HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Rotary Club welcomed District Governor Iris Sullivan and the Woodstock Rotary Club to the group’s July 24 meeting.
President Matthew Nightingale introduced guest speaker Iris Sullivan from the Chatham Rotary Club from Maramichi, New Brunswick.
The Houlton club is part of district 7810 and Sullivan is the District Governor for all the clubs in that geographic location. She moved from northern Manitoba, where she worked as nurse, to New Brunswick where she owned and operated two donut franchises for 18 years. She also supported her daughters’ figure skating careers.
Now she has 10 grandchildren to celebrate. Since the year 2000 she has been involved with the Chatham Rotary Club and has won many acknowledgements for her service in the Province and in Canada.
As the District Governor, with the theme of “Making A Difference,” Sullivan has the philosophy that we can do more together than we can do alone. Kudos were given for the effort in the district to help eradicate polio amounting to $256,000 with matching gifts. A new challenge is for every Rotarian worldwide to plant a tree this year to show responsibility to the planet.
On Sept. 22, through Sept. 23, the Chatham Club is sponsoring an event that includes a free Friday evening of fun with Saturday’s business meeting for members and an art class for their accompanying partners during the day. The meeting will be to update the manual of policy and procedures.
Sullivan encouraged everyone to sign up for the Toronto Rotary International Conference next June. She is working to coordinate a flight from Moncton for attendees from the area and there is a bus scheduled to travel to Toronto. Pauline Sweezey of the Chatham Rotary Club exchanged banners with President Nightingale of the Houlton Club.
Rotarian Nate Bodenstab brought his guest Frank Nataluk, who is the new captain of the Houlton Salvation Army. Rotarian Richard Hammond brought his guest Doug Boreland of Virtual Tech, while Otis Smith brought his son-in-law Ben Adams from South Carolina.
Dana Delano introduced the Youth Exchange student who is with her host family for three weeks, Sara Stobl. Rhetta Vegas and Strobl stood in front of the group and spoke about their exchange experience so far. Strobl has been to Boston for a Red Sox game, enjoyed lobster for the first time in her life in Bar Harbor and has spent quality time at the lake.