Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club | Boothbay Register

Rotary follows the financial calendar, so our new club president and officers will take office on July 1. This should have been the most important item on the agenda, but this year it was overshadowed by the fact that our float won first place in the Windjammer Days Parade.

We won! We won! And the prize for winning is the much coveted bragging rights that come with camaraderie and fun. This year our club’s Fun Committee made sure we had a first-class entrance, er, float, in the parade and their hard work really paid off. Karen Pritchard and Charlotte Jameson put their heads together to make it all happen, Rick Jameson built the “boats” that demonstrated our commitment, Mike Thompson loaned the inflatable raft donated to the barn, Doug Harley drove the truck, Bill Prince organized the bikes and the rest of us pitched in, carrying boats, carrying the banner, handing out candy and rubber ducks, blowing up balloons, trying to bribe the judges – whatever was needed and all as part of the day’s work.

It helped that our presentation really emphasized the theme of shipbuilding. Our presentation was called “Building Community Through Service.” Pretty cool, right?

Guests at the meeting included Lorraine Faherty, our Deputy Governor from the Damariscotta-Newcastle Club, and Peggy Belanger, former District Governor from the Kennebunk Portside Club, who traveled with Jon Stewart from Saco Bay Sunset. Diane Wood was also with us to cheer Alden on.

The end of the Rotary year also means it’s time to count our donations to the Rotary Foundation, the 501(c)3 organization that supports all the good work we do here on the Peninsula and around the world. For example, both the playground we built at BRES and the soups we provided for the Food Pantry during COVID were funded in part by Rotary Foundation grants, as was much of our clubs’ work abroad, including the hearing project the Portland Club is doing in the Dominican Republic and our own work in Uganda. The typical “payback” of these projects is that we can receive double the amount the club donated to the cause from the Rotary Foundation, up to certain limits. But ultimately, it’s our donations that matter… and this year, Judi White shared the good news that we reached our goal of $12,000 to the Rotary Foundation. Now we just need to plan how to spend the money!

President Tory shared that there could have been at least 70 Rotarians of the Year this year, but one name in particular stood out: Brian McGrath is almost always in attendance, frequently works as a volunteer waiter, frequently cleans up trash in the barn, frequently takes out the garbage, and always picks up the mail. Behind the scenes, he compiles spreadsheets to make sure our finances cover our expenses, and lately he has taken it upon himself to go over our insurance policies to make sure we are adequately insured. His name was greeted with great applause but little comment because, for the first time that this writer can remember, Brian was not at the weekly meeting. Tory will have to present him with his appropriately monogrammed hat on another occasion.

And then it was time for a thrilling family duel between the incoming and outgoing board members. Let’s just say that, as is usual at Rotary game nights, the rules of the game were, er, fluid. Anyway, the outgoing board scored the most points, the game went into an all-or-nothing overtime, and in the end it was agreed that the two boards were tied. Or whatever.

Effective July 1, Mike Thompson and Alden Wood are our new co-presidents, while Tory wears the coveted “past president” pin and looks forward to a remarkably successful year. It’s the first time in our club’s history that we’ve had a co-presidency, but since Alden and Diane are only here six months of the year, this arrangement makes sense. Tory’s advice to the newbies was to hold back and let club members do their “thing.” Alden thanked the club for being creative in getting involved, and Mike agreed that having a club presidency once a generation is probably a good thing.

There will be no meeting this Thursday, July 4th. Enjoy the fireworks!

Do you think community is fun? Then come join us! We have dinner and a program every Thursday night at 6 p.m.; and of course, barn sales every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 11 a.m. We’re always looking for people who share our love of community and want to give back. And we’re always looking for used items – furniture, housewares, collectibles, tools – that we can sell to support the needs of our community. Call Deb Graves at 207-380-3550 to schedule a pickup or drop-off, ask a Rotarian, or just come to a meeting. You won’t regret it!