July 29, 2026 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Guests: Gayle, Rick. The Inn’s new cat Delilah also stopped in for a quick hello.
Mike and Rick won the 50/50 and donated the winnings to Habitat. Gayle also gave a donation to Habitat.
Phil got the chance to draw for the ace of spades but selected the 8 of diamonds.
Hey did you know…Tony saw Beth Dever at the coffee shop the other day. Circle Camp things are going well.
Steve noted that some day the road paving in town will be done…
Mike C noted that our reading of the Declaration made the Laconia paper.
Steve and Alex went out west and visited 4 Rotary clubs to talk about Common Man for Ukraine. They got some large donations and people were very enthusiastic.
Tony noted that if you build a commuter rail line in Texas, you are obligated to build a bike path next to it.
Bill asked about how much of Highland Street will be repaved; Phil says that Water and Sewer would know.
Tony told us that there is going to be a Rotary Centennial exhibit put on by the historical society at Plymouth High School. Please share your ideas with Tony on what we should have in this exhibit. The theme is “What is Rotary” and “What has Plymouth Rotary done in town over the last 100 years?” The Plymouth Historical Society is open every Saturday from 10-1.
Rotary updates: We had a nice dinner meeting last week. Cruise Night has been canceled for now because of rain; it will be rescheduled to August 26. That will be the same day that Ariel is coming to visit us and plant milkweed.
Monday the17th will be Pack a Pack at noon at Whole Village.
Ben reminded us to remember to write down our acts of service towards our goal of 100 this year.
August 12 right after our meeting we will go to the hospital and present Sydney with her check for the comfort kits.
Sharon has started working on the Penny Sale. She notes that several businesses have closed and others have opened; if you know of any new ones, please let Sharon know so that we can get them on our solicitation list.
Gayle told us what she’s been dong. She moved to California where she got a job at a school, teaching English to 1st and 2nd graders. She has retired now and while she still owns a house here in New Hampshire, she will probably not be returning here.
Sue Mathison and Frank McClain spoke about what’s new with Habitat for Humanity. They have done a ton of things since Frank took over. Those things include the ReStore, building 1 to 1 1/2 houses per year, running the Brush with Kindness program to do critical home repairs, purchased 55 acres of land, and taken over the Flying Monkey. Frank spoke about all of these in more detail.
Habitat has been in the area since 1985. They operate the ReStore; they have supported our styrofoam project and the bin is always full! If you are ever cleaning out a house, keep them in mind. They can also use some volunteers in retail at the store, as well as volunteers for their other projects.
As we know, Alex recently donated the Flying Monkey to Habitat. They took over about 2 months ago. One of the first things they did was to put in a new digital wall, 10 x 20 feet, and it’s state of the art. They are also taking care of some repairs and updates. One new program at the Monkey is “Evenings with Ed” (van Dorn); Ed selects foreign films and the audience can see them with him. See the Flying Monkey schedule to learn when these will be held.
They also plan to do the “front porch series” featuring 3 local musicians each night. The performers will all be the same genre so you can choose if you want to see bluegrass, rock, or whatever. They are also hosting community programs, including one called The Great and Powerful, starting on September 17. It is a spoken word contest; 15 members of the audience will be selected to speak on a given theme. The first session’s theme is “change”.
Frank noted that the Monkey currently pays $23,000 in taxes. Habitat has paid the current taxes and is discussing a PILOT to come up with an equitable solution. Susan noted that Habitat is putting money back into the town in the form of building new houses, which will ultimately grow the tax base.
Habitat also operates a food pantry in Warren, and they have two projects in Franklin right now.
Northway Bank recently donated a downtown building to them, and they are looking to rent it out, perhaps to a restaurant or as an event space.
Happy dollars were shared by Denise and Mike C.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary