February 5, 2015 Meeting of West Bay Rotary

Terry introduced Tom Rodman of Strive Northern New England. He is Co-founder of Strive a job skills training and placement program. The program has place more than 60,000 graduates into jobs.

Tom's interest in the program grew out of his frustration with government programs that were providing inadequate services to similarly underprivileged and “at-risk” people. It started in Harlem in 1984. It has grown and now has a presence in Maine. www.strivenne.org is their website. The program was profiled on and award-winning episode of “Sixty Minutes”.

The program works with formerly incarcerated, persons on public assistance, non-custodial parents, veterans, homeless or near-homeless, those suffering from substance abuse and people in transition. It seeks to modify their survival skills into more productive skills, through empowerment and behavior modification.

Dan Domench is the Executive Director, and spoke about the kinds of employment opportunities that are available in Maine and that Strive is seeking to fill. They are not the kinds of jobs that one would normally expect to find in a rural state, and require a different approach than the traditional natural-resource based jobs associated with Maine.

A graduate of the program offered a “happy dollar” for the warm Rotary welcome she received this morning. Her story began in Peru, in a town which was terrorized, so her parents wanted to move their family to a safer place. It took 3 months for them to arrive in the US. Her dream was to learn to speak English and work in an office. She attended LaGuardia Community College at night and worked in manufacturing during the day. She learned about Strive when she realized she needed to make more money and it offered to provide job and job-seeking skills. She learned the culture of work. She got a job at Strive helping other people the way she was helped by Strive. For 13 years she was worked in community health and is a certified community health trainer. She has purchased a home in Queens and has a college degree.

The local venue for Strive NNE is the Midcoast Re-entry program. The program is sometimes recommended by judges and probation officers.

Tom was inducted to the club. His sponsor, Jane Lafleur, was tending to family illness and was not present. Noel Cox presented him in her absence.

Skip Day says the Camden Food Pantry is feeding over 100 people each week and is seeking the club's support in providing food pantry items and cash donations.

Barbara Heard is helping the Camden-Rockport PTA with box-top collections. Flyers are on the table.

Sandy Cox presented funds raised from the football grid pool for the Mt. Battie Tower project to Pat Finnegan, Camden Town Manager, and Randy Stearns. Kristen Lindquist won the grand prize.

Next week's speaker is Alex Owre of 5 Towns Communities that Care.

Tuesday at the Knox Sunrise meeting Lisa and Tim Dresser, along with Sandy Cox, will give an orientation to the new members of that club. 7:30a at the Masonic Hall, Sennebec Road.

Toboggan Nationals this weekend are coming right up. Mark Masterson picked Boardwalk for $437 and added his winnings to the club's gift for the Tower.