Jennifer Archer is an attorney who works with ILAP. The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) provides free and low-cost immigration information and legal assistance to low-income Maine residents. She explained some of the types of cases she has worked on, and drove home the importance of the work that ILAP does.  Many immigrants served have suffered terribly in their native countries and arrive in the US with nothing.  They have sometimes had to leave under threat of death or unjust imprisonment.  Due to their state of poverty here, they may be victimized again.

ILAP's website states that the organization helps Maine's immigrants keep their families together, gain protection from persecution and domestic violence, attain residency and work authorization, and become proud U.S. citizens. ILAP builds stable families and improved opportunities, allowing Maine's immigrants to contribute to their communities for generations to come.

June 13 is our next night to cook at Ronald McDonald House.  Joining our team will be District Governor Carolyn Johnson.    If you have never volunteered at RMH, you are in for a treat.  Parents with seriously ill children are so grateful for what you do.  Interested?  Sign up to help with Jim or Pat. Next year we are serving as Guest Chefs once a month.  The dates are on the calendar on the website.  Speak with Pat or Honoré if you wish to cook one night later in the year.

Terry Hodskins, President-Elect of the Wells Rotary Club, told us today about the hobby she turned into a gift for children worldwide who are the recipients of surgery through Rotary.  Wanting to do something to help out Rotoplast which performs cleft palate surgery to children in need around the world, she asked if she could send a quilt with the team to give to a child having surgery.  Then she asked how many surgeries would be performed.  She decided then to meet the challenge and had quilt groups start making and donating quilts.  Her effort, Wrap a Smile, is now just shy of 20,000 donated quilts!  Thanks, Terry, for showing how a hobby can sometimes change into something beneficial to people far away.

Need an office space for a month?  Three months?  Patrick Roche, Owner and Director of Think Tank CoWorking, gave us a look into the small business office of the future, a place where entrepreneurs can work and exchange ideas in an open workspace.  With two locations, Portland and Yarmouth, Patrick provides the area with space to grow small business.  His Portland space provides 6000 square feet of open, dynamic workspace plus dedicated offices while Yarmouth offers 2500 square feet of open space and six offices. The concept of CoWorking is fairly new and Patrick gave us a great introduction to the work environment of the future.

Our April 24 speaker was Mary Alice Scott who told us all about the Portland Food Co-op  which is slated to open in fall 2014, the Portland Food Co-op will be a grocery store, owned by members and open to the public, that will offer a wide selection of local, organic, and natural foods and household products. They are dedicated to supporting local farmers and producers, serving our community and building the local economy. Mary Alice told us more about the co-op movement and how it differs from traditional supermarkets and how we can join.

Shannon Moss, Producer and Host of "Split Screen with Shannon Moss" was a recent speaker at the club.  She's shown here with our own Michael Nazemetz.

Christine Byrne and new Rotarian Kathi Adams at our food drive to benefit Preble St. Resource Center. We filled the trailer and raised over $100.00 in cash donations!!

Past President Sam Heck accepts a banner from Past District Governor Marty Helman
in recognition of our club being 2nd place in the district for per capita giving to the
Rotary Foundation.

Carolyn Johnson, 7780 District Governor was our speaker today.  She began her presentation with the premise that everyone has a story.  And everyone has a Rotary story.  She shared some of her special Rotary stories, one that took place in Yarmouth and one in a rural mountain village in Guatemala.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England gave the club a most informative presentation regarding Goodwill, how it works and who benefits.  The credo at Goodwill is "nothing wasted" and Anna brought us through the donation process and where all that "stuff" ends up.  Each Goodwill is operated separately and the Northern New England chapter is cutting edge.

August 29th proved to be a triple header!  First, we received an award from the American Red Cross for our work holding blood drives twice a year.  We also talked about our upcoming blood drive on September 20th from 7AM to 2PM.

Mike Dixon, Executive Director, Portland ConnectED

Our August 15, 2013 Speaker was Mike Dixon, Executive Director of Portland ConnectED, a collaboration of organizations aiming to build and sustain citywide culture dedicated to supporting highly effective education for Portland's youth, for Portland families and for the Portland Community at large. 

GSE Team visits Portland Head Light on a foggy morning.

Inspired by our own Ann Lee Hussey, this young man is now an inspiration to us all! 

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130713/GJNEWS_01/130719671

June 27th marked our changeover with a packed house welcoming our new president, John Henninges as he took over the leadership role from Sam Heck.  

Devin, Sally, Dennis, Ed and John cooked up a daring spaghetti dinner for the guests at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland.  A fun time!