Upcoming Events
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jun. 19, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jun. 26, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jul. 03, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jul. 10, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jul. 17, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jul. 24, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Jul. 31, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Aug. 07, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Aug. 14, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
  • Weekly Meeting
    Old Town Lodge of Elks - downstairs
    Aug. 21, 2025
    6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. UTC-04:00
Welcome to the Rotary Club of Old Town!
What do you think of when you hear the word, “Rotary?”
If you live or work in the greater Old Town area, you are likely familiar with the Rotary Club of Old Town. Because of all it does in the community, Rotary can mean many things to many individuals. But when I think of Rotary, it means family. 
The Rotary Club of Old Town is the kind of family everyone wishes they were part of. They always have the backs of their family members, supporting them through tough times and celebrating their accomplishments. This Rotary family works together to support and champion the entire community, helping out wherever there is a need.
Over the past few weeks, we:
  • Built eleven raised beds on Perkins Avenue for a community garden
  • Revamped the interior of the snack shack at the KC Little League field
  • Delivered boxes of food to elementary schools in RSU 34, Milford, and Greenbush
  • Relocated some of the eight handicap ramps we lend
  • Volunteered dozens of hours at the Caring Community Cupboard
  • Rallied around the family of a club member who recently passed
Through it all, we expressed laughter and love, expertise and strength.
This past February marked my 25th anniversary of joining the Rotary Club of Old Town. From my first visit, I felt the love. I was 29 and had moved to Maine five years earlier leaving behind a very large, very loud, very loving extended Italian family. I found a new home in Rotary. A new family with members eerily similar to my biological family. There was the joker, the listener, the hugger, the complainer, the tech guru, the “git ‘er done” person, the organizer, the task master, the clown... and so many more. When I joined, they sorely needed a talker. I fit the bill nicely.  I never would have guessed that 25 years later, I’d still be part of this amazing group.
What part do you play in your family? We always have room in ours for anyone willing to join our family and support our community. So, drop by some Thursday evening for social time at 5:30 PM and dinner at 6:00 PM. We meet in the downstairs of the Elks lodge on 4th Street near the boat launch.
We’d love to grow our family to include new and diverse members, with varied backgrounds and opinions, who are of one mind when it comes to service­­—Service Above Self.
Yours in Service,

Corina Larsen

*This article was originally written for the Community Connections. 
Why Rotary?
 
Home Page Stories

A huge Efharistó! to the one, the only — Miss Claire Boucher, aka Theater Kid Extraordinaire 🎭 — for joining us at tonight’s Rotary meeting and taking us on a first-class, front-row, gelato-fueled adventure through her unforgettable trip to Greece!

From ancient ruins to world-class museums to a high-seas odyssey that Poseidon himself would approve of, we laughed, we learned, and we may or may not have started practicing our best “Mamma Mia” dance moves. Claire’s storytelling was so vivid, we’re pretty sure someone spontaneously developed a Greek accent. 🇬🇷😂

Thank you, Claire, for sharing your journey (and for bravely surviving the Back to the Future trilogy AND jet lag just to be with us). You are always a pleasure and a joy to have with us and now  you’ve officially earned the title of Honorary Rotary Tour Guide Extraordinaire.

💙💛 Until your next grand adventure — we’ll be over here trying to figure out how to say “How many flavors of gelato do you have?” in Greek:

 
It's getting real! If you haven't already snagged your tickets for the auction, $17.00 a ticket or $136.00 to reserve a table of 8, please call 207-852-4487. It's gonna be a blast for a fantastic cause! We hope to see you there!!
Our sincere appreciation goes out to Abe Furth, of Orono Brewing Company, for an unforgettable evening. His remarkable story of turning vision into reality was truly inspiring. Thank you Abe!
Thank you District Governor, Dino Marzaro, for spending time with our club. We are so happy you were able to visit Old Town and see the projects we have completed over the years!
 
We had our Installation dinner at the end of June to recognize the incoming President for the upcoming Rotary year. We also celebrated the current President for their outstanding leadership. Macie, thank you for your incredible leadership, you have so much to be proud of over the last year and we appreciate you so much! Chris, we are looking forward to your year as President and are excited for all that we will accomplish together! Congratulations to the Paul Harris Fellow recipients as well as the President’s Award recipients. Cheers to another amazing year!
 
We were recently joined by Board of Director members of the Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund! Thank you, Tamra, Em, and Mikayla for sharing the work that you and your organization are doing for the University of Maine community. Your passion and drive for community care is inspirational! 🐻💙
To donate, get involved, and learn more about Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund, check out their website here: https://www.blackbearmutualaid.org
 
The Interact Club has been meeting the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month! If there is a young person you know who would like to meet new friends, learn leadership skills, and contribute towards their community, let us know, or stop by one of our meetings! 😊
Interact has an ongoing fundraiser at Mahan's Redemption Center to raise money for their projects. Please consider donating towards their efforts by dropping your bottles off and letting them know they are for the Old Town Area Interact Club. We thank you for your support of our community leaders!
 

In Loving Memory of 
David Wollstadt

In honor of our recent successful Hunter’s Breakfast, we would like to highlight the heart behind the event. David Wollstadt, who was a member of the Rotary Club of Old Town for almost 20 years, sadly passed away earlier this year. During his time in Rotary, he greatly contributed to the Old Town Community. Dave was the driving force behind Hunter’s Breakfast. Below is the dedication which was featured in the Hunter’s Breakfast newspaper this year as well some words about Dave from Rotarians. 

David was an active member of the Rotary Club of Old Town for over 20 years, and the force behind our successful Hunter’s Breakfast fundraising. This publication was his idea, and he carried it out in grand fashion-creating all of the layout, keeping all of us on task with soliciting businesses, finding new businesses for us to approach for support, and personally obtaining dozens of ads. Thanks to Dave, we raised over 100 thousand dollars for our community and world. And thanks to Dave, we have many wonderful memories of friendship and service. We miss you, Dave.

A few words from our Rotarians…

It was the mid 1990’s and I was chair of the Hunter’s Breakfast. At that time, our breakfast handout was actually a booklet you could slip into an oversized pocket, in a field coat, or cargo pants. The contents were mostly stories or tips on hunting, hunter safety, recipes, and hunting lore. Dave was putting the book together (with minimal help from me) on our dining room table. He wasn’t a member yet, but he lent his knowledge and experience to the task, one at which he was very good, and he’s helped like that ever since. - Ben Smith

Sometimes Dave had a way of smiling at you. He’d tilt his head forward and look at you over his glasses. There was a slight smile at his mouth, and a faint twinkle in his eyes. Over the years I came to interpret that look to mean that whatever I’d just said or done probably hadn’t been my finest moment. I doubt that those who knew him thought him hesitant to verbally express an opinion, but he was often kind enough to let you off with a gentle look rather than a harsh word. - Ben Smith 

David was a devoted and hard working Old Town Rotarian, producing many of our publications. I valued his journalistic ethic, giving equal time to opposing viewpoints when inviting guest speakers. In addition, as Becca would toast "he was the world's greatest dad.." engaging her in our Rotary family. - Pat Cummings

One of the things I enjoyed most about Dave was his dry sense of humor. During “happy dollars” he would often come out with a short clip that would have everybody laughing. I would also like to mention his dedication to Becca. He brought her to all Rotary functions including field trips. - Stan Peterson

He was a great worker and did a fine job at what he did. The Penobscot Times was great when he did that; the Hunters Breakfast booklet, and the Community Connections newspaper was great also. Sad to see him go and sad for his daughter Becca.  -  Joe Cyr 

I enjoyed my conversations with Dave. He was very knowledgeable and he always made me feel welcome at Rotary when I first joined. - Steven Lane

Dave and I had many discussions… from Old Town that we both love dearly, to education of children, to how to spend money wisely, to what Rotary means to us. He told me that he rejoined Rotary because of the way we welcomed his daughter, Becca. I will miss Dave and I am missing Becca too. - Linda Bryant

Thank you to everyone who joined the Rotary Club of Old Town bright and early Saturday morning for Hunter’s Breakfast! ☕️🥞🦌
We served about 400 meals this year which was a huge success! Thank you to Old Town and surrounding community members for sharing a meal with us, we hope you had fun!❤️
Thank you so much to the Boy Scouts again this year for showing up the day before and the day of! Having your help makes the entire process so much easier and we could not appreciate it more!😊
Lastly, thank you to the Rotarians who work so hard to make this day happen every year!
 
    
Save the date! The Rotary Club of Old Town's annual Hunter's Breakfast will be Saturday, October 28th from 5AM to 9AM at the Old Town Elks, on Fourth Street in Old Town! Please message us or contact a Rotarian if you would like to purchase a ticket! We hope to see you there!
 
The Rotary Club of Old Town and the Interact Club had a great time at Riverfest this year! Thank you to everyone who purchased a chicken dinner🍗 and to those of you who made a tie dye t-shirt!👕 We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without your support!
 
    
Meeting Information
We meet In Person
Thursdays at 6:15 PM
Old Town Elks Lodge
290 Fourth Street
Old Town, ME 04468
United States of America
We meet in person every Thursday, with the option to join virtually if you would prefer! Please contact a member for the link.
Club Officers & Directors
President
Immediate Past President
President Elect
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Rotary Foundation
Club Administration
Interact Chair
Membership
Service Projects
Sergeant-at-Arms
Speakers
PE Scott Boucher
Jun 19, 2025
The year ahead!
Installation of Officers
Jun 26, 2025
Location: Corina's House
No meeting
Jul 03, 2025
Happy 4th of July!
Interact & Rotary dinner & Bingo!
Jul 10, 2025
Location: Marsh Island
Hope Eye, EMDC Community Impact Specialist
Jul 17, 2025
local housing needs
Elaine Thomas - Sr. Manager of Community Impact
Jul 24, 2025
Heart of Maine United Way - A.L.I.C.E.
Hunter Umphrey and Matthew Cyr
Jul 31, 2025
RSU School Board Chair and RSU 34 Superintendent
no meeting: Parking Lot Fundraiser
Aug 21, 2025
details TBA
link