Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club

Tue, 02/27/2018 - 10:00am

This week, Thursday March 1, District Governor 2019-2020 Andy Glazier will be our guest. On March 8, our own Patty Seybold, accompanied by a local doctor, will be speaking about Boothbay Region Health Care.

Mark your calendars now for the annual Soup Bowl Supper, happening on April 5.

Robert MacKenzie talks about opioid addiction

Marty Helman introduced Robert MacKenzie, chief of police in Kennebunk. He is a graduate of Husson University and the FBI National Academy, and has served on the Kennebunk police force for 29 years.

Bob joined the Kennebunk Rotary Club in 2006, and was president of the club in 2014-15.

Opioid addiction, a substance abuse disorder, has become a major problem for his community, as it has for most communities throughout the country, and his concern about the problem of this epidemic inspired him to develop a mentoring program for kids who were getting into trouble. The results of the mentoring program have been very positive, both for the mentors and those being mentored.

As overdose deaths continue to rise across all socioeconomic classes, Chief MacKenzie realized that by educating private citizens to recognize the signs of opioid and heroin abuse, and by shedding light on the issue of substance abuse disorder, we can reduce the stigma and help alleviate the shame. We can teach people how to recognize an overdose victim, and what to do to save their life.

He has developed a Recognition & Response Training Program, and so far 40 Rotarians, 35 Chamber of Commerce members, and 35 citizens of his community have been trained to administer Naloxone. These people now have the ability to confidently react if the need arises. He has been asked to provide this training to children, and will also be offering it to adult education programs.

He and his team are offering the training to other Rotary clubs, and he hopes to see it expand throughout the International Rotary Community. Bob’s commitment and passion about this project are truly inspiring! “We can make a big difference by working together as Rotary!”

Club business

After Rotary’s social time, with delicious hors d’oeuvres and delectable chocolate treats, Jonathan called the meeting to order and introduced our guests, Chloe Swendlow from Portland and Holly Stover from the BRCRC.

Announcements were made, and included: Irene Fowle recruiting volunteers for the upcoming Soup Bowl Supper, Mike Thompson scheduling signups for the basketball tournament the first weekend in March, and Brian McGrath has volunteered to be club steward for the five weeks that Foster is away. Irene Fowle was nominated for club vice president, and she was unanimously elected to the position. Congratulations, Irene!

Several thank you letters for Rotary support were read to the club by Jonathan. He also noted an article in the Ageless MAINE magazine, which featured the Woodchucks and noted the club’s support for the purchase of the log loader. He also read a letter from Partners For World Health from Portland, who wrote about their mission to Senegal which the club helped to fund.

Bob Jacobson drew the 50/50 winners, with Seth Hedgecock winning the small pot, and Frank Helman winning the big pot. Irene, who was the evening’s greeter, provided the invocation and just got elected VP, next collected happy/sad dollars for joys and concerns, including a positive update on Joy Ward’s progress, sadness for the families in Florida, and joys for the medal wins in the Winter Olympics. Trivia questions were provided by Irene’s committee which produced some lively discussion and more dollars for the cause.