UNE Rotaract Activity Highlights Rotaract in District 7780
By: Carol Marcotte, PhD, Co-Chair, District 7780 Rotaract Clubs, Saco Bay Sunset RC
District 7780 Poland Outreach Club at the Rotary Club Lublin Centrum ARK project
University of New England (UNE) Rotaract Club President Harshil Patel and Past President Brayden have been working for the past five months with their UNE Advisor, Carol Marcotte, Ph.D., on two goals. The first goal was to recruit new members for the 2024-2025 academic year. The second goal is to plan a trip to Poland during UNE’s student spring break in March 2025 to visit Rotaract Clubs and their special projects.
This interest was sparked when Carol Marcotte (pictured left) was part of the District 7780 Poland Outreach Team to Poland in 2024. She had already been to Poland and Ukraine in relation to the District 7780 Disaster Grant in which the Rotary Club of Lublin Centrum and the Rotary Club of Saco Bay Sunset secured a grant to fix the roof of a convent in Ukraine that was housing Ukrainian refugees. The convent is now called the Peace Shelter.As conversations continued with Rotaractors Harshil and Brayden, the idea of recruiting students was discussed as well as a trip to Poland. Most recently, UNE had a Club Fair in which the UNE Rotaract Club recruited students. At the end of the event, 39 students had signed up to be UNE Rotaract prospective members. As Harshil shared, “Wow, we crushed it!” A meeting is being set up for next steps to further accomplish goal number 1!
As far as goal number 2 is concerned, Harshil, Brayden and Carol met with the Rotaract Club of Lublin Centrum via Zoom during the summer. Spring meetings occurred with UNE offices that support and schedule international trips. Fund raising will occur for this trip. The current itinerary reads, “Rotaract Delegation Visit Planned from the USA To Lublin, Poland, will visit the following sites: Warsaw, Krakow Rotaract Club, Tours of Old Town and Castle Museum, participation is Rotaract Lublin projects, Aqualublin, ARK project and more.” The schedule is being further prepared.
The UNE Rotaract Club’s sponsors are the Rotary Club of Biddeford, Saco and Rotary Club of Saco Bay. Rotarian Phil Hatch, Saco Bay RC, and Carol, Saco Bay Sunset RC, will be meeting with the sponsor clubs soon. Carol Marcotte and Peggy Belanger are Co-Chairs of District 7780 Rotaract Clubs.
Pictured: District 7780 Poland Outreach Team with Lublin Centrum Rotaract members