The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor
CLUB RECAP
We are so proud of our membership committee leaders who have excelled in bringing our membership to a new heights. We think that we achieved this with an all-out marketing effort through local news articles sharing what we are doing to enhance our community. We may have finally dispelled the notion that there is weekly required attendance. Our motto is “Engagement, not Attendance” Our members are now attending because we’ve made it fun! Our attendance was up from last year so we can only conclude that fun works!
As soon as spring arrives, we’ll be installing Little Libraries in special accessible sites for anyone to borrow a book. This is a joint project with the Chamber of Commerce and the Boothbay Harbor Library. So far, Rotary members have committed to four little libraries. Hats off to the notion of collaboration with other wonderful organizations!
The annual Soup Bowl took place late March and brought in 220 people to receive all you can eat soup, salad and dessert with a handmade soup bowl of your choice for $15. This is a collaborative effort with Rebuilding Together and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, which prepares beautiful handmade soup bowls.
On April 25th we celebrated our 61st Lifetime Service Award to a non Rotarian resident who epitomizes Service Above Self. Around 90 local citizens showed up to surprise the recipient! She was given a Paul Harris and we hope that she will become a Rotarian.
Our collaborative program for Veterans called “Serve the Served” is going forward to meet our mission of bringing back into the community the veterans who have lost touch with others and would benefit from home visits and possible community activities. Rotary, our local community center, and the American Legion lodge are collaborating and have gathered volunteers who, after training, will spend a minimal of 3 hours a month with a veteran.
Vidalia onions were sold to Friends of Rotary and Rotarians. Many thanks to our awesome Onion Specialist, Doug Harley.
On May 4th we collaborated with our local community center to sponsor the KENTUCKY DERBY to benefit the Community Center. Through our shared labor, everyone enjoyed a mint julep, a bite of Derby Pie and the most exciting two minutes in sports!
May 2 – We had no formal meeting but just good fun with an evening of Trivia. We passed the hat to cover the cost of the MC and to donate to Polio Plus.
May 30th - Graduate's Night at Rotary. We invite the local high school grads to dinner and have them sit with a Rotarian to talk about their futures and how Rotary will enhance their lives. This year we have focused on vocational educational tracks which dignify this type of life’s work and safeguard the economic future of our community. Speaking to the grads will be an articulate instructor from Bath Regional Career Technical Center; he will reaffirm the importance of vocational futures for many of our students.
June 13th we collaborate with the local Chamber of Commerce and the Boothbay Region Art Foundation to showcase and celebrate our local artists. Donations for our Open House event will be given to Polio Plus. We are so lucky to have the works of many fine local artist who exhibit in the clubhouse; their great works help us rent our clubhouse to those who need it.