Today was a Zoom meeting and there were about 30 of us on line. After 15 minutes of talking amongst ourselves our Greeter and President Ralph Witcher opened the meeting at 7:45 A.M. Pres. Ralph gave a very nice invocation;
GUESTS ON LINE:
Capt. Nick Millward, a Peace Fellowship candidate calling in from Japan; Nick’s Parents were on too: DGE Bob Hobaugh, Kutztown RC; Jennifer Hollman, Supt. Northwestern Lehigh; and Nandine, Nick’s girlfriend.
Pres. Ralph began the meeting noting that wife, Pat, is still by his side after 37 years. He then had the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he put up a slide of the Rotary Four Way Test and asked Marlene Heller to take over.
Marlene suggests that instead of our members reciting the test each meeting, we ask for a volunteer or two each meeting to give us a current example of ethical behavior in their lives. We all seemed to approve. Marlene gave her own example relating to helping hospital workers with masks that do not rest on their ears.
Pres. Ralph put up a slide and read aloud the names of members’ birthdays and anniversaries in July. Added to the list was that Marlene and Gary Heller are celebrating 45 years of marriage.
OUR NEW FUNDRAISER:
See separate article.
Dennis Houser reports that 46 Raffle tickets have been sold so far. Jean Machamer says she is waiting to get higher ticket numbers.
Pres. Ralph advocates that members buy raffle tickets each week in lieu of the breakfast that they did not buy.
MORNING MEETINGS;
The AWRC B.O.D. has suspended all AWRC face-to-face meetings until further notice. Zoom meetings are now scheduled for each Wednesday at 7:30 A.M.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday July 15th starting at 7:30 a.m. We will use Zoom to meet together with appropriate distancing. Our program will be none other than our own Dr. Bob Gordon re "Researching telepsychotherapy during the pandemic and what can we learn about keeping our relations.”
HAPPY DOLLARS and MEMBER NEWS:
Pres. Ralph conducted this part and kept score on who owes how much money.
Bill and Sue Weber were on line and Bill says his surgery last week went very well. He got a “twofer” when his surgeon removed Bill’s gall bladder he also fixed an umbilical hernia issue too.
Within a minute of Bill Palmer’s picture appearing, it was noticed that he went from a ponytail to a crewcut hair style.
Brad Maier is happy that they got outside dining at Youell’s restaurant
Herb Klotz called in from Ashville, S.C.
Jeanne Shipe was wearing a Rotary shirt today.
Barbara Kistler said that she very much likes our updated AWRC website. Marlene smiled.
Jean Machamer waved a picture of Seth Witcher from his TV performance. Ralph smiled.
Sue Weber is happy that husband Bill is doing so well.
Ralph Witcher is happy for the Webers.
Herb Klotz is pleased to announce that on July 1, 2021 he will take on a two year stint as our Zone 32 Coordinator promoting membership growth. Congratulations, Herb.
Our speaker, Nick Millward was happy that his parents were on line with us today, and also his girlfriend called in from Mongolia.
PROGRAM:
Past Pres. Amir Famili introduced Captain Nick Millward to tell us about his Journey from Northwestern Lehigh Interact Club to United States Marine Corps. Amir says it is a wonderful success story with a NWL Interact student as a start.
Nick thanked his Parents, saying that they trained him by providing good examples. He mentioned that his Mother taught school at NWL.
Nick then thanked Gloria Zimmerman, former AW Rotarian, for getting him in touch with Amir which lead to his current application to become a Rotary Peace Scholar.
As a High School Junior he was one of the early Interact students with club President, Christine Nagle, Bob Nagle’s granddaughter. Nick commends Rotary for its principles of service which are among those guiding his life.
Captain Nicholas H. Millward, United States Marine Corps, currently serves as the Executive Officer for Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team Pacific. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 2014, with a degree in International Studies.
After Commissioning in the USMC, he was stationed at 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He deployed with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and assumed Company Command upon his return.
He then requested to be stationed in Japan in order to increase his situational understanding of the dynamic area of operations. While living in Japan, Nick was elected president of Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS), a non-governmental organization that promotes the study of strategic, diplomatic and legal issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region.
Nick has conducted extensive research on the subversion of ethnic minority groups in Central Asia and looks forward to authoring work in this field of study.
Nick spoke of his 3 months of obstacle training in the Summer that were the roughest ever. Only 60 of 114 completed the ordeal.
He also recounted his 170 days at sea out of 180 days assigned in the Mediterranean sea. There the ship was bombing Isis targets.
He also enjoyed his training assignment with Sri Lankan Marines. It went over Christmas and there was much celebrating for Christians.
Nick requested to be assigned to Japan. Since there he has traveled to 12 countries. And he has worked with many Embassies.
Nick’s experience with the Orphanage in Japan made him appreciate the problems of the single parents whose husband has left them to go home to another country.
Nick said he will be leaving the Marines next year. He believes that he can better serve others in civilian work, and plans to start in Mongolia. And at some point he will join a Rotary club.
Nick thanked us for the scholarship that we donated. And he answered some questions.
CLOSING:
Pres. Ralph led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”