Opening Ceremonies: President Ashley Johnson called the meeting to order. The invocation was given by Laurie Fogelman and we said the Pledge of Allegiance. The greeter was Rod Fox. Newsletter notes were taken by Tracy Shaffer and Cindy Shoppe filled in as Sargent at Arms.
 
Visiting Rotarians: Annette Higgins,  Area Governor – 7790, Area 9, Gaylynn Wells from the Bar Harbor Club

Guests:  Guest Speaker Lt. Colonel William Dunn and members of his family, Don Cooper, Carolyn Johnston
 
Make-Ups Reported: David Wells
 
Club Anniversaries: First Year Anniversaries for Robert VanHorn and Tracy Shaffer: First Year Anniversary of Transfer into the Ellsworth Club for Andrea Mason
 
Birthdays: Bill Casale
 
Door Prizes: Ray Williams won beer glasses donated by new member Clyde Cushing.  Ray Williams and David Wells also won door prizes this evening.

50/50: Everybody Eats! (EE) A Free Community Meal was announced again as this quarter’s charity for 50/50 and Happy Dollars. Jane had the winning ticket and donated the proceeds to the cause. She also announced that the Community Committee will be presenting more information soon that will inform the membership that a $500 donation of needed products and supplies will be given to the new Hills House Recovery Center.
 
Happy Dollars:  Many people gave happy dollars for EE and used the time for
thoughts, thank you’s, notices and good wishes.  Happy Dollar donations included contributions given by Jo, Tracy, Carl, Dave, Jack, Linda, Dan, Iris, Laurie, Charlene, Rod, Scott and  
Annette.
 
Queen of Hearts: Dan won the Queen of Hearts, but did not draw the lucky card for the $13 pot.
 
 
Rotary Business:
Carl advised that the Rotary Auction would be held on May 13. The auction will be held at the Big Cat’s Event Center in Trenton.
 
The first Rotary Auction Planning Committee Meeting will be held at The Grand on Thursday, February 18th at 4 PM.  All are welcome to attend. Committee meetings will be held bi-weekly.
 
Ashley announced again that our March service program is volunteering on Monday’s at Everybody Eats! A schedule for March shift sign up was circulated.
 
Charlene circulated the snow day contest sign up.  As a reminder, proceeds will go to the THAW heating fund program. She also circulated a sign up sheet to help with March meeting notes.
 
Ashley noted that she got good feedback from several Rotarians regarding last week’s leadership exercise conducted in lieu of a guest speaker.  The material will be kept on file for the club’s future use if desired.
 
Program:
 
Guest Speaker Lt. Colonel William Dunn of the Maine Air National Guard presented the program including a video and PowerPoint presentation overviewing the full service Air Guard facility located near the Bangor International Airport.  The Guard shares runway space with the airport and has forged an excellent relationship with them.
 
The Lt. Colonel has been a member of the Guard for 16 years and is a senior pilot and
instructor.  A graduate of Ellsworth High School, his presentation included a quick mention of his 8 overseas deployments.  He also spoke of the accomplishments of the unit during the 9-11 attacks and aftermath as well as the challenges around longer and more frequent deployments for the squad given the overseas presence the military continues to have.
 
The unit has earned national recognition and various achievement awards for its top efficiency and effectiveness in supporting refueling and transport requirements for the Eastern and Midcoast military aircraft corridor.
 
President Ashley thanked Lt. Colonel Dunn for the informative overview and presented him with a Rotary speaker’s mug.
 
 
The meeting concluded at 7:21 PM
 
Respectfully Submitted,
 
Tracy Shaffer
 
 
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