Stories

Rotarians Celebrate Puddledock Pond
Social Skating Night, Sunday February 22, 2015
Rotary donated hundreds of hands-on hours, $30,000 to build the rink
...a great time was had by all! Click on album at bottom of your eBulletin for more photos!

Rotary returns to the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen this month

New schedule of service

We still have openings for you in March and beyond!

Feb 24, Tuesday- (Schedule is full for this date) - Jay Gibson, David Holden, Sara Treacy (shift leader), Dave Underhill, Luis Melchor

Mar 31, Tuesday - Aileen Dugan and Cleo Villaflores (shift leaders), Jerry and Alyson Gray NEED one more person.

April 28- Tuesday - Ramona and Jerry Dow NEED 3 more people including shift leader

June 16- Tuesday

Sept 15- Tuesday

October 27- Tuesday

Procedure:  Volunteers arrive at the Salvation Army on Middle St, behind the John Paul Jones House, at 4:15 P.M.  The Rotarian shift leader will have already picked up the food from Edgewood Centre and delivered it to the SA kitchen.

Volunteers set up the dining room: chairs, trays, silverware, desserts, coffee, beverages, arrange serving tables under the direction of the shift leader. Dining room opens at 5pm and closes at 6pm. Rotarians serve food and drinks to diners. One Rotarian stays in kitchen and washes trays. At 6pm all diners are gone and tables are wiped down, food put away, kitchen wiped down and we are finished by 6:15.  

MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK! AND WE HAVE LOTS OF FUN SERVING!

Rotary Log for meeting of January 8, 2015  by Tristan Shanley

 

President Tricia welcomed the club to our first meeting of 2015. She announced there would be no general announcements this week to allow for additional time for our guest speaker. The club did unanimously vote to nominate Dave Underhill as a candidate for 2017 Rotary District Governor.Tricia further announced she will be hosting a fundraising committee meeting Friday, January 16th at 8am at The Edgewood Center. The purpose of the meeting will be to review the fundraising focus of 2015.  

 

Bob Field introduced our guest speaker, Dudley Dudley, a former New Hampshire State Legislator. Dudley spear-headed the Save Our Shores movement of 1974. This was an initiative created to stop Aristotle Onassis from building the world’s largest oil refinery on Durham Point. Onassis had already made himself world famous by marrying the widowed Jackie Kennedy. But his refinery project would have a devastating impact on our environment, not to mention quality of life.

 

 

The scheme came in the midst of high inflation, a faltering economy and a severe shortage of gas and oil. The gas shortage created long lines at the pump as consumers could only purchase gas on odd or even dates. The richest man of his day, Onassis claimed his refinery would bring jobs to our state. As Dudley explained, however, few workers in New Hampshire possessed the specific skills a refinery requires. The coveted jobs would be outsourced. That was only one of a series of distortions and half-truths put out by Olympic, Ari’s company, according to Dudley. 

 

Dudley was a rookie, first term legislator but had friends and a plan.  She created House Bill 18 which stated that proposals like building an oil refinery constitute a state of emergency. As such, the legislature would have to act on it immediately and not wait until it was in session.

 

The oil refinery would require blasting in Rye and Hampton. A pipe connecting Durham Point to a terminal at the Isles of Shoals would run through much of the Seacoast’s pristine marsh lands. Dudley worked hard to obtain 4,000 signatures to stop it. When taped together, the petitions lined the length of Main Street in Durham. She then presented the papers to Governor Mel Thompson, who supported the refinery. Thompson basically threw her out of his office. 

 

A Durham town meeting followed. The vote was nine to one in opposition to the refinery.  On the day of legislation in Concord, the billionaire’s proposal was denied due to a zoning issue in the town of Durham.  Dudley made mention of the small publication, Publik Occurrences, which first introduced her to the oil refinery proposal. She also gave nod to Nancy Sandberg and Phyllis Bennett for their contributions to the cause. The three influential women have a bench dedicated to them in Wagon Hill Park for all to admire.

 

 

​

Editor's note: Here is the link to a video about this controversy, if you are interested in learning more:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuruQX0VsvE

 

Log submitted by Tristan Shanley

Club photos by Sara Treacy

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Portsmouthrotary.org 3.0, as we update the Portsmouth Rotary website.  

Our club website has been converted to a new cloud server platform on Clubrunner 3.0.  There's a whole new navigational look and feel, which includes new mobile displays.  Most of these changes are meant to make our site friendlier to the members of our general community (as but one illustration, a pathway that explains how an organization might request funds from our club (Get Involved > Request Funds > General Information, followed by specific funds and grant commitee pages).  We will be adding a lot more information about the many areas of Rotary service, to better explain "What is Rotary" to members of the public.  We don't want to be the best-kept secret on the Seacoast!

If you're a member of Portsmouth Rotary, everything you used to have is here (somewhere).  Please explore the new simple navigation and give us feedback.   There are still articles that need to be written or updated, but for the most part the initial conversion is complete.   Club documents and directories require you to log in.

There is a new "member login" button on the home page, and your user name and password are unchanged.   Most club management functions are unchanged; there are, however, a few new tricks for posting articles and photos on the site which we will review with the bulletin and log editors and photographers.     Speaking of which...we need volunteer writers to complete new pages for the website, so please raise your hand by contacting Rich Ryzman, John Rice or Dave Underhill.   Thanks!

Mobile devices: if you view our site on a smartphone, try entering this URL and bookmarking it as your Rotary home-page, it is a mobile-friendly display.   You can discontinue use of the old Clubrunner "app" which is not being supported in the future.   Log in to: http://portal.clubrunner.ca/6644 and then use your sign-in credentials to access the member directory and other club informaiton.

If you have ongoing problems with the website, please email me: dave@underhilladvisors.com.  Thank you for your patience and feedback!  

Dave Underhill/Portsmouth Rotary Webmaster

 

Rotary Club of Portsmouth, Box 905, Portsmouth NH 03801.  Content on this site is copyright 2015 by Rotary Club of Portsmouth, or is copyright to individual content authors and used by permission.  Banner photograph courtesy Fred Pettigrew. 

Congratulations !  The trees are gone, but the warmth continues.   This story aired on NECN, New England Cable News, on December 23.

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Rotary-Club-Offers-Free-Christmas-Trees-286722171.html

 

Thanks to our friends at SMG for this wonderful write-up, which was front-page top-of-fold in the Portsmouth Herald print edition Tuesday morning Dec. 23.

 http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20141222/NEWS/141229814

Photo by Deb Cram/Seacoast Online

Rotary Photo: After Rink, Ringer-Cummings and Ringer-Ringer Ring in the Christmas Season

Thanks to each and every one of you, Portsmouth Rotary's  2014 Annual Christmas Tree Sale has concluded with over 1500 trees sold to community members near and far.  This project takes many hands and I thank you all for contributing your time, effort and energy during this busy holiday season.  How lucky are we to have the opportunity to so richly serve the community and raise nearly $40,000 for our scholarship programs, local non-profit funding and other worthwhile community projects?  It truly is better to give than to receive.

Special thanks to our community partners such as the Interact Club, the Seacoast Mavericks as well as many friends and neighbors who joined our club in staffing many shifts this selling season!  We literally could not have pulled this off without these inspiring youth leaders and community members.  Our future is in very good hands!

If I could give you each something this Holiday Season, it would be the gift of knowing that your efforts, large or small, tangible, or simply in thought, really do make a difference.  As for me, I'll be ending 2014 with a smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.

In gratitude and with heartfelt appreciation, 

Tricia

Happy Holidays!

Portsmouth Rotary has concluded its annual tree sale at Lafayette Plaza (Philbricks/Planet Fitness plaza) and invites the public and club members to visit, take one or more of any remaining trees, and deliver it to someone who could use a happy gift this holiday season.  

 

The trees, and a small number of wreaths, are available until the supply runs out. 

 

Rotary thanks everyone on the Seacoast for making this year’s tree sale such a great success.   Club volunteer workers sold over fifteen hundred trees, along with hundreds of wreaths and ornaments.    All net fundraising proceeds are returned to the Seacoast community through scholarships and grants to other non-profit organizations.

 

Happy holidays to all, with gratitude from the 160 members of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

First, a reminder that our club will not meet on Christmas Day nor on New Year's Day, so our next weekly lunch meeting is January 8, 2015.  The board meeting will be the day before, Wednesday January 7.

Please excuse our electronic dust during the weeks after Christmas and New Year's.  We will be constructing our new website, and there may be times the site looks "less than tidy" during the conversion process.   While this change should not affect email, attendance or other functionality for our members and directors, there's a small possibility of some disruptions in these areas, so if something doesn't work for you, try again in a few hours.  If there's an outage that interferes with your Rotary work (particularly the secretary), call Dave.

Once the new site is up and running, we'll be looking for committee chairs and volunteers to write fresh articles about their areas of interest.   This is being coordinated by Rich Ryzman.  

Thanks!

Webmaster/PP and former captain Dave 

Suzanne Laurent photo courtesy of Seacoast Online

Congratulations to Past President Nancy, with great thanks for her decades of service to our community and our club!

Coverage of the presentation, Seacoast Online:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20141218/NEWS/141219154

Story by Mark Lorusso and photos by Leo Gagnon

Complete slideshow here:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61721

As we head into the holiday season, Christmas tree sales are surging. The Puddle Dock ice rink is now operational, as well. All thanks in large part to generous donations of time and effort by several Rotarians.  Not to forget the key donation made by our Club—more on that later.  Ted Alex merits a special note of thanks for spearheading the project.  Many thanks, Ted.

We began our meeting with a moment of silence for the Club’s recent losses of member Otto Grote and Dave Holden’s beloved wife, Rinda Hill.  Otto may be remembered best as the Rotarian who set the record for the longest introductory speech. He began with his birth.  Twenty minutes into his speech, then head of Rotary Information, John Hebert, stood up and paid a hefty fine. The levy covered Otto’s supposedly brief introduction. Just another one of those countless precious Rotary Club memories.

Guests and visiting Rotarians were introduced. They included Louise Richardson, Melanie Samson, Joan Rice and Eric Wells.

Janice Wood then proposed a list of officers and directors for the upcoming 2015-2016 club year.  Following Mort Schmidt’s seconded motion to approve the proposal with a single voice vote, the motion and proposal carried unanimously.  Congratulations to our incoming officers and board members!

 

 

Tree sales reaching the goal!  As of Wednesday morning we have about 250 trees and under 50 wreaths left on our lot!  Great quality and still good inventory, but please get there soon because we want to sell-out and enjoy the holidays.   We need some additional club member help for the weekend, please call or email James Petersen if you can pitch in.  We're heading to a great fundraising conclusion, with a lot of fun and fellowship mixed in.  Thank you for all your work to make it happen.

Facebook: are you on the Portsmouth Rotary Club Facebook page yet?  Check it out.   If you are, be sure to "like" the page, and "share" posts that interest you with your own Facebook friends.  We used this page over the weekend to reach over three thousand people in 24 hours...it can be a powerful tool, and you are the engine to make it work.

 

At our lunch meeting last week, as required by the bylaws, the membership approved the slate of officers and directors as presented by the nominating committee.   This board will take office July 1, 2015.  

Past President                       Tricia Cummings

President                               William Hurley                                                                        

President Elect                      James Petersen 

Vice President                       Ben Wheeler

Secretary                               Deb Grabowski

Assistant Sec                        Marci Bergan

Sergeant at Arms                  Justin Finn           

Asst: Sergeant at Arms         Cleo Villaflores                               

Treasurer                               Joe Bove

Asst: Treasurer                      Steve Wood      

Director                                  Aileen Dugan

Director                                  Barbara Miller                   

Club Service director             John Bohenko

Vocational Service director   John Rice

Community Service director  Diane Lavigne

International Service director Bob Herold

New Generations director      Andy Chace

Senior Dir.                              Nancy Notis

Senior Dir.                              Dave Underhill

Senior Dir.                              Neal Ouellett

 

 

Friday December 12: the rink is open!  Portsmouth Rotary Club donated over 250 person-hours to the construction project, and the club has contributed a total of $30,000 toward the cost of this wonderful new resource.   Join us every Saturday afternoon for the Portsmouth Rotary Club FREE Public Skate, at 3:15 PM.  Congratulations to Strawbery Banke Museum on the launch of this community facility.  

PORTSMOUTH ROTARY EMAIL ALERT

 

Please put mailservice@clubrunner.ca in your contact file and in your “safe senders file” in your email client(s), computers and mobile devices.

 

Please check your spam filters (junk filters) to see if Rotary emails may have gone there in the last two weeks or so. 

 

Emails you should have received this week include the weekly club eBulletin at about 8:00 AM on Tuesday December 9, and various notes about tree schedules, the meeting reminder and the services for Rinda Hill and Otto Grotte.

 

There have been server changes at Clubrunner, our web/mail provider, which may have caused these messages to “go to spam” for some recipients.

 

Note from the Communications Team:

 

We will be converting our Rotary website to a new cloud-based server platform within Clubrunner beginning after Christmas, and continuing into January.   You may experience short-term interruptions to portsmouthrotary.org because of this process, and you will see changes to the website.

 

If you have any questions, please email dave@underhilladvisors.com or call Dave at 603-706-3143.  We expect disruptions to be minimal and we will have a new web look with more mobile features and public-facing information about Portsmouth Rotary during January.   Thanks, and happy holidays to all!

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth is excited to announce the arrival of its 2014 Holiday Ornament. 21st in its series featuring historic Portsmouth landmarks, this year’s 24 carat gold-plated ornament features a lovely rendition of the new Puddle Dock Pond at Strawbery Banke. Only 850 of these limited edition ornaments have been produced. Each is numbered and presented in a felt case embossed with the Rotary emblem and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

 

 Many people banded together to build an ice skating venue that fit the museum’s historical surroundings and brought people of all ages together to enjoy this traditional New England sport. It’s truly a wonderful addition to the city of Portsmouth.

 

Since last year’s New Memorial Bridge ornament was a complete sell out, we were able to commission a second special edition and it will be available along with this year’s ornament. The ornaments are $17 and are available at Piscataqua Bank, Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, Optima Bank at Harbor Place and Pease Tradeport.  

Slideshow and photographs by Jim Rini, article by Cleo Villaflores.

 http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61677

Just a reminder from Priscilla MacInnis that if you are interesting in helping with Rotary's annual Thanksgiving event cooking, serving, or delivering turkeys, please sign up next Thursday, or let her know.  Remember that Thanksgiving is ONLY two weeks away!

Our next meeting's speaker will be Valerie Rochon from the Chamber.  Her topic will be "Maintaining Portsmouth as a Tourist Attraction".

 

The November 6th meeting began with an invocation by Reverend Gordon Allen. And we were honored with District Area Governor Midge Nelson's presence today.

Paper ballots were distributed to members to elect four past presidents to the Nominating Committee.  Elected were Janice Wood, Ted Alex and Tony Delyani. 

David "Lou" Ferland announced that "Behind the Business" would be held at Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) on the 19th.

Priscilla MacInnis urged anyone interested to sign up for cooking turkeys, delivering turkeys, and helping to serve the turkey on Thanksgiving at the Jarvis Center. 

James Petersen announced that  "Christmas tree sign-ups were wrapping up and that the next phase of sign-ups was the 'enforcement phase'. James claimed that he had full authorization from President Tricia to use whatever resources are necessary to carry out the enforcement phase. Enforcement will begin with home visits to Rotarians who have neglected to sign up for the mandatory three shifts. Unbeknownst to Basil Richardson, James said that Basil and he would be carrying out the home visits." oooooohhhh.....editor's note

Nancy Notis who, acting as Finemaster, had fun issuing fines to the unexpecting:

Nancy thanked Tony Delyani for his good work with the candidates, but wondered why there were no democrats!  She asked about Ben Wheeler's wearing Size 14 red stilettos, and charged him $5; Bob Davis was congratulated for his recent promotion and Nancy recognized Portsmouth Police Chief Steve DuBois for his appearing on NH Chronicle~charging both $5 apiece. 

Shari Donnermeyer introduced our guest, Greg Kretschmar, of "Greg and The Morning Buzz" on WHEB-FM 100.3 and WGIR-FM 101.1.  As part of her introduction, Shari shared that Greg was the third person she met when she came to Portsmouth, after Nancy Clayburgh and Nancy Notis, two other notable rotarians.

 

 

.

Rotary votes, today and every day, for a strong Seacoast!  

In this photo, basic needs committee chair Bob Lewis presents a $1,500 check to
Charlotte Duquette, Executive Director, of Seacoast 
Consumer Alliance Peer Support Center. Our check
will help fund their lunch program and food pantry.   We're Rotarians and we approved this message.

 

While we have your attention....don't miss this Thursday's Rotary lunch meeting....our guest speaker is Greg of the Morning Buzz!!!!

REMINDER~ Wreath orders are due no later than Thursday's meeting. 

 

  

With the institution of a new dress code for construction workers, Rotary Club Service Director Ben Wheeler was part of a grueling weekend of construction as Rotary helps Strawbery Banke to prepare and launch the Puddledock Pond Skating Rink.  A photo Caption contest is underway for this and other pictures that follow... (is Ben's necktie caught in the nail gun?  Is that Basil or is he over at the bank approving loan applications?  Is Mark laughing or just horrified?  ).

For a slideshow of our Rotary teams at work, click here:

 

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61532

Top of the week: for this week's meeting, we invited Governor Maggie Hassan and challenger Walt Havenstein to a forum at Rotary.   As of this writing, Mr. Havenstein has accepted and the Governor's schedule will not permit her to attend.

Puddledock Rink update:

Rotarians led by Rotary's hands-on committee chair Ted Alex have been hard at work assembling the chiller enclosure that will soon move to Strawbery Banke and be part of the Puddledock Skating rink. 

Rotary Log for Meeting of October 23 by Ben Babcock

 

President Tricia Cummings presided over the meeting on a rainy and blustery day.  John Rice led the club in singing “Oh Canada.” It was a touching nod to our neighbors from the north in the wake of the terror attack in Ottawa earlier this week.  Past President Dave Underhill led the group in the 4 Way Test and Reverend Allen provided the invocation.

 

The meeting began with a humorous anecdote from President Tricia on the importance of name badges.  There were two visiting Rotarians in attendance; Col. Leslie Smith of Concord and Paul West of Knoxville, TN.  There were many guests as well, and not an empty seat in the house.  Several birthdays were announced and prospective member David Andreesen was put on seven day notice.

Past President Diane Foley introduced the club’s newest member, Miranda Butson.  Miranda has recently returned to the seacoast area after a career in the United States Air Force and Department of Defense in Washington, DC.  She currently works for Cornerstone Title in Portsmouth, NH and also has a small private law practice.  She looks forward to contributing to the club.

 

General announcements followed.  There was a reminder about the walk across Memorial Bridge on Saturday the 25^th.  A call was put out for additional Turkey Cookers, Pie Bakers, and volunteers for Thanksgiving.   Volunteers were also requested for the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen on Wednesday October 29^th and for the Christmas Tree sales in November and December.

 

Photo courtesy David Murray, ClearEyePhoto.com.   Thank you for contributing your talent and services to this event!

An amazing Saturday this past weekend (October 25) as Rotarians from throughout district 7780, including many members of our club, turned out to bridge the polio gap.   We marked World Polio Day by spanning the Memorial Bridge from Portsmouth to Kittery to raise money and awareness for Rotary's PolioPlus campaign.  Three countries remain with endemic polio: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.   When we eliminate polio there, we have done it, and we are this close!

 

 

Top of the week: have you signed up for your three tree-sales shifts yet?  (Thanksgiving will be here before you know it.)

These Rotarians are strung out because they forgot to sign up for shifts! 

Coming Thursday: This week's program is our U.S.Senate Race political forum, Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Senator Scott Brown are the scheduled guests.

There is still time to join the PolioPlus Bridge Walk this Saturday, sign up at lunch or directly on rotary7780.org.

Construction's underway on our Strawbery Banke Puddledock project.   If you want to get involved please contact Hands-on Project Chair Ted Alex.

Slide show and meeting photos in this week's eBulletin by Bob Loch, full slideshow at this link:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61408

What happens when you turn a musician into a writer?  Continue to read as we present this week's Rotary Log meeting summary from October 16...

 

 

 

TOP OF THE WEEK:

Members last week approved the board recommendation to allocate up to $20,000 from the Ray P. Jones Fund to the Strawbery Banke Museum Puddledock Pond hands-on project.  Work gets underway this week!  Check in with Ted Alex if you'd like to join the team.  

Strawbery Banke's Rodney Rowland and Lawrence Yerdon, thanking the club for its long-running support of the museum.  

Strawbery Banke was first envisioned in a presentation to Portsmouth Rotary by Dorothy Vaughan.

 

Walk the Memorial Bridge October 25 to End Polio Now!  Sign up this week at our meeting.  For more info contact Susan Gold, visit rotary7780.org and check out this article in Monday's Seacoast Online/Portsmouth Herald:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20141013/NEWS/141019779

Good news from Seacoast Pathways, your Rotary dollars at work.  This new organization will open its doors next week, supported in part by a $1,000 William Cash Fund donation last year and a $3,500 Basic Needs Fund donation this year.  Sara Treacy is on their board of directors:    

Sara writes:

Seacoast Pathways is OPENING on Oct. 20th.   SP will be open then every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 am. to 2 p.m. including holidays. The first day will be an introduction for prospective members to the program, letting them know what to expect. For the first week or so we'll have some members of Granite Pathways, the clubhouse program in Manchester, present to share their experiences and to help our new prospective members. 

The program is free to members. There is a charge of $1.50 for lunch. (For those unable to pay we have a grant that will allow us to provide a voucher for the lunch).

Prospective members have to apply for membership. The primary requirements are to have a diagnosed mental illness, be under the care of a clinician, and to agree to abide by clubhouse rules. 

Prospective members and their families are invited to come Monday -- or any M-W-F after that. Visitors and members can come at whatever time they want to, stay as long or short as they want. Monday we'll have a sandwich lunch and a snack bar will be open. 

We're located in the North Church Parish House at 355 Spinney Road, Portsmouth. Spinney Road parallels the Rt. 1 Bypass and runs from Islington Street to Middle Road. There is a large parking lot behind the building with an entrance off of Middle Road. We meet in the Scout Room with a door from the lower parking lot leading indirectly into our room.

 

 

This week at Rotary: the Children's Museum!  If you missed the meeting last Thursday, you missed our fellowship with 97 active members present, so please enjoy the Rotary Log as written by Dick Seery, with photographs by Sara Treacy.  

 

Slideshow at this link:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61368

Top of the week:

Club vote on board of directors' resolution to approve up to $20,000 from Ray P. Jones fund to be used on the Strawbery Banke/Puddledock Rink project.  

This vote will be conducted by paper ballot this Thursday at Rotary after a quorum has been affirmed, with the results announced before the end of the meeting.   Because our meeting time is extremely limited, if you have questions that were not answered last week please phone or send an email to President Tricia or any member of the board of directors.  For further information on this vote please see the article in last week's eBulletin, which remains on the home page of portsmouthrotary.org (you don't even have to log in to find it, just scroll down on the home page), and refer to the supplemental information sent by email to all members last Thursday.

 

PolioPlus End Polio Now BridgeWalk

by Susan M. Gold

Polio is personal, particularly to Ann Lee Hussey. Many New England Rotarians are familiar with Ann Lee’s story, but for those who are new to Rotary, it’s a story that is personal to all of us. She was diagnosed with Polio when she was a toddler in 1955, a few months after the polio vaccine was distributed. Thankfully, she’s recovered since then.

Ann Lee has committed to do everything possible to eradicate Polio, and with Rotary International’s decades long mission to do the same, we can all work together to Close the Gap. Only 3 countries are polio-endemic: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. These hardest-to-reach areas make up the final 1%. We must eradicate this debilitating disease because if polio rebounds, more than 200,000 children worldwide could be paralyzed every year within a decade.

Here’s where you come in: Saturday, October 25^th, join us for a symbolic walk across our new Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth. Donate $30 and you be a part of BridgeWalk and proudly wear your End Polio Now t-shirt. Bring your family, your neighbors and friends. And here’s the best part: for every $25 donation contributed through Rotary, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will DOUBLE it by contributing an additional $50 donation for a total of $75!

Let’s all walk the bridge to keep children walking around the world. Let’s eradicate Polio in our lifetime!

Event details: Arrive at 8:30 A.M. on October 25th at Memorial Bridge; BridgeWalk at 9 A.M. 

To make an online donation: please go to rotary7780.org

To join us for the walk: register at our weekly lunch meeting; we're taking pledges and payments and signing up a team of participants.   The board of directors has already signed up, and we've raised over $2,000 to-date, which will qualify for an additional Gates Foundation match of over $4,000.   Last year, our club members donated over ten thousand dollars to PolioPlus, so your pledge in any amount will make a huge difference.

Preview the event with this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GN7cz78m7s

For more information: contact Susan Gold or Dave Underhill at Portsmouth Rotary, or event chair Susan von Hemert, Seacoast Rotary Club of Portsmouth via email at susanvonhemert@gmail.com

 

Tree Project Sign-Up Time!

Since there's not enough going on at our club yet, here's another sign of fall: sign-up for your Christmas Tree shift, beginning this Thursday at Rotary.   VP James Petersen's the king of scheduling this year, and he'll have sign-up sheets and procedures in the back of our meeting room.  All Rotarians are required to work three shifts on this project.   It's part of the three-way test of a good Portsmouth Rotary Club member: pay your dues, make your attendance, and sell trees.   Thank you!

 

Last week's Rotary meeting log follows, as reported by Dick Seery.

​Photographs by Jim Rini. Full slideshow here: http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61304

 

 

 

(Article by Nancy Notis and Dave Underhill, past presidents and board members)

What is the Ray Jones fund?  Who was Ray, and how does the fund that bears his name relate to our skating rink project at Strawbery Banke?   Let’s begin with some historical context.

 

Remembering Ray Jones

 

The late Ray Jones was an amazing man who died way too young at the age of 69 after a valiant battle with cancer.  A member of the Portsmouth Rotary Club, he served as President (1983-84) and was also a Paul Harris Fellow.  He was well known, outspoken, boisterous and a truly beloved member of our club.

 A retired United States Navy Captain, he led a very satisfying 30 year military career which included tours of duty: on a destroyer off Korea; as commanding officer of the Submarine USS Blueback; time at the Pentagon; time at the headquarters of the US European Command in Germany; and finally in 1977 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.   

After his retirement, he went into business at his home in Rye as “The Clock Doctor” doing repair and renovation of antique clocks. He was a member of the Portsmouth Propeller Club and their Lobster Bake Team.  He was a family man who loved music, reading and working on his computer.  He was an avid fisherman who kept the freezer stocked with salmon, halibut, and bluefish, with plenty to share with friends.

He loved his Portsmouth Rotary, and if you ever have wondered who inspired the tradition of selling Christmas ornaments with Rotary Christmas trees, it was Ray Jones.  Then for many years, instead of taking the #1 ornament himself he would have Walter Liff auction off the special decoration.   Of course Ray would always out bid others in support of the club’s coffers and his own ornament collection.  To this day PP Mort Schmidt continues the tradition of bidding on the prized ornament and then presenting it to Ray’s widow Marlene, who lives in Rye.

Shortly after Ray’s untimely death in 1999, the Portsmouth Rotary created an endowment to honor his memory with the establishment of a fund that ironically was not something Ray would have embraced in his lifetime. He didn’t like endowments that prevented use of principal dollars.  Even with this, the Ray Jones Endowment Fund has generously and successfully supported community capital projects at the Seacoast Y and at Crossroads House.

On October 9^th Portsmouth Rotarians will be asked to vote on monies from the Ray Jones Endowment being directed to support the hands on project at Puddle Dock Pond.

 

Ted Alex briefed our club on the scope of the hands-on project at the September 18 meeting.  He’s already hard at work putting his teams together, and will begin to fabricate and pre-assemble three buildings that are the heart of the project during the month of October.   In November, we will come together and finish the job in time for the skating season.

 

Why do we need the money, and where will it come from?

 

Portsmouth Rotary’s board of directors endorsed the project in concept, and has already allocated $10,000 firm dollars toward it.   That money came from last year’s President’s Project as well as a fund-raising surplus at the end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year. 

 

The total materials to complete the work will cost approximately $30,000.    The board agreed that was a “not to exceed cap” and on September 10 the board endorsed the idea that the remaining $20,000 could come from the Ray Jones fund we maintain with the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, where Rotary’s endowments are invested.

 

As of September, that specific fund’s balance is $88,634.40.   Of this amount, $30,000 may not be touched: the remaining $58,634.40 is available for projects deemed appropriate by our Club.   The board of directors unanimously approved funding up to $20,000 from this balance, and recommended it to the membership.   This now requires your approval (as indicated by ¾ of the club members present at our October 9 meeting) before it could be disbursed.   As a note, the fund balance increased by over $11,000 last fiscal year due to strong performance of our NHCF portfolio.

 

The club vote will be Thursday October 9. 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

 

 

 

Top of the week:

Save the date! Saturday October 25 at 9AM, for the PolioPlus walk across Living Memorial Bridge, a partnership event with Seacoast Rotary and other District 7780 clubs.   We will have full details at this Thursday's meeting.

 

Christmas Tree Sales – Sign Ups will begin on Thursday October 9^that our weekly meeting. Paper sign-up sheets will be posted on the wall in the back of the room. Each Rotarian is required to complete three shifts.  Thank you!

Rotary Meeting of 09-25-14 

Reported by Douglas Macdonald

Photographer Leo Gagnon

​Slide show at this link:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61261

 

With a commanding ring of the bell, President Tricia began the meeting.  Reverend Allen provided an insightful invocation, and the meeting began with another delicious lunch.

Details follow...

Rotary eBulletin, September 23, 2014

 

Last call for vision surveys!  Final deadline is a week from today.   If you’re putting it off, please fill it out and return to Aileen Dugan.   A weblink was sent (twice) to all members who did not attend the September 4 meeting.   We need your participation…thank you.

 

Candidate forum this week: Representative Carol Shea-Porter and GOP candidate Frank Guinta will be our Club’s guests Thursday at Rotary.   The meeting will extend to 1:30: if you must leave early, please sit in the back of the room.  Come with your questions for the candidates, and please keep them short and focused.   We expect a number of outside media outlets will record this forum.  You can find the guidelines for this candidate forum at this link (look for the candidate forum download on the left side of the page):

http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/SitePages/SitePage.aspx?cid=6644&pid=57873

Reminder: be vigilant about "phishing" attempts.  Several of us received "Rotary" emails this past week that included files which, if opened, could have caused havoc on our computers.  When in doubt--do not open an attachment!  Make a note of how you received this eBulletin, it uses the mail system we use to communicate with club members.   The source is Clubrunner, our website/support firm.   The actual URL for the sender is mailservice@clubrunner.ca, and the reply path for club emails will be the sender (an address you should recognize from our club membership).   If you ever wonder about an email being legit, please alert me to the issue by emailing dave@underhilladvisors.com or messaging me on my mobile number which you'll find in the club directory.  Also, as a general practice we don't mass-mail attachments to our members, but instead provide website links or directions so that you may log in and download or read the file in question.   

Coming soon for PolioPlus: the Rotary Clubs of our district come together to walk across Living Memorial Bridge for PolioPlus on October 25.   Here's a preview of this initiative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GN7cz78m7s

Next: our comprehensive recap of last Thursday's meeting!

Top of the week:

This Thursday's speaker will be David Murray.   The topic: Drones.  On the heels of last Thursday's program about Snowden and the NSA, we're sweeping the horizon for thought-provoking topics.   A reminder that the following week's meeting (September 25) will be the first of our three scheduled political forums to give Rotarians a chance to learn from the Congressional candidates (and in later meetings, the candidates for Governor and Senate).

 

Please note that we have not redesigned our front page, changed our typeface nor sought feedback about our eBulletin's new look....yet!  But we're working on it :)    If you're interested in Club Communication, there's a meeting on Friday -- email PP Dave for further info.    In the meantime, our team of reporters and photojournalists is hard at work to capture the essence of each week's meeting for those who are not able to be there.   

Don't forget!  Tomorrow: special barbeque meeting at PCC, celebrate Rotary and participate in updates and feedback about our club!

Photo album from last week's meeting by Leo Gagnon:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61031

Last week's program inspired us with student video from the Granite Youth Film Festival.  

Rotary Log Meeting of August 21, 2014

By Mark Lorusso

​Photos by Bob Loch: see full slideshow here:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=60962

What do you get when you cross an Athenian messenger who hailed victory over Persia with his last breath and a waffle iron?  Answer—an iconic running shoe.  Today, we learned about running and the birth of the running shoe.  What was victory to the Athenians became the brand we know as Nike today.

Portsmouth Thunder Chicken Race

Complete race results at this link, look for your favorite Rotarian!

thttp://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-2014-thunder-chicken-5k/12814

 

Photos by Jim Rini, don't miss the extensive slide show at:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=60973

 

The Portsmouth Rotary Club's 22nd annual 5K Thunder Chicken Road Race, held on Saturday, August 23, 2014, was a part of the “Run Portsmouth Road Race" series.  The race is held in memory of its founders, Rotarian George Pierce and in the memory of Anna M. & Erminio A. Ricci.

 

The Thunder Chicken 5K road race has made history, part of the local running scene for over two decades.  It has become a way to generate charitable dollars and also promote the Rotary Club of Portsmouth in the Seacoast community. 

 

Rotary 7780 District Governor Lawrence Furbish visited the club on August 14^th, where he told members that he likes to run, bicycle and travel overseas.   DG Lawrence signed up for the road race and ran the course to support the club and the community. 

Top of the week: Thunder Chicken blasts off at 9 am Saturday

The 22d Thunder Chicken Road Race is this Saturday August 23^rd . 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

Top of the week:

 

This Thursday at Rotary: it’s a big day, with the visit of District Governor Lawrence Furbish.   Please be sure join us as we give him a rousing Portsmouth welcome!

 

John Rice has agreed to take over log-editing duties for a while, as Jon Flagg takes a rest from the weekly grind to focus on … the weekly grind.   So, John is looking for writers: if you are interested in reporting from Rotary meetings, please reach out to him: jrice@tateandfoss.com.  Thank you.

 

Justin Finn is still looking for race-day volunteers Saturday morning, August 23.  The fundraising portion has been very successful (see below)…but we need to execute, and that requires your help.     Justinf@secureplanninginc.com. 

 

Summary of the Thursday, August 7, 2014 meeting as reported by Stan Cross.

 

President Tricia thanked Bill Hurley for filling in as acting President in her absence the prior week.  Guest were introduced.  We saluted Rotary Birthdays, including: Mike Asselin 32 yrs, Tiffany McKenna 1yr, and Dave Underhill 20 years in Rotary.   Trish gave a shout out, for all the incoming thank you cards, from the various organizations that Rotary has helped.

 

Peter George, was introduced as a new Rotarian by Beth Tuttle, because sponsor Dan Hoefle wasn’t in attendance.  Peter is a local CPA, with a wife and 6-year-old daughter, and grew up in Merrimack, NH.  He was happy to no longer be coming as a guest.

 

Butch Ricci gave ten happy dollars, because of riding in the Pan Mass Challenge, along with 2 other Rotarians.

 

Announcements:

 

Justin Finn reminded everyone, while wearing his “Thunder Chicken shirt, that the race is on 8/23, 9am at Strawbery Banke.  The sponsorship goal of 10k has been exceeded: total is up to $13,375 which is outstanding!   We still need runners though.  Justin gave a set of 4 Patriots tickets to Walter Liff to auction off, and they went to Marie Brownell.  Hope she enjoys the game!

 

Cleo Villaflores -asked for volunteers for the many positions along the route of the race – Please Help! 

 

Rick Page introduced the guest speaker, Dr. Jonathan Bridges, an interventional cardiologist, who recently treated him.  Rick talked about what happened - On 4/13 while driving home he had a heart attack.  He thought it was just that he wasn’t feeling well, so continued to drive home, there took some water and a couple of aspirins, and went to Google to look up the symptoms of a heart attack.  “Are you a man suffering from a heart attack”?  popped up on his screen, and he saw the symptoms and read “don’t be the typical male by not calling 911!” 

 

Dr Bridges started with a slide show of “what is coronary artery disease?”  He talked about the functionality of the heart and how it has 3 coronary arteries on it.  He talked about the causes of plaque buildup which cause the artery to burst; tobacco, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, high cholesterol, lack of activity, stress, and even SEX!   Plaque formation – once an artery is damaged through one or more of these causes, it allows plaque to build until it bursts open.  He said that “malpractice attorneys don’t have to worry about this because they have no hearts!”  which sent a roar of laughter from the group.  Clots occur after the burst, one has only 90 min before heart cells die.  Treatments include catheterization, stents, and some require surgery.  Surgery is by-pass, which actually by-passes the damaged artery, restoring blood flow.   He also mentioned heart attacks are much easier to detect in men than in women. 

 

50/50 raffle, for $74 dollars, was won by Neil Ouellett, and no -- he didn’t have a match!  See you next week!

Rotary eBulletin for the week of August 4, 2014

 

Great pictures from the Thursday (July 31) meeting, shot by photo editor Jim Rini, and they clearly are worth thousands of words.

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=60783

Few actual words, however.   President Tricia was on vacation.   Past President Dave continues his mysterious exile on an island in the Northumberland Strait.  Writers seem to be in short supply.   President-Elect Bill took charge of the meeting, the Club, and the reporting of the meeting, and apparently quashed any effort to allow Rotary’s free press to function.  By all reports he did a fabulous job and a great time was had by all.

There's more!   Please keep reading....

 

TOP of the WEEK ANNOUNCES your Rotary committee NEEDS and calls to action!

To be included contact Sara Treacy: saratreacy@comcast.net or 603-661-85

Thunder Chicken Road Race coming up on August 23rd.  Contact Justin Finn for details. We need volunteers!!!

The Basic Needs Committee is seeking donation requests from local non profit charities in the categories of food, clothing, shelter and health. Contact Chairman Bob Lewis: Bob.Lewis46@comcast.net for an application.

SALVATION ARMY Soup Kitchen DATES FOR 2014:  Oct 29,  John Raughtigan has volunteered to be Capt on 10/29.  It's FUN & easy to serve!

Are you on Facebook?  Click below to visit our Portsmouth Rotary Club page.  "Like" us to stay up to date on club activities, events, weekly meeting photos and more!

It was an action- packed meeting last week!  Rotary Reporter Mark Lorusso has the details, which follow.  Hope to see you at noon today for our end-July sendoff.

(Portsmouth Rotary News Center Anchor Dude with big voice): For decades, newspapers assigned reporters to cover the news.  Recently there’s a new internet trend, “aggregation”, which (allegedly) involves laying off all the reporters and instead compiling tweets, posts, administration spin and internet rumors to approximate the actual reporting of the event.  We take you now to our reporter-aggregator-editor in an undisclosed international bureau, who was not at last Thursday’s meeting and therefore can report on it with both fake authority and true ambiguity.

 

(Editor): President Tricia opened the meeting, probably by ringing the bell.  John Rice led us in song, greeter Bob Sheesley proved a quick study by kicking off the four-way test, and the Rev. Gordon provided the invocation.   Lunch followed.  Folks ate and enjoyed it.  That’s why we call this a digest.

 

(News Center): Isn’t this reporting crisp and compelling?

 

(Editor): You’ve got that right, NC.  How about a check on the weather?

 

(NC): Sorry, that’s not in the database. It might have been nice, or might have rained.   Back to you.

(Editor): Dues are due, said President Tricia.  EREY donations would be greatly appreciated.    Cleo Villaflores has agreed to develop website sales, much to the delight of the board, which counts on these advertising dollars to keep the dues at their amazingly low level of $125/year (with a $25 late fee if you don’t get them in by August 1, friendly reminder!)

 

(NC:) Have we heard anything final about the golf tourney?

 

(Editor): The board report last week gave tentative numbers, and tournament director Andy Chace is expected to appear this Thursday with a final report.  It was a huge success.

 

(NC:) You know, this second hand news thing is bizarre.  I wish our club would go back to a roster of real reporters writing a weekly log.

 

(Editor:) Put it in the upcoming survey.  PP Aileen and the Vision Committee are planning a survey of members, another way to add your voice to the club’s direction.   We’re also collecting volunteers to work on the log, so talk with P-Tricia if you’d like to raise your hand and be a reporter/editor. 

 

(NC:) You seem to be weaving factoids about the meeting into a fabric built on administration spin.

 

(Editor): You can find more on Twitter @PortsmouthRotary.   Or maybe not, I think we lost the password to that.  Maybe Facebook.

 

(NC:) Any more about the meeting?

 

(Editor): Of course.  Rick Page is collecting sign-ups for the August 23 Road Race, we need a lot of volunteer support to make this a great success.  

 

 

Leonard Seagren announced that Friends Forever visitors are on the Seacoast this week, and also told the club we expect to welcome a Maine Doctor next Thursday.  She is kayaking to Guatemala, and will stop in Portsmouth. 

 

 

(NC:) And now, for the program summary.

 

(Editor):  Jim Rini introduced the speaker – Marilyn Kelley, wife of Jack Kelley, who   became an author later in life after reading a Danielle Steele novel and thinking “I can do that.”  She ended up writing a non-fiction account of the family’s move to Brazil, and Jack’s involvement with a very shady international character. 

Since I wasn’t at the meeting I have poached the following Amazon synopsis of the book:

 

In the early '70's, Jack and Marilyn Kelley move with their four teenage daughters from Greenwich, Connecticut to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, desperate to save their marriage and escape the toxic corporate culture of New York. They become partners with a charming international entrepreneur/US undercover agent. When the seemingly lucrative businesses fail to produce income, the Kelleys discover their partner has another side he has neglected to reveal, and they are thrust into a life they couldn't have imagined. A group of colorful characters fueled by greed, corruption and cafezinho befriend the Kelleys, and Jack finds himself in Belem, a border town on the Amazon River, banding with thieves and murderers to pursue his partner and retrieve his plane and his investment.

 

http://www.amazon.com/For-Love-Money-Brazil-Affair/dp/1484809122

 

… it sounded fascinating and in a nutshell  - we are lucky the family made it out alive and that Jack is here in Portsmouth.  The other good news is that the family needed the bonding experience and got all of that.  She was completely lovely and the story is quite remarkable.

 

(NC:) What is “cafezinho”?

(E:) Might be an internet typo for espresso with whipped milk added.

 

(NC:) How can we top such a wonderful program?

 

(Editor:) Glad you asked!  This Thursday’s speaker will be Carly Fiorina, former head of HP, who will speak on the topic “Unlocking Potential”.  

 

(NC:) Wow, this new club President is really off to a great start with wonderful programs!  She must be a true wizard, a leader in the tradition of Carly Fiorina.

 

(Editor:) Crank down the administration spin, there, news-meister, or the members may revolt and demand a free and uncensored press.   That could make the board meetings a lot longer too.

 

(NC:) Ten-four, internet aggregator.   Maybe this week we’ll have a real reporter at the meeting and you can just link to their coverage.   Who knows, we might start a trend.   Anything else we need to mention?

 

(Editor:) Ramona won the raffle – the amount was either $65 or $55 or something like that, I can’t make out whether that’s the money she won or my score for the first nine holes that day.     Pretty sure there was no bonus, so that number must be going up fast.  If we had real facts, I’d give them to you.

 

 

(NC:) See you Thursday!  

(Editor:) Well, maybe not.  Depends on whether I can break free from this rigorous schedule in exile.  Since the Red Sox beat the Jays last night 14-1, I've been able to relax just a little.   Always wondered what past presidents do....now I'm beginning to develop a sense of it.

(All photos in this digest by Bob Loch except for the following).

 

 

We’re off and running in our new Rotary year!  Your board met on July 9, to act on a lot of good news.   Most impressively, the club raised nearly $26,000 in the Endowment Golf Tournament, thanks to the extraordinary work of Andy Chace and his great committee.   That money, when the final tally is complete, will be sent to our club’s NHCF Basic Needs Endowment, boosting the capital in that fund from $95,000 to over $120,000.   Nice job!

 

In related news, the board approved two basic-needs committee recommendations: we sent $3,500 to Seacoast Pathways, a new mental health “clubhouse format” support organization, and we granted $1,000 to the Seacoast Community School.

 

Justin Finn and the Thunder Chicken team are getting close to the starting line of our first big event in this new Rotary Year – that race kicks off at 9:00 AM Saturday, August 23.   We’ll need many of you to turn out and help with race logistics, and we’re counting on great participation from club members and community volunteers to make it a success.

 

Thanks for all your hard work and service to Portsmouth Rotary,

 

President Tricia

(June 25, 2014):  Members of three Rotary Clubs from District 7780 ended their Rotary year with shared fellowship, fun- and fund-raising at Portsmouth’s Leary Field as the Seacoast Mavericks posted a 9-2 victory over the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide in the FCBL independent baseball League.

It’s never too late in the year for the Portsmouth Rotary Club to make donations! Just as President Dave Underhill’s term is ending, four local organizations have received funds for their special projects. Catholic Share assists individuals and families, without regard to race or religious affiliation, with payments for housing, utilities, vehicle repairs, medical expenses and clothing; Common Table is another recipient and they provide a free lunch every Thursday, to whomever shows up at St. John’s Parish Hall on Bow St; the Portsmouth High School will now have First Aid/Trauma Bags for the classrooms, a campaign led by nurse Barbara. Lastly, Families First “Healthy Grins” program is using their Rotary grant to support oral health education and dental care for children.  The children look forward to the visit of dental hygienist Cynthia Bishop to their classrooms each year, in part because they know they will receive a bag containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss or flosser and a pencil.

The Portsmouth Rotary Club continues its “Service Above Self” mission with 100% of net funds raised going back to local charities. The Portsmouth Rotary Club was chartered in 1923 and leads fundraisers throughout the year to support worthwhile charities that make a positive difference in people’s lives.  For more information about Portsmouth Rotary visit www.portsmouthrotary.org

 

On June 5, the Club honored the work of Sara Treacy by making her a Paul Harris Fellow.  Sara heads our public relations committee, she is a past board member, organizes the Salvation Army Soup kitchen service projects and is one of our club photographers.   And that's just the beginning: she's highly respected as a local Realtor and has been spearheading efforts to increase public awareness and resources in the field of mental health.   As Past President Diane Foley said when presenting the award on behalf of the Foundation Committee, Sara "does all this with a smile, dignity and grace."  We salute her and honor her Rotary Service Above Self.

The Paul Harris Fellowship is like love -- it grows when it is shared.  

The club also recognized four members who have attained new Paul Harris Fellow status by virtue of their club service and their contributions to the Rotary Foundation: Leo St. Martin, Richard Seery, Stella Scamman and James Petersen.  Many of our members donate to the Foundation at a $100/year "EREY-sustaining member" rate, and over time these contributions add up to make a real difference in the world!  On behalf of the Rotary Foundation, thank you for your support.  A reminder to our members that there's still time to make an EREY or PHF contribution this Rotary year -- just get a check to treasurer Joe Bove or to foundation chair Bob Herold.   As a reminder, any donation turned in with your dues invoice will be credited to the next Rotary year (2014-15) which begins on July 1.

Fellow Rotarians, here is the presentation that Tricia and I made about our Club's goal-setting process and achievements during the 2013-2014 Rotary year.   Unfortunately, ClubRunner does not allow a file this large to be uploaded, so I have posted the file on my own website at this link: after you click the link and it goes to the site page, click on the PDF file to open.

http://www.underhilladvisors.com/prc

Thaks for all you've done to make these things happen!

Dave

Wednesday, June 4, 2014:  The board of directors approved the following donations from Portsmouth Rotary.

Basic Needs Funds:

$3,500 to Seacoast Family Food Pantry, support for Summer Meals 4 Kids Program (formerly known as Operation Bag Lunch)

$1,280 to Families First Health and Support Center, for dental clinics

$1,000 to Fair Tide (Kittery) to support their transitional housing program.

$1,500 to Seacoast Mental Health Center, to support emergency mental health services for walk-in patients.

$1,000 to the Portsmouth School Nursing department, to purchase tote bags for first aid and trauma supplies for each classroom in the school system.

Jeremy Alex Fund:

$1,724 for music scholarship at the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC)

Additional grants:

$775 to the Student2Student Mentor program at Portsmouth High School

$500 to the scholarship program of Leadership Seacoast

Total funding approved: $11,279

Big thanks to the hard work of Rotarians this year, and those who have come before us to create endowments to serve our community.

The comprehensive amendment to the bylaws was approved by vote of the membership on May 29, 2014.  A final dated copy is now in the documents section of the website in a folder labeled "bylaws".  Log into the club website and select "view club documents".  

A group of Rotarians is working to restore Paul Harris' historic home on the south side of Chicago, and has established a foundation to preserve this piece of Rotary's history.   If you would like to learn more about this project, please visit their website and consider a personal contribution to help.

Your directors took a number of actions today, to build our Club and serve our community.   Here is a summary.

This Rotary year, our Club has already raised over $150,000 for non-profit projects and causes, and we're not done yet!  Here's how this money is allocated by your board of directors.

Want to know more?  Ask a director, come to a board meeting, sit on one of our funding committees -- engage Rotary, we change lives!

Your club's board made a number of key funding commitments at its meeting on April 2.   The club directors also voted agreement in principle and substance with pending bylaws revisions, and adopted a political program policy for 2014.   Details follow.

Rotary's chess set programs bring the joy of the game to fourth-grade students on the Seacoast .

Coverage from Seacoast Online:

Click here

Here’s a summary of key actions by your club’s board of directors on March 5, 2014:

The board approved a William Cash Fund recommendation to grant $5,301.72 for the materials costs to create new dugouts at the Pease softball fields. This is a club hands-on project under Ted Alex and Basil Richardson’s direction, and contributes to an effort of the Portsmouth Girls Softball league and Eagle Scout candidate Hayden Diemer. The new dugouts will honor long-time coach Tony Rahn, who passed away last July after decades of service as a phys-ed teacher in Portsmouth and Newington. Portsmouth Rotary also acknowledges the generous contribution of Ricci Lumber, which is giving us their actual cost price for all materials. The hands-on project date is Saturday April 26, and we hope for and expect a great turnout for club members to support this Rotary effort.

We approved a $1,200 request from the basic needs committee to fund the egg and cheese program at the Seacoast Family Food Pantry.

We also donated $250 toward a district Interact and New Generations conference on March 29. On March 20, our meeting topic will be youth programs in Rotary, and our guest will be district-governor-nominee Sheila Rollins who chairs that committee for district 7780.

The board and past presidents have received a draft of the proposed bylaws revisions, and will hold a meeting on March 18 at 7:30 at the Community Campus. If any member of our club wants a copy or wishes to attend the meeting, please see President Dave.

The board updated and confirmed a guidelines document for the Finance Committee. The updated guidelines may be found in the “Finance Committee” folder of club documents, accessible by member log-in on our website.

Portsmouth Rotarians pitched in on Saturday February 22 to gather food and money that replenishes the depleted food pantry at the Salvation Army.  

(With enthusiasm!)

Congratulations and special thanks to our auction committee for a successful night February 20!

Great party, clearly the prime social event of our winter season, and delicious!  Preliminary numbers indicate we should exceed our budget goal for fundraising, and we owe that to the hard work of Joanie Dickinson, Janis Reams, Karen McCormack, Deb Rourke, Susan LaBrie and many other committee members and helpers, including volunteers from our Interact Club.   Thank you all!

Rotarians: coming up on April 17, Taylor Chace will be our speaker at Rotary.   But there's a great opportunity to preview his journey, coming up on February 24, 10PM on NHPTV (PBS).   They have a special about the U.S. Sled Hockey team at the Paralympic Games, and Taylor is featured in the program.   Plan ahead!  Watch the show, and get ready to meet Taylor at our club when the snow (it is rumored) will have melted.

 

Video preview here as well:

PBS Sled Hockey video preview

Club members are always welcome at our board meetings, we publish the minutes in the member section of the website, and these minutes include our monthly financial statements.   Here's a summary of our Club’s charitable-division finances at the middle of this Rotary year in plain English. 

 

At the annual meeting of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth December 12, 2013, the club duly elected next year's slate of officers and directors for the Rotary year July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015.

Click here for President-Elect Tricia's complete board: when the screen comes up with the current board, click the "next year" button to the right of date at the top of the page.

 

2014-2015 Directors

“Thanksgiving comes before Christmas.”   (Priscilla MacInnis).

 

You bet it did!  Dozens and dozens of Rotarians baked, roasted, carved, cooked, conveyed, cajoled and collaborated to serve over three hundred turkey dinners to the Seacoast Thanksgiving Day.   

 

The Portsmouth Rotary Club’s annual feast warmed over twice as many homes and hearts this year, thanks to our volunteers.   From the early organizational planning by Priscilla and her team, including the marketing energies of Leo Gagnon and Bob Lewis, it was clear we’d be seeing a significant increase in the requests for turkey dinners.   But the finale was a delightful surprise, even to those who thought they knew how great the interest would be.

 

It’s always a guess at the end: how many folks would show up at the Jarvis Center?  The delivery count, meals requested, had gone over two hundred meals.   Would that signal a similar increase in the Thanksgiving day turnout, or was it a shift from the gathering to the individual homes?

Since I reported to you on this issue last week, we've learned of a great initiative that is now being coordinated through our Rotary District 7780.

This effort is pooling funds from Rotarians and clubs around the district to send ShelterBoxes directly to the Philippines.   You can find more information about ShelterBox in the article that follows.   But here's the simple headline:

Portsmouth Rotary's directors have approved sending $3,000 to this fund immediately, from our International Service budget.   This will provide three ShelterBox units immediately, where they are sorely needed.

Individual Rotarians can help too.   You don't need to fund a whole ShelterBox: just send your contribution in any amount made payable to Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club Foundation.  Mark "ShelterBox Philippines in the comment line of the check, and mail your check to:

Past District Governor Marty Helman, 88 Appalachee Road, Boothbay Harbor ME 04538.  

Thank you!  For more info, please keep reading…..

 

 

 

Our Vocational Service Committee is pleased to announce our next "BEHIND the BUSINESS" event to our membership.

Stella Scamman is welcoming us to Scamman Farm on Wednesday, October 16th @ 5:00pm.

69 Portsmouth Ave ~ Route 108
Stratham NH. 03885
www.scammanfarm.com

The NH Commissioner of Agriculture will be joining us. Her name is Lorraine Stuart Merrill.

Please RSVP by e-mail at DavidFerlandK9@gmail.com or call 603-765-0571 to let Lou know you are attending and with how many.

"BEHIND the BUSINESS" serves as a means for members to strengthen professional relationships and to better know our capabilities for individual and community problem solving.

Additional Goals:

Promote vocation in a fun and social way.
Opportunity for Rotarians to learn about each other’s professions and businesses.
Increase fellowship and social networking.
Provide an opportunity to members for a ‘make-up’ meeting.

The Rotary Club of Saco Bay has received a district grant to explore the possibility of implementing a literacy project similar to the Guatemala Literacy Project to encourage children to improve their literacy skills in Sauka, Nigeria.  Kerstin Kirchner, member of the Rotary Club of Saco Bay, will lead a team of 5-7 Rotarians of the District 7780 from  November 6 to November 18, 2013 to Nigeria.

 

Saco Bay is looking for other interested Rotarians to join us on the trip.  During the stay, the Rotarians will meet with Rotarians of the Rotary Club Abuja Metro, local community leaders, and teachers to determine the interest of the community of implementing a literacy project and building the essential foundation for applying for a Global Grant.

 

Three components will make your trip worthwhile:

o   Literacy activities

o   Rotary activities with local clubs

o   Cultural immersion

We sincerely hope that you decide to join in this once-in-a-lifetime experience with the Rotary Club of Saco Bay.

If you like to be part of the team or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact kerstinkrchnr@gmail.com or (207)807-0367.

Our Vocational Service Committee is pleased to announce our third "BEHIND the BUSINESS" event to our membership.

Several of our Portsmouth Rotarians serve on the Board of Prescott Park Arts Festival and are welcoming us for a special evening at the park.

Special Instructions - RSVP Please

Rotarians: a reminder that you need to sign up Thursday for Beyond the Business at Prescott Park this weekend.....Rotarians and their families can visit behind the scenes, meet the actors and theater team, and then enjoy the performance of Annie at the park Sunday, August 4, starting at 5:30 PM.  Please bring a $10 per person donation to Prescott Park to cover the performance and a chair that will be reserved for you.   For further information, see Vocational Service chair Lou Ferland or email him (davidferlandk9@gmail.com).

"BEHIND the BUSINESS" serves as a means for members to strengthen professional relationships and to better know our capabilities for individual and community problem solving.

Additional Goals:

Promote vocation in a fun and social way.
Opportunity for Rotarians to learn about each other’s professions and businesses.
Increase fellowship and social networking.
Provide an opportunity to members for a ‘make-up’ meeting.

 
Our Five Year Plan/Visioning process began in January 2011 when a group of Portsmouth Rotarians met to take part in a “Club Visioning” event facilitated by our District. 

 

CLICK HERE for information on the District website.

 

Our Five Year Plan/Visioning Committee meets once a month to review the goals of our club and evaluate our progress in meeting those goals.

 

CLICK HERE for information on our Portsmouth Rotary website.  (You must log into ClubRunner)

 

Next Meeting:

 

Friday, July 19^th @ 7:30am

The Edgewood Center

928 South Street

 

New members are welcome!

 

Contact:

 

Diane Lavigne

djlavigne@comcast.net

 
Do you have a local non-profit you are passionate about?  Is there an opportunity for hands on service by a group of Rotarians?  Submit an application to the William Cash Committee for review!

 

The Committee met on June 20th and considered three requests.  Two went to the Board of Directors for funding and were approved.  (See Below)

 

New Committee members always welcome.  We meet the third Thursday of the month at 8 AM at the Community Campus, but only when there are requests to consider.

 

Contact: 

 

Neal Ouellett

NealOuellett@livinginnovations.com

 

Our guest this week is Mike Daboul, President of Seacoast Mavericks.  Portsmouth is fortunate to now have its own Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) team playing at Leary Field. We'll learn how the community supports its baseball.

Wear a baseball cap and win a swell prize.  Any team, any league, any vintage, from your own vintage PHS cap to a Cooperstown original. Bonus prizes for Boston Braves or any other no-longer-team caps.

There will be ballpark-food (adjusted of course to the high quality of PCC), appropriate music and costumes. If you wear a full baseball uniform you will get a special presidential exemption from being fined for the entire meeting….and if you don't have a cap or a uniform, bring some dollars for Butch or Neal to collect. Our special greeter will arbitrate any disputes about winning or losing caps, uniforms or memorabilia.

Don't balk…walk, run, slide and pitch in! Please come prepared to "play ball" at our first meeting of the new Rotary year!

The upcoming Annual Thunder Chicken 5K Road Race will take place on August 1, 2013 at Strawbery Banke.  For our next meeting on July 11th we will have sign-up sheets present for the following:

- Road Race Registration Tent for road race participants to sign-up for race registration from 3:30PM to 5:30PM

- Road Race Course Safety Monitors to sign-up and meet at Strawbery Banke at 5:00PM (entails standing on a corner course with flag directing runners and traffic)

- Road Race Water Stations - 2 Water Stations Captains for 2 locations and volunteers to fill water cups at 5:PM

- Road Race Finish Line Volunteers to meet at Strawberry Banke at 5:00PM

We would like to see as many Rotarians volunteer as possible to make this year's event a huge success!

I know members have e-mailed me in the past for sign-up!  I will sign you up prior to our meeting this week.  Please provide your contact phone information and what sign-up sheet you would like to participate as a volunteer. 

Thank you for all you do for Rotary!

 

A good time was had by all at last week's Changing of the Guard as we celebrated our newest Past President.

Thank you Past President Nancy Notis for a great Rotary year!

CLICK HERE for Seacoastonline.com article

CLICK HERE for Seacoastonline.com photo gallery

 

 

CLICK HERE for more information on this upcoming Rotaplast mission to Guatemala.  Apply now for a non-medical position on this trip from March 9-23, 2014.

For more informatiomn about Rotaplast visit www.rotaplast.org.