Coming up

This week, Jan. 18, will be our Club Assembly.

Next week, Jan. 25, we welcome Christine Szalay of the SEARCH (Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage & Hope) program. SEARCH connects isolated seniors with community volunteers in the lower midcoast and central Maine area.

Tuesday, Feb. 13, the Rotary Interact Club will provide a community spaghetti dinner at the Rotary Club as a fundraiser. Come and eat with us, or enjoy take-out.

Those interested in Rotary or our upcoming speakers are welcome to attend the meetings held on Thursday nights from 6-8 p.m. at the Rotary Clubhouse, 66 Montgomery Rd. in Boothbay Harbor. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. promptly.

Hearty Roots: Building resilient youth

Rotary’s speaker, Haley Bezon, is currently a guidance counselor at Edgecomb Eddy School, but in her spare time she has launched a non-profit program designed to reach out and support youth at risk in Lincoln County. The purpose is to prevent suicide, depression, and addiction by teaching young people resilience.

She calls her program Hearty Roots. It launched last year with a summer program for vulnerable girls. She ran week-long sessions; each with a ratio of 2 adults to 8 kids. In 2018, Haley plans to run the program year round, with 10 sessions--some may be 2 to 3-days long, in order to engage up to 100 boys and girls.

There are three pillars for the Hearty Roots program, which is designed to instill resilience in young people:

1. The great outdoors: get kids off of screens and engaging with nature
2. Relationships: provide them the adult and peer support they need and let them build strong relationships
3. Mindfulness and Yoga: teach them how to reflect, observe, and tap into their own inner wisdom

Haley runs her programs using the properties and facilities of the Boothbay Region Land Trust, the Midcoast Conservancy, the Damariscotta River Association, and the Pemaquid Watershed Association. Her biggest challenge, she admitted, is transportation. It's difficult for many of the kids in her target audience to get to and from these programs. She is looking for funding for at least one Van and to help defray the costs for insurance and a staff driver.

Club meeting

The Boothbay Harbor Rotarians' first meeting of 2018 was full of gratitude and heart. Officer Larry Brown specifically came to the meeting to acknowledge Rotarian Doug Roberts, who came to the rescue of residents who had found themselves locked out of their own home on a freezing evening. "I thought about who I could ask for help locally, and thought of Doug. He didn't ask any questions, he just came right away, that's truly 'Service above Self,'" Officer Brown reported.

Marge Barker, past Rotary District Governor, presented a plaque to past president, Tony Curulla, to acknowledge the entire Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club for exceeding our goal of giving to the Rotary Foundation during Tony's tenure as President.

As Sergeant at Arms, Jim Stormont, passed the Lighthouse for Happy and Sad dollars, many people celebrated the life and contributions of Rotarian Stephanie Blecharczyk. Many also talked about how meaningful the holidays were to them as they enjoyed reunions with their far-flung families.

Thursday, Feb. 8, will be the club's annual Valentine's Dinner, so please mark your calendars now. Jonathan also reminded us that March 3 is Community Read Aloud Day. Anyone who would like to read aloud should contact president Jonathan Tindal.