Madeleine McLellan Second grader Madeleine McLellan, a student in Mrs. Renee Miller's class at Boothbay Region Elementary School, receives her free dictionary from Rotarians Jason Lorrain and Tammy Blackman on Monday, Nov. 26.

Sometimes we think that if the Pilgrims hadn't invented Thanksgiving, we would have done so ourselves! After all, it's critical to set aside time just to reflect on how thankful we are.

We are thankful we live in a community that cares so deeply about its kids. We know that their future starts with a good education and good reading skills, and that's why we provide each 2nd grader in the region with his or her own dictionary, and we also recognize their teachers with instructional guides. We proudly support their older siblings with donations to the Student Aid Fund and our annual Rotary Scholarship, and by lending a hand to the Boosters Club and the Mid-Coast Basketball Tourney.

We are thankful that our community has so many wonderful non-profit organizations. We support the YMCA and Camp Knickerbocker, the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, and the many other organizations that, together, make this region a special place to call home. We thank our speakers each week by giving a book in their name to the Memorial Library, and we support the Library financially as well.

We are also thankful for the first responders in this community who help keep us safe, and we are pleased to honor them every year at our annual Hometown Heroes event and with financial support throughout the year.

We are thankful that people in our community look out for one another. We know that sometimes our neighbors need a little extra help, and that's why we support the Food Pantry and Home Heating Oil Fund, and lend our support to Rebuilding Together. We don't forget the international workers who come to work in our restaurants and motels in the summer, and we provide them with bicycles to help them get around the peninsula.

We are thankful that Rotarians before us had the foresight to build our one-of-a-kind Rotary clubhouse because it gives us the ability to provide service that most Rotary Clubs can only dream of. So we celebrate our graduating BRHS students by inviting the entire class to dinner each May, and we thank our veterans with a special recognition night in November and a local senior citizen with our annual Lifetime Service Award each April. In between these times, we host Scout activities at the clubhouse as well as at the Scout Hall.

As thankful as we are that we live in the Boothbay region, we recognize our commitment to our neighbors who do not have the advantages we do, and those whose lives have been pulled apart by natural disaster. This year alone, members of our club volunteered in Guatemala, Uganda and our own Gulf Coast, and we will continue to reach out to our neighbors across the world both financially and, whenever possible, with our own sweat and energy.

We are thankful that, through larger Rotary connections, we can support Rotaplast, the program that makes it possible for children in developing nations to receive life-changing surgery for cleft lip/cleft palette conditions. We think of Friends Forever, a "life-raft" program that brings together young adults from Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland and gives them a chance to discover how truly similar they are. We are also grateful for the interactions we've had through Rotary's Group Study Exchange program, which gives young professionals a chance to go on an extended business and cultural exchange to another country each year. Perhaps most important is Rotary's Polio Plus program, supported by Rotarians worldwide, all working to make that dread disease a part of the past. We are thankful for all these programs, because they share something very important in common: They all are working examples of the Rotary belief that the way to make the world a better place is to change one life at a time.

Most of all, we are thankful for our families and neighbors, because that's what it's all about.

And we'll meet back at the clubhouse this Thursday, November 29, when Eileen King, Superintendent of Schools, will update us on school consolidation plans for the Boothbay region. Viv Daniels will be greeter that evening and offer the invocation, with Jason Lorrain and Brenda Blackman as waiters and Connie Jones as program chair. That will be the last night for November housekeeping assignments: Seth Hedgcock, steward; Deb Graves, innkeeper; Chip Griffin, 50/50; and Dwight Swisher, Sergeant at Arms.

The meeting on December 6 will be devoted to a club assembly and ever-popular classification talks. On Thursday, December 13, Carolyn Johnson, a Yarmouth Rotarian and frequent visitor to our Club, will update us on the Guatemala Literacy Project, which provides much-needed textbooks and pencils - as well as hope - to children attending school in Guatemala's rural areas. The following Tuesday morning, December 18, we will kick off holiday festivities by visiting the Damariscotta-Newcastle club for breakfast and a program featuring the Lincoln Academy Singers. That Thursday, December 20, we will have our own traditional club carol sing for residents of St. Andrews and the Boothbay Green. There will be no meeting December 27 on account of the Christmas holiday.

Want to learn more about Rotary and about our Club? Interested neighbors, visiting Rotarians and guests are invited to join us for our weekly meetings each Thursday at our Rotary clubhouse at 29 Oak Street in downtown Boothbay Harbor. The bell is rung and dinner is served promptly at 6:30 p.m., then comes a short business meeting and special speaker, and the evening ends by 8 p.m.

Check us out on the web: www.boothbayharborrotary.org.