Meeting of October 10, 2019
Announcements:
President Jeremy was not able to be here so Deb DeColfmacker presided over the meeting.
Those who worked at the Food Pantry this month noticed a shortage of toilet paper, paper towels and instant coffee, so if you feel so inclined please donate those types of items.
Our club was well represented at Rotary Rocks, the District Conference the prior Saturday, with 6 members there. It was worth going to "recharge our Rotary batteries".
The next board meeting will be on Monday evening, October 21st.
We may be helping the Marshwood interact club with their food drive during Halloween trick or treating. The usually need trucks to haul away the fruits of their labors.
World Polio Day is October 24th, so plan to donate extra that day in commemoration of that. Our guest speaker that day will be Katherine Kolios, the executive director of Rain for the Sahel and Sahara (RAIN) and has lived, worked, and studied in Francophone communities throughout Africa, South America, and Europe. She has served as RAIN's Executive Director since May 2018. Katherine has experience working in the field and in headquarters of organizations large and small. Currently, she leads RAIN’s strategic planning, serves as the liaison between Niger and U.S. operations, and ensures RAIN has the resources needed to implement programs effectively in tandem with community partners. She is a graduate of Brandeis University’s Health: Science, Society and Policy program.
This coming Thursday our speaker will be the director of Footprints Food Pantry.
The next big assignment for us in November will be the Thanksgiving Dinner for seniors on the Monday preceding Thanksgiving. We give thanks to Kim Brooker for taking on the leadership of that activity!
Program for the Day
We heard from Lisa Twombly and Carolyn Delaney who were featured recently at Kennebunk Savings Bank's forum on opioid recovery. They have produced a newly-popular publication called Journey which is available free to whoever wants to share it with those who are in recovery or who know people who are dealing with substance abuse recovery. It is a wonderful resource, filled with inspirational articles and valuable and useful information not readily available elsewhere. Employers and hospitals and medical offices and others request bunches of them to share and raise awareness. As we all know, opioid abuse is a problem with tragic results. The purpose of their publication is to amplify hope and celebrate freedom from addiction. Life goes on when in recovery and the stories show what recovery looks like. It is based in Portland, but people everywhere can identify with it. Its message is to be your best self in the world and the publication shines a light on the growth aspect of recovery. Recovering people make good employees and employment is key to success, so employers are encouraged to hire them. In fact, millions of people are in recovery, they just are not very visible. Carolyn Delaney is the editor of the magazine where work began last November and their first issue published in March. People are hungry for information and hope and positive stories, which is what you find here in this successful magazine which is solutions-focused.