We had a warm and uplifting time together on this otherwise gray and damp March day. 

 

In her message of hope, Alice shared thoughts of Michelle Obama that concluded, “Courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.”

 

Brenda on gratitude: “Gratitude is a catalyst for happiness.”

 

Erin made a fine lunch of butternut squash soup and chicken salad wraps. In lieu of accepting payment by the club, Erin generously is donating $15 on behalf of each of us to the Rotary Foundation. 

 

In happy dollars, Carol is happy that today’s precipitation is wet and not white! Elizabeth Ford thanked the Ogunquit fire company for the use of the space by her exercise group. Brenda’s husband Dick is recovering from a procedure to address bladder cancer; it was caught early in stage 1. We wish them well. Ray and Kay visited their daughter and family in Cincinnati. Jim’s sister is doing well following a lung transplant. Pete celebrated his drivers license renewal. Ed Smith thanked Erin for the soup and sandwich. Susan is happy in anticipation of the arrival of Spring. Alice is headed to Florida to see the Yankees in spring training. Erin leaves on a sunny and warm vacation Sunday. Heath celebrated the opening of PCK, aka Perkins Cove Kitchen, at the Hartwell House. Eric looks forward to sunny weather on Friday. Dr. Joe proudly announced his “Sapsucker” title in the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club maple syrup fundraiser. He and Vickie had a tough go of it getting over Covid in recent weeks. Joe’s granddaughter Christina enjoyed a very positive month in Brazil! Carole thanked Erin and wished Dick Cressey well. I gave the club a brief update on the start of George’s visit to Japan to visit son Paul and the grandchildren. 

 

Pete reported $1,1179.62 in CLYNK cash!

 

“There’s a Veterans group we’re helping called Stars For Our Troops,

But You’ll hear much more about them LATE-AH.

Meanwhile let’s support our good friend CLYNK:

Generate empties, take ‘em in; cash-pile gets GREAT-AH!”

 

Dr. Joe held the winning ticket and drew the Ace of hearts!  Reminder to all; you can’t win if you don’t play!

 

Elizabeth Ford once had a successful small business called “Help You Live” marketing heat-therapy rice bags. Today, she brought in some those products. She offered them to us in exchange for a donation to the Rotary Foundation. We gratefully accepted the offer, taking away the entire inventory. Thank you, Elizabeth!

 

Today’s speaker was Aileen Dugan, a member of the Portsmouth Rotary Club and District 7780 Foundation Finance Review Committee chair. She and several other Rotarians will guide our club’s visioning effort later this month. Ms. Dugan provided an overview of visioning, explaining the basics of the process and the benefits to be experienced. President Alice sent us the link to the preliminary survey that the visioning team will use as the starting point for the activity. We will convene at the fire station on Wednesday, March 27, at 4:30 p.m.

 

The board meets next Thursday at the fire station at 5:00. Pete will bring pizza at 6:00.

 

We return to Jonathan’s for our March 21 club meeting!