President’s Message February 2022

 “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” - ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Address at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.

On January 5, we heard from Kasey McDonough from A Family for ME.  ME as in me, myself and I, not Maine.  A Family for ME partners with Maine DHHS and Spurwink Services to raise awareness about foster parenting in Maine.  There are 2,200 children in out of home care in Maine, 500 of them need foster parents.  I have material addressing business partnerships with A Family for ME - e-mail me if you are interested.

Dr. Mark Fourre of Waldo County General Hospital spoke with us on January 12.  He spoke of the challenges facing the health care system with the Omicron surge.  WCGH is adapting but they are experiencing staffing issues.  There are currently 300 openings at Waldo County and Pen Bay hospitals.

Syrena Gatewood spoke to the membership about Food Pantry donations.  We have a goal of $4,000 to be raised.  Please send whatever you can to Belfast Rotary, PO Box 74, Belfast, ME  04915.  See below for some great news.

Mark Politte the owner of Stanley Subaru and Stanley Chevrolet Buick spoke to us about the trials and tribulations of selling automobiles during the current pandemic.  Currently, his dealerships are selling cars before they get delivered - hence his lots are empty.  There is a great demand for electronic chips as the average automobile has over 1,200 chips in it.  He also spoke of the future of electric vehicles.  Currently, he is sold out of EV trucks and there is a two year waiting period.

We held our second Club Assembly on January 26.  We heard from Dorothy Havey who spoke about the Rotary Foundation - we need some ideas about helping the community with Rotary grants.  If you have a suggestion, contact Dorothy.

We next heard from Duke Marston who spoke about Harbor Fest which will be held from August 19 to 21.  The big attraction is the Boat Building Challenge and we have several teams committed to building this year. We need all hands on deck for this operation, so please help out on that busy weekend.

We heard next from Doug Smith about e-waste.  Things are not looking good as the one company in Maine who handles electronic waste only picks up from municipal transfer stations and does not work on weekends.

Kristine Wentworth told us to contact her regarding any Rotary activities so that the Public Relations committee can prepare advertising or articles for publication.  They are currently preparing for Harbor Fest and the Golf Tournament.

 Lee Woodward and Greg Dutch talked about the Scholarship Committee’s work.  We presently hand out about $80,000 annually and will pass the one million dollar mark in total giving this year.

Rob Flood joined us after being laid up with back and hernia surgery.  He is the new chair for the Golf Fund Raiser and is planning on holding the event on June 11.  There are two sub-committees; Fund Raising and Event Management.

Syrena Gatewood spoke about the Food Cupboards, we are 64 dollars short of our $4,000 fund raising goal.  We will provide $1,500 to each of six food cupboards plus the Belfast Soup Kitchen.

Larry Theye spoke briefly about the Membership Committee - we’ve lost some members over the past year and there hasn’t been a lot of new member applications.

The Community Care Committee has sent donations to the following charities in Waldo County:

     Waldo County Humane $100

     Camp Capella $500

     Waldo County Hospice Volunteers $225

    Waldo County School Food Pantries $100 (actually the YMCA)  This donation was increased to $250 by the Board of Directors

 Dorothy Havey is working with Chip Curry on a legislative sentiment recognizing the one million dollars in scholarships that our club has provided.