Welcome
What We Did This Year
Fellowship events
- Sea Dogs Game – July 31; sponsored by an anonymous donor, coordinated by Nicole
- Sounds by the Sea: Rotary picnic on August 12
- September 21 Chuck and Patty organized dinner and show. Dinner was at 43 North followed by the play “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at Lyric Theater.
- Bridge walk with Portland Rotary Club to celebrate World Polio Day. Pints for Polio followed at Broadway Bowl.
- Lion’s Club dinners – October 12, November 9, January 25, February 22, March 22, April 12, May 17
- Bev coordinated the December 19 mid-year/Holiday party at Purpoodock.
- Bev and Kathy coordinated a Potluck dinner with live band in February
- Doug led the charge to get members to the Maine Mariners game on April 4th with the Portland Rotary. 35 members and guests signed up to attend.
- June 4 - Tom got the club access to visit the Cape Elizabeth Historical Preservation Society. Club members had dinner at the picnic shelter in Fort Williams before exploring the museum. Thanks to Dee Dee for encouraging the club to see the venue.
- Sea Dogs Game - June 19; sponsored by an anonymous donor, coordinated by Nicole
- Bev planned Changeover night on 6/25.
Classification Talks Chris got us these and other great speakers.
- Tom Meyers on August 7 and April 30 (and we could have and wanted to hear more.)
- Doug Schauf
- Aaron Filieo
Community Services Sari knows people and gets things done, with a little help from her (Rotary) friends.
- Sari had 4 people putting together volunteer opportunities for the club during the year.
- Monthly service at the South Portland Food Cupboard
- Art in the Park selling popcorn – August 10. Chuck is the Pop-Meister!
- Bug Light Open house for Open Lighthouse Day - September 14
- Camp Harvest Festival at CE Schools. Club members served popcorn and cotton candy.
- Participated in Crutches for Africa on February 1
- Club members helped at Special Olympics on February 26
- Community Fair at South Portland Community Building on April 29
- Open Bug Light for grammar school children on April 29
- SPRINGFEST!!!! Jim, Nicole, Tony, Bev, Adrienne – where would we be without you?
- May 19 - Cape Elizabeth Public Works lunch with Jeff in charge
- June 5 - South Portland Public Works lunch with Tony in charge
- June 8 - CapeFest (a.k.a. Family Fun Day) serving popcorn & whoopie pies. David, Jr. and Chuck popped into this one.
- Sari created a grant application last year which has been refined for this year. We have given grants to many deserving organizations. Organizations include The Locker Project, South Portland Food Cupboard, various Veterans’ Initiatives, the schools, Family Restored, Greater Portland Family Promise, Habitat for Humanity, Sounds by the Sea
Youth Services Ray H-E-A-L-E-Y, who is young at heart, did an incredible job with his committee members John and Tony.
- $500 grants were given to both community libraries to purchase children and young adult books. The re-establishment of having speakers sign a bookplate to go into the donated books.
- 22 students (12 from Cape Elizabeth and 10 from South Portland) approved to attend RYLA this year under John’s leadership.
- Rotary members spent a fun morning and/or half day interacting with and supporting athletes participating in local/regional Special Olympics trail games.
- The South Portland Interact club had a successful clothing drive in the fall.
- Celebrated the South Portland Boys and Girls Club 50th Anniversary and made a $2500 contribution to the club.
- David Bagdasarian, Jr. is leading the Interact Club for Cape Elizabeth. Tony took on the South Portland Club.
- Award of the first $500 Yerxa Vocational Career Scholarship. Kathy made this happen.
- Awarded $10,000 in scholarships for students in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.
Publicity – We have some savvy, creative and talented club members.
- Sari came up with a great handout listing the accomplishments of the club for Rotary Year Ending in June 2024. The work was turned into a standup banner to be displayed at public events. She intends to have the same display of the 2025 accomplishments.
- Jim did an amazing job promoting Springfest and the Christmas Tree Sale (with help from Matt).
- Tony, Bev, Kathy and Scott got an information sign for the club reading info@spcerotary.org. Dan Davidson assisted Tony in hanging the signs.
International Let’s get to know each other with International Service.
- October 14 - Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration at Redbank Community Center lead by Hannah.
- December 2 & 5 - the club volunteered at Partners for World Health lead by Hannah.
- Donations of $1500 to Partners for World Health and $1000 to Shelter Box.
- The club gave $6500 to the Rotary Foundation and $4000 to Polio Plus.
Membership/Leadership What can a group of a physicist, engineer, attorneys and a college administrator get done in one year? A lot!
- The new member mentoring process was discussed in a “Membership Moment” at several club meetings.
- New members are matched with mentors.
- There is a “New Member” checklist to discuss with a prospective member so the person understands club expectations of members. This includes the need to work at the Christmas Tree sale, Springfest and on at least one committee.
- New members submit a biography to be accessed in Clubrunner under the member’s profile.
- There are 5 members on the Membership Committee – Scott, Bob , John, Tony and Tiffanie.
Grants This is the first time in at least 15 years (if not more) our club has applied for District and Global Grants.
- Sari wrote a District Grant funding a $30,000 refrigeration unit for the South Portland Food Cupboard’s new location. Our club gave $8000 towards the purchase. Sari asked the South Portland Housing Authority to contribute and they gave $10,000. Tony was instrumental in obtaining funds from other Rotary Clubs to get the additional needed funds.
- Nancy is working on a District Grant with Mbali, Uganda and Partners for World Health. To be continued next Rotary year.
Other As if we didn’t do enough already!
- Creation of a Caring Committee lead by Adrienne and Anne.
- Head Pop-Meister a.k.a. Chuck Redman, searched and secured a popcorn machine for the club.
- Quarterly meeting with past, current and future club presidents were held.
- Quarterly meeting happened with the Finance Committee.
- Our webpage address was simplified. Thanks to Scott, no dashes are required!
- Hannaford recognized the club’s good works by letting us participate in “Bloomin 4 Good”, $1 donation to the club for every specially marked bouquet purchased.
- Various gardening projects led by Catherine Callahan.
- Celebrated the South Portland Boys and Girls Club 50th Anniversary, giving them a $2500 donation.
- Partially paid for the painting of Bug Light to get ready for the 150th Anniversary. Tony secured a grant from New England Lighthouse Lovers for additional funding.
- Change in the way Springfest is recorded. It will now function like the tree sale so the president knows what can be spent on July 1! It needed to be funded and the board members held back some spending this year to allow the transition to happen partially from the current Rotary year. It will take a couple more years to fully fund the transition. The change will allow the club to operate more decisively in the future.
Some members were called out in the above synopsis of what the club did this year. I know people have been missed in the list and I apologize to all of you that have been omitted. As a club, we have done amazing work and it could only happen with help from all of you.
Thank you for allowing me to be president this year. I appreciate your support and hard work to make our communities better.
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Download the website sponsorship guide