Hope Historical Society Minutes, as amended, April 18, 2023

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Society President, Juanita Hunt. There were 17 members in attendance for the meeting, Ann Leadbetter, Gwen Brodis, Catherine Pease, William N. Bentley, Barbara M. S. Bentley, Ron Smith, Paul Sampson, Mary Ireland, Linda Hillgrove, James DellaPenna, Margaret Morse, Juanita Hunt, Marie Berry, Bill Jones, Judith Jones, David Hall, Cindy DellaPenna. Also, 2 guests Chris Sewall and Theresa Withee, plus guest speaker Charles Weidman were in attendance. Member, Donovan Bowley, arrived after the speaker's program due to conflicting schedules.
The Secretary's report for the November 15, 2022 meeting was emailed to members on November 20, 2022, and a copy can be found on the Society's website. There were two copies available at this meeting for members' review. There was a motion to accept the minutes, seconded, and approved.

Gwen Brodis provided the treasurer's report for the period February 28, 2023 to March 31, 2023 - the Society received a $50.00 donation and had expenses of $789.70. The balance in checking was $1,877.61 with a balance in Savings of $25,968.70. There was a motion to accept the report, seconded, and approved.

Marie Berry briefly discussed arrangements for a table to be set up under a tent for the 25th-anniversary celebration of the establishment of True Park. The celebration is scheduled to run from 9 -1 on Saturday, July 22nd with a rain date of the 23rd. The table will have historic memorabilia and she is proposing handing out free bags of popcorn. She will also set up a continuous looping film on the history of the park. She will be contacting members for assistance.

Another event being planned by Marie is the annual yard sale. The scheduled date is June 24th. Yard sale donations are appreciated but no clothes. Some jewelry and furniture would be appreciated. Again, Marie will be in touch with members for assistance. The Historical Society will be open that day for visitors.

Gwen Brodis discussed a new redemption site for returnables, the Camden site is still accepting our returnables, but Gwen is collecting returnables at her home and bringing them to Union Redemption on Sennebec Road, Union. If we bring our own bags to the redemption center, they need to be clearly marked for the benefit of Hope Historical Society. The Union recycling center is paying the same as the Camden center.

Gwen informed the membership that at the last executive meeting, it was approved to continue with the same lawn mowing outfit as last year, but that the price has been increased from $50/mow to $65.

Juanita reminded everyone that there are volunteer lists - volunteers are needed for the following:
Refreshments
Open House greeter from 9 to 1 on Fridays beginning June 30th until September 1st
Hospitality Committee
Building Committee
Publicity Committee
Programs Committee - Chairperson is Margaret Morse with assistance from Bunny Gleason when she is in Maine; other member assistance is very much welcomed
Nomination Committee - Donovan Bowley, as the "immediate past president of the Society", additional volunteers are needed


Cindy DellaPenna spoke briefly on the installation of the three heat pumps on February 15th of this year. Between the Davis Foundations grant of $9,000 and the $4,800 Efficiency Maine Small Business rebate/grant, Hope Historical had no out-of-pocket expense. Cindy expressed thanks to Juanita for the time she spent soliciting and meeting with contractors for bids and to Gwen for her work on the financials. Grants are a team effort. We are now in the learning curve phase as to the optimum use of the heat pumps.

Juanita discussed the need to repair the outside light on the corner of the garage and asked if anyone knew of an electrician willing to replace the light with a motion detector assembly. Once installed the bulbs are quite inexpensive. We need a light to shine on the parking lot for safety. No one suggested assistance.

The upstairs right-hand bedroom ceiling is to be repaired this week - it is cracked and ready to come down. The gutters, which the membership approved last year, will be installed at the end of the month by Midcoast Seamless Gutters. We approved payment of $3,480 and Juanita was informed this year, if we pay cash, we will receive a 10% discount. Gwen will transfer monies from savings to checking to exercise the discount.

Over the winter, Margaret prepared the updated Hope veterans list that corresponds to the pictures on display at the Hope Town Office. It was suggested the list be posted on our website.

The business meeting adjourned at 6:50 PM.

Margaret introduced Charles "Charlie" Weidman our speaker for the evening.

Charlie entertained us with his exploits traveling west to east with a group of scooter enthusiasts in the 2018 Cannonball race. The trip began at Morro Bay, California with the final destination at Virginia Beach, Virginia. This was Charlie's first attempt to travel the 3900-mile distance in 10 days. Unfortunately, his bike died on the eighth day. He entered the race as an individual racer in 2021 riding by himself beginning at Bar Harbor, Maine to Eureka, California, a distance of 4474 miles. He rode his scooter in May of that year and had quite an experience encountering all sorts of weather and road conditions - his stories of the ride are very entertaining. Charlie must be a glutton for punishment, because he is now preparing to do the run this May, but he will be taking a more southern route. We wish him the best.

We concluded the evening with pleasant socializing and refreshments provided by Juanita Hunt, Margaret Morse, and Ann Leadbetter.

Respectfully Submitted,
Cynthia S. DellaPenna, Secretary