Rotary Log: November 3, 2011 (Friends Forever)

Posted by Richard Seery

Friends Forever Irish teens experience “once in a lifetime opportunity!”

Ten students, accompanied by two YMCA chaperones, all from Belfast, Northern Ireland engaged one another for two weeks, 24/7. The challenge was to learn from each other as a person, without prejudice or religious preferences.

The group tour represented the 25^th year of the Rotary sponsored program started by Bob Raiche in 1996. Portsmouth Rotarian Leonard Seagren offered his house for the group visit which included visitations to local Rotary meetings, sightseeing excursions and team exercises to develop trust and comradery.

Samantha “Sam” Rush, experienced with youth conflict and trained by Americor, served as the group moderator, organizer and support person. Asked how she felt about the two week session, she replied “I have never seen so huge a change [in people]!”

Rotarian Marie Brownell expressed how student comments opened her eyes. She suggested “each student hug their parents for the courage they had to let their child change.” Louis Melchor asked the question many in the room wanted answered, “What’s the deal about so much conflict?

Tiarna Adams, a young woman, characterized the divide in society like a bi-polar disorder. Both sides, Protestants and Catholics, express themselves as culturally very different. Different traditions, languages and political views segregate communities. Anti-social attitudes, dislikes, stemmed from the Battle of Boyne (1690) where a Protestant King defeated a Catholic King, are celebrated with marches and demonstrations every July 12^th to reinforce differences.

Hopefully, all the teens of the Friends Forever troupes will make the differences necessary to open other peoples’ minds and hearts to peace in Northern Ireland.

Other noteworthy announcements:

-Neal Oulette will step down as President of Friends Forever after five years on the Board. Dave Gendall will be his replacement.

-Former Rotarian, Justin Finn, returns and is placed on 7 day notice.

-Kathy Edison, Chairperson of Harvest for Hunger, announced the food drive collected $1,350 plus canned goods. Phil brick’s Fresh Market was a major support and contributor to the successful event. Final figures may top $1500 with matching dollars from Portsmouth Rotary.

-Ben Wheeler shared his experiences with Leadership Seacoast and encouraged all interested individuals to contact him about applying before the deadline of December 3^rd.

-Nominations will be taken next week for the Nominating Committee as the club passes the half-way point of Tony Delyani’ s presidency.

-Mort Schmidt announced December is Rotary Foundation Month and he will speak next week about how the foundation benefits the world.

-Finally, former Club Presidents, Bud Watt and Art Cole became Honorary Members of Portsmouth Rotary. The Board recently voted on this special recognition. Art joined the club in 1966 and Bud joined in 1976.