February 5, 2020
Announcements
Pres. Russ: We have a letter of thanks from St Thomas More parish for our donation of 43 hams to their Christmas baskets ... The district's World Understanding and Peace Dinner is on Feb 20th. The focus this year will be immigration challenges. See Ric if want to carpool ... If you missed the last one, district is hosting another Growing Rotary webinar scheduled for Feb 29th from 10-11 AM. To connect through the Internet, use https://zoom.us/j/8209252012 or by telephone: 646-558-8656 then enter the meeting ID as 820 925 2012 ... Next up is the Next Generations Conference for Interact and Rotaract members on Mar 21st. It couldn't be more convenient in Dover ... The District Training Assembly for officers and chairs is set for Apr 4th from 8:30 AM-1 PM ... Russ reviewed with us a handful of international service Global Grant applications including one just getting underway in Freeport for Kenya ... The district is also taking applications now for Rotary Peace Fellowships. These are graduate programs hosted by several universities around the globe including our own University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Tom B: Have 3 members signed up for Friday's hockey game - need 2 more. There's one more home game left in the schedule, so if you haven't been able to get over to work the concession stand with us, now's your chance.
Andy: In Bill's absence, he'll be the Sergeant-at-Arms.
David: Marina's Miles is on the calendar for Apr 18th. A truck will be needed to move food to the high school cafeteria at 7 AM.
Program
Phil introduced our speaker, Theresa Tozier, who is Executive Director of Seeds of Faith. Its mission for the last 25 years has been to help homeless single mothers and their children serving 12 communities out of offices in Rollinsford.
Their principal work is Lydia's House of Hope, a 33 room house in Somersworth providing since 2017 housing for 10 families at one time. Each mother is assigned a case manager who is responsible for ensuring that each moves through a program of learning life skills, completing their GED if needed, acquiring a driver's license and preparing for full-time employment and independent living. The program serves the needs of approximately 250 families each year. For residents, a one-year stay is average.
Hundreds of volunteers contribute their expertise. For example, MaryAnn Esposito teaches cooking classes. Others fix the plumbing or plant shrubs outside. Contributions are always welcome. Listening to Theresa talk about her work makes it easy to understand why it has made such an impact on the homeless community. She has an apartment house in her sights next so that graduates of her program don't have to go into low-income housing, and after that she hopes to build the same kind of program for the men. Good luck.
Megabucks: still about $40.
Editor: Ric
