but would love to start gathering names of those interested now!! This trip is subsidized in part by a District 7780 grant.
Our committee, special thanks to Bill Dunn, Rotary Club of Yarmouth, has updated the interactive map on our District Website If you haven’t checked it out – you should!! We gathered as much information as we could from around the District in regards to past, present and future international projects.
If you do not see a specific project that your club was involved in, PLEASE let us know! If there are corrections/revisions needed, PLEASE let us know! We want to have this map as accurate and up-to-date as possible, so we need YOUR help to do this! This map is a great way for any Rotarian to see where we have been, what we have done, and what we are working on. CONTACT: BILL DUNN - wdunn@sunsetpoint.biz
Finally, as a reminder, any of our committee members are happy to be a guest speaker at your club - please reach out to make arrangements!
Wrap-A-Smile
PROJECT COMES FULL CIRCLE
Pictured left to right: Ann Demeranville and Terry Hodskins Fullam
Terry Hodskins Fullam, accompanied by Cathy and Lee Hansen of the Wells club, visited the Boothbay Harbor club in June to present a generous donation to Wrap-A-Smile.
When Terry first started this project of providing comfort quilts to children undergoing cleft lip and cleft palate surgery, the BBH club was an early contributor. As Terry told the story, BBH had no quilters in their club, but offered funds which were used for early set-up costs and a fabric buying spree for her quilting group. Wrap-A-Smile now belongs to our whole district but is managed by Ann Demeranville of the BBH club, with the BBH Rotary clubhouse being a community resource for Quiltathons as well as packing parties to prepare quilts for shipping.
As Terry presented the check to Wrap-A-Smile, the same amount that BBH had contributed 18 years ago, she jokingly stated "here's your money back." She also presented Ann with a quilt she had made, her second one (ever) for the project.
Lee Hansen then spoke about the passion that the Wells club has felt for this project over the years, and ended by presenting a stack of quilts made by quilters from southern Maine.
RotaryFest Raffle Results
DUCKDASH AND CORN HOLE SET WINNERS!!
Congratulations to the following who won Paul Harris Fellow recognition points by purchasing a duck at RotaryFest:
500 point winner:
Don Curry, Kennebunk Portside
250 point winners:
Nicole Albert, South Portland-Cape Elizabeth
Amy Chipman, Portland
Tina Fox, Oxford Hills
Leonard Seagren, Portsmouth
100 point winners:
Jimmy Reed, Bath Sunrise
Tory Paxson, Boothbay Harbor
John Dennen, Brunswick Coastal
Maureen Pecora, Exeter
Deb Marsolais, Hampton
Pam Gray, Kittery
Chris Summers, Oxford Hills
Kathy Cotter, South Portland-Cape Elizabeth
Fran Bagdasarian, South Portland-Cape Elizabeth
John LoBosco, South Portland-Cape Elizabeth
The event raised $1,170 for The Rotary Foundation – thank you to everyone who participated!!
And thanks to Jack Roberts of the South Portland-Cape Elizabeth Rotary Club who raffled off a corn hole board set that he had built to raise money for Polio Plus. The winner was our own DG John LoBosco, and we raised $500 for Polio Plus.
District History for July 2019
No replies for June’s request for copies of club’s charters and anniversary celebration programs.
There are 4 questions this month –
1. What are the names of the clubs in our district that are 100 or more years old?
2. What were the charter date(s)?
3. Who were the sponsor(s)?
4. What District were they in when they were chartered?
If you don’t know the answers, all the information is in the pages of the District History on our website. Let’s see who plays detective!
Clue - At least one club recently had an anniversary celebration so we should hear from them!
Please send me your answers and along with your name and your club’s name to mawilliamspdg@comcast.net . It will appear in the next newsletter.
Marie
Marie A. Williams, PDG
District 7780 Historian
Welcome New Rotarians!
The Rotary Club of Dover recently welcomed two new members to our club. Please welcome Michael Fridakis sponsored by Nancy Boyle and Tracy Thibeau sponsored by Jim Munroe as they become Rotarians in our community and we look forward to all the good things they will help us to accomplish.
The Rotary Club of Bethel
CLUB RECAP
At one of weekly meetings, we recognized the Telstar HS May Students of the Month, a tradition we have come to look forward to!
Our club made a donation to the Bethel Library’s summer youth reading program. Rotarian Jean Benedict (right), is pictured with the librarian Michele Conroy and their board President Tom Davis.
Our annual May Day 5K raises funds to offer scholarship assistance to after school and enrichment programs. We recently made a donation to the Telstar Middle School after school activity fund. Pictured here are Club President Mike Steven with Telstar Middle School Dean of Students Lindsay Luetje.
The Rotary Club of Damariscotta-Newcastle E-WASTE COLLECTION
Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotarians have fun, enjoy fresh air and good companionship on a Saturday morning in May, at their E-Waste collection. They were ably assisted by inmates from TwinBridges Jail, fueled by coffee and donuts, helping our community and our planet.
ROTARIANS ON THE ROAD
Damariscotta-Newcastle was on-the-road-again. Occasionally, our club travels to a different site for our breakfast meetings. This May's meeting was a tour of the remodel work in progress at the farmhouse at Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust (created by merger of Damariscotta River Association and Pemaquid Watershed Association.) Steve Hufnagel, executive director, showed off the farmhouse improvements and spoke of their mission and accomplishments.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
The Rotary world is both huge, spanning the globe, and small. At the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, PE Lorraine Townsend Faherty spent time with Maren Weisse who visited Damariscotta with Group Study Exchange from Hamburg area in 2012 and also waited in the airport with Pam Gray and Andy Glazier for flight to Reykjavik.
The Rotary Club of Dover
PLAYGROUND INSTALLATION COMPLETED
Members of the Rotary Club of Dover NH, Rotary District 7780, completed the installation of a playground for our local Headstart programs. The project cost $38,000, and was funded by three local Rotary Clubs - Dover, Durham & Rochester, along with a District Grant from the Rotary Foundation. We are looking forward to seeing the smiling faces of the kids playing on their new playground.
CLUB SUPPORTS CHAD PROGRAM
The Rotary Club of Dover presented Ty Vitko, a Senior at Dover High, a donation of $200.00 to support his participation as an All-Star Mentor in the CHaD East West Football game on June 29th. Go East!
SCHOLARSHIPS PRESENTED TO ADULT LEARNING GRADUATES
Congratulations to the Dover Adult Learning Center graduates as they received their diplomas last evening. President Noreen Biehl presented two scholarships from the Rotary Club of Dover to students looking to further their education at the college level.
The Rotary Club of Hampton
"PLAY BALL!"
On Sunday, June2nd, Hampton Rotarians gathered at Hislop Park in Portsmouth to cheer on some very special ball players. This is our 10th year sponsoring a team in the Little League Challenger Division and with pom poms in hand (thank you Sherry Rand) cheered mightily for not only the Hampton Rotary team, but each of the incredible athletes on the field that afternoon. These young people and their coaching staff radiate good sportsmanship. It was both a pleasure and a privilege to let them know just how wonderful they are!
The Rotary Club of Kennebunk Portside
CLUB DONATES TO KEMS
Kennebunk Portside Rotary’s President Cornelia Stockman presented Joe Carroll, KEMS Chief of Operations (Kennebunkport Emergency Medical Services) with a check for $300 and a treadmill to help supply the KEMS new exercise room.
The Rotary Club of Kittery
ANNUAL KITTERY BLOCK PARTY
The Rotary Club of Kittery hosted the R.W. Traip Academy Interact Club in our booth, so club members could raise funds for their projects. The Interact students did screen paintings with happy youngsters for donations, and sold Pura Vida bracelets. For several years, the students have helped our Rotary club give away watermelon at the event. This year it was our honor to support the Interact in their efforts and this collaboration may become another tradition.
The Rotary Club of Oxford Hills CRUTCHES 4 AFRICA
Oxford Hills President George Rice helped fill a trailer with over 100 mobility devices to bring to the drop-off at the District Conference at Fort Williams Park, to send to Crutches 4 Africa.
New members, Becky Kaurup and Marianne Todd, pitched in to help take down the ‘Big Top’ tent owned by the Rotary Club of Oxford Hills at the District Conference when a severe storm was headed our way. These two ladies stepped up to the task and extracted the 3-foot long tent stakes with a drill and attachment and did a great job! Kudos to the ladies!
The Rotary Club of Portland
MAINE OUTDOOR CHALLENGE
Past President of Portland Rotary Kris Rosado (2014-2015) is the chairman of the Maine Outdoor Challenge. Teams of friendly competitors participated in the 8th year of the half-day, packed with fun and activities, held on June 10-12, at the L.L.Bean Outdoor Discovery School, in Freeport. Among the events included in the challenge are fly casting, archery, firearm familiarity, clay target shooting, and other activities. Kris presented the Bronze Boot trophy to the winning team with Jennifer Conley, a meteorologist at WCSH6-TV, who led the program as Master of Ceremonies at the June 12th awards dinner and auction, held in Yarmouth. The Maine Outdoor Challenge benefits the Rotary Club of Portland and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Maine.
The Rotary Club of Portsmouth DISTRICT REPORT FOR 6/19/19
The Club is gearing up for a huge finish to President Cleo’s term. The golf tournament, our second-biggest fundraiser, was ready to tee-off despite an uncooperative weather forecast.
The day before would be our annual Vocational Awards program. And the “Changing of the Guard,” when Leo replaces Cleo, is set to close out the Rotary year…Lots of fun stuff was planned.
In the meantime, we continue to serve and cook food at Cross Roads House, a local homeless shelter. Tiffany McKenna is directing this effort.
The month saw a healthy influx of new members. Josiah Babcock, an IT and website design specialist joined.
Nicole Scarneo, area manager for Bangor Savings and Rye resident John Madden were welcomed aboard. Air Force Veteran Larry Murphy, a former Rotarian and Northwestern Mutual’s Ian O’Neail, complete the roster of May new members.
We were blessed with excellent post luncheon programs in the month. Former N.H. Governor and now Tuck School professor John Lynch (pictured top right) visited June 13. He delivered a provocative talk on how to succeed in business. While attending UNH back in the day, Lynch was a close friend and fraternity brother of Portsmouth Rotarian Jay Gibson.
Rotarian Tom Decker’s wife Anne spoke about a near-death experience aboard a cruise ship caught in hurricane-like weather off Norway.
Finally, Jeff Chidester (pictured bottom right) extolled the virtues of the Veterans Count program.
The most well-attended presentation was our Scholarship Program that saw thirteen $3,000 scholarships go to deserving Portsmouth High seniors. The list was sprinkled with National Honor Society members going to schools like Brown University, RIT and Colby College among others.
The Rotary Club of Scarborough
DG MEETS CRUSHER
District Governor John Lobosco chats up Crusher, the Maine Red Claws mascot, at Scarborough Rotary's 6th annual Touch-A-Truck fundraiser.
Proceeds help fund the club’s annual scholarship fund and RYLA.
The Seacoast Rotary Club
CLUB RECAP
The Seacoast Rotary Club has been busy these past couple of months giving back to our local community by:
Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity (twice!).
Sponsoring and volunteering at the Velo Kids ‘Take Your Kid Mountain Biking Day’.
Hosting our annual Allocations evening where we awarded $12,000 to 10 local non-profit organizations.
“Shark Tank” with the Portsmouth High School Business Students – members of our club mentored students with unique business ideas. Matt Junk then helped organize an evening for the groups to present their business ideas to a panel of judges where the top 3 groups (pictured below) were awarded prize money totally $2,000.
As we gear up for the Annual Turkey Trot 5K race on Thanksgiving morning (it’s a few months away, but planning has started!) the 2019 beneficiaries are Hospice Help Foundation and Seacoast Community School.
The Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth
ROTARY CLUB YOUTH LITERACY PROGRAM DONATES LANGUAGE SHELVES
TO SOUTH PORTLAND LIBRARY
Above left: Two parents and their children congregate around the new language book shelves at the S.P. Public Library.
Above right: The plaque was purchased by the library to thank the local Rotary Club.
The Rotary Club of South Portland/Cape Elizabeth has donated more than $1000 to the South Portland Public Library for special shelving for language studies.
The Club began this ongoing youth literacy program in 2007.
The youth librarian, in thanking Rotary, says, “The kids and adults are always hovering near these shelves looking for language books. The interest has burgeoned since we now have shelving that is visible and accessible. Young readers seem much more interested in languages now.”
The Rotary donations enable the local libraries to provide additional materials to enhance youth literacy that the libraries would otherwise not be able to purchase through normal funding.
The Rotary Club also uses this program to recognize its weekly speakers by having them sign a bookplate that goes into one of the purchased books and symbolizes a donation of that book to youth literacy by the speaker.
Rotary Club president Fran Bagdasarian says, “For 13 years we have made these donations to help increase interest in reading and education among our local students. It is part of our Rotary club’s service to our communities’ youth and our commitment to literacy initiatives.”
The Rotary Club of Ogunquit
45TH ANNUAL 2₵ SALE - JULY 18, 2019
Ogunquit Rotary Club members are jumping for joy in anticipation of hosting their largest annual fundraising event: the 45th Annual 2₵ Sale on Thursday, July 18th at Ogunquit’s Dunaway Center at 6:30PM! The exciting tradition continues with 5 tables, each packed with 50 fabulous items, including gift certificates to favorite seacoast area restaurants and shops, and festive themed baskets of treasures! Everyone is invited to participate in the event raffle for a chance to win 1st Prize: $1,000 Cash sponsored by Red Door Title and Gail Bergeron RE/MAX Realty One; 2nd Prize: a 2-nights Lodging Package sponsored by Hanson Enterprises; or 3rd Prize: a $250 Gas Card sponsored by Kennebunk Savings Bank! (Winners need not be present.) For more information or to buy tickets, please contact event organizer Tracy Smith via email at oguncam@hotmail.com. All proceeds fund Ogunquit Rotary community projects.
The Rotary Club of Rochester
29TH ANNUAL PRO-AM GOLF TOURNAMENT - SEPTEMBER 24, 2019
Updates and short articles with images or videos, and the names of new members and those who have passed, may be submitted to our Newsletter Editor, Deb Marsolais, at deb.marsolais@comcast.net to be included in our Monthly Newsletter. The District Newsletter is a means of communicating to other clubs in our district; items of interest, upcoming events, fundraisers, opportunities of service, or member news.
Deadline for August Newsletter Submissions: July 24th
PLEASE NOTE:
As a precaution, unless you have obtained a written consent from a parent/guardian, every child’s face which appears in a picture submitted for the newsletter or website, will be edited so that it is blurred out in the picture. Since there may be situations involving abuse, neglect, custody dispute, etc., and parents wouldn't want their child's picture to appear in public, this is being done for the child's privacy and protection.
If you have a submission for the newsletter or website, and would like to have us post a picture with a child (children) in it, please let us know if you have received a consent, otherwise we will edit it accordingly.
Thank you for your cooperation.
www.rotary7780.org … or follow us on Facebook!
Everyone’s Phone Number at Your Fingertips . . . and Much More!
Have you done the easy ClubRunner download yet?
How would you like to have not only your own Rotary Club members contact information but also the entire District at your fingertips? You can and so much more by downloading the new and improved ClubRunner Mobile App. You can also access club and district leadership, stories and events all with just a few clicks. Connecting to them is as easy as clicking on the phone number or email address.
You can download it on the AppStore or GooglePlay and be on your way in minutes. Now would also be a good time to make sure that your profile is current, and if you do not have a picture saved, or your birthday listed, considering updating your information now!
Reach out and collaborate with other like minded Rotarians from around our district and be the People of Action that your are!
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How would you like to have not only your own Rotary Club members contact information but also the entire District at your fingertips? You can and so much more by downloading the new and improved ClubRunner Mobile App. You can also access club and district leadership, stories and events all with just a few clicks. Connecting to them is as easy as clicking on the phone number or email address.
