Intercultural Community Center - NEW Wednesday April 26 4-6PM Open House 36 Patrick Dr Westbrook. A short student lead tour will offer visitors a view of their space as well as highlight some of their programming. After the tour, refreshments and coffee will be served. All are welcome! Also note that ICC has a wish list, should you want to help: http://iccmaine.org/wish.php
Westbrook Community Clean Up Day - NEW Saturday May 6 is Community Clean up Day in Westbrook. Volunteer are welcome for one hour or up to 4 hours between 9AM and 1PM. The City provides gloves, bags and grab-sticks to help with picking up litter. No heavy lifting, but some walking is required. Sign up at: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080f4eafa92babfc1-community or contact Christine Johnson
The Locker Project - NEW DatesOn Wednesdays May 17 and May 31, two volunteers are needed to help at the produce and baked goods table at Westbrook High School from 1:30-3 PM. Activities include helping off load produce boxes (light and heavy), setting up the food on tables for students to take home with them, interacting with students, and cleaning up at the end. If interested, please contact Christine Johnson. We will meet other volunteers at the rear of the school by the cafeteria door by 1:30 PM each of these dates.
Donate to our Club's Charity through Amazon Smile – 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.
CLYNK for Literacy – Ongoing - Keep those cans and bottles coming! Drop off your filled CLYNK bag at any Hannaford. Thanks to those who have contributed bottles so far to help purchase books that we donate for each speaker. If you need more CLYNK bags, they are available at each meeting.
Polio Plus: $104 was collected from our Polio Plus cans in the first quarter and sent to the Rotary Foundation. This brings our total Polio Plus giving this Rotary year to $641 which will be double matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Thanks to all who add to the cans each week. It adds up quickly!
DG Award: We are pleased to share with our members that we have applied for the District Governor Award for 2016-2017. This award is based on literacy and youth services projects and programs supported during the current Rotary year. Thanks to all members who have supported such projects this year.
Funding: On April 11, the Board voted to support the following: $250 for Maine Adaptive Ski-Athon; $500 each for three food pantries: Westbrook Food Pantry, Gorham Food Pantry and Stroudwater Food Pantry. The Board also voted to offer "most improved" scholarships of $500 each to both Westbrook High School and Gorham High School. Each school will nominate a graduating student. Finally, the Board voted to provide $1000 to the DECA students attending the International Convention in Anaheim CA happening this week.
CLYNK: As of 4/23 we have submitted 3740 containers to CLYNK for Hannaford Community Cash. Since we started this program in October of 2016, we have had two quarters of payouts totaling $147, with the second quarter 40% higher than the first. Thanks to all for your support to date. Keep the bags coming.
Five students from the WRVC are heading to the DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim CA this week, April 26-29. These students all placed well in State competition, earning them the right to attend and compete at Anaheim.
Our club was pleased to help them with their trip by providing $1000. The check was presented by Mike Foley at our April 11 meeting.
Pictured with W-G Rotary Member, DECA Alum, and former State Office of Maine DECA Mike Foley (R) are: Isaiah McGill, Senior, Hospitality Services Team; Anthony Morrison, Senior, Hospitality Services Team; Matt Berry, Senior, Buying and Merchandising Team; Zach Pelletier, Sophomore, Sports and Entertainment Marketing; Isaac Noyes, Junior, Buying and Merchandising Team
Thanks to Rev Mutima Peter and Intercultural Community Center business manager Karen Collins for sharing the vision and programming of the ICC and associated Power School in Westbrook during our weekly Rotary luncheon meeting April 11. The ICC is a safe haven and learning center for immigrants and refugees/asylees in our Westbrook and Greater Portland community.
L-R: Phil Spiller, Mutima Peter, Susan McCarthy, Karen Collins
Their building was purchased in August of 2013 by the Bethel Christian Center. The Power School started with its first Summer School Program in the summer of 2014 and has served over 120 children in grades 3-8 as it approaches its 4th year of operation.
The ICC and its programs are 100% grant-funded, and supports about a dozen teachers, drivers, and administrative staff who coordinate the program and its 15-20 volunteers who provide homework help and tutoring. There is no cost to attend, as the families of participants are not able to afford tuition expense. ICC looks to other community organizations to help spread the word about their work, and to help connect them to fundraising opportunities.
The ICC's first community Open House will be held on Wednesday April 26th, from 4-6pm at its location at 36 Parick St in Westbrook, off Terminal St from Larrabee Rd. For more information, visit their website: http://iccmaine.org
On April 8, 2017, six members of our Club attended the District Training Assembly at USM's Abromson Center. After a welcome assembly in Hannaford Hall which featured a roll call of the clubs by District Secretary Deb Grabowski, attendees moved to breakout sessions. There were special sessions for the PEs, Secretaries, Treasurers, and Protection officers, as well as sessions of interest to all members. Attendees learned about District and Global grants, fundraising for all club sizes, membership recruiting and engagement, and youth services, among other "hot" topics.
L-R: Scott Linscott, Christine Johnson, Bill Chadwick, Bill Gowen.
Not pictured: Jason Beever, Dave Rolfe
Our own Scott Linscott was roaming with his camera and took some wonderful pictures that are featured on our Facebook page. Bill Chadwick created a powerful display featuring our proposed Global Grant in Guatemala to drill and provide clean water for four communities. The water bottles filled with nasty looking water drove home the point that access to clean water is a priority for the communities we hope to help. Bill was excited by the response received and now has a line on several clubs interested in partnering on this important water project.
The conference drew to a close with two raffle drawings, one for those attending our District Conference and one for those attending the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta. As luck would have it, Christine Johnson won both raffles!! As a gesture of thanks, Christine gave the Atlanta prize to fellow AG Ann Schieber who had done such a wonderful job organizing the District Training Assembly. Thanks Ann!!
Ann Schieber (top), eventually received the Atlanta
Westbrook-Gorham Rotary has been volunteering in a reading program at Gorham's Village School since early December 2016. This reading program was started by VP Kate Wight in close collaboration with Jacquie Lortie, Literacy Specialist at the Village School and Principal Brian Porter. Kate was inspired during the 2016 District Training Assembly where she learned about a similar program that has been supported by Brunswick area Rotary clubs for several years.
Each volunteer reads with three children per visit, working with each child for about 20 minutes at a time. The children read aloud from books or lessons provided by their teachers. Two volunteers are reading with second graders and three are reading with first graders. The program will continue through this school year and will be followed up by a debrief with the team over the summer.
Pictured here are: Woody Beach, Kate Wight, Principal Brian Porter, Ethan Johnson, Christine Johnson, and Steve Rand
2017 District Conference - May 19-21, 2017- Samoset Resort, Rockport ME. For more information and to sign up: http://rotary7780.org/event/copy-of-district-training-assembly--usm/
2017 International Convention - June 10-17, 2017 - Atlanta GA - Georgia World Congress Center - http://www.rotaryconvention2017.org
District Changeover Ceremony - Camp Hinds in Raymond - 5-10PM - The changeover ceremony will be followed by supper and the RYLA graduation ceremony. All members are welcome to attend. A small fee will be charged for those who wish to join the RYLA attendees for dinner.
We have been receiving many requests to provide programs this year so have not assigned members to specific weeks as we have done in the past.
If you have an idea for a program, please contact Christine Johnson. We are currently seeking programs for two dates in May and are also looking out into July.
Here is the list of upcoming dates with speakers and their sponsors:
4/25 - Club Assembly
5/2 - Kate Wight - Jacquie Lortie - Gorham Village School
5/9 - Jason Beever - Meris Bickford Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals
5/16 - WHS Interact - Dr Bruce Dyer & Students
5/23 - Barbara Nichols - Director Westbrook Schools Nutrition Program
5/30 - Vanessa Pike - Membership Director Visit Portland
6/6 - David S. Nealley- Publisher MAINE SENIORS Magazine
6/13 - Andrew Turcotte - Russian Sister City Updates
6/20 - Betty Balderston - Elder Abuse Prevention
6/27 - Changeover Ceremony - Welcome Dr Bill Chadwick as our new President
7/4 - No Meeting - Happy Independence Day
7/11 - No Lunch Meeting - See you at the Lobster Boil
Portland - Fridays 12:15PM at Holiday Inn by the Bay or Clarion
check website for current week's venue
Portland Sunrise - Thursdays 7:15AM
Cumberland Club 116 High St Portland
Falmouth - Mondays 4:30PM
American Legion Post 65 Depot Rd Falmouth
Scarborough - Tuesdays 5:45PM
Cabela's 100 Cabela's Blvd Scarborough
Sebago Lake Rotary Club - Thursdays 12:15PM
Dena's Lobster House & Tavern 765 Roosevelt Trail Windham
OR you can always claim a make up by attending Rotary-sponsored events of our club or other clubs like fundraisers, 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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