November 12, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Our only guests this morning were our speakers: Gail Shaw of the Plymouth Regional Senior Center and Kathleen Vasconcelos of the Grafton County Senior Citizen Council.
The 50/50 was won by Mike Carrier, who donated it to Tom’s tip.
Ken Williamson won the opportunity to play the card game but drew the 6 of spades.
The Rotary Leadership Institute meeting was held last weekend and Mike C and Denise attended. It’s a great opportunity to meet other Rotarians and get energized.
Service opportunities: The service committee met this last week. We will be paying the Common Man (cost) for the food that we cook for the Hometown Holiday Celebration. We have a whole host of volunteers signed up. The committee looked into the rabies clinic in the spring and is considering a joint project with Lincoln Woodstock. The members also discussed the decorating of the Commons and possible date changes. They also talked about the 100th anniversary of the club and project planning. Several other area clubs have had a 100th anniversary celebration recently and our committee is going to reach out to see what those clubs did for theirs. We still have to come up with a project for next April.
Mike noted that the Saturday after Mother’s Day is Rotary’s International Day of Service. Perhaps we could coordinate the Circle camp cleanup to occur on that day. Erica also suggested coordinating the cleanup with other service organizations.
Hometown Holiday Celebration: The signup sheet is on line, though Ken Evans said that he had had trouble using it. Final version of the event schedule will be printed by tomorrow. A new activity will be sponsored by Habitat for Humanity, which will have mini-golf in the old Northway Bank building from 12-2:30. The permits are all in the works. The gazebo will be decorated by Parks and Rec this year. There will NOT be a bonfire.
Gail and Kathleen of the Senior Center
Gail and Kathleen spoke to us about what’s going on at the Senior Center. They have 7 centers throughout Grafton County. They provide services and programs for older adults and those with disabilities. Programs include Meals On Wheels as well as meals at the center. Lunch is typically 40-85 people, and Meals on Wheels sends out 145 meals a day. They partner with the NH Food Bank and other community groups to help provide food, especially now with the government shutdown. Gail met yesterday with the Restoration Church and they received donations of 2500 lb of food in partnership with the NH Food Bank. She noted that they are seeing a lot more homeless people, and they are younger. They are holding a food drive right now and the residents of area towns have been very generous.
The Center provides transportation door to door to get people to pharmacies, grocery stores, the library, and other places that they may need to go,
The Center sponsors a variety of informative and entertaining programs that help seniors socialize and have fun. Programs include things like bone builders, chair yoga, and line dancing; they also have a library. They refer people to Whole Village for computer classes (Tech Tuesdays). Volunteers help with many of these programs and they are always looking for more!
The Center also runs a program to help with Medicaid/Medicare counseling and RSVP (a senior volunteer program through Americorps). Kathleen noted that it is Medicare open enrollment period, and they are always extremely busy assisting people with the enrollment. Medicare Advantage plans are leaving our county, so the counselors are very busy.
Everything they do is free of charge. The federal government provides the funding although they accept donations.The annual budget is $4 million and half of that is state/federal origin. For years they have been level-funded, so inflation has been eating away at that funding. The need for senior services is increasing as the population ages. They have some programs through Americorps and it is funded through March; after that they may lose funding.
The Senior Center runs a gift shop. It is all donated. Monthly income has increased; they made over $1000 in the month of October. They apply this money to any shortages they are experiencing. They are open until 3 pm, 5 days a week.
They are working with Plymouth Area Community Closet and Mount Prospect Academy to renovate the shed behind their main building.
Those interested in helping can make a donation and request that it be used at the Plymouth Senior Center. Alternatively, you can donate to the Grafton County Senior Citizen Council and the money will go to where it is needed the most.
Gail has worked on a “Before I Die” activity. She made a poster board and left it up with sticky notes and pens and a sign asking people to say what they wanted to have or do before they die. Overnight they got 75 or so post-it notes. Some of the people who posted were seniors, while others were younger volunteers. The goals that they listed were similar, regardless of the age of the posting person.
This Saturday from 4-9 at Soul Track Brewery will be a community fundraiser for Plymouth Area Community Closet. Tickets are sold at the door; revenue will help with food insecurity. There will be a raffle and live music along with food and drink. Soul Track is on the corner of Depot Street at the old restaurant. If you can’t come, you can also donate an item for the auction.
The Knights of Columbus will have a spaghetti dinner at on November 22 at 5 pm at the parish Hall of St Matthew’s church.
Bill noted that we had 31 members in 2017. Nine of those are still members today!
Happy dollars were shared by Denise, Mike, and Tony.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary