Our Greeter today was Joe Goll and he did a marvelous job after a bit of a late start.
President Mike Gschwendtner rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation.
Pres. Mike began the meeting having the members recite the Five-way Test with the fifth question, “Is it Fun?” We recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the U.S.
GUESTS:
Robert Blechschmidt, of Frankfort, Germany, Chris; Father. And Jennifer Stinson from our Thursday Evening group was with us.
Pres. Mike showed photographs from our last meeting including last week’s Northwestern snack packing, and Gwenn and Gary in Los Vegas. And there were photos from the Oct. 26th Thurs. Eve. Meeting, and of last Friday’s Dining Out at Lily’s. Then there were views from last week’s breakfast meeting and Speaker Chris Hornaman.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Please remember that the Collection jar is at the registration desk for cash and check contributions.
ETHICS CONFERENCES REPORT:
Gwen Pongracz reports that the 9th Annual Lehigh Valley Youth Leadership & Ethics Conferences were held at DeSales University on October 24th and 26th. Thank you so much for the continued support of our program by District 7430. We had 125 eighth graders and sixty 11th graders. It was another amazing two days!
HURRICANE RELIEF OPPORTUNITY:
Pres. Mike reminds us that for every $5,000 increment of funds donated to ShelterBox USA by D7430 Rotarians -- Rotary Clubs -- Interact Clubs -- another ShelterBox will be donated from the District funds. This incentive offer is open to December 1, 2017 and is limited to 5 ShelterBoxes by the district.
SCHEDULE:
President Mike announces upcoming events at our meetings and a list of them appears on our website. A list of the appropriate contact information appears each week in the A-W bulletin.
THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
TOMORROW, November 2nd from 5:30 to 7:00 P.M. is a Networking Mixer at Wegman’s. The meeting place is next to the Pub. Bring a friend.
Nov. 4th, Saturday, the Lowhill Food Pantry needs more volunteers.
Nov. 4th Saturday is the D7430 Foundation Seminar at MONTCO CC in Blue Bell.
Nov. 7th, Tuesday, is our day to volunteer for Meals on Wheels. Dorothy Bloom passed around a signup sheet. If you do sign up, it is important that you also show up. They count on us each time.
Nov. 10th, Friday evening is volunteer work at Kingdom Life Food Pantry to install new shelves. Jean Masiko is asking for 8 volunteers to make this go quickly. Start time is 5:30 P.M. and please try to bring tools such as hammers, screw drivers, etc. Chris Blechschmidt is the Project Manager.
Nov. 17th -- Tempting Tastes 4 planning meeting at the Holiday Inn starting at 7:00 P.M.
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY PARTY:
December 3rd, Sunday, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, a Buffet with a cash bar, at Bravo Cucina Italiana at the Lehigh Valley Mall. Price and sign-up sheet are coming. The cost is $40.00 per person The luncheon will have 2 choices of salads served family style, sides, pasta course and entrée buffet style and chocolate cake or cheesecake for dessert served tableside. It also includes all soda, coffee and /decaf and tea.
FOUR WAY TEST SPEECH CONTEST:
Gwen Pongracz will lead this effort this year and Ginny Sandoval will serve on the committee. They need some folks to take the story to the area schools seeking students to compete. The event may be held at one of our Wed. a.m. regular meetings.
.NEXT WEEK:
Our Greeter will be Len Salines and the program will our Youth Exchange student, Alycia “Ala” Mikulska who comes from Poland.
PAUL HARRIS AWARDS:
President Mike asked Chuck Ehninger and Barbara Kistler to come forward and he presented them -- and himself -- with their latest RI Foundation Paul Harris recognition pins. Chuck’s is PHF+6, Barb’s is PHF+8 and Mike’s is PHF+1. Well done, Rotarians, and thank you.
Pres. Mike introduced our S-a-A Mitch Huston who conducted the raffle drawings.
Mitch has introduced a new way to ask for volunteered “Guilty” fines. The new word is “PEBL” fines; i.e. Pins, Leave early, Badge missing, and Late arrival.
The door prize breakfast was donated by Joe Goll and it was won by Ronnee Klotz.
The $60 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Ihor Fedoriw’s ticket. 6 marbles remain.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Ray Stock notes that Asbury Methodist Church is holding a Bazaar this weekend.
And on Fri to Sun the Lowhill Historical Society is having an event.
Mitch Huston was happy about something, but I cannot read my notes.
Barbara Kistler is happy that the Webers are back from Hilton Head.
Barb also is happy that today we celebrate Jeff’s birthday. We sang Happy Birthday, and Mitch congratulated us on there being only one key this time.
Sue Weber expressed a “Hello” from the Hilton Head Sunrise Rotary Club. Sue also presented a check to the Lutheran Church for 3 carts for their Food Pantry, and thanks AW members.
Mitch told a very good joke; one of his best.
PROGRAM:
Our program today was A-W Member Amir Famili -- What Do You Know About Shiraz? Amir has indeed visited Shiraz and learned much about its history.
During his presentation Amir talked about the city of Shiraz in Iran and its 2,000 years of history and its importance to the Persian Empire. Amir also talked about Zoroastrian, one of the oldest religions in the world and its 3,500 years of history.
Shiraz is most likely more than 4,000 years old. The name Shiraz is mentioned in cuneiform inscriptions from around 2000 BC found in southwestern corner of the city.
Shiraz lies in Pars Province, a central area for Persian civilisation. The massive ruins of the Persian Empire's grand palace Persepolis, about 2500 years old, are about 60 km northeast of . Piruzapad, and Pasargadae are other nearby historic settlements.
The city became a provincial capital in 693, after Arab invaders conquered Istakhr, the nearby Sassanian capital. As Istakhr fell into decline, Shiraz grew in importance under the Arabs and several local dynasties. The Buwayhid empire (945–1055) made it their capital, building mosques, palaces, a library and an extended city wall. It was also ruled by the Seljuks and the Khwarezmians before the Mongol conquest.
The city was spared destruction by the invading Mongols, when its local ruler offered tributes and submission to Genghis Khan. Shiraz was again spared by Tamerlane, when in 1382 the local monarch, Shah Shoja agreed to submit to the invader.[14] In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, thanks to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of many Persian scholars and artists.
In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, due to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of many Persian scholars and artists. It was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1800.
Two famous poets of Iran, Hafez and Saadi, are from Shiraz, whose tombs are on the north side of the current city boundaries.
Shiraz is known for the grape and modern-day wine, once produced in the Iranian city of Shiraz.
Amir showed slides of the beautiful architecture of the city.
The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque in Shiraz, Iran. The mosque includes extensive colored glass in its facade, and displays other traditional elements such as the Panj Kāse ("five concaved") design. It is named in popular culture as the Pink Mosque,[1] due to the usage of considerable pink color tiles for its interior design.
It was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler.[3] The designers were Mohammad Hasan-e-Memār, an Iranian architect
He discussed an historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran. The building and the garden were built during the middle of thirteenth century by the Ilkhanate or a paramount chief of the Qashqai tribes of Pars
And there was a picture of Vakil Bath which is an old public bath in Shiraz, Iran. It was a part of the royal district constructed during Karim Khan Zand's reign in 1760.
Amir then discussed Zoroastrianism which is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago. Zoroaster was born in Northeast Iran or Southwest Afghanistan.
Zoroastrians believe there is one God called Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) and He created the world. Zoroaster is the prophet of God through his teachings man can become close to God by following the path of truth and righteousness (asha).
Zoroastrians are not fire-worshippers, as some Westerners wrongly believe. Zoroastrians believe that the elements are pure and that fire represents God's light or wisdom.
Zoroastrians worship communally in a Fire Temple or Agiary.
The Zoroastrian book of Holy Scriptures is called The Avesta.
Fundamental Moral Practice: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds
We saw pictures of Four tombs belonging to Achaemenid kings that are carved out of the rock face. They are all at a considerable height above the ground. In front of the tombs is a small tower, which is known as the Ka'bah-i Zardusht ("Zarathustra's ka'bah" - the real ka'bah being the famous monument in Mecca). Probably, this tower was used to keep the holy fire or books (Naqshe-e-rostam)
Amir covered some history of the Persian Empire, and then described the fabulous Palace, its many wall carvings, and that Alexander the Great ended up burning it down.
CLOSING:
We closed the meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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