Rotary eBulletin for the week of September 9, 2014

Posted by David Underhill

Rotary Announcements: Top of the Week, September 9, 2014

Rotary congratulates our latest Paul Harris Fellow Bill Mortimer….read on for further details in last week’s log.

Bill Mortimer is honored by fellow Rotarians Jack Kelly and Dennis Moulton, Thursday September 4.

Puddledock/Strawbery Banke hands-on project:

The Portsmouth Rotary Board of Directors has approved our club's involvement in a hands-on project at the Strawbery Banke skating rink, Puddledock Pond. Considering our club's long and rich history in working with Strawbery Banke, we are especially excited that we will again have the opportunity to provide a meaningful contribution to this organization and our community.

With the involvement of Ted Alex and our hands-on committee, the project will include the construction of three structures necessary to support the operations of the skating rink. While we will be calling on Rotarians to join us sometime this fall in a traditional-style hands-on day, a significant amount of work will be done off-site using volunteer carpenters and laborers prior to our Saturday effort.

The nature of our involvement will be directly related to our commitment of both labor and financing. Due to the size of this project, the cost strictly of the construction materials is $30,000, of which the Board of Directors has already approved $10,000. This includes the $5,000 donation that we committed during our last fiscal year (Dave's year) and not yet distributed and $5,000 from a charitable surplus, also from our last fiscal year.

The Board of Directors is holding a special meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, September 10th at 8:00 am) in the Foundation for Seacoast Health's Board Room, specifically to address the financing of up to the remaining $20,000 cost of this project. We have many options available to us including various line items in our charitable budget as well as endowment funds specific to this type of project (e.g. the Ray Jones fund). The Board of Directors will decide whether or not to provide additional funding, at what level and from what source. Certain funding recommendations require a club vote (e.g. use of the Ray Jones fund) and if so determined, the club will be notified accordingly.

Communications team:

President Tricia has asked Nancy Notis and Dave Underhill to co-chair a team effort to create a unified communication strategy and team for our club. If you have interest, please email Dave (dave@underhilladvisors.com) indicating you wish to attend the first Rotary Communications Team meeting on Friday, September 19, 8:00 AM until 9:00 AM, at Community Campus in the Campus Board Room.

Vision Survey: If you received a paper survey at last Thursday’s meeting and did not turn it in, please get it to Aileen Dugan in the next week. If you did not attend the meeting, you should have received an email on Monday afternoon (September 8) with a web-link so you can take the survey online. If you do not have a web-link or if you require a printed version, please email Dave Underhill (dave@underhilladvisors) and we’ll see that you get a copy. We are pushing for 100% participation in this survey.

Read on...lots more Rotary news follows.

PolioPlus: Planning has begun for a multi-club walk to benefit PolioPlus on October 25, crossing the new Memorial Bridge. The polio walk is going to start at 9:00 am. People should plan to arrive by 8:15 or so to sign in. The idea is to carry a flag over the bridge, an American Flag or your Club Flag. More details will follow on this. There is a weekly planning meeting every Tuesday morning at 7:30; if a member of our club may be interested in coordinating our participation, please email President Tricia for more details.

We regret to report the death of Rotarian Stuart "Toby" Pennels , a beloved member of the Sebago Lake Rotary Club. Toby had been severely injured in an motorcycle accident in early August. Toby served for over 32 months in overseas combat, including Iraq, and retired as a Colonel in the US Army. He graduated from Windham High School and the University of Massachusetts and was a financial advisor. He is survived by his wife Brenda and three adult children. Brenda's address is 43 Heath Road, Casco, Maine 04015.

Calling hours will be on Saturday September 20 from 1 to 4 pm in the auditorium of Windham High School, 406 Gray Road, Windham, with a memorial service to immediately follow. Toby's obituary is in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Here's a recap of the meeting last week: September 4, 2014:

Reported by Rich Greulich Jr., Photos by Sara Treacy

For a slide show of the meeting, click here:

http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/Journals/JournalDetails.aspx?accountid=6644&jid=61101

The Annual Rotary Appreciation Day meeting, held on September 4, 2014, was a culinary success. Held on the downstairs patio of the Portsmouth Country Club, the ambience was convivial and the BBQ was tasty. We enjoyed more visitors than usual. The following guests were welcomed: David Andreesen, Dan Marston, Philip McDonough, Rich Ryzman, Val Berezin, Pat LaVoie, Suzanne Bove, Frank Nappa and John Derkrikorian.

A highlight of the meeting was the conferral of the Paul Harris Fellow award upon William “Bill” Mortimer. Dennis Moulton announced the award conferral and Jack Kelly proceeded to fill out the details of Bill’s community service including his 25 years of police department work.

Congrats, Bill on a well-deserved PHF!

Our newest new member, Tristan Shanley was inducted, joining her mother and fellow Rotarian, Cindy Shanley. A hearty welcome, Tristan!

Fines…there were several, but Butch and Neil showed some leniency.

Happy Dollars…Turning the Butch and Neil prelude totally around, Nancy Notis “got happy” as did Peg Millar (who is now a great-grandmother times two).

The Official Speaker was our own Aileen Dugan, needing no introduction as her 23 years of Rotary membership and past-Presidency spoke for themselves. Her speaking role was as Chair of our Rotary Vision Committee. As background she explained that in 2010 our club commenced its first official “visioning” efforts with the intention of understanding what the club members saw as good, what as bad, what could be improved and what could be possible for the club to be and do. Those comments and suggestions were useful and many were acted upon in the subsequent years.

It’s now 2014 and time for similarly asking for member comments, suggestions and ideas. To facilitate this, the Vision Committee prepared and handed out a survey questionnaire that was completed by many members at the meeting. Those members who were not in attendance at the September 4 meeting can access the survey online. All responses are requested to be completed by September 30. If anyone has questions or further comments feel free to contact Aileen Dugan or any other Vision Committee member.

Vision Committee members include:

Aileen Dugan, Chair

Bill Hurley Leonard Seagren

Bob Lewis Marcie Bergan

Bob Sheesley Nancy Notis

Dave Underhill Ramona Dow

Diane Lavigne Steve Mailhot

James Petersen Tricia Cummings

John St. Pierre

The $400 bonus remained intact and heads up again next week. Afterwards, the Annual Club Photo was taken.

Special welcome home to Rotarian Gene Bailey!