Rotary Log for October 11, 2018
President Cleo opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance which was followed by a song, Four Way Test and Invocation. After the introduction of guests, she began a happy and proud presentation of our upcoming Rotaplast mission.
Rotaplast International is committed to help children and families worldwide overcome the burden of physical deformities. This began, and continues, with cleft lip and palate repair but has expanded somewhat to include burn scarring. Many professionals, Rotarians and other organizations contribute time and money. Our club is sending 12 of our own Rotarians along with Mike Labrie to Bangladesh to help with this endeavor. They left last Sunday, October 14 and will spend two weeks helping others. Sounds like Rotary on steroids.
Past president Ben related the history of this project which had been discussed for more than three years. Finally, a year ago the decision was made to go forward.
A remarkable gift from the Labrie family jump started fund raising. The estimated cost in excess of $100,000 seemed a difficult goal. However, a fund-raising effort began immediately. In two weeks, donations, sparked by the Labrie family’s generosity, achieved the goal. This is a feat of which the entire club can be proud.
The 12 club members and Mike Labrie were honored with a standing ovation and distribution of useful gifts from the club. A very fine day for Portsmouth Rotary. Follow their trip on rotaplast.org.
The raffle was won by John Pappas but no match.
Nancy Notis, Eddie Edwards and President Cleo
Peter Grace then introduced our first speaker, Eddie Edwards, Republican candidate for N.H. First Congressional District. Mr. Edwards has served in the U.S. Navy as well as local and state law enforcement. He has been a strong and lifelong advocate for Veterans affairs, criminal justice reform and early childhood education. He seeks to limit federal influence on New Hampshire’s management. He feels New Hampshire understands its own needs best.
Candidate Edwards maintains that rising health care costs are the major concern with health care. He believes that competition and the free market system could decrease these costs. He also maintains we should be free to negotiate lower drug costs. Interestingly, Edwards wants to take away free health care from members of Congress. That way congressmen and senators would quickly understand the problem first hand.
He also voiced a strong support for second amendment rights.
Ellen Labrie, Governor Sununu and Stella Scamman
Stella Scamman then introduced Governor Chris Sununu. Like Edwards, Sununu had only just visited our club about a month ago. There were no changes in his stump speech. He feels his focus on business has and will continue to help the state grow economically. This is evidenced by our low unemployment and job growth. Barriers to accessing treatment were tackled in his approach to the opiod crisis. Crisis centers have been moved closer to recipients, taking away the need for commutes that could take several hours. He feels rightly proud to have formed a committee dedicated to changing this into what may be a model program.
“Don’t just throw money at something that’s not working,” Sununu says.
He was candid in his statements about affordable housing. Local control, not state, is involved and there is a need to change attitudes at the local level.
Respectfully submitted, Albert Lantinen
Photos by Chad Chadwick
