I spent last Saturday morning at the Rotary barn, greeting purchasers and selling furniture (mostly), and we had a great day. Good conversations, good times, and sales-wise, spectacular success – we raked in over $900 in the flea market section alone. When you figure that an expensive buy in the flea market will set you back maybe five bucks, you know that $900 equals a lot of satisfied customers.

I mention this because as I was counting money at the end of the morning, I realized that our “take” is in the range that any Rotary club would be happy to have as the result of a fundraiser – but unlike most clubs who have max maybe four or five fundraisers per annum, we open the Big Grey Barn every Saturday morning, rain or shine, 8:30 to 11 a.m., nine months of the year. And as we so frequently repeat to our purchasers, all proceeds (and frankly, we have remarkably few expenses) repeat: all proceeds come back directly to our community and the larger world community through our donations to the Food Pantry, CCRC programs, our kids, our veterans, and so many more.

Let me tell just one story that is, I think, a great indicator of how this all works: A family donated a pedestal dining table one week ago. Not only was it admired and subsequently purchased on Saturday, but the new owners returned an hour later to donate the drop-leaf that their new pedestal table will replace. That wasn’t the only cyclical donation of the morning: Another resident donated back the bureau they said they had purchased from Rotary back in 2012 at the old auction we used to hold on the Common – after 12 years, it was time for the piece’s next furniture adventure.

So keep those donations coming! Email rotarybarnpickup@gmail.com and let us know what you want to donate and the street address where we can find it and you, and we will do our best to comply. Your donations – and your purchases – are what make it possible for us to give back to the community so generously. You are an absolutely essential part of the circle!

Last Thursday, all those Rotarians who couldn’t get tickets to Garrison Keillor at the Opera House showed up at the meeting, where the internationalization of Rotary was very much in evidence. Marcus Packard was here from Catalonia, for the first time since pre-Covid. He was accompanied by his partner Mireia, their baby Aina – one of the cutest babies I’ve seen in a long time, I might add – and fellow Catalonian and friend Jordy. It was Marcus who conceived and pushed through the friendship exchange we had with the Barcelona clubs in 2022 and 2023, and Marcus shared with us how much the exchange has meant to the development of his club in Reus.

It seems that our own Alice Mutch recommended that the club increase its numbers and strength by inviting members to invite their spouses to join the club. Three wives did exactly that, quickly gained leadership positions in the club, then they in turn invited their friends to join, and the club is now on a membership roll. Several members of the club turned their experiences here in Maine to good use back home and are now in leadership positions in the Catalonian Rotary district. And their District’s governor-elect ran into this correspondent at an international Rotary event, and quickly learned that senior leaders in our organization are real people—and at heart just ordinary members of their hometown clubs.

Speaking of international activities: This correspondent was last Thursday’s speaker, and I spoke about my trip to Singapore for Rotary’s recent International Convention, and plans for next June’s Convention in Calgary. In Singapore, I was surrounded by bizarrely modern high-rises, Chinese dragons and great food, and 13,000 of my closest Rotary friends. Calgary promises an even larger crowd, western gear, and a chance to check out Banff and Lake Louise. Or to stay for the Calgary Roundup, scheduled to start one week after Rotary’s June 22-25, 2025 event.

Why go to an International Convention? One reason is the world-class plenary speakers, which in addition to senior Rotarians have included in recent years: Ban Ki Moon, Mohammed Yunas, Bill Gates, Laura Bush, Dolly Parton – you get the idea. And entertainment that has ranged in recent years from Celtic Thunder to Cirque du Soleil to “Gangnam style” K-pop legend Psy.

Why go to an International Convention? The breakout sessions and the “Rotary Village” are great places to make connections and meet people and projects in a specific interest area. I met the Fellowship of Quilters and Fabric Artists at a Convention years ago – we get together to quilt and also sell our quilts to raise money to help combat polio. Other interest groups can range from serious activities including anti-slavery and anti-malaria to hobby groups – everything from the aforementioned quilting to beer-tasting to airplane piloting.

Why go to an International Convention? Lots of Rotarians use the Convention as an opportunity to plan a vacation even further afield. I spent a week in Bali after the Singapore convention, and other Rotarians were headed off to Thailand and Vietnam and Cambodia.

Why go to an International Convention? Tory Paxson, who went to the 2017 Convention when it was held in Atlanta, spoke in favor of the opportunity. She was impressed by the scope and internationality of Rotary, and the fact that many Rotarians from Africa, Asia, India wear their national costumes to highlight their ethnicity. The result is a blaze of color and exoticism. Tory also was part of Rotary history when she attended the first Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award dinner, an award now given annually by Rotary to a female Rotary pioneer. Whitlock, the first recipient and for whom the award is named, was the first female Rotary club president, and overcame a remarkable degree of gender bias back in the ‘80s to achieve that feat.

This coming Thursday, Aug. 15, our District Governor, Kennebunk police chief Bob MacKenzie, will be our speaker. We’ll turn from the internationality of Rotary to what’s happening right here in our own communities: Bob has fought against opioid addiction and the stigmas of addiction both as a cop and as a parent. His story is personal – his call to action is exemplary. This is a great opportunity to bring a friend to learn what Rotary is doing – and what we all can do – to help stop this epidemic and help save lives. So be there: the place gets rocking by 6 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30, and we are outta there by 8.