The Rotary Club of Bath Sunrise
CLUB UPDATE
CLUB UPDATE
Bath Sunrise is Our Name and Collaboration is Our Game. One of our favorite things is to collaborate with other organizations and other Rotary clubs. This summer has had more than a few opportunities for us to share, work and learn with others:
Bath-Tsugaru Student Exchange program
In 1889 a ship called The Cheseborough, built on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, sunk off the coast of Japan near a town called Shariki. Villagers came out to help save as many of the crew as was possible. Since then the two towns have become sister cities. Twenty-eight years ago, a student exchange program was started by the governor of Shariki and mayor of Bath. Since then over 660 students from Japan have visited Bath and over 360 students from Bath have visited Japan. The sharing of these two cultures has enriched both the town’s lives and heritage. Two generations of students have traveled between our countries. Shariki has since joined with 4 other small towns to become Tsugaru City in the prefecture of Aomori.
This month the Bath-Tsugaru Student Exchange program sent 7 students and 3 adults, including a Bath councilman, from the Bath area to Japan where one of their activities was joining the Tsugaru Rotary Club for lunch. Bath families hosted 15 students and 2 city and program officials and 1 interpreter from Tsugaru a week after the Bath students returned home. We were delighted to sponsor a lunch for our Japanese visitors at the Georgetown Warf during their stay and have them visit us at our August 17 breakfast meeting.
We are busy making plans to help sponsor the expense of the trip for Bath students next year. During next year’s anniversary activities there will be a tree planting to replace the tree planted 11 years ago in front of Brackett’s Market dedicated to the Mayor of Shariki who started the exchange program. His granddaughter had traveled to Bath that year. You can see the plaque for the tree just across from Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine. The tree died last winter and was cut down several weeks ago.
It is an honor to be part of this experience where communities with different cultures and histories can and do nurture a relationship of friendship despite world circumstances. This program exemplifies the goals of Rotary International, and we look forward to developing an ongoing relationship with the Rotary Club of Tsugaru. Visit http://bath-tsugaru.org for more information on this wonderful program.
The renewed interest and support from our club came about from a member’s passion and commitment to the mission and he brought a proposal to our board. THAT is the possibility of Rotary International and it’s 35,000 plus local clubs globally: one person, one passion and Rotary support equals things getting done!
School is starting and that means our 3 Rotary sponsored Robotics clubs will be gearing up for the year again. Check our Facebook page as soon as school is in session for current meeting times and days. If you have a student in RSU1 grades K through 12, one of our clubs is for them. The Middle School and Elementary School clubs meet at the Patten Free Library and the High School club meets at Morse HS/BRCTC.