Rotary of Portsmouth Projects

Visit of our DG DOMINIQUE

Posted on Nov 10, 2018

Official visit from DG Dominique Vénéré to Rotary Club of Portsmouth

Thank you District Governor Dominique Vénéré for your visit to the Nature Island Dominica

and for the time you did spent with RCP / RCD / Rotaract and Interact.

We loved you enthusiasm for our nature (Indian River), your participation on the FUN Day in Mero with all clubs.

Your listening ear during our board meeting. It was a pleasure hosting you.

Heritage Day Portsmouth

RCP joins Portsmouth in celebrating Heritage Day on the 21st of October 2018

On October 24th Portsmouth celebrated his heritage day with a 10am service at the St John's Catholic Cathedral followed by an exhibition at St John's School.

Meet our new honorary member

Posted on Oct 16, 2018

On Tuesday October 9th, Rotary Club of Portsmouth pins our third honorary member: Dr Dan Wrubel.

Dr Dan Wrubel, an optometrist from Michigan in the US, and his wife Genie have visited Dominica as volunteers for over 24 years with his VOSH eye-care program. Dr. Wrubel is involved in our new 21th century health care project.

To honor him, several club members gathered together at the poolside at Champs Hotel, where we had the pinning ceremony.

Rotary Supporting Recycle Rebuild

Rotary Grenada Supports Dominica Plastic Recycle Project

Rotary Club of Portsmouth and Recycle Rebuild SCIO have produced the first product of their joint recycling project.

Rory Dickens, newest member of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and co-founder of Recycle Rebuild with the assistance of Anne Sofie Uldahl Eriksen has produced the first recycled plastic product made from 3 plastic forks and plastic party cup retrieved from the beaches of Dominica.

This joint project has so far built a plastic shredder and an injection molding machine with the objective of producing useful, saleable products. Our goal is to create a viable, sustainable business employing community members of Portsmouth and the surrounding areas to manage the facility, which can make and sell useful and decorative recycled plastic products.

End of July the Rotary Club of Portsmouth received a financial donation from the Rotary Clubs of Grenada to sponsor this innovative and much needed project. Once the pilot side in Portsmouth will be up and running in their own workshop, occupied by local employed people The Rotary Club of Portsmouth and Recycle Rebuild hope to receive more sponsorship to open several small recycle shops all over the Island.

It will build awareness of the plastic problem in Dominica and will give local people the chance to learn a new skill and earn their own living.

For EC$25 you can buy these earrings and support this worthwhile endeavor.

Contact Rory Dickens directly on +1 767 277 0771 for more information.

Rotarians and Guests Celebrate
Achievements and Welcome New Officers

Portsmouth Rotarians and Guests Celebrate Achievements and Welcome New Officers to their 2018-2019 Term

On July 5th at 6:30 pm, members and guests of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth met at C&D Beach Bar & Restaurant in Picard to celebrate the club’s accomplishments in the wake of hurricane Maria and install new officers and board members. This annual event marks the beginning of the new Rotary year 2018-19.

Master of Ceremonies, Rotarian Kenneth, called the meeting to order. He introduced outgoing President Ezra, who shared some experiences from the club’s past and rather challenging year. This was followed by an installation ceremony where Assistant District Governor Sammy pinned the incoming President Hans who introduced and pinned the new board members.

Incoming President Hans made a brief presentation about the Club’s expectations for the coming Rotary year and pinned Rory Dickens, the club’s newest member.

Dinner was served. Live music was provided by Heidi Fabian and Bangie.

Following Dinner, the new pinned Rotarian Rory demonstrated and discussed the club’s Plastic Recycling project, for where we will receive financial support from the Rotary Clubs of Grenada soon.

Foundation Chair and newly installed VP, Anne and new President Hans presented a citation and pinned the current Secretary and President-elect for 2019-2020 Sari Prosper as a Paul Harris Fellow in recognition of her selfless dedication and tireless service during a very challenging year post-Maria. Both President Hans and President-elect Sari extended a vote of thanks to the RCP membership and everyone was served dessert.

It was a fine evening of fun and fellowship for the Rotarians of Portsmouth and their families and friends.

Plastics Recycling Project

Rotary Club of Portsmouth Provides Seed Money For Plastics Recycling Project

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, local residents Richard Rognlie and Kayla James-Rognlie of Salty Dominica approached the Rotary Club of Portsmouth with the idea to build a plastics shredder and an extrusion machine to help rid the environment of excessive plastic waste, including thousands of relief water bottles shipped to Dominica.

Salty Dominica and the Rognlies with the encouragement of the Rotary Club donated components for the shredder. Several months into the effort Rory Dickens joined the effort. He had originally come to Dominica as part of the staff of the charity All Hands and Hearts, here to rebuild the Primary School in Paix Bouche. Rory Dickens had been working with the organization since 2015 in the Philippines, Ecuador, Peru, Nepal and the British Virgin Islands.

These various charitable endeavors led Rory to see the importance in seeking entrepreneurial solutions to social problems. Dickens, who received a Masters in Architecture from Robert Gordon University in Scotland, brought his design ingenuity to manufacturing an injection device largely out of scrap components found locally.

In April of this year he founded his own charitable foundation, Recycle Rebuild, which is an accredited SCIO in Scotland. It is through this organization that he formed a working partnership with the Rotary Club of Portsmouth to develop and build a plastics recycling facility utilizing the source design developed by David Hakkens Precious Plastics Global Initiative in Holland. This is an open source design resource available to communities.

The goal is to take Dominica’s discarded plastic and turn it into usable and saleable items for the benefit of Dominicans. The Rotary Club of Portsmouth and Rory Dickens’ Recycle Rebuild plan to have a pilot, which includes a shredder and injection molding machine functioning by the end of May.

The organizations will be seeking additional funding to establish a central recycling center in the Portsmouth area within the next six months at which point the product becomes for Dominicans and run by Dominicans.

Rotary Club of Zurich-Glattal Helps Finance

Volunteers To Assist the Rotary Club of Portsmouth’s Cover a Home Program

Swiss volunteers sailed from Martinique aboard a private yacht, Martine, with skipper Mario Jusufovic who organized the volunteer mission. Arriving in Portsmouth on Jan. 31, the crew included Kathrin Morf, journalist, Martin Angehrn, banker, Marcel Stucki, club-owner, Peter Winiger, retired air traffic controller, and Andreas Jarosch, an electrical engineer. In addition to contributing $10,000 US donated by Swiss Rotarians to assist the Rotary Club of Portsmouth with their Cover a Home initiative, the volunteers paid their own way and lent a helping hand in the reconstruction of the home of Emrica Thomas in Portsmouth.

The home was first damaged by Hurricane Maria. The family, an elderly husband and wife with mental and physical challenges, their daughter Emrica and granddaughter with some assistance managed to put a makeshift covering back on their home only to have it further damaged by the fire.

To date the Rotary Club of Portsmouth has completed seven Cover a Home projects out of the fifteen so far identified, which meet their criteria for assistance.

The Swiss crew then sailed south to assist with a similar project in Soufriere.

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth is most grateful for the generous financial support of the members of the Rotary Club of Zurich-Glattal and the Swiss volunteers.

500 more Water filters Distributed In Dominica

Thanks to Joint Efforts of US Charity Waves for Water and the Rotary Club of Portsmouth

On January 15^th Brent Lievsay and Ethan Lovell from the California based charity Waves for Water returned to Dominica to complete Phase Three of their mission to distribute much needed water purification systems.

They received on site assistance from members of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

A month earlier members of the club assisted in Phase Two, which involved the receipt of five hundred units through the port facility in Portsmouth plus transportation and warehousing the units prior their distribution. Club members also helped identify

contact points at various health centers and schools to demonstrate how to put together and maintain the filtration systems and distribute them to those most

in need.

Help Matilda attend District Conference 7030

Matilda is our treasurer elect and was a major volunteer immediately after Hurricane Maria hit Dominica. As many Dominicans did, she and her family endured not only fear for the safety of herself and her family, but house damage, loss of income and the immediate lack of basic necessities. Matilda’s husband, a fisherman lost all of his fish pots and has until recently been unable to return to his livelihood.

Although our club has received a lot of assistance in goods and in contributions to help rebuild, this money is earmarked for general service projects and not to use for Club finances. We as a club would like to reward Matilda for her service and give her the opportunity to attend PETS training and meet her fellow Rotarians from our district.

Matilda is administrator at the volunteer institute Colls Center, dedicated to giving a second chance to at risk young adults from the Portsmouth area, through vocational training and motivational programs. The young Rotary Club of Portsmouth will benefit immensely by the training our treasurer elect receives.

Rotary Ideas Help Mathilda click here

The broken garden of Eden

Matt Gemmell has recently returned from the hurricane-ravaged island of Dominica where he worked as part of the Rotary-backed Disaster Aid International. This is his story

AS the mother of Jesus, Mary or Maria is venerated by millions of Christians throughout the world. However, following the tragic events in the Caribbean last September, it may be some time before babies are christened Maria again. Maria, the 13th storm of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season made its rst landfall in Dominica with wind speeds in excess of 155 mph. What followed was unparalleled carnage, devastating Dominica just two weeks after Hurricane Irma had caused considerable damage.
Maria, a category five hurricane, was undoubtedly the worst storm to ever hit Dominica.

Matt Gemmell with children from the region

On this beautiful, unspoilt, island paradise, mains water supplies were disrupted, roads were impassable, bridges were broken; it must have seemed like Armageddon to the stunned survivors.
Thirty one people died and, as the world rushed to help restore the broken Garden of Eden, so did Disaster Aid International.

It’s amazing to think how this scheme is 47-years-old with its origins planted in the Rotary Emergency Box, which was conceived by Arthur Bowker who, at the time, was a member of the Rotary Club of Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester.

Arthur recognised there were people a ected by all kinds of natural disasters around the world who had lost everything they owned. Provision of a few very basic things quickly would help these people survive and he also knew that Rotary was a huge force for good with a global reach.

In 2010, the UK project joined forces with Rotarians around the world to form Disaster Aid International. The pooling of our respective resources and expertise has inevitably resulted in an organisation which now has a signi cant impact on disaster relief.

Each country partner of Disaster Aid International is sponsored by a Rotary club - in the case of Disaster Aid UK & Ireland, that is the Rotary Club of Denton & Audenshaw.

In Dominica, the Disaster Aid International team consisted of myself, a 58-year-old retired police o cer living near Loch Lomond in Scotland, Suzi Vaill, 48, a project manager from Hamble in Hampshire, and team leader Tore Knos, 68, a retired master builder who switches his time between Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Rotary Club greeting visiting Rotarians

On Monday January 29^th, board members of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and acting Assistant Governor for Dominica, Haynes Jacob greeted visiting Rotarians, Ron Ferril, Rotary International Director from Virginia, District Governor Waddy Sowma, from Suriname, and Past District Governor David Edwards, from Barbados. From the Douglas-Charles airport the visiting Rotarians toured several of houses, which have been reroofed, one in Marigot, one in Woodford Hill, one in Calibishie, under construction, and another completed project in Borne. The club hopes to do a total of fifteen roofs in their area.

Following a luncheon in Picard hosted the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and president, Ezra Fabiane, the visiting Rotarians and the club’s board visited a household in Dublanc that received and is using a Sawyer water filtration system, which the US based charity Waves for Water distributed with the help of the Rotary club. All told the Rotary Club of Portsmouth facilitated the delivery of well over 1000 systems. After this demonstration the visitors and board proceeded to the workshop of Nicolas King in Cottage Hill to attend the hand over of 10 newly made fish pots to Kirwin Deluge of Dublanc, representing the fishing cooperative of Bioche and Dublanc. The club has already distributed 20 pots to the fisherman of Portsmouth. An additional ten fish pots will be distributed to the Bioche/Dublanc cooperative when they are completed.

In the evening the club’s full membership honored their distinguished guests with a light dinner and drinks in Picard. President Fabiane introduced acting Assistant Governor Jacob who introduced

District Governor Sowma and Past District Governor Edwards and District Governor Sowma introduced Rotary International Director Ferril to the full membership. They were treated to a video presentation of the club’s immediate response following hurricane Maria and their ongoing projects.

After briefs remarks by Director Ferril and District Governor Sowma, the Rotary Club of Portsmouth inducted Rudolf Stomps as its newest member. Rotarian Stomps, an internet consultant and recent émigré from St. Maarten joins the club’s twenty other active, enthusiastic members.

Hand-over Fishpots

Rotary Helps Local Fisherman Get Back to Work

On December 27th, members of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth presented newly constructed fish pots to local fisherman. The fish pots , made by Nicholas King were paid for by the Rotary Club’s Disaster Relief Fund.

Portsmouth area fisherman who lost their fish pots during hurricane Maria received much needed replacements. The recipients included, Crispin Mitchell,

Jack Harney, Elvius Mitchell, Albermathie Achie, Patrick Prince, Tommy Hector, Mathew Gilbert and Delphine Peter.

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth intends to continue its efforts to help local fisherman regain their livelihood and bring much needed fish to market. The next programmed distribution will help the joint fishing communities of Dublanc and Bioche.

Fundraiser for RCP

Posted on Nov 12, 2017

Restart Dominica's Economy Fundraiser

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth want to help all we can who suffered badly from Hurricane Maria.

Right now we have a simple 3 Step Plan for which we ask your generous donations:

Keep people healthy by giving everyone access to good quality filtered drinking water and reduce plastic bottle pollution.
We want to buy building materials and hire local carpenters to build permanent roofs through our Cover a Home Program.
Put fisherman back to work. We will make new fishpots to distribute to the fisherman who have lost their equipment.

We are grateful for any contribution you can make. Your help can make a real difference in the lives our people at this critical time. Thank you in advance.

Click on any of the links for a direct donation.

Free Water Filters

Posted on Nov 05, 2017

Distribution of FREE Water Filters

On October 25, Fritz Pierre-Louis, President of the Rotary Club of Leogane, Haiti, District #7020 arrived in Dominica and made contact with officers of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

His mission was to establish a joint effort between Rotary and a US based charity called Waves for Water.
Their mandate is to deliver fresh pure drinking water to those in extreme need.

President Fritz arrived by plane and the following day two representatives from Waves for Water, www.wavesforwater.org, Brent Lievsay and Ben Bourgeois , sailed from St. Croix, arriving in Portsmouth with 460 filter units and 280 buckets.

On Thursday Oct. 26, they provided members of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and several community representatives with 9 units and trained them on how to assemble the kits.

The following day Rotarians and volunteers had a busy and long day providing training on how to assemble and use the units.

Right by the riverbank in Dublanc 80 systems were distributed.
In Portsmouth at the home of Wayne Abraham, who has served the community relief effort via ham radio services plus providing a much needed place for people in the community lacking power to charge their phones and other devices, 37 unites were demonstrated and distributed.
15 systems where provided at the Primary School in Savanne Paille.
In front of the UNICEF tent at Bense village primary school 16 more systems were made available to households.

The following day, Oct 27, it was the east coast of the island.

In the Kalinago Territory the Chief helped gathering many of the families for presentation and 80 drinking water producing systems were handed out and assembled.

Castle Bruce received 32 systems. And 4 were given out after demonstrations that were done right on the street in Marigot and 5 more were provided in Wesley.

The team left 180 additional filters for which the Rotary Club needs to obtain buckets. The cost of this relief effort is being shared by the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and the Roseau Rotary Club of Dominica. After additional buckets are obtained Roseau Rotary will distribute the remaining systems in the south end of the island.

The water filtration units are manufactured to filter and purify 100 gallons of water per day with an output of 1 liter per minute. This simple but effective system filters to 0.1 microns absolute and will remove 99.999% of bacteria such as protozoa and cyst such a E coli, Giardia, and salmonella.

The mission of Fritz Pierre-Louis, President of the Rotary Club of Leogane, Haiti, and Waves for Water was very successful and the Rotary Club of Portsmouth will source more water filters and bucket in an effort to give many more Dominicans easy access to good quality filtered drinking water.

Rebuilding Dominica starts with good health for each individual and good health starts with absolutely safe drinking water.

Cover a Home in Dominica

Posted by Hans Schilders on Oct 21, 2017

Help RC Portsmouth to

COVER A HOME IN DOMINICA

Here is an information update for the campaign
COVER A HOME IN DOMINICA - - Saturday Oct 21, 12 noon

HOUSE 1

Home of Charles Valentine 30x30 three bedrooms.
Occupants. 2 elderly displaces by TS erika 2 children 1 . disable girl 2 sons. Husband and wife

Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally): EC$ 9000

HOUSE 2
This is small house in Bioche about 20x20 ft
It is occupied by Nita, a mentally challenged person. She will not be able by herself to repair her house.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally): EC$ 6000

HOUSE 3 > in Westley
This house was the home to 6 vulnerable persons who stayed there after a very difficult experience with tropical storm Erika 2 years ago. This was their home after being rescued by boat from the southern side of the island. The family consisted of 3 children and one child age 6. The house in the photo consists of 4 bedrooms. The owner of the house is due for a leg surgery which costs minimum ec $ 10,000. After Maria the occupants of this house were forced to flee for shelter in different places. The mother of the owner of this house is 85 years of age and together with her brother of 90 now lives in a shop temporarily, hoping and waiting for the roof to go back on so that they too can go live in the said house. The owner is not able to to do much physically because of post pains, swelling and discomfort in his leg before surgery. In one of the images his crutch had to be used to hold up the ceiling from caving in on him during the storm.
The size of the roof is about 30 x 50 ft

Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally): EC$ 12000

HOUSE 4 > in Kalinago Territory
A small house with one bedroom occupied by a mother with a baby and other children.
No picture available yet. The picture below is not of the said house but a general image of the devastation in the already poor indian territory.

Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally): EC$ 6000

HOUSE 5 > in Anse de Mai
Home of senior citizens in seaside village Anse de Mai.
No image available yet.

Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally): EC$ 6000

HOUSE 6 > in Marigot (East Coast)
Waiting for details to be passed - communication with the area still difficult
Estimate to repair this house (material and labor sourced locally):
Depending on the size of the house between EC$ 6000 and EC$ 12000

SUMMARY with amounts in US$
House 1 - North of Portsmouth - Family of 9 - EC$9000 / US$3400
House 2 - Bioche - Mentally disabled person - EC$6000 / US$2300
House 3 - Westley - Family/Group of 8 - EC$12000 / US$4500
House 4 - Kalinago Territory - Single mother - EC$6000 / US$2300
House 5 - Anse de Mai - Senior citizens - EC$6000 / US$2300
House 6 - Marigot - Details will follow - 6 to 12 EC$ / 2300 to 4500 US$

PLEASE HELP THE ROTARY CLUB OF PORTSMOUTH TO COVER THESE HOMES

DONATE WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD AT OUR GENEROSITY FUNDRAISER WEB-PAGE: CLICK HERE

OR TRANSFER YOUR DONATION TO OUR DISASTER ACCOUNT IN DOMINICA

Transfer your donation to our Disaster Account and indicate which house you want to help repair.
We will keep you informed about the progress by regular updates of this web article.

Rotary Club of Portsmouth, Disaster Account 315 00 13 93

National Bank of Dominica NBD
64 Hillsboroughstreet, Roseau, Dominica, 00152
SWIFT: NCDMDMDM

Corresponding Bank: Bank of America NY
SWIFT: BOFAUS3N
ABA Number: 026009593

For any questions or remarks, feel free to WhatsApp to Hans Schilders at +1 767 616-3002 (prefer WhatsApp rather than call)

Bingo Fundraiser

Bingo Fundraiser Nights coming...

Fun, Fellowship, and exposure to the community all combined in our new Rotary Portsmouth Fundraising Nights.
Wednesday 13th of September we will host the First RC Portsmouth BINGO FUNDRAISING NIGHT.

We want to make this first night a success so we're inviting all our members to attend and to bring at least 1 friend, but you can invite as many as you want. And of course the general public is must welcome. Anyone who likes Bingo, and all friends of Rotary are kindly invited to come play a round for one of our many prizes donated by the business community in the north.

The event will be held at Purple Turtle starting at 7pm.
To play you need to buy 2 bingo cards ($15 for 2 cards).

If you like to have a drink or snack you can order at Purple Turtle.

We can still use more prizes, so please if you know of businesses in the north, ask for a prize for our BINGO... (as for now we get prizes with a value between $15 - $50ecd).

We cannot have too many prizes because we will need more for the next BINGO FUNDRAISING NUGHT which we will host in 2 month from now.

If you have a nice prize at home that you want to donate to Rotary, please let us know. (see below)

Printing flyers will be available from Wednesday September 6th. Please tell us if you want one to hang at your business or any other place where the public can see it. We can't do this alone so please give us a helping hand.

Fore more information, to donate prizes, get a flyer, or reserve a table, please contact Past President Rotarian Lise at cell 767 616-3001 (also WhatsApp number), or email Lise@HotelTheChamps.com

Book it in your calendars NOW >> Wednesday Sept 13, 7am, Purple Turtle, Rotary Bingo Fundraiser Night.

Looking forward to see you there!!

BB II NN GG OO !!!!!

Visit from Past President Tony Merah

Posted on Aug 24, 2017

Info Update from "Nigeria"

On Thursday August 24th, 2017 The Rotary Club of Portsmouth had a guest brought by Rotarian Lise at our regular meeting place Rejens Hotel.

Tony Merah came to Dominica to help his daughter get started at Ross University, School for Medicine and he used the opportunity to visit our club.

He is a Past President in a club in the Lagos, Nigeria area and now he lives in Calgary Canada. Tony is a lawyer by profession and after practicing many years in Nigeria, he has been certified in Canada where he now runs his own chambers.

He took actively part in our meeting by informing us about projects that his club realized when he was the president. One in particular was that they created roundabouts in the city to improve traffic streams, while benches and little parks on the roundabouts give citizens a nice place to sit and socialize.

PP Tony seemed to enjoy the meeting as we did too. We promised to see him again when he will be visiting his daughter during her time at Ross University.

Foundation Meeting @ Rotarians Lise & Hans

Posted on Aug 17, 2017

August Monthly Foundation Meeting

Every month, on the 3rd Thursday of the month our club meets at the house of one of our members.

This time it was the turn of Rotarians Lise and Hans and we met at their balcony which has a very nice view of Prince Rupert Bay.

Thanks Lise and Hans for welcoming us in your home.

We were happy to welcome two prospective Rotarians at our meeting, Ms. Avian Hilton and Mr. Rudolf Stomps. We hope you will become members of our club and help us do good in the north of Dominica.

As always we contributed our EC$25 to the Rotary Foundation and the money was immediately transferred online to TRF (The Rotary Foundation).

This is how our club tries to achieve in each Rotary year the EREY = Every Rotarian Every Year special Banner and recognition.

The picture show our relaxed fellowship and we also watched a Rotary Foundation video together to see how other clubs in the world are making Foundation moving do good for others. Please read the short text explaining what Rotary Foundation does.

The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.

Our 35,000 clubs carry out sustainable service projects that support our six causes. With donations like yours, we’ve wiped out 99.9 percent of all polio cases. Your donation also trains future peacemakers, supports clean water, and strengthens local economies.It can save a life. A child can be protected from polio with as little as 60 cents. Our partners make your donation go even further. For every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $2.

Visitors from the Netherlands

Posted on Aug 10, 2017

Visit from Dutch Rotarians

Past President Rotarian Lise is the owner of Hotel The Champs and she had Dutch guests staying with her that are Rotarians.

So Lise made sure to bring them to our club meeting on Thursday August 10, 2017 at our usual location Rejens Hotel.

Our guests were Rotarian Thië Lijklama a Nijeholt and his Rotary-Anne Mrs Jolanda Nijenhuis.

Thië is the treasurer of his club, Rotary Club Roden-Leek in the north of the Netherlands, District 1590.

This year's president of his club is Mr Cees Laffra, and the Immediate Past President is Mr Bernard Tilema.

There was a pleasant exchange of information about how our clubs are running, what projects and fundraisers we're doing and a great mix of fellowship and fun.

President Ezra and PP Lise presented to Rotarian/Treasurer Thië our club banner and we expect to receive one in exchange from his club by the mail. It will come but things take time in Dominica. When we receive it, you will see it in our next newsletter.

Thank you very much Thië and Jolanda for joining us at our clubmeeting. It was a pleasure and we learned some new things how we can improve our Rotary experience.

Caibbean Rotarian Next Rotary President

First Caribbean President for Rotary International Elected

Barry Rassin selected to be 2018-19 Rotary president

Barry Rassin, of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2018-19. He will be declared the president-elect on 1 September if no challenging candidates have been suggested.

As president, Rassin aims to strengthen our public image and our use of digital tools to maximize Rotary’s reach.

“Those who know what good Rotary clubs do will want to be a part of it, and we must find new models for membership that allow all interested in our mission to participate,” he says. “With Rotary more in the public eye, we will attract more individuals who want to be part of and support a membership organization that accomplishes so much good around the world.”

Rassin earned an MBA in health and hospital administration from the University of Florida and is the first fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in the Bahamas. He recently retired after 37 years as president of Doctors Hospital Health System, where he continues to serve as an adviser. He is a lifetime member of the American Hospital Association and has served on several boards, including the Quality Council of the Bahamas, Health Education Council, and Employer’s Confederation.

A Rotarian since 1980, Rassin has served Rotary as director and is vice chair of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. He was an RI training leader and the aide to 2015-16 RI President K.R. Ravindran.

Rassin received Rotary's highest honor, the Service Above Self Award, as well as other humanitarian awards for his work leading Rotary’s relief efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake there. He and his wife, Esther, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.

Rassin’s nomination follows Sam F. Owori’s death in July, just two weeks into his term as Rotary International president-elect.

To learn more about Barry Rassin, read this interview and vision statement outlining his goals for Rotary.

RC Portsmouth on SkyViews Map

Rotary Portsmouth on SkyViews Map

Dear Rotarians and Friends of Rotary,

We are proud to show you that the Rotary Club of Portsmouth is on the Skyviews map of Dominica ! 23rd edition 2017 !

Skyviews maps are driving since 1985 over 18 Million visitors through the Caribbean islands.

The Skyviews map of Dominica is the only one map used as a guide that gives information on hotels, restaurants, services activities, transport, community, main sites, diving sites, hiking on the Waitukubuli trail, to every visitor coming to Dominica.

RC Portsmouth is happy to be on this map so every Rotarian visiting Dominica can come to see us for a make-up.

Be aware we have a club meeting Thursday evening. If you want to be sure, contact us at +1 767 616-3002.

The Next eBulletin

A Next Newsletter in the Making...

The Chair of Public Relations, Rotarian Annick, and the Chair of Membership, Hans, working very hard together to prepare the next newsletter of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth. Look for it in your email on the first Wednesday of September.

This Rotary year we have a great cooperation between PR and Membership and we feel confident that it will result in an improved public image of the club and will bring us new Rotarians in the North. Every Wednesday morning Annick and Hans spend some hours together to make sure that Dominica will be well informed about our community efforts and the fellowship and fun we have at Rotary.

Want to be part of Rotary Portsmouth? Email to RotaryPortsmouthDM@gmail.com or call 767 616-3002

New Paul Harris Fellow + New Member

Anne is Now a Paul Harris Fellow

During our latest Foundation Meeting on the 20th of July, Rotarian Anne Winn, our Foundation Chair, received a pin and award from the Rotary Foundation confirming that she is now a Paul Harris Fellow.

Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary International, 111 years ago. Whenever a Rotarian reaches a point that he/she has donated in total a set amount to the Rotary Foundation, that person becomes a Paul Harris Fellow.

We are happy and proud that another member of our club is now internationally awarded and recognized.

Thank you very much PHF Anne for your gracious donations to the Foundation. You are an example for your fellow Rotarians!

New Club Member Anne Mary Campo

On the 27th of July, the Rotary Club of Portsmouth pinned as a new Rotarian, Mary Anne Campo of Picard. Her classification is Learning Technologist.

She was introduced to the club by Past President Lise van de Kamp. She attended several meetings as a prospective member before joining the club. She says,

“ I prefer to be an active participant, and enjoyed it when I joined in with Rotarians when they did a beach cleanup and installed grills on Toucari Beach.

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth is proud to welcome our first new member of this new Rotary year 2017-18 and the club looks forward to more such ceremonies in the near future. Each new member makes our commitment to service above self stronger and our work more enjoyable.

Scholarship for Nyami Gabriel

Posted on Jul 24, 2017

Rotary Club of Portsmouth Presents US$1000 Scholarship to Nyami Gabriel of Dominica SDA

At 2 pm on Monday July 24th the Rotary Club of Portsmouth held a brief presentation ceremony honoring the recipient of its first annual scholarship to Nyami Gabriel, a fourth form student at Dominica SDA Secondary School.

The US$1000 scholarship is the gift of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth and the Rotary E-Club of Southeastern USA and Caribbean.

The scholarship is given to cover tuition, uniforms and textbooks and school supplies for the coming school year.

Making the presentation held at Champs Hotel & Restaurant was the Club President, Ezra Fabian. Others in attendance in addition to Nyami and her mother Patsy Belle included Rotarians Lise Van de Kamp, Hans Schilders, Anne Winn and Sari Prosper, chair of the scholarship selection committee.

The theme of Rotary International for the year 2017-2018 is “Making a Difference” and the Caribbean District has refined that to “Making a Difference in Education so this scholarship is fully in line with the Rotary goals.

We wish Nyami all the best with her studies and are looking forward to see her reach her goals in life.

Rotary = Service Above Self, supporting the community where we can, when we can.

If you are interested in joining Rotary please visit our website at www.RotaryPortsmouth.org or call 616-3002.

Investiture Cocktail 2017, July 6th

Posted by Annick Giraud

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

I would like today to thank everyone who participated in our Investiture Cocktail ! Hands up!

And make my comments as a Four-Way-Test ..

Is it the Truth? YES

the Investiture Ceremony took place at the charming Madiba Cafe on the beach of Lagoon Portsmouth this Thursday at 5.30 p.m.

Is it Fair to All Concerned? OF COURSE

There was all what we expected. People attended and showed interest.

Will it Build Goodwill and Better Friendship ? EXACTLY

Rotarians and non Rotarians shared a special evening as they were gathered for the Investiture of the new board and its President for 2017-2018

Weather , food and drinks , music and a special violonist enchanted the

crowd. The raffle went well ! And in time!

Will it Be Beneficial to All Concerned ? OF COURSE

Everyone left with a smile on their face , new contacts and re-contacts were made with the promise to continue the good job .

My fellow Rotarians a happy and fruitful Rotary Year, let’s go to work and do what we do best ”Service above Self”

PR and SAA Annick.

Here is what Rotarian Brian said: "My impressions of the Investiture Celebration, I thought it went well. We had great food, great company, a fabulous setting, and wonderful turnout of 43 Rotarians, sponsors, friends of our Rotary club, and guests. We also had good success with our raffle during the event. In total, I saw the event was a success."

And this is what one of our guests wrote us: "Greetings. I was happy to accept your invitation and to be present at the Cocktail Investiture. Thank you for the invitation. Faithfully, Eulalie"

Home Page News

Mark Your Calendars!

Aug 25, 2011 by Hans Schilders

Following the visit of our District Governor Lara Quentall-Thomas on Nov 1, 2011 we now have a confirmed agenda for the set-up of the new Rotary Club in the North of Dominica, the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

Thought for the Week - Who Said It?

Aug 25, 2011 by Hans Schilders

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

Quote of the Week - Who Said It?

Aug 25, 2011 by Hans Schilders

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

Portsmouth Rotary Celebrates Rotary's Birthday

Feb 21, 2012 by Daniel Hopkins