Rotary Log: November 10, 2011 (Waterville Valley)

Lisa Mills introduced the visiting guests and their sponsors

New member Justin Finn was introduced by his sponsor Ed Mallon. Ed mentioned that Justin was a product of the Blue Skies Program and exemplified the attributes of “please, thank you, being on-time, and he does what he says he will do”

Justin started with a quote from Ronald Reagan…”Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they have made a difference, Marines don’t have that problem”. Happy birthday to the Marines! Justin said that he was “coming home” after 7 years away from Rotary. 16 years ago as a freshman at Portsmouth High School, Justin became a Rotarian and attended the meetings at Yokens….enjoying the free lunch and being out of school. He quickly realized that he was learning life lessons each week there. His best life lesson..”learning humility and compassion”. Rotary is a special place for Justin and he thanked all of the Rotarians, past & present, that helped him throughout difficult times and he also thanked Ed for sponsoring him. He is excited to meet all of his fellow Rotarians and to carry on a great tradition.

Announcements:

The Morning Club (Seacoast Rotary Club) is holding their Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k at Pease on Thanksgiving morning. More information can be found at their website along with a link on our website. They already have over 1,400 participants and have a capacity for 2,000!

Fred Pettigrew has his Portsmouth Scenes photographs available for sale to the membership.

Judy Ringer requests volunteer “bell-ringers” for the Salvation Army at Market Square on Tuesday, 12/13 from 10am – 4pm

Basil announced the Rotary Holiday Flower sale (Poinsettias & Cyclamen) for $25 each. The goal is to sell 100 of them. They make great holiday gifts!

Aileen Dugan asked for volunteer bakers and donators for the 40th annual Rotary Thanksgiving Day Dinner at the Greek Church. This is a community sit-down dinner and open to all individuals, families, and children. Also needed are donated items for seniors for Christmas. See the website for more details or email/call Aileen!

Mort Schmidt gave a very informative presentation on the Rotary Foundation. November is Rotary Foundation Month and Mort provided a history along with a reflection on the purpose, goals, and achievements of the Foundation.

Arch Klumph noted in 1916 that “Rotary is the Movement of the Century” and proposed that an endowment be created for the purpose of “doing good in the world”. In 1930 only $1,600 was in the fund but by 1948 it had grown to $1.3m and the first scholarship was established. Since 1947 over 1,200 scholars per year have been sent abroad and a total of 35,000 have been sent making this the largest private scholarship in the world.

Mort indicated that the purpose of the Foundation is to further international understanding, goodwill, peace and human rights throughout the world. This international understanding will be the main ingredient toward world peace. Participants foster new ideas, skills, understanding and commitment to world peace and the Rotary Foundation, serving over 30,000 communities around the world is changing the world forever.

Norm Olsen introduced the guest speaker of the meeting, Chris Sununu – District 3 Executive Council member and the CEO of Waterville Valley Resort. Chris was raised in Salem and now lives in Newfields with his wife and two children. He received his Bachelor of Science degree at MIT.

Chris started his presentation by mentioning that Waterville Valley was originally developed by Tom Corcoran in the 1960’s. The mountain hosted 11 World Cup races…the most by any resort in the United States. In the 90’s Tom sold the resort to a group from California that ran the property like a business but it was not a local, New England managed entity. Chris and his family grew up at Waterville Valley and he wanted to get it back to “the New Hampshire Way”. He closed on the property a little over one year ago and has since made it a local resort with local bankers, investors, and workers. He wanted to get the family aspect back to the Resort.

Since the investment is completely dependent on the weather and <during a recession> is based on discretionary income as it’s financial return…..why get involved? Chris said that the property is a “great NH asset” and as a self-contained “island” of a location he also purchased the conference center and village square.

Chris said the key to running a successful operation is to hire the right people and he, as the CEO, can keep the ship steered in the right direction. He also mentioned that the key is to have all of the resorts in the region act in friendly competition to market their products most efficiently. Waterville is heavily involved in “give-back” programs such as the Youth Enrichment in Sports (YES) program for inner city kids and the “Best Buddies NH” program which pairs children with disabilities with children without disabilities on the mountain. He said that when times are tough it is important to share resources with other resorts in the region and to think more regionally and globally in their marketing efforts. They also work closely with the NH Dept. of Economic Development (DRED) in attracting more people to the north country.

During the question period of his presentation, Chris mentioned that Watervill spent over $2.5m in upgrades last year and has an aggressive expansion strategy. They lease from the National Forest Service and plan to double or triple the size of the resort over the next 10-15 years making Waterville a true 21st Century Resort. They are also working toward making Waterville a four-season destination with additional summer activities and upgrades.

The 50-50 winner was Deb Grabowski, however she was not lucky enough to pick the $450 bonus ticket. Thus, next week’s bonus will be $475.

Meeting was adjourned