Rotary runs on a fiscal calendar, so our new club president and officers take office effective July 1. That should have been  the most important thing on the agenda, but this year, all that got pushed aside by the reality that our float took first place in the Windjammer Days Parade. 

We won! We won!  And the prize for winning is the highly sought-after  bragging rights that come with fellowship and fun. This year our club’s Fun Committee made sure we entered a class act, er, float, in the parade, and their hard work really paid off. Karen Pritchard and Charlotte Jameson put their heads together to make it all happen, Rick Jameson created the “boats” that demonstrated our commitments, Mike Thompson loaned the dinghy donated to the Barn, Doug Harley drove the truck, Bill Prince organized the bikes, and the rest of us joined in to wear boats, carry the banner, give out candy and rubber duckies, blow up balloons, attempt to bribe judges – whatever it took and all in a day’s work.  

It helped that our entry really, really emphasized the Parade theme, which was Ship Building. Our entry was, “FellowSHIP BUILDING Through Service.  Pretty cool, huh?  

Guests at the meeting included Lorraine Faherty, our Assistant Governor from the Damariscotta-Newcastle Club, as well as Peggy Belanger, past District Governor from the Kennebunk Portside Club, who arrived with Jon Stewart from Saco Bay Sunset.  Diane Wood was also with us to cheer on Alden. 

The end of the Rotary year also means that it’s time to count our donations to The Rotary Foundation, the 501(c )3 that supports all the good work we do both here in the peninsula and around the world.  For example, both the playground we built at BRES and the soups we provided the Food Pantry during COVID were supported in part through Rotary Foundation grants, and so is much of the work our clubs do overseas, including the hearing project that the Portland Club is doing in the Dominican Republic and our own work in Uganda.  Typical “payback” of these projects is that we can tap The Rotary Foundation for 2x the amount of money the club donates to the cause, up to certain limits.  But it all comes down to our donations … and this year, Judi White shared the good news that we met our goal of $12,000 to The Rotary Foundation.  Now we just have to plan how to spend it! 

President Tory shared that there could have been at least 70 Rotarians of the Year awarded this year, but one name really stood out:  Brian McGrath is almost always present, frequently volunteering as waiter, frequently doing Barn pickups, frequently taking out the trash, always picking up the mail. Behind the scenes he pulls together spreadsheets to make sure our financials are covering our expenses, and lately, he has taken it upon himself to go over our insurance policies to make sure we are appropriately covered. His name was greeted with great applause but little commentary because, for the first time this scribe can remember, Brian wasn’t at the weekly meeting. Tory will have to present him with his appropriately monogrammed hat on another occasion. 

And then it was time for a rousing game of Family Feud between the incoming and outgoing Boards of Directors. Let’s just say that, as is usual with Rotary Game Nights, the rules of the game were, umm, fluid.  Anyway, the outgoing Board earned the most points, the game went into an all-or-nothing overtime, and in the end it was agreed that the two Boards tied for the win. Or whatever. 

Starting July 1, with Tory wearing the coveted “past president” pin and basking after a remarkably successful year, Mike Thompson and Alden Wood are our new co-presidents. It’s the first time in our club’s history that we’ve had a co-presidency, but with Alden and Diane only here six months of the year, this arrangement makes sense. Tory’s advice to the new guys was to step out of the way and let club members do their “thing.” Alden thanked the club for coming up with a creative way to serve, and Mike agreed that once every generation a club presidency is probably a good thing. 

No meeting this Thursday, July 4. Enjoy the fireworks!

Do you get the idea that fellowship is fun?  Join us! Every Thursday evening at 6 for dinner and a program; and of course every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 11 a.m. for Barn sales. We’re always looking for folks who share our love of community and giving back. And we’re always looking for gently used stuff – furniture, housewares, collectibles, tools – to sell to support our community needs.  Call Deb Graves, 207-380-3550 to arrange for a pickup or drop off, and ask any Rotarian or just come to a meeting.  You’ll be glad you did!