It was Rebuilding Together night at Rotary, a night to help our neighbors and remind ourselves of the solid history of support that our club has in the region.

Rebuilding Together started as a Rotary project, when a group of construction-minded Rotarians – including Chip Griffin, Robin Reed, and Neil Ames – joined by Rotarians-in-spirit Joyce Armendaris, Barclay Shepherd and Sally Barter, among others  – came together to help neighbors maintain their homes.

Rebuilding Together does home repairs for homeowners who qualify financially, and does projects that help make the house safe, dry and warm.  This includes steps, flooring, insulation. The most expensive projects tend to be to redo roofs, and because roofs involve climbing, Rebuilding hires professionals.  Ramps are also a common need, and Rebuilding purchases aluminum ramps that can be assembled and then disassembled and reused as appropriate.

Our local chapter is all-volunteer run and led. It is reliant on donations, and 11 percent of the $100,000 budget comes from individuals.  Two-thirds comes from local non-profits, and of that, Rotary makes a significant contribution each year.  So we donate treasure as well as the time and talents of our members. Good for us.

In the early days, Rebuilding would set aside a weekend in the spring and over 100 volunteers would come out and work on a dozen or more projects. The feel-good was fabulous, but the organization required to prep for the weekend involved heavy lifting, and some clients had to wait up to a year for their work to progress. More recently, therefore, Rebuilding sets aside four or so weekends per year, and the work gets done more quickly and more quietly.

Even though our local Rebuilding chapter is now its own 501(c )3, the Rotary connections continue – Vic Taylor and Tony Curulla have been presidents of both local organizations, and now Tom Churchill is leading Rebuilding.

And Rotary can continue to help.  Rebuilding is always looking for homeowners in need – and Tom stressed that many of the people who need Rebuilding’s services the most need a bit of nudging to ask for that help. Rebuilding is also always looking for volunteers who are familiar with tools and who can get the job done.

That’s what we do – help out in our community, both here at home and in the larger world-wide community. If you would like to learn more, come out to one of our weekly meetings, every Thursday night at the Rotary Clubhouse, 66 Montgomery Road, Boothbay Harbor.  The joint is jumping by 6 p.m.; dinner is served, and we are outta there by 8. And don’t forget the glorious Rotary Barn, which underwrites the work we do, and where deals and steals take place every Saturday morning from 8:30 to 11. Be there! 

This week we get to hear about the Amazing Bike Program from Bill, John and Rick.  You'll be amazed at the number of bikes we loan out every summer and how the bike crew keeps them all in good condition.  How many folks are part of the Bike Crew? You might not know that we also have benefactors that have made generous donations to this project. In addition to bike talk, member Eric Bertelson will be giving a “Classification Talk,” which is to say, “my whole life and what drew me to Rotary “ in 10 minutes or less. Come learn about Eric and thank him for his work on the pickup crew.

Do you believe the summer is almost over? The following week, Thursday, Sept. 3,, we're taking the night off for the Labor Day holiday.   That said, the Barn will be open as usual on Saturday from 8:30 to 11. Coffee, muffins and pie for sale by Action for Animals Saturday morning too.