At our April 16th meeting, we invited members and past members to join us and let us know what they have been doing lately. We were delighted to have Dan Hale, who was a past club member, and Dave Fazzina, who is still an active member but has been committed to other endeavors the last couple of years, join us and share what they have been doing. Two other past members were planning on being with us, but emergent commitments prevented them doing so.
Dan Hale was a Club member before family commitments and other volunteer work required he step aside. Even at that time, Dan was working at several hospitals, very active in the Kittery Fire Department, and starting to volunteer in his daughter’s growing activities. Dan arrived with Girl Scout cookies (his daughter is still very much involved), and reports he is working predominantly at the Portsmouth Hospital now but still supporting in Portland’s Children’s Hospital. He does have a northern Maine Camp for a vacation retreat and small rental business . but has also recently acquired a Rafting Business that he is expanding into a center for a wide range of outdoor activities (www.magicfalls.com).
The main thrust of Dan’s comments dealt with the impact of burnout and overload in the medical and first responder area. From his observations on the effect on firefighters and medical personnel his comments dove-tailed very well into the focus of the current Rotary International President and mental health programs being planned and supported within the District and our club. It was a powerful message from someone who is and has been, on the front line dealing with the mental and emotional impact on personnel.
Dave Fazzina has maintained membership and support for the Club but his work, his family activities, and volunteering as a sports coach have kept him from attending activities for some time. Dave has been a continuing sponsor and financial supporter for Kittery Rotary Club events.
In the last couple of years Dave has moved from being the local agent for his Insurance company to being one of the partners owning the company. Dave brought Sydney Dausten, the new local agent, to introduce her. Dave related that although his son has moved on to college, and he has given up coaching baseball, his daughter is a member of the national champion girls softball team at Wells high School and his family expects to spend a good part of the summer on travel, following the ball teams.
In addition to Dan and Dave, Mike Scarponi, a past club President, was planning to be here but an unexpected family event prevented his doing so. Sue, who has done several projects with Mike gave a quick update on his activities.
Jared Morse, also a past Club president, planned to be with us as well, but Andy explained that Jared’s and his brother’s company had very recently been acquired and Andy expected that emergent business related to that change had tied prevented Jared from being at the meeting.