Rotary eBulletin for the week of August 18, 2014
Top of the week: Thunder Chicken blasts off at 9 am Saturday
The 22d Thunder Chicken Road Race is this Saturday August 23rd . Registration is 7:30 A.M. at Strawbery Banke/Peirce Island. The race starts at 9 A.M.
Race Director Justin Finn says we still need volunteers for water stations, pre-race registration and clean-up. According to Finn, we are on pace for reaching a goal of 300 runners.
For more information, go to https://www.millenniumreg.com/thunder-chicken-5k-2014 to sign-up and tell family, friends to run and like us on Facebook.
There will be all kinds of cool prizes, Finn says. In addition runners will receive gifts and a swag bag, Special guest stars Shrek and of course the one and only Thunder Chicken will be there.
Basic Needs Update:
Our Portsmouth Rotary granted over $30,000 in Basic Needs funding during the last Rotary year. These donations are evidence of our Club’s continuing commitment to community service and to improving the lives of all people in our community. The recipients range from those who help feed the hungry, to a facility that helps shelter the homeless to providing services of a recently formed non-profit that helps those suffering from mental illness. To find a complete list of the funds approved and donated click here: http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/SitePages/SitePage.aspx?accountid=6644&pid=55823&sid=130882
Here are the notes from our Rotary meeting of August 14, as reported by Cleo Villaflores. Photographs by Jim Rini.
Full slide show here: http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=60905
President Tricia Cummings introduced our guests District Governor Lawrence Furbish and his spouse Barbara Sutcliff.
Justin Finn and Cleo Villaflores announced that the 22nd Annual Thunder Chicken road race is this Saturday, August 23 at Strawberry Banke with the start slated for 9 a.m. Cleo asked for more volunteers and Justin requested that all Rotarians to help out by recruiting runners. He also thanked a long list of sponsors. We’ll be listing this sponsors next week.
District Governor Furbish, who lives in Sanford, Maine, was our speaker. He has been a Rotarian more than eight years. Furbish has traveled extensively overseas. He urged all of us to take advantage of international Rotary opportunities. International travel can change your life, Furbish said. In fact his talk focused on how Rotary can changes lives. As Rotarians, he said, each of us plays a role in making things happen within our community and internationally.
A recent Rotary survey revealed that many people didn't even know what Rotary is and how we help our communities. As a club, we need to get the word out. Furbish adds that we can't grow if we don't ask people to come to our meetings. If potential members don't come, they won't join.
Furbish explained that Rotary International has three important initiatives happening this year :
1. Strengthen clubs that make up RI. We are gaining members but often losing them just as fast. We can maybe retain or increase membership by thinking outside of the box and forming satellite clubs, e-clubs and after hours social clubs.
2. Increase Humanitarian Services. We can do this, among other ways, through fundraisers and mission trips.
3. Enhance Public awareness. There are lots of ways to accomplish this. Some of these could be sponsoring events in our community, promoting the Rotary District Newsletter and through social media. Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter are also ways to promote our club and help it grow and gain recognition in the community. Furbish urges all of us to go online and like our Facebook page.
In closing Furbish reminded us all of the Four Way Test and the Rotary Code of Conduct. He also briefly discussed the Rotary Foundation and how those funds are distributed.
The raffle was won by Bill Hurley and there was no match! Better luck next time!
"Mankind is our Business" - Charles Dickens
Cleo
Download the website sponsorship guide