Rotattler for the Meeting of September 24th and Board Meeting Notes
ZOOM MEETING ON THURSDAY
Our guest speaker was Jeri Weiss of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who talked about Project RAINE (www.EPA.Gov/RAINE). In late 2013 the EPA hosted a climate summit and resulting from it was Project RAINE (Resilience and Adaptation in New England). Visit the website for a fuller understanding of the information that this provides. Resilience is like bouncing forward so that the next time something happens we can respond better with what we've learned the previous time(s). We have seen that there are changing patterns in weather and climate, where events are bigger, storms are stormier, etc. So the EPA has created this database so people can look up information that has been gathered before about what has been done and what worked and what did not, e.g., and respond accordingly when something like this happens again. The website is updated twice a year. Check it out.
Jeri has been with the EPA since 1989 and has worked on such projects as the Superfund project, air toxins (such as mercury), solid waste, lead in drinking water, and other environmental concerns. She mentioned her work when Mattapoiset in Massachusetts experienced a flooding event due to a hurricane in 1991 when private wells that provided drinking water got flooded with salt water because of the coastal flooding. Leaders met and addressed the problems, but, with global warming leading to rises in sea levels, this will happen again. Hopefully, by keeping track of strategies that have been used people can make the most informed decisions about how to address this type of problem.
OUR CLUB ACTIVITIES
On October 6th we will pick up 3000 masks as our allotment for distribution to worthy and needy groups under our district's Million Mask Challenge. Once we have them, we will mobilize to get them out to the communities we serve, all the while demonstrating how Rotary serves our region.
We are trying to pin down how we can help with Halloween in Eliot and South Berwick. We hear that there may be a scarecrow making event in Eliot. We are checking with both towns to see what we can do.
The Eliot Recreation Department has asked us to help fund "Rec in a Box", to supply kids with activity boxes to take home should they have to return to virtual at-home learning again if COVID causes them to shut down activities for kids at the Elementary School.
BOARD MEETING
On Monday the Board met at Skip Cousens' lovely deck for a sunset meeting (thank you for hosting this, Skip). Here's a summary:
-- Treasurer Richard reported that there are still 14 people who have not paid their dues. We have sent our payment to Rotary for all our members.
-- We talked about possibly having our meetings at the Flynns' meeting facility in downtown South Berwick, which is close to ready. We probably would not have any in-person meetings for at least a few months, though, unless there is some miracle.
-- We will distribute our 3000 masks to first responders, hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, and other places according to the goal of making a local impact.
-- We will accept Robin Wheeler's gracious invitation to have our October 8th meeting at her house in her lovely yard and patio. She'll provide the beverages, but we need to bring our own food that we would eat personally, like a picnic, but not to share, in the interest of safety. This would take place from 5:00-7:00 p.m.
-- We will prepare press releases about our button project at the elementary schools. We have some nice photos. Jeremy Fogg's family is putting together the posters that will hang at each school. Thank you for the graphic designers, Jeremy.
-- The electronics fundraiser is still in our plans, most likely in the spring. That company is back in business.
-- We voted to fund the "Rec in a Box" proposal for the Eliot Community Service Department. It will cost about $280, it seems.
-- We'd still like to organize a Halloween costume contest where kids and their families can get into costumes and send us photos to be entered for prizes, the categories being most original, best costume, and best group costumes. We will try to use our Facebook page (did you know we have a FB page?) and towns' FB pages to publicize this. Without actually asking them yet, we are hopeful that Lena Ugren and Brandon Elsemore will keep our FB page updated for such activities.
WE HEAR THAT THERE COULD BE A FASCINATING PRESENTER AT OUR NEXT MEETING ON ZOOM ON THURSDAY. KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR PRESIDENT DEB'S EMAIL ABOUT IT.