December 18, 2025 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Tony opened with his famous NH Trivia, Songs of the Season Part II. Prizes were awarded to winners. 

 

The 50/50 was won by Bill.

 

Denise won the chance to draw in the card game but selected the 6 of spades. We will continue in the new year.

 

Guests were Jack and speaker David Chaffee.

 

Our next meeting will be Thursday, January 2 at the Common Man. We will host our scholarship recipients. .

 

When we remove the decorations from the Common, we can probably keep them at Noyes. 

 

The next Board meeting will be this Friday the 20th.

 

Sharon will be putting out next year’s speaker schedule soon.

 

The state Development director for the Girl Scouts contacted Mike to say she would like to speak to us, so if you need a program speaker, contact her. See her letter below, at the end of this bulletin. She can be reached at hmcquade@girlscoutsgwm.org. It would be nice to have local Girl Scouts represented at this meeting. The new development person for Mayhew, Laura, is looking for a speaking date here as well, as is Julia from the Pemi Youth Center. Keep them in mind if you need a speaker.

 

Our guest speaker is David Chaffee, Sharon’s partner in insurance and a Fryeburg, ME Rotarian. He brought Tuscan Olive Oil to sell as their fundraiser.

 

The Fryeburg club celebrated 30 years in April (note that we date from 1927). He was president of his club in 2014-15. They call themselves the Fryeburg Area Rotary and focus on towns in their school district (including one in NH). Much of their energy goes into the school system. 

 

David thanked us for letting him know that Tom does animal rescue. His club holds an annual tennis tournament and  proceeds all go to Harvest Hills Animal Shelter, which predominately rescues dogs and cats. He walks dogs there on Thursday mornings and has been doing this for 2 years. Adoption rates are going up, which is good. 

 

The Fryeburg club also sells olive oil as a fundraiser. David got the idea from a fellow Rotarian from another club that sells Cabot cheese. He thinks this is a great fundraiser to take to businesses, who buy the oils to use as employee gifts. Last year the olive oil proceeds went to Project Warmth, which buys warm coats, mittens, socks etc. in conjunction with their local secondhand store. Now they are working with the Poquoqket Program, to provide money for local kids in need. 

 

The Fryeburg club has a citizen of the month who is as student at the local middle school.. Every month the citizen of the month is invited to the club meeting; parents and friends also attend, which helps raise more money. They have a busy Interact club at the Fryeburg Academy (over 100 students) who help a lot at the Fryeburg Fair and their Wednesday Dinner Bell program. The Fryeburg Fair goes on for 8 days (it will expand to 9 days this year) and is their major club fundraiser.

 

They are discussing having a second club group that would meet at some time other than 7:30 on Wednesday mornings. This would allow the club to grow with some younger members (whose childcare and work responsibilities make the early morning meetings difficult). He brought cards that they use to serve as an invitation to their breakfast meetings. 

 

The Fryeburg club also supports the Fryeburg Aviation Academy. This is a program that allows local students to train and become qualified as licensed pilots at 17 when they graduate from high school. The program is subsidized so that the students get inexpensive fuel, and the local airport provides the simulator. 

 

Erica thanked David for the Fryeburg Fair, as she has been going there since she was a child. She also noted that the fairgrounds are fun to visit at quieter times for skiing or running. 

 

Happy Dollars were shared by Tony, Denise, Mike, Sharon, David, and Beth. 

 

Below is the letter from Heather at the Girl Scouts:

 

I hope all is well! I am reaching out to you to see if we could attend a Club meeting or perhaps even have a phone call with a member. We would love to share all the exciting things happening at Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains with the Rotary Club of Plymouth NH!

 Let me know when would be a good time to connect in the next couple of weeks. Have a good day!

 Thanks,

Heather

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, Secretary