Rotary Log for February 23, 2017
By Mark Lorusso
Photos by Leo Gagnon
President James presided over the meeting and regaled us yet again with his self-deprecating dry humor. We later celebrated one of the inspirational youths in our community, today’s speaker Morgen Smith. More about Morgen later.
Following our traditional opening affirmations as Rotarians and John Rice’s invocation, we recognized John Bohenko’s return. John had been grounded from both work and the club while undergoing surgical convalescence. Welcome back John!
James introduced guests and visiting Rotarians including Steve Zadravec, Chelsea Rogers, Eddie Edwards (not to be confused with the British ski jumper “The Eagle”) and Madeline Warren. Also, James Petersen’s daughter, Natalie, was present as a guest. Visiting Rotarians included Larry Marsoulais, District Youth Services Chair from the Hampton club and NellAnn Hiatt from the Seacoast club.
Rotarian birthdays include Julia Ghigliotti (0 years? huh? How about several months.) Also, Barb Miller (three years), Joanie Dickinson (six years), Beth Tuttle (19 years), Jon Flagg (25 years) and yours truly with 19 years.
Next up were announcements. Sara Treacy informed us about a calendar year Salvation Army sign-up sheet at the back of the room. Relatively new member Ramona Dow recapped the Peanut Butter drive which tallied 251 jars—101 more than the goal! Bravo Rotarians! Bob Lewis reminded us about the upcoming Cuba cultural exchange trip. As you read this, the deadline has gone by. The trip is being planned for some time at the end of May or the beginning of June. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
Justin Finn solicited volunteers to join the cross-country road race committee.
Peter Grace wore his sporty “I’m the Best Rotarian Golfer” baseball cap, clutching the Rotary Cup Trophy for all to admire. Peter is the new chair of the Rotary Golf Tournament Committee. He suggests we check out the new website sign-up page. A proposed advertisement book will display all of the event sponsors.
Lastly, comedian Jim McKew and Cousin Ritchie discussed the upcoming St. Patrick day comedy festival at the Music Hall. Rotarians are offered discounted tickets.
President James followed up announcements with the introduction of a new club member. Stephen Zadravec is Portsmouth’s current Superintendent of Schools. He was sponsored by John Bohenko, Nancy Clayburgh and Peter Weeks. Initially, hired by Bob Lister as Assistant Superintendent, he worked his way into the big chair. Meanwhile, President James appeared to be suffering from flashbacks of traumatic experiences involving principals and school superintendents. There is a story in there somewhere.
Dave Underhill followed with a pitch for a Rotary program called Rotary Legacy Giving. The basic gist is to leave a few dollars for Rotary in the bucket when you make that “final kick.” In legal parlance, just leave a bequest in your will to Rotary and the funds will be deposited in the Rotary Foundation. The regional goal is to raise $1 million in this form of giving—underutilized wills, estates and trust attorneys rejoice!
The $73 raffle was won by Priscilla MacInnis. There was no match. The $250 bonus is safe for one more week for those dreaming of a big payday.
Aileen Dugan introduced our quest speaker, Morgen Smith. Morgen, a student at Berwick Academy, spoke to us about her volunteer work with the Christian charitable organization, Feed My Starving Children. The organization uses volunteer help to gather and assemble food packages for severely malnourished children. These assembly meetings are called mobile packs. Once ready, the packages are delivered to impoverished countries around the world.
As Morgen explained, the statistics are dire. About 6,700 children die each day in this world from malnutrition. Half of those deaths involve youngsters under the age of five. Fully one out of every nine children in the world is malnourished. One-in-four experience physical and mental growth stunting due to poor nutrition.
Morgen first heard about the program in 2013 and joined her mother in one of the packing events in Portsmouth. Inspired in part by her personal experiences with starving children in Thailand and Haiti, Morgen took her involvement further. She volunteered to act as a host for one of the mobile pack events. In doing so, she became the youngest host at the ripe old age of 17.
As a host, Morgen is responsible to raise money, recruit volunteers and commit to pack a certain number of food packages. She has hosted two of these events and committed to package 116,000 meals in the first event and 108,000 in the second. She was able to secure the services of 500 volunteers for each event and met both goals. The packages from each of those sessions fed 298 children and 319 children, respectively, for a year and only cost 25 cents each. Children in El Salvador, Guatemala, Sierra Leone and Haiti were the beneficiaries of Morgen’s dedication to the cause.
The packages are a scientifically designed blend of food stuffs and nutrients to ensure proper nutrition. The dry mix of rice, vitamin powder and dehydrated vegetables is assembled by the volunteers in a factory line type arrangement. When all the food is packaged, it is boxed and transported to missionaries and NGO’s that function as the local distribution chains. Remarkably, 99% of the shipments arrive and are distributed.
Morgen is embarking on her third hosting event and needs $5000 more to reach her goal. If you wish to help, the direct link to donate is
Click on “Give Now!” on the right side of the screen to open a popup to start the giving process. If you skip this screen, you won’t see what is left to raise.
The goal is to reach $22k, but they also are starting to raise funds for a local food giving event. Anything that is given over the $22k goes to a general fund used where needed, but not to fund future hosting events.
For those not computer savvy, sending a check is just as easy. Anyone can mail a check to Morgen directly. She will make sure the right code is in the memo line and will send it to the organization. For those wanting to send a check:
Checks payable to: FMSC
Memo line: MobilePack #1611-238MI (they will add this if left blank)
Mail to:
Morgen Smith
31 Wildewood Ln
Dover, NH 03820
(Tax ID: 41-1601449)
May we all be inspired by her selfless acts at such a young age. Cue pen drop--fini.
Respectfully submitted, Mark Lorusso
