Welcome to our Club!
Service Above Self
We meet In Person
Mondays at 12:00 PM
Best Western Plus
375 Main Street
Mail: PO Box 192
Waterville, ME 04903-0192
United States of America
Mail: PO Box 192
Waterville, ME 04903-0192
United States of America
Thank you to the many Rotarians who have spent some time ringing the Salvation Army bell, including Matt Hunt, Lisa Roy, Lucille Zelenkewich, Bob Barton, Jeff Melanson and Peter Garrett.
Past President Jeff J, handing out Rotary funded books and making lots of kids happy!
Many thanks to our Rotarians who spent time on the Riverwalk Clean Up!
Check out the news story!
On Monday, June 28th we celebrated our amazing outgoing Rotary Club President Jeff Jolicoeur (l) and welcomed incoming Rotary Club President, the fantastic Jeff Melanson (r). What could be better than "The Jeff's"!
Rotary Club of Waterville has awarded its annual Mert Rowe Memorial Scholarships to four local students, each of whom will receive $1500 toward their post-secondary education. Congratulations!
Alyssa Bourque
Lawrence High School
Attending the University of Vermont
Dylan Flewelling
Messalonskee High School,
Attending Colby-Sawyer College
Charles Haberstock
Waterville Senior High School,
Attending Hamilton College
Denali Norris
Winslow High School
Attending Lasell University (in Newton, MA)
Did you miss Rotary's Spring Fling? Luckily, you can check out two exclusive videos from the evening's event here. First is the very talented Michael Reny, who is often performing locally. And, Front and Main's John Philips Sandy showcases the restaurant's signature cocktail. Click on the photos to watch their videos!
Dear Waterville Rotary Members,
We are so thankful for your grant of $1000 towards the purchase of our new stove. We also received $1000 from another grant. The price of the stove was $2000! Exactly what we had for funds. Please see the picture of it ready to be installed in the Palmyra Baptist Worship Center Soup Kitchen. It is the perfect size and just what we needed! Again, thank you so much for your support!
Sincerely, Sharon Kimball (for Palmyra Baptist Soup Kitchen)
We are so thankful for your grant of $1000 towards the purchase of our new stove. We also received $1000 from another grant. The price of the stove was $2000! Exactly what we had for funds. Please see the picture of it ready to be installed in the Palmyra Baptist Worship Center Soup Kitchen. It is the perfect size and just what we needed! Again, thank you so much for your support!
Sincerely, Sharon Kimball (for Palmyra Baptist Soup Kitchen)
Waterville Rotary Club recently provided $15k in grants to address food insecurity in the greater Waterville area. Click here for a link to WABI-TV news coverage.
Eight grant applications were accepted, with the following list of recipients recommended by the committee, and ratified by the Rotary board:
- Central Maine Gleaners: Community Fridge Program with fridge located in Waterville and food available to all. Amount awarded: $1,950.00.
- Waterville Area Essentials Closet & Starfish Village/First Congregational Church: Essentials Closet offers essential items to anyone in need in the greater Waterville area. Starfish Village helps homeless families and individuals with needs not met by other services. Amount awarded: $2,850.00.
- Palmyra Baptist Worship Food Bank/Soup Kitchen: Purchase of commercial stove to continue food provision to multiple community residents. Amount awarded: $1,000.
- Oakland Food Pantry: Serves residents of Oakland. No person in need of food turned away. Amount awarded: $1,384.00.
- Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter: Offers bed nights and essential items to vulnerable and low-wealth Mainers in need of shelter. Amount awarded: $2,000.
- Interfaith Resource Fund: Meets emergency needs of residents of Waterville and Winslow for housing, food, and other essentials. Amount awarded: $2,000.
- Boys & Girls Club of Greater Waterville: Provisions of all day care, meals, snacks and weekend meal backpacks for area youth throughout Kennebec County. Amount awarded: $2,850.00.
- Northern Light Health: Provision of food and essential items through Women’s Health. Planning expansion of services. Amount awarded: $1,500.00.
Members of the Rotary Club of Waterville learned some of what goes into a Maine-based rocket launch with guest speaker Seth Lockman of bluShift Aerospace Inc. “Watching a rocket launch is really a full-body experience,” Lockman told local Rotarians. Read the full article here.
Waterville Rotary will soon be announcing selected local organizations to receive grant funding to address food insecurity and lack of basic needs supplies in our community.
On December 14, 2020 Rotary Club of Waterville was pleased to host the Mid-Maine Global Forum. Our speaker George Ritz offered an amazing presentation about his life's work in Paraguay and the Andrea Ritz Clinics in Paraguay. If you missed the presentation, you can view the Zoom recording here. You will need to enter uMQ%g1hT as the password.
Thank you to Rotarians and community members who purchased Dine-Around Raffle Tickets! We are pleased to announce that we raised nearly $2000 which was matched by a Rotary District Grant. Waterville Rotary presented a check to KVCAP for $3950 to purchase books for their upcoming Community Days event.
Michele Prince, KVCAP COO and Jeff Jolicoeur, Rotary President
Come join Maine Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Barbara A. Walsh for a Fireside Chat for Rotarians. Learn about how she authored a children's book - Rhoda's Rescue for Rotary Club of Waterville's Early Literacy program Rhoda Reads. Rhoda's Rescue has since been translated and published into both French and Spanish. Barbara will also talk about her three other books, including "The Goose Lady" which has just been released. "The Goose Lady" is a true story about Marjorie Bean Scott from Augusta, Maine who dressed her cement lawn goose for 23 years, delighting thousands of children, tourists and grown-ups.
Click here to register. A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants on November 30th.
Join us for our 57th Annual Waterville Rotary Auction! Every November, for more than half a century, this important community event has raised money to meet area needs. Proceeds from our 2020 Rotary Online Auction will support Educare Central Maine. Educare is celebrating its 10-year birthday this year, and has served more than 1,300 children from more than 1,000 families. Educare is a platform for change and is working to support families and children as they accomplish their goals to advance their schooling and employment opportunities. Children will be ready to thrive when they enter kindergarten and parents will be equipped to support their family’s needs. The auction will be live Thursday November 12-Thursday, November 19th, with pick up at Central Maine Motors on Friday, November 20th. Bid high and bid often at Www.watervillerotaryauction.com. 
Rotary Club of Waterville’s new Dine Around Town Raffle is a fundraising effort with a two-fold purpose: to support local restaurants and to provide money to buy books for the Kennebec Valley Community Action Community Days program. With the pandemic placing limitations on availability of reading materials, money raised will help supply much-needed books to area school-aged children. In rolling out the Dine Around Town Raffle program, Jeff Jolicoeur, Rotary Club of Waterville president, said, “Two of Rotary’s primary areas of focus are basic literacy and economic development. During this pandemic, children from low-income families and local businesses have been particularly vulnerable. This raffle will allow the Rotary to purchase up to $3,000 worth of books from a local business (The Children’s Book Cellar) and get them into the hands of those most in need. Jolicoeur said that Rotary members have donated nearly $1,400 in gift certificates for prizes for the raffle, which can be used at area restaurants. Books bought through the raffle will be distributed by KVCAP, Educare Central Maine and Waterville Creates!. Prize packages for the raffle are: First prize – $500 collection of gift certificates; Second prize – $250 collection of gift certificates; Five third prizes of a collection of cards valued at $100. Tickets are $5 each, or a book of five is $20. Tickets are on sale through Friday, Nov. 27, and available from area Rotary Club of Waterville members, or by contacting Jeff Melanson at jmelanson514@gmail.com or 207-314-0412.
Winners will be drawn on Monday, Nov. 30 (do not have to be present to win).
Winners will be drawn on Monday, Nov. 30 (do not have to be present to win).
We are pleased to announce Rhoda's Rescue has now been translated into Spanish. Click here for an order form or contact the Club at info@watervillerotary.com.
Thank you to all who participated in our Spring Fling Auction! We are pleased to announce that we have raised over $7000 for United Way of Mid-Maine's Community Response Fund!
Rotary's memorable motto is "Service above Self." And we are all wondering how that translates with social distancing as the new norm. Below I give you three ways to participate as a Rotarian:
First is that we will be holding all meetings in the near future using Zoom software to meet online. I will be sending invitations to Club Members about next Monday's meeting at noon in a separate email. Waterville Sunrise will also be joining us.
Second, if you feel comfortable doing so, please volunteer at something, bearing in mind the need for social distancing.
- Meals on Wheels still needs help with both packers and drivers.
- The UU Church is still offering its evening sandwich program Monday thru Friday 1-5, and could use help preparing the meals (call Larry Dickey at 313-2910).
- The Homeless Shelter also needs help with donations of some supplies. Check out just what at http://www.shelterme.org/. They will also be grateful for money.
- On the remarkable volunteering side, note that Waterville Winslow and Vassalboro school staff and teachers are preparing lunches that are then delivered all around on school buses! Also, the Alfond Center is preparing 1000 meals per day for distribution!
Third, be sure to exercise, go take a walk, or run, or bike ride on one of the many trails in Kennebec Messalonskee Trails. You could "do a marathon" during this extraordinary period by exploring all 18 of our trail routes or sets of trails. See kmtrails.com for a map and brief descriptions.
First, some words of wisdom from Martin Luther King Jr.:
The ultimate measure for us is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where we stand at times of Challenge and Controversy.
We had a pretty good turnout for our meeting on Monday, March 16th at the Best Western, with 10 in person and another 5 on Zoom. We decided that we would hold regular Monday meetings on Zoom during the continuing coronavirus challenge. I will set them up for 5:30pm, so please put such meetings on your calendar. I will make sure that the software works. 5:30 will be a good time for "Happy Hour" so be prepared with Happy Dollars! We may or may not have speakers.
I have been researching ways in which we can be of assistance to those who need it. First reply came from the Muskie Center. The Center is closed for normal daily operations. But their Meals-on-Wheels program is ongoing, and they could use these volunteers on a daily basis:
5 packers for 3 hours per day, approx 7:30 to 10:30 am
6 drivers for 2-3 hours of driving daily, starting at 9 am.
Senior Spectrum has been applying for a waiver from the insurance company re. background checks for drivers. Assuming all is well, you would show up at the back door of the Muskie Center (up the ramp), and will be asked the following questions (everyone's being very careful):
Have you or a close acquaintance, in the last 30 days…
- Traveled to one of the countries or regions listed as of March 13, 2020? China or Europe.
- Been in close proximity to a COVID 19 infected person?
- Been diagnosed with COVID 19 such as fever, cough, shortness of breath?
- Been to a healthcare facility where people infected with COVID 19 would be treated such as hospital, ER, or walk-in facility?
If interested and willing, please contact Jessica (jbucklin@spectrumgenerations.org or at 620-1684). Remember, this is volunteering to support the needs for meals mostly of our senior citizens, but also to touch base with them, to chat briefly and share your personality.
Other ideas will be coming. We as Rotarians will rise to the Challenge I feel sure.
Tom Longstaff, Chair of the Foundation Committee, presents Paul Harris Fellows to Peter Garrett, Suzanne Uhl-Melanson, Lou Smith, Dan Parks, Dave Grenier, John Dalton, and Tina Chapman.
Did you know our Rotary club currently has 34 Paul Harris Fellows?
Thank you all for giving significant contributions to the Rotary Foundation and making a difference in our community and around the world!
Thank you all for giving significant contributions to the Rotary Foundation and making a difference in our community and around the world!
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Come to Rotary's March 25th meeting and hear about how you could win 25 lbs of lobster just in time for your summer gatherings!
Tickets are on sale at Rotary Club meetings - Mondays at Noon at Best Western in Waterville or click here to e-mail and request tickets.
Come learn about the Children's Discovery Museum coming to Waterville!
In 2015 Amarinda was hired as the Executive Director. Since then, Amarinda has worked to balance the museum’s budget, pull the organization out of debt, and increase museum attendance. In 2015 she was chosen as an example of exceptional teaching by the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance. In 2016 she began working to relocate the organization to Waterville, Maine in order to ensure the longevity and sustainability of the organization.
Proceeds from this year's Radio Auction to benefit Teen Parent Program at Maine Children's Home
This year the Waterville Rotary Club's cause is the Teen Parent Program at The Maine Children's Home. We have set a goal to raise $18,000 for this cause with our 2019 Rotary Auction to be held on Tuesday, November 27th and Wednesday, November 28th -- our fifty-fourth year holding the auction!
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On August 27th the Rotary Club of Waterville gathered for our usual Monday Noon lunchtime meeting - preparing to do the unusual: donate more than $5,000 hard-raised Rotary dollars to support local efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. No, we didn't give the money to help the Waterville Police Department enforce more drug busts - we gave the money for Operation HOPE, a very important local effort in Waterville that stands for Heroin Opiate Prevention Effort. HOPE's fundamental operating philosophy focuses on enforcement, education and treatment. Since the implementation of HOPE, the Waterville Police Department has placed approximately 75 addicts into treatment facilities for rehabilitation. While enforcement and education are important aspects of the program, treatment is the primary focus that helps those that are addicted to opioids take back their life. Individuals that come to the police department seeking help for their opiate addiction are placed into one of 300 PAARI partnered rehabilitation facilities around the country. Of course, paying for their initial 30-day treatment, travel, housing and other necessities can cost upwards of three thousand dollars for one individual. That is why donations such as ours are so important if our community is going to sustain this vital program that gives opiate addicts a second chance at life. A testament to the positive impact that HOPE can have on an addict's life is the recent Emily Buker story where she credits HOPE for saving her life, returning her mental and physical well-being, and most importantly allowed her to be a mom again to her 11-year-old son. Your generous donation will allow the Waterville Police Department to continue helping those opiate addicts that find themselves in their darkest moments with no place to tum for help, except HOPE!! Here's a copy of the letter from Chief Massey and the Waterville Police Department, thanking our Club for the donation. No, thank YOU Chief!
The Centennial Gala Committee certainly got noticed at Monday's Rotary Club of Waterville meeting -- donning very adorable 'Happy Birthday' hats to remind us all of our upcoming Centennial Gala! Specifically, the need for us to sell more tickets...
Recently a group of Rotarians on the City of Waterville's RiverWalk Committee took a tour of the construction zone at Head of Falls -- progress is coming along very nicely! The pavers are being installed and look beautiful - especially in the Gazebo area, where the compass is situated. Planning for the October 6th Ribbon Cutting with the Honorable George Mitchell will begin soon and as soon as we have a schedule we'll announce it to Rotary and the world! For now, mark your calendars -- October 6th is going to be an all-day affair for many of us!
On Monday, July 16th the Rotary Club of Waterville welcomed our new District Governor of 7790 -- Marcel Noel -- to Waterville! The weekly club meeting was extra special with all attending Rotarians looking extra spiffy for Marcel, and we think our rendition of "Oh Canada" in his honor was one of our club's best songs yet. (Brilliant work bringing the portable speaker Jennifer, it really helped!) Our new President Jennifer Olsen helped kick off the meeting on a high note, as did Marcel, whose speech inspired all members to continue to work hard here in Waterville for the Rotary cause -- and to inspire others to do the same.
Speaking of inspirational, Rotarian Tina Chapman received a special commendation from Marcel Noel -- for her amazing service to our Club and Rotary International district 7790!
The Rotary Club of Waterville will celebrate 100 years of serving our local and global communities at a special Centennial gala event at Thomas College on Saturday, October 6th featuring a very special keynote by renowned Paul Harris Fellow, citizen, and respected leader, the Honorable George J. Mitchell.
An evening of dinner, music, dancing, celebration and camaraderie will bring the community together to celebrate the Rotary Club of Waterville’s centennial and the Club’s impact on the world and here in the City of Waterville, including a donation of $150,000 to the development of the Waterville Riverwalk at Head of Falls. This significant donation was the first major commitment to the project, drawing attention to the opportunity and kicking off a wave of donations from community and business leaders that has made this dream into a reality for the community in 2018. Tickets available online at: http://www.operahouse.org/rotary-gala/
On Friday, April 27th Jennifer Olsen, Waterville Rotary Club President Elect, gave a PechaKucha Night Waterville presentation titled "Rotary is My Yoga Mat" where she shared her history with Rotary International and her hopes and plans for our Waterville Rotary Club when she becomes President.
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