HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Rotary Club met for its luncheon meeting on Monday July 9 with several guests present, including Rotary exchange student Victor Ovejero De La Cerda from Madrid, Spain.
De La Cerda has been the guest of Traci Storti and her family while in the United States. Her son Alex will accompany De La Cerda back to Spain on July 20, where he will spend three weeks there.
Rotarian Max Randolph introduced his guest speaker from Aid For Kids, Dawn Degenhardt. Degenhardt reported on how the Aid For Kids program has grown by leaps and bounds, beginning eight years ago with $60,000 worth of inventory and now over their million dollar mark at $1.4 million worth of products.
Degenhardt attributed the hard work to the work of Danette Ellis. Examples of some of the experiences receiving inventory were explained by Degenhardt.
Recently, in April, the schools were calling with a need for socks, underwear and jeans for students. Aid for Kids had none so Ellis went to Marden’s and spent $500 on such items. And then as if prayers were answered the organization received two pallets of Bonda Socks valued at $20 per pair. And then three pallets of Jockey underwear sizes 3-18 arrived as well as 7,000 pairs of jeans for children of various sizes.
A request came from ACAP for a twin stroller and Aid For Kids did not have one, but one week later inventory from Toys Are Us arrived with one twin stroller worth $350.
Degenhardt mentioned that something else they need is an office person for eight hours per week and a carpenter to fix up their storage building. Funding from Rotary each year helps to keep them going by paying the light bills and buying special equipment such as a forklift and a lawn mower.
Another couple of wind falls happened around Christmas when 22 pallets of Legos arrived. Some of these sets go to children in hospitals. And recently a law firm in Boston upgraded all of their furniture and sent the used, but very nice furniture to Aid For Kids.
Surrounding towns and schools received new furniture and cubicles are remaining in storage in Hodgdon. The meeting adjourned to go onto the Aid For Kids building on Military Street for a tour. There the group was impressed first hand with what the operation really looks like. A group photo was taken there with Degenhardt and Ellis.
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- Victor Ovejero De La Cerda from Madrid, Spain, center, was the guest at the Houlton Rotary Club July 9. Joining him are Alex Wilde, left, and Rotarian Dana Delano. Wilde will accompany De La Cerda to Spain for a three-week visit through Rotary’s exchange program. (Courtesy of Nate Bodenstab)
