Today was a Zoom meeting and there were 32 of us on line. After some conversations Past President Amir Famili opened the meeting at 7:35 A.M. Rev. Jeffrey Kistler gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS ON LINE:
Ellen Millard Kern, Chief of Staff for PA Senator Pat Browne, member Allentown RC: and DGE Bob Hobaugh, Kutztown R.
PP Amir began the meeting by having Ron Coleman lead the members to recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he asked Marlene Heller to take over.
THE FOUR-WAY TEST EXAMPLES:
Marlene asked for a volunteer or two to tell a story indicative of their application of ethical standards recently. With no volunteers, Marlene told of her recent “mild family dilemma” regarding her Mother. After considering the 4 Way Test, she “bit her tongue” and said nothing.
LOTTERY RAFFLE UPDATE:
Dennis Houser reports that 117 Raffle tickets have been purchased by 22 buyers so far yielding $2,271. Added to that is a $1,000 donation to the Raffle from a member. There are 46 days remaining to buy and sell tickets.
Amir urged us to use Marlene Heller’s sample appeal write-up to e-mail others for donations. And there is a brochure available for us to use.
AW Rotarians can share the Raffle story on Facebook, BUT be sure to include a specific link to our raffle website.
Marlene and Pres. Ralph advocate that members buy raffle tickets each week in lieu of the breakfast that they did not buy.
GREEN THUMBS GARDEN UPDATE:
When asked, Gail Micca said that items that we are growing include
Potatoes, onions, cucumbers, apples, peaches, zucchini, grapes, oranges, rutabagas, squash, eggplant, cabbage, peppers, basil, cilantro and Swiss chard.
Here’s the website to sign up and help at the garden:
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/904044FAEAD23A1FE3-allentownwest
On Tuesday July 21st, we had our first successful produce delivery. Lori Peters, Brad Maier and Gail Micca volunteered to help at the drive through. The produce came from Second Harvest Food Bank, our Green Thumbs Garden Project, and friends at a local CSA.
We need more volunteers for August 18th. Please contact Gail Micca at gailmicca@gmail.com.
ANDREA FROM CROATIA SAYS “HI.”
See separate article.
AW BOARD APPROVES GRANT:
PP Amir announced that yesterday our b.o.d. approved the $1,000 grant for the Orphanage in Japan for books and supplies.
DISTRICT CHANGEOVER IS NEXT WEEK:
July 27 at 7:00 P.M. will be our virtual annual D7430 Changeover where we will officially confirm Janet Kolepp as our new DG. PDG Herb Klotz urges us to register and attend. AWRC is expected to receive FIVE separate awards relating to our accomplishments during the 2019-20 Rotary year.
STATUS OF 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 29th starting at 7:30 a.m. We will use Zoom to meet Our program will be Susan Burnett, D7430 Rotaplast Co-Chair from the Bethlehem Morningstar RC to discuss the Rotaplast Mission Trip to Guatemala last year.
NEXT THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
TOMORROW, July 23rd as a Happy Hour Zoom meeting starting at 5:30 P.M. Please join us.
HAPPY DOLLARS and MEMBER NEWS:
Pres. Ralph Witcher was in a Hotel in Rhode Island and had Zoom troubles. He thanks Amir for filling in.
New member Keith Hoffman was happy to join us today. The April 15 thru July 15 tax season finally is over.
Halyna Stegura and Bill Palmer discussed Macungie open restaurants.
Gail Micca is delighted that the Green Thumbs Garden is do]ng great and the boy scouts are helping and learning a lot.
Jerry Frank actually smiled when asked. He said it was too early in the morning.
Ron Coleman said that Ellen Kern was wonderful to work with.
Ellen Kern was looking for the link to buy raffle tickets. Marlene gave her the steps.
Sue Weber said that she and Bill will buy raffle tickets in two batches so as to mix the numbers.
PROGRAM:
PP Amir Famili introduced PA State Senator, Pat Browne to discuss the Impact of COVID 19 on the Pennsylvania economy.
Senator Pat Browne was once again elected by his colleagues in the PA Senate Republican Caucus to serve as Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman for the 2019-20 Legislative Session. His committee, one of the most powerful of the Senate’s standing committees, reviews all legislation for its fiscal impact and plays a crucial role in developing the state budget.
He was elected to the PA House of Representatives five times starting in 1994. During the midst of his fifth term, Senator Browne won a special election to replace Charlie Dent as Senator for the 16th District. Pat was subsequently re-elected to full terms in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.
Senator Browne is the author of dozens of laws ranging from child protection to job creation to education to reforming state government. In 2009, he crafted the one-of-a-kind Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) to help revitalize and expand the tax base of the City of Allentown as well as increase revenues property tax revenues for the Allentown School District. As a direct result of the NIZ, over one billion dollars of new development investment has been made in Allentown and the Allentown School District receives more than 3 million additional school property tax dollars annually.
Pat is a zealous advocate for Early Childhood Education winning both state-wide and national recognition. In addition, he is a lauded Champion of Arts & Culture.
Senator Browne received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from Temple University. Born and raised in Allentown, Senator Browne attended Allentown Central Catholic High School. He resides in Allentown with his wife Heather.
Pat said that he was pleased to be asked back to our RC. But he would rather meet us face-to-face than use Zoom.
Pat’s prime responsibility is the formation of the PA fiscal plans each year which is the Budget. This year is very unique and challenging unlike anything since the 1930s.
PA had a cash surplus going into March 2020, and have been reacting to the pandemic issues since. Last year the budget was about $36 billion. And this year the Governor started by proposing a 4% increase, which Pat now calls “Yesterday’s news.”
Now the challenge is to estimate the year-end Revenue to be able to plan a budget. We never have been through anything like this. We do not know what the third quarter will bring.
The decision was made to do a 5 month budget now and then a 7 month budget in November. Education and Health Care account for about 85% of the expenses, and are tough to reduce. And we need to cover debt service.
Right now it appears that there will be a $5 billion shortfall from the expected $36 Billion. Pat said that all states are down in revenue now.
About $2 billion is being replaced by the various one-time Federal programs. And if D.C. enacts another one, it may get us through. If not we will cut some things and borrow what we need, which will include the debt service for same.
Pat said that Lehigh and Northampton counties are working together. Pat gave some amounts that are going to various causes.
He noted that having Casinos closed is a big loss of revenue. He said that the state unemployment fund will be down to zero by December.
There is a lot of uncertainty now. And not much good news. Pat thanked us for the invitation and answered some questions.
CLOSING:
PP Amir led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Marlene Heller
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