May 10, 2016 Newsletter

Opening Ceremonies: President Ashley Johnson called the meeting to order. The invocation was given by Bruce Fischer and we said the Pledge of Allegiance. The greeter was Irv Hodgkin and newsletter notes were taken by Tracy Shaffer. Sergeant at Arms were Iris Simon and Nancy Mayo.

Visiting Rotarians: Annette Higgens, Assistant District Governor, Bar Harbor.

Guests: Jane’s guest and prospective member Heidi, City of Elllsworth Chief of Police, Guest Speakers from the Bangor City Police Department.

Make-Ups Reported: 11 Rotarians earned make ups by working at the Indian Point Clean Up.

Birthdays: Dug Kell

Wedding Anniversaries: Anne and Dana Reiter

Door Prizes: Winners were Iris, Rodney, Laura, Dug and Charlene. Our thanks to the Bangor

City Police Department for the pens and key chains used as some of the door prizes this

evening.

50/50: Happy Dollars and Queen of Hearts: Gene won the $14 pot and donated it back to the

cause.

Rotary Business:

Carl provided a final update on the auction which will be held this Friday, May 13. We have over 300 items for people to bid on. Please check copies of the assignment sheet for your

assignment and thank you for your support. Also, if you do not have Rotary branded clothing to wear for this event and other service activities, T-shirts and hats are still available for $10 each and can be purchased from David Wells.

Carl also reminded Rotarians that our Honors Banquet will be held next Tuesday. 53 students will be recognized and the sign-up sheet was circulated again for Rotarians to call and remind students and parents about the evening.

Ashley Reminded the club that the Paul Harris awards evening will be at Big Cats on June 7^th. The cost will be $17 per person.

Scott announced that the next service activity will be at Friendship Cottage on June 4^th performing landscaping maintenance.

President Ashley announced that the club would be sending $257.00 in response to the Ecuador

relief appeal from the District Governor.

Ashley also presented a $682.25 check to Everybody Eats! from last quarter’s Happy Dollars. Tracy accepted the check on behalf of the group and noted with thanks that this was one of the largest group contributions received this year. Proceeds will directly benefit the Monday Meals program and Rotarians were again thanked for their service during the month of March.

Program:

The program this evening was delivered by Sgt. Tim Cotton and Chief Mark Hathaway from the Bangor City Police Department. The focus of the presentation was to discuss how their

Facebook site has grown and become widely followed. When Tim took the site on in 2014 as an additional departmental activity, they had 9000 followers. Today, they host over 156,000 regular followers and credit their “Duck of Justice” stories for that growth as well as stories and pictures capturing the police helping and engaging with the community. Their stories and the

adventures of the duck have been covered by local media, NPR and Associated Press.

A T-shirt spin off featuring the Duck of Justice, produced and sold by a local business, has contributed to their Community Relations fund as all profits earned are donated back to the police.

Both Tim and Chief Mark noted that the site has made the police more approachable to the public and helped engage them in their work. Tim shared that the best way to use Facebook is to follow your intuition on what stories will be of interest and to be authentic.

Ashley presented speakers mugs to both Tim and Mark and the meeting was adjourned at 7:04 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tracy Shaffer