West Bay Rotary Club Meeting
Posted by Jennifer Bell
on Sep 18, 2014
West Bay Rotary Club Meeting
September 18, 2014
Both Rotary Exchange students attending CHRHS gave brief presentations this am.
Hans Christian Angel is from Denmark and is sponsored by the Camden Rotary Club. Hans arrived August 12th. He is enjoying being in Camden and is taking a Hunter’s Safety course and is trying out mountain biking,
Makoto Hayashi is from Japan and is sponsored by West Bay Rotary. Makoto has been enjoying Camden as well. He is learning mountain biking, likes to ski and will join the swim team.
Today’s Speaker – Shannon Thompson spoke about her experience and life lessons learned while preparing for and participating in her 1st Iron-man Triathalon. Shannon is the daughter of Skip Thompson, who was one of the founders of West Bay Rotary.
Shannon, at age 40, decided to change her life and start exercising. She started with the Hope Triathalon in 2008, completing and doing quite well in this event of a ¼ mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and 3 mile run. The following year she completed the Maine Sport Triathalon. The Maine Sport Triathalon is a ½ mile swim, 27 mile bike ride and 6 mile run. Finding that the triathalon life suited her, she set her sights on a half Iron-Man Triathalon. She completed this event in 2010, after successfully swimming 1.2 miles, riding her bike 56 miles, and running 13.1 miles. Then, this past April, Shannon started training for the Lake Placid Iron-man Triathalon. She participated in and finished the triathalon on August 3rd, 2014. The Lake Placid Iron-Man involves swimming 2.4 miles, riding 112 miles and running 26.2 miles all under 17 hours. She described the race in some detail and not only completed it she made it on the front page of the local paper as she was smiling so much.
While training for this event was an amazing personal journey, she felt something was missing as, she stated, “I hadn’t done anything for the world”. So, she decided to use her new found love of exercise and competition to raise money for the Patrick Dempsey Center.
The Patrick Dempsey Center is located in Lewiston and provides free cancer support to families in the central Maine area. Every year there is a benefit event that raises over 1 million dollars with running and cycling races: The Dempsey Challenge. Shannon decided to get involved and will be competing in the Dempsey Challenge next week. To learn more about the Dempsey Center and Dempsey Challenge you can visit the Dempsey Challenge website at www.dempseychallenge.org/
Additionally, over the last few years, Shannon has been throwing birthday parties for herself to raise money for someone locally who is in need. This past year she raised $8000 for a local boy with a brain tumor. Great job Shannon!
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David Olivas gave a mini classification talk: David has been a Rotary member for a long time. He is originally from Texas. He received a Bachelor’s of Science and then went to Dental school at University of Texas. He and his wife Julia met while in Dental school and married. They eventually came to Maine on vacation to see the leaves and fell in love with the area. In 1992 they decided to move to Maine. Shortly thereafter, they opened their dental office in Rockport.
Penny Beebeecenter, from Hospitality House, spoke briefly about the Transportation center that is working to provide transportation with volunteers and staff for the people at the Hospitality House.
Mark Masterson thanked people again for their help with the Chowder Challenge.
Sunrise Club in Union: Please bring in old issues of Rotarian magazine to donate to the Sunrise club. They hold their meetings at 7am at the Masonic hall in Union.
Don’t forget about the Rotary Leadership Institute. It will be held 10/18/2014 from 9-3pm in Lewiston. Talk with Sandy or Etienne if you are interested.
Chad Place will be giving his Classification talk next week
See Heidi Karod if you know of any students who want to go abroad next year for Rotary Youth Exchange.