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We meet Thursdays at 12:15 PM
Portsmouth Country Club

80 Country Club Lane
2nd Floor
Greenland, NH 03840
United States of America

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Top of the Week December 12, 2018

Top of the Week!

December 12, 2018

Important Note About Upcoming Meetings

We will also be having our regular scheduled Thursday meeting on the 13th.

In observance of Christmas and New Years Days, no meeting will be held on December 27 or January 3.

Donate $25 Gift Cards to Rotary Partner Cross Roads House

Thursday, December 13^th will be the last day our club will be collecting $25 gas cards or $25 Walmart cards for our 2018-2019 Rotary partner, Cross Roads House. These cards will be given to residents as a part of our holiday giving. Thank you to all for your generous giving for those struggling during this holiday season.

Christmas Tree Sales

Thank you to everyone who had taken the time out of their schedules to fulfill their 3 Christmas tree shifts. A special thanks to the Rotarians who have gone above and beyond to volunteer for more than three shifts. If you haven't already fulfilled your required 3 shifts please contact John Flagg to see what shifts are needed for this weekend and next week. As of yesterday, there are about 200 trees left. We will begin offering the table top trees for $15. We have more bows and can continue to sell wreaths with bows for $15.00 and without for $12.00. We also still have the Bird Seed Wreaths for $20.00. Please consider these for your own friends and family as well. And of course, everyone one of you should be taking home a collectable ornament for your own tree. If you have pulled a shift in the last couple of days and happened to leave the site with a utility knife, please return it to the trailer or bring it to lunch Thursday. Keep a look out in your email for when tree sales have officially closed.

"The Music Hall Magazine" Honors Jim Labrie

AmeriCorps Seeks Rotary Volunteers

Mary Kelliher is the Volunteer Coordinator for AmeriCorps working out of Portsmouth Housing's Greenleaf Recreation Center with the Resident Services team which assists low-income residents, senior residents, and residents with disabilities in finding resources for different needs, such as budgeting, financial literacy, transportation, etc. Mary and AmeriCorps is seeking volunteers who would be willing to volunteer. One example of a volunteer opportunity is assisting an older female resident who lives alone in moving heavy furniture (strong people needed!) into and from a UHaul during her planned move from her Feaster apartment to Connor's Cottage. If there are any volunteers intersted in lending a hand please contact Mary at maryk@nh-pha.com.

Sorry We Missed You

If you have a makeup for a missed meeting, please email it to the following link:

Makeups

Check Your Profile

The Communications Committee is asking that everyone log onto ClubRunner and check your profile to make sure it is up to date. Change is part of life and we hope to be able to reflect those changes in our website. Happy surfing.

Rotary Connections is back!!!

Rotary Connections let’s our members know that their Rotary club is thinking of them. Members facing a health issue, death in the family or a life celebration, we are here!

If you know of any of our members who may need a Rotary Connections, please reach out to the Cathy Nickerson or President Ben.

Let us Know What is Happening!

If you have an event or news that you would like to share with your fellow Rotarians, please forward the information to Dennis Moulton for inclusion in the weekly eBulletin. My contact information is d-moulton@comcast.net. And please send photos!

Rotary Log for December 6, 2018

Rotary Log for Meeting of December 6, 2018

It was a beautiful, sunny December day. We began our meeting with respectful and admiring comments about George H. W. Bush. The 41^stpresident passed away earlier in the week. We recalled fondly that he was the only sitting chief executive to visit our club. So today, the Star-Spangled Banner was dedicated to him. And we did a decent job of it!

Lots of guests and lots of announcements. Ramona Dow announced that Basic Needs gave $1500 to Friends in Action, and $1500 to Catholic Charities. Barb Miller told us that the Cash committee awarded $1500 to Friends Forever. The money goes to build a shed. An additional contribution will be made at the request of Dave Underhill to address New Hampshire’s opioid crisis.

Joanie made lots of announcements about the Interact kids and all the wonderful things they have been doing. Activities like collecting crutches, stuffing stockings, helping to unload Christmas trees, working the soup kitchen and a lot more….Maureen Sullivan thanked the Jeremy Alex Fund for money to help with child advocacy programs… Our club also made a donation to PMAC. That gift goes to those who love music but need a little scholarship support.

As usual, the Rotary historical minute was brilliant. Today we put out baskets to collect tips for the wait staff at the Portsmouth Country Club. It turns out on December 24, 1931, our club gave the head waiter, Otto, an annual gift of five dollars. In today’s dollars that would be about $76.55. Each waitress was given two dollars or $30.62 in 2018 currency.

Ben Wheeler won the raffle and the $25 bonus! Don't spend it all in one place, Ben.

Local physician, Dr. Tom Clairmont, spoke to us today about affordable healthcare. Turns out, with all the "questions" from the audience, we actually had three or four speakers. This is certainly a topic that generates a wide variety of opinions, some of them very passionate.

Dr. Clairmont believes that we should demand Medicare expansion to cover all employees. He feels that all employees should be completely covered by the employer's contribution to the care. Further, he maintains that there should be no deterrence to somebody seeking health care. Employers shouldn’t have to read insurance proposals or consider whether an employee is full-time. In fact, under a new Medicare system, an employer won't have to figure out your individual plan based on the number of employees. All you pay is a percentage of payroll to cover all of your employees.

Lots of other good things could happen with an expanded Medicare program. Worker's Compensation insurance will decrease since the medical component is covered by Medicare. Auto and liability insurance is reduced because the medical component is covered. Retiree health care costs go down because they are already covered. Your future cost will be more predictable since they will be based on payroll, not the whim of an insurance executive. Business owners won't have the risk of hiring new employees with pre-existing conditions.

In addition to all that, Clairmont maintains that unions won't be negotiating healthcare costs and you won't need to employ a benefit manager. Even your property taxes will decrease because towns will no longer need to pay for employee health insurance!

Have a merry Christmas!

Respectfully submitted, Jon Flagg

Photos By Matthew Randall

Annual Senior Holiday Celebration

ANNUAL SENIOR HOLIDAY CELEBRATION

December 10, 2018

Conviviality reigned supreme during our annual Senior Holiday Celebration. The club began sponsoring this Celebration over 21 years ago. It has been a welcoming Christmas social for local senior residents ever since.

This was the fifth Celebration organized by our own Cindi Shanley. Co-organizer Julia Ghigliotti now has two years under her belt. Well-deserved kudos go to Cindi and Julia for the success of this year’s event. How successful? The 150 senior guest list openings were filled in less than three hours a few weeks ago! An estimated 50 additional seniors were on the wait list.

On to the event itself. President Cleo Villaflores led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance. Invocator John Rice faced tough initial competition from the animated conversational buzz of 180 diners. John’s hearty baritone voice prevailed and his invocation was heard and appreciated by all.

Background music was stirringly provided by Portsmouth High School’s Instrumental Ensemble. The 26-piece group was ably led by Steve Cirillo.

As Santa Claus mingled with the crowd, President Cleo made a stunning revelation. Apparently for the last 20 years our Santa has been impersonating Portsmouth’s Bob Lister, former mayor and school superintendent. Thanks, Bob, for your ho-ho-ho help!

The Seacoast Community School is celebrating 50 years of providing early learning experiences for Seacoast children. Executive Director Peter Gilmore introduced this year’s “Spotted Turtles Class.” These precious preschoolers provided their own rendition of “Jingle Bells” and “Reindeer Hokey-Pokey.” (As in “you put your antlers in, you put your antlers out, you put your antlers is and you shake them all about,” etc.)

Cleo formally thanked Rotarian businesses and others that provided gift donations. Sponsors include the Salvation Army of Portsmouth (Major Reed), Infinite Imaging (Bill Hurley) and State Farm Insurance (Aileen Dugan.) Other sponsors are Direct Printing and Graphics (Lindsey Hery) and The Provident Bank (Tristan Shanley.)

There were two drawings before the $128 raffle prize was finally awarded. The first ticket drawn went unclaimed. The second was won by a mysterious senior guest “Lady in Red.”

The ending Holiday Sing-A-Long was highlighted by a special guest appearance of our very own “Rotations” musical group. Organized by John Rice and keynoted by Ashley Bush, this band includes Trish Cummings, Joe Cunningham, Donna Lewallen and Judy Loto.