Rotary reviews club history
The program for the April 23 Presque Isle Rotary Club meeting was under the auspices of the Membership Committee and presented by committee chair Nancy Fletcher. Meetings are held at the Northeastland Hotel.
Fletcher gave some history of Rotary and the local club as well. She reminded members that our club has been around since 1923 and has 101 active members and 20 honorary members. The highest historical membership in the PI Club was 122 members.
Fletcher talked to club members about how to propose new members, she created and passed out “business” cards for members to use to give to perspective members with contact information and Rotary’s 4-Way Test. “Rotarians are our friends, neighbors, co-workers … all we need to do is ask them to join us at a meeting to learn a bit more about us and Rotary and potentially you have a new member,” Fletcher said.
Don Samiya also gave his classification speech. Raised in Milford, he worked for Hannaford supermarkets for 22 years at 13 different stores from Maine to Virginia. He also worked at Rite Aid in New Hampshire for about five years and eventually moved to Presque Isle with his wife, who is originally from here.
Samiya talked about the influence his father has on him in regard to volunteering and hospitality and felt Rotary was a natural fit for him when he moved here. He loves to be in the outdoors, especially hunting, fishing, and ice fishing.
The Board met and approved $250 for the March of Dimes walk on May 20; a $100 hole sponsor for the C.A.N.C.E.R Golf Tournament on June 2; and a $230 scholarship for the Dirigo Boys State Program. Directors also approved to have the Thesaurus literacy program again this year.
The board approved the recommendations of Auction Chairs Alton Hartt and Jane Towle for this year’s auction recipients and the full membership voted in favor as well. Those funded will be: Homeless Shelter of Aroostook appliances, Star City ATV Club towards a clubhouse, C.A.N.C.E.R laptop, Aroostook Football benches, Nordic Heritage Center radios, and Spragueville Extension for fencing around balloon site.
The Presque Isle Rotary Club agreed to suspend the special project for this year’s auction while members concentrate on completing the Gold Brick commitment. More information will be shared on this topic at future meetings.
The “mystery” Rotarian this week was Randy Wilcox and his favorite charity is The Christopher Home and they will have $50 sent in his name from the PI Rotary.
PI Rotarians updated on NMCC campaign
The program for the May 7 Presque Isle Rotary meeting was the Northern Maine Community College Major Gifts Campaign.
Tim Crowley, president of NMCC and a fellow Rotarian, presented a brief sketch of how the effort to raise $2 million for the local campus came to be and how it will positively impact local communities. This has been a work in progress for about two years and is in full swing now. Sonja Fongemie is the Director of the Major Gifts Campaign and the Honorary Chair is Floyd Harding. The Tri-Chairs of the campaign are Brian Hamel, Kris Doody and Bob Clark.
NMCC did a lot of ground work prior to launching this campaign including feasibility studies and what to build the case for support on, including the human aspect of higher education and developing business opportunities in Aroostook County. College representatives worked with businesses around Aroostook County in partnership to determine the vision for this campaign. Organizers also felt it was important to put their own money where their mouth was and with that an internal drive at NMCC was kicked off and to date employees, foundation board members, and council members have given $111,394 to set this $2 million fund-raising goal well on its way.
Corporate gifts announced to date are from Machias Savings Bank, McCain Foods, United Insurance Group and Katahdin Trust.
Major Gifts Campaign Funds will be utilized in several ways: a Scholarship Endowment Fund for accessing opportunities; a Technology Endowment Fund for investing in innovation; and a College/Community Advancement Fund for meeting immediate community needs in education. Donations are tax deductible, can be designated to a particular fund, and multi-year pledges are welcome, said Crowley. For more information, call 768-2767 or e-mail sfongemie@nmcc.edu
In other Rotary business, the club’s mystery Rotarians this week were Rick Duncan and Chad Bartley. Duncan’s favorite charity is the Jungle Medical Missions and $50 will go to them in his name from PI Rotary. Bartley’s favorite charity is the March of Dimes Preemie Campaign and $50 will be sent to them in his name from PI Rotary as well.
