Almost thirty active Rotarians and friends and guests gathered on November 18 to mark another active week. We celebrated a large haul of new items, large and small, for sale in the Rotary Barn Saturdays from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. The barn has never been so full, announced Deb Graves! Pickups will likely cease for a few months since the barn’s last day in 2021 may be December 18 until springtime.

We also shared terrific news for Marty Helman. Our own Boothbay Harbor Rotarian of eighteen years, Marty was chosen this past week from among millions of Rotarians worldwide to serve as trustee of the International Rotary Foundation. Marty is only the third Rotarian in our Maine and New Hampshire district to be called to this leadership level of global service for Rotary. She is also the first woman from the northeast U.S. to serve as trustee globally. Congratulations Marty!

Mike Thompson announced completion of our expanded parking lot, with the final loads of gravel spread with precision and much appreciated. The parking lot has considerably eased congestion on Montgomery Rd. when the barn is open on Saturday mornings. Entrance and exit signs are up, and lights will come soon.

We welcomed Melissa Thornton and Rick Kaplan as guests. A moment of concern was when we learned that Rotarian Steve Salorio is in the hospital. We had fun with fifty-fifty handouts by Deb Graves. Sign up for needed tasks with Jim Herbold.

Our program entailed all of us pitching in and having fun assembling 180 packages going to Food for Thought and Food Pantry beneficiaries for Christmas. We won’t be meeting this week with Thanksgiving. Next meeting will be gift bags for Veterans for the Cabin in the Woods at Togus.

Chip Griffin, Scribe