BRUNSWICK COASTAL ROTARY PRESIDENT Linda Collins and Perry Leavitt, owner of the Fairground Café at the Topsham Fair Mall, are shown in front of the café, where the club hosted a recent spaghetti dinner fundraiser for hurricane victims.
This training is in response to the opiate epidemic sweeping across our country, to which Maine and our local communities are not immune. Maine saw 376 drug-induced deaths statewide in 2016, 317 of which were opioid-related.
Brunswick Coastal Rotary, along with Rotary District 7780, recognizes the need for us to work together as a society to make a difference and help fight this epidemic. Rotarians will be trained in how to recognize the signs of an overdose, how to perform first aid, including chest compression-only CPR training from Brunswick Fire Department personnel, as well as how to administer naloxone, the drug that reverses the affects of opioids.
The goal of this training is not only for life-saving purposes. It could also help reduce the stigma attached to those with substance use disorder. We will subsequently offer this training to other community members in Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell. For additional information or to sign up for this training based on space availability, contact Chris Toothaker of Brunswick Coastal Rotary at toothakerc@gmail.com. For more information about obtaining naloxone or to schedule an Overdose Recognition and Response training with Portland’s Overdose Prevention Project, please contact Bridget Rauscher at (207) 874-8798 or bridget.rauscher@portlandmaine.gov
Brunswick Coastal also teamed up with the Fairgrounds Cafe at the Topsham Fair Mall to raise $1,000 for recent hurricane victims. Fairground Cafe owner Perry Leavitt and several of his staff volunteered their time and furnished an excellent spaghetti dinner in this cause. Day’s Jewelers provided $500 worth of merchandise and gift certificates for a silent auction and cafe waitress Linda Corson donated a beautiful Avon gift basket.
Local musicians John Dennen and Dave Bullard and friends entertained the crowd and Boy Scouts from Troop 202, Topsham, helped with setting up and cleaning up. Accompanied by Assistant Scoutmasters Jon Edwards and Jim Burak, they were Shane Edwards, William Edwards, Elijah Blanchette, Thomas Cole, Logan Munsey, Evan Kearns, Logan Edgecomb, and Jacob Burak. To round out the night local comedian Betsy Crowell spent an hour regaling us with her down home New England humor.
Although typically focused on longterm sustainable development in countries such as Guatemala, Uganda, and South Africa, Brunswick Coastal takes part in opportunities that connected with Rotary clubs in the hurricane-ravaged areas. That way, the money goes directly into Rotarians’ hands -— no middle person, no overhead. The local clubs participate at will, often partnering with businesses. Brunswick Coastal Rotary has a personal connection with Rotarians in the Spindletop Beaumont Rotary Club in Texas. Beaumont was devastated by the hurricane and flooding.
The connection with the Beaumont Rotarians was forged through Brunswick Coastal’s work in Uganda, working with the Kajjansi Rotary Club and the Mbabaali School, where we provided mosquito nets through a previous district grant from our own Rotary District 7780. It’s yet another example of Rotary in action, an interconnected humanitarian group, forged through hands-on, grassroots work. As we say, “Acquaintance is an opportunity for service.”
All are welcome to visit Brunswick Coastal Rotary’s meetings at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at the Fairground Cafe, at the Topsham Fair Mall. The president is Linda Collins. Any questions, please call past president Dave Griffiths 207-345-9835 or email dgriff66@msn.com
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
