President Dwight Swisher opened the meeting with the fabulous news that we will be in our new club house in 21 days! Seems hard to believe after so many years of planning and months of construction!

Between now and then, we have work to do. Saturday, Nov. 22 (this Saturday) we need to get all the stuff out of Doug Harley’s barn that we stored in it since last winter. The work will start at 8 a.m. at the barn, and continue until the work is done.

There are plenty of jobs, hauling, cleaning, putting away — enough to keep everyone (of all physical conditions) occupied. So come on out! The following Saturday, Nov. 29 (Thanksgiving weekend) we will have another moving party to get our stuff from the Gallery to the new clubhouse. Dwight is giving us a break for the holiday — that morning the work will start at a more civilized 9 a.m.

And all this activity is prior to Dec. 4, our grand opening celebration/75th anniversary. Plan to bring your sweetie and celebrate with members of the community and Rotarians from throughout the district. Our special speaker will be Mike McGovern, vice-chairman of The Rotary Foundation and former Vice President of Rotary International. We are expecting a goodly crowd — and fabulous meal — to celebrate our new home.

In the meantime, Rotary activities continue. Foster Stroup announced that we should net $1,400 from our citrus fruit sale, with the top sellers being Bob Pike and Doug Harley. The fruit will be arriving sometime the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 18. If you can help with unloading at the Small Mall, please email Foster. As soon as she knows them, she will share specific times for the truck’s arrival in the Harbor.

Deb Graves introduced the Interact students who recently participated in the district-wide trip to New York for Rotary-UN day and to enjoy “Wicked” on Broadway and dinner at Bubba Gump’s. They also told of their recent club activities.

A standout was an essay contest they held recently (and hope to make an annual event) for participating eighth graders. The younger students were asked to write an essay on the topic: “If you were a super hero, what would your super power be and how would you use it to help your community?” Winners received cash prizes to go to the charity of their choice, and all participating students learned more about Interact. Pretty cool.

Then the microphone was passed to Gretchen Elder, who spent last spring semester as a high school sophomore exchange student in County Kerry, Ireland. Gretchen explained that she was interested in the exchange in order to expand her world view and learn more about herself, and it is clear that she accomplished those goals.

In addition to spending a semester in a Catholic school and living with a sponsor family, she also met many other exchange students from around the world. She thanked the Rotary Club for helping her financially; she said that she learned a lot and felt that she had become a better person for the experience.

It is clear that Gretchen is a remarkable young woman with tremendous potential, and we are delighted not only to support her in a small way on her life journey, but also to claim her as a “Rotary daughter.”

This week, Thursday, Nov. 20, we will hear from our own Brian McGrath about new composite materials being used at Hodgdon Yachts, and Kim promises a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Waiters are Irene Fowle and Tom Churchill; greeter/invocator is Jim Botti.

It’ll be the last meeting before the Thanksgiving holiday and the last meeting at the Gallery, which has served us so well this past year. Summing up their monthly duties will be Foster Stroup, Steward; Mike Thompson, Innkeeper; 50/50, Bill Kautzmann.

And then (drum roll please!) on Dec. 4 we will be in the new club house to celebrate our last 75 years of service to the community and look forward to the next 75 years.