Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy being a member of the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club? I travel a lot – and speak a lot – for Rotary, and I do it because I enjoy it. But even more I enjoy coming home and spending Thursday evenings with friends, solving the problems of the world, and usually learning something about the community from a very interesting speaker. 

This week was no exception. Our guest speaker last Thursday was  the president and CEO of Sweetser, Jayne Van Bramer. I knew Sweetser was the go-to organization in Maine for help with mental health issues, but I had no idea either how significant or how cutting edge their work is.   

 Sweetser is a behavioral health nonprofit that provides evidence-based treatment, support and hope through a statewide network of community-based mental health, recovery and educational services, and they do just about everything that isn’t part of inpatient treatment – and they will soon be expanding into that arena, as well.  Jayne shared that  Sweetser answered over 30,000 calls last year on their peer support line, which is free and provides an opportunity to speak with someone who has recovered from substance abuse and/or a mental health issue. Wow! 

Sweetser also deploys trained staff to people who call in on the mental health crisis line. Just as we all know that 911 is the crisis number to call for a physical emergency, Jayne asked us to know that the crisis number to call – nationwide – for a mental health emergency is 988. Got that? 988.

Meanwhile, the organization is constructing – and currently raising money to pay for – what will be Maine’s first psychiatric residential treatment facility.  It will be located in Saco, and once its planned opening takes place in 2026, Maine’s most at-risk youth will be able to be treated right here at home rather than  sent to facilities in other states around the country. 

Sweetser has 600 staff working directly on its programming; another 250 staff do back-office work.  The organization has a $55 million budget, mostly paid via Medicaid and MaineCare subsidies, and of course Jayne is very concerned about potential decisions in Washington that might cut the budget while creating more need for Sweetser services. 

Frankly, I learned a lot! And based on the questions around the room, I wasn’t alone. 

The evening got off to a glorious start thanks to a delicious meal of chicken enchiladas courtesy of Ivan, our new chef. Dinner culminated with cookies – chocolate, raison and macadamia. There were those of us who had a hard time deciding among the three and those who solved the problem by having one (or more) of each. Just saying! And as always, leftovers went to the Community Fridge. Lucky Fridge! 

President Laurie reported that at the last directors meeting, the club voted $2,000 to the annual District Nursing annual appeal, and another $2,000 to the Free Bed Fund. We also voted to support the YMCA, as we do annually.   

All that giving requires fund-raising: That’s where the Rotary Barn comes in. We will be collecting goodies and selling them back to the community every Saturday morning at the Big, Gray, Rotary Barn through mid December; come acquire your Christmas decorations – or your fabulous Christmas gifts – every Saturday between 8:30 and 11 a.m. at 66 Montgomery Road, Boothbay Harbor. And come out and pitch in to help the work go smoothly. Many hands make light work, et cetera. 

Plus, there’s more:  On Thursday, Oct. 23, representative Holly Stover will return and bring us up-to-date on what’s happening in Augusta. Holly is a long-time friend of the club and it’s always great to see her. 

The following week, Oct. 30, will see ghouls and goblins coming out for our annual Halloween festivities. Wear a costume; plan on games organized by Vicki Haugen, and share good times and fun with our high school Interact club members. 

The Interact kids will be returning Nov. 13 to help us fete our local veterans at the annual Veterans Appreciation night. We’ll have all the usual Armed Services songs and stories – that said, Monica and Tom will not be available to tickle the ivories that night. If you can help out by playing the music for the military anthems, please speak to Irene. Speak to Irene anyway; she is looking for volunteers to help send out invitations and decorate.   

Speaking of volunteering: People Power has been a bit forgotten recently, which means that some of our members were “voluntold” to help keep the meeting running last Thursday. That’s not all bad – we had some new faces doing some old jobs, and why not? But the message is clear: It takes all of us for our meetings to run smoothly. So sign up online, or at a meeting, but do sign up. 

Oh, this Rotary thing is so much fun! We get to raise money and give back to the community, we get to do it with cool people, and we get to do it with a great dinner on Thursday nights. Who could ask for anything more? Join us! Either speak to a local Rotarian or just stop by 66 Montgomery Road on a Thursday night. The place is rocking and rolling by 6 p.m.; dinner is served at 6:30 and the meeting called to order (in a manner of speaking) around 7, and we are outta there by 8.