We have been having a very interesting slate of guest speakers the past few weeks, with more coming up.  We had an outstanding meeting with Senator Angus King, who spent almost 40 minutes discussing issues and answering some very good questions.  Todd French gave us a detailed update on the Presidential Yacht Sequoia project and other projects his company is doing.  There were several other interesting talks.  In April we’ll be hearing from the Future Business Leaders of America chapter in Searsport, First National Bank who will speak to a positive outlook as we climb out of COVID back to normalcy, and Congressman Jared Golden. 

 

Our club membership now stands at 69.  We have been having a steady stream of impressive new members in the past few months, with the latest being Kim Fleming of Waterfall Arts.  I find it very affirming that even during this very difficult time people want to give and are attracted to our club and to what we do.  So this may actually be a good time to invite people you know to come to one of our meetings and possibly join us at some point.

 

Even though we have not been able to have many of our usual events this year, several of our committees have been hard at work planning for next year.  The Golf/Spring Fundraiser Committee has developed some plans for this Spring that they will be telling you about soon.  Similarly, the HarborFest Committee has been making tentative plans for a scaled-down HarborFest that they will tell you about when the plans firm up.  And our PR Committee has been busy sending out press releases about some of our activities.  So even in the midst of this pandemic year a lot of work is being done setting the stage for next year.

 

Several people have been asking when we can return to in-person meetings.  We will be discussing this at the upcoming Board meeting, but right now the plan is this:  by the end of April most (all?) of our members over the age of 60 will be fully vaccinated (i.e. 2 weeks after their second shot).  That’s about 2/3 of our members.  At that point those people can meet in person, subject to the State rules.  However, when we start in-person meetings we may have some folks who want to attend who have not yet been vaccinated.  So we can probably start hybrid meetings in early May, but with appropriate precautions in force (masks, social distancing, …).  We would still have a Zoom in parallel at least for the time being, and we’d probably have box lunches by reservation from Rollies.  This plan might change (for example if there’s a huge surge), but that’s the thinking right now. 

 

Have a wonderful beginning of Spring!

 

 

Yours in friendship and service,

 

Richard

 

 

 

The Rotary motto is “service above self,” and Belfast Rotary Club brings that mission to life by providing support to the community year-round. In March, the club donated $2,000 to each of seven area food pantries and soup kitchens. With these gifts, funded by club members in response to the need brought about by the pandemic, Belfast Rotary has more than doubled its regular annual giving to those agencies.

 

“All of us are aware of how COVID-19 has affected families in Waldo County,” said club president Richard Koralek. “These are groups we have supported since 1998 by holding three pancake breakfasts a year and providing some of the proceeds from the Rotary Club’s annual charitable golf tournament. And even though we gave each organization $1,500 late last year to help feed local children, families, elders and adults, we felt we could do more.”

 

The recipients of this latest round of $2,000 gifts include the Greater Belfast Area Ministerium Food Cupboard, Belfast Soup Kitchen, No Greater Love Food Pantry, Jackson Food Pantry, Searsport Methodist Food Cupboard, Northport Food Pantry and Little River Baptist Church Food Pantry. In addition, the Belfast Soup Kitchen last year received a $5,000 Rotary Club gift for the walk-in cooler at its new facility on Route 3.