September 17, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Today’s guest was our speaker, Claire Hebert-Dow
The 50/50 was won by Ken Williamson.
Cari got the chance to win the card game but drew the 9 of spades. The game continue.
Tony was away today; thanks to Mike for running the meeting in his absence.
NH Trivia was presented virtually by Erika from Camp Cody Outdoor Education. Today was the Acronym Edition: what n do these letters mean?
Mike shared a thank you note from one of our scholarship students.
Denise brought a signup sheet for the October 4 Pride Day event. She would like to take the tall “feather” sign that Steve bought recently to the event along with some Rotary literature. The event runs from 12-4, with setup at 11:30. We cannot break down before 4 and it will be held rain or shine.
Denise brought in 8 birthday cards for the Grafton County Nursing Home residents with October birthdays. The recipient’s name is on the envelope of each card; please sign using the name of the intended recipient. Denise will take them up to the nursing home next week.
Last week Russ and Ken hauled boats up out of the water at Paradise Point. The operation went smoothly.
Bill noted that the trail project has hit a sticking point and perhaps a dog park would be an alternative.
Cari introduced her speaker, Claire Hebert-Dow. Claire is the author of the book Saving Mama, which she wrote to raise money for the comfort dog program.
Claire has been unlucky in love. After her second divorce she worked 4 jobs and went to graduate school. Ultimately she wound up selling insurance and was a top agent at Mutual of Omaha. She married again for a 3rd time but was divorced again, and at that point her ex husband realized that she was making more money than he was and so he came after her for child support. She has two children, but as she recounts in her book, what saved her sanity during this time were her 5 cats.
Her experience in selling insurance meant that she was good at marketing. About 10 years ago she got involved with the WOW trail in Laconia and helped put up planters along the trail. Then she got people to paint murals along the trail. The trail system held a BOW-WOW walk to raise money for dogs, and this event changed her life. She joined the board of directors and decided to hold a BOW-WOW ball and fest to raise money for trail extension. She ran the event for 5 years, and in the 4th year she saw a very large dog named The Hulk on Good Morning America. The Hulk was from NH and she got him to come to her Bow-WOW fest. His presence helped raise over $3000 for the organization. This money paid for a surgery called gastropexy (which helps prevent bloat and torsion) for the police Shepards.
Ultimately she realized that her pets were her thru-line, the family that she never found with her 3 husbands. She decided to write her book Saving Mama and found a publisher here in NH. She works with a breeder of English labs that the police departments are using as comfort dogs. These dogs go into courtrooms, classrooms, or any place that the calming presence of a gentle dog is needed. Most of these dogs are in the southern part of the state; Claire is hoping to raise money for the training of a comfort dog for a police department further north. Her book is available on Amazon.
We will have a board meeting this Friday at 7 am on Zoom.
Raisa announced a fall leaf walk on October 8 at Hubbard Brook; there will be a talk on how leaves change color, as well as a photo workshop.
Bill is going to San Francisco next week for his daughter’s wedding. Congratulations!
Denise and Phil also shared happy dollars.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary