Dover Rotarians came together to fill a need in our community as the Rotary Club of Dover heard from organizations that come in contact with those that are without warmth during the Winter and homeless.

Over the past couple of weeks, our club decided to step up and help as we gathered 9 bags of hats and mittens that were dropped off to Community Action Partnership of Strafford County.

This past week our Club reached into our community funds Jim Munro, Pam Munro, Cate Ouellette Rafferty, Noreen & Frank Biehl, Melissa Lesniak and little sister, Kristen shopped yesterday with $1,000 at Ocean State Job Lot, where Store Manager, Dan gave us a generous discount and we had the opportunity to share our shopping with Ruth Griffin, who loved what we were doing for the Dover community.

We were able to help our local homeless people with:

• 15 - headlamps
• 10 - warm women’s hats
• 22 - 10 x 12 tarps
• 102 - protein bars
• 90 (3 cases) - hand & body warmers
• 12 - full coverage balaclavas
• 30 - pairs of men’s socks
• 30 - pairs of toe warmers
• 20 - pairs of women’s socks
• 60 - $5.00 Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards.

It’s about hearing what our community needs are, asking others to help and we get to work to make those that do not have Winter clothing a little warmer.

Rotarian, Ken McCann asked to talk about the program going around the country to honor Vietnam veterans, recently there was 150 people at the Elks and about half were Vietnam veterans.

Each were recognized with a pin and a scroll. Ken had asked Rotarian, Phil Rinaldi if he had received his. When he found out that he had not, he wanted to recognize and present Phil with a framed scroll for his service. Ken read some of the articles on the scroll and presented Phil with his own framed scroll. Thank you for your service.

This past week, the Rotary Club of Dover had the opportunity to visit the 3rd graders at Horne Street School to teach them about how the dictionary is a tool that they can use to help them learn so much in just 459 pages.

Congratulations to Caroline Schultz an 8th grader at Dover Middle School as she was awarded the Rotary Club of Dover’s October Student of the Month. Caroline was surprised, honored and grateful that her classmates and family were there to share with her. This award is given to a DMS student that goes above and beyond to be kind and compassionate to others while focusing on projects within school or in the community. We love that we are able to recognize these students each month as we move forward in sharing “service above self”.

Over the weekend, the Rotary Club of Dover prepared our beautiful Rotary Gardens for the Winter months. Thank you to James for your help in putting the gardens to “bed”.

A celebration took place recently as CAP - Community Action Partnership of Strafford County - partnered with the Rotary Clubs of Dover, Rochester and Durham-Great Bay to build their new playground through a District Grant. It was a hands-on opportunity for the Rotarians to be a part of the construction and see the final project where the kids have a place outside to play and enjoy.

The celebration included many local businesses and the staff of CAP. Thank you to those that attended and shared the stories of how CAP is a part of our community.

Community Action Partnership ensures the causes and conditions of poverty are effectively addressed and to strengthen, promote, represent, businesses and serve the Community Action Network. They pledge themselves to create an environment that pursues innovation and excellence through multi-sector partnership and collaborations.

At this week's Rotary Club of Dover's Club meeting, Chief Breault of the Dover NH Police spoke on his department and what his staff and officers do everyday to make Dover safe and a city where residents and visitors are proud of. He said that he was grateful for Rotary’s support of many Dover undertakings, especially the Teen Center.

With the Rotary Club of Dover donation, it paid for the floors that means so much more than just having a floor, it provides a safe space for many kids and changes their lives. He is also grateful that Rotary supports organizations that provide recovery and suicide prevention and mental health care. These are vitally important in the community.

Chief Breault presented statistics on the Dover Police department. How many calls they take, how many traffic stops and tickets, and other policing work. He explained how the department moved to having some of the work done by civilians and that they now have 52 sworn police officers and would need 56 to be fully staffed. Crime in Dover has gone down year over year despite the rise in population. His focus is on community policing and data showing the results and engagement.

Police departments have taken on the mantle of being social workers. The officers provide well checks and work with the homeless populations to provide information on available social services. They also take the time to get to know everyone and explain to the public that they police behavior, not people. He also provided information on the drug related overdoses resulting in deaths and overall overdoses. These numbers have gone up from 2008 and are now going down. He is optimistic and thinks that lower number of deaths from overdose is the result of more people administering Narcan. The Police Department’s philosophy is that addiction is a disease and they provide support, not punishment.