Meeting Notes September 23, 2015
We had two Greeters this morning, starting with Herb and then to David Caccese and David did an excellent job.
President Herb rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Sue Weber gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS: Chris Blechschmidt – almost a member.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AW Rotarians helped out twice last week at the Lowhill Food Pantry. See separate article.
On Saturday Sept 19th Community Bike Works celebrated 20 years of service and Herb saw their new van and the AWRC name painted on it.
Herb noted that the AW board agreed to donate $250 to Meals on Wheels to help fund their annual “Blizzard Packs,” which clients keep on hand in case the weather prevents the regular delivery of food.
Our next Thursday evening meeting is tomorrow September 24th at 5:30 PM at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville. A Purple Pinkie committee meeting follows.
The Tempting Tastes Two committee will meet this Friday, Sept 25th.
Friday September 25th is our next AWRC Dining Out and it will be at Louie’s, one of our Tempting Tastes sponsors.
The Ontelaunee Park work detail is scheduled for Saturday September 26th: see Dan Crane. We will be cutting brush and power tools are needed.
Wednesday October 7th is Snack Packing at Northwestern.
Remember to attend the Wednesday regular breakfast meeting on September 30th to get a Sierra Leone update from Charles Ishmael and Father Peter Konteh of the Healey Foundation.
Please support the Bethlehem RC's Taste and Tunes event on Oct. 4th at the Hotel Bethlehem. They came to our Tempting Tastes One in May.
Please remember that the Fleetwood RC’s annual Gourmet Gala is set for Thursday October 1st at Moselem Springs Golf Club. Please support this event as they do for us.
The Rodale Park work detail is scheduled for Saturday October 10th; see Dan Crane.
The Halloween Party at the Miracle League is October 21st. Volunteers are needed. Tell Dale Heffner.
Volunteers always are needed at the Lowhill Food Pantry, this time for Saturday Oct 3rd. Contact Barb or Gloria. It is very rewarding.
The International committee will meet here with EWB and the Healy Foundation next Wednesday Sept 30th after our regular meeting. There also is another meeting on Wed. Oct 21st.
Social Media is coming to AWRC led by Chad Butters.
President Herb asks us all to e-mail him about any announcements to be made at future meetings so he can include them as part of his planned agenda.
Next week our scheduled Greeter is Len Salines and the program will be Charles Ishmeal and Father Peter Konteh of The Healy Foundation to report on Sierra Leone et al.
PURPLE PINKIE SCORESHEET:
Herb’s list of goals to measure our progress in having a successful district 5K Race for Polio Eradication:
12 of the planned 200 runners have registered.
We have $1,750 Corporate Sponsors; the goal is > $5,000.
13 – going to 15 - RCs have committed to sponsor. We want more.
We have 8 door prize gifts; we need 25.
We have 17 event volunteers and more to come.
MY ROTARY:
One goal this year is to have EVERY AW member go onto the RI website rotary.org and click on “My Rotary” and set up an account with a password. So far we have 23 of us registered. Please do it; it takes 5 to 10 minutes.
THE ROTARY FOUNDATION MINUTE:
Chair David Caccese said since last week you have given checks totaling $900 which will be matched and sent to the RI Annual Fund. And today he received another check. The E.R.E.Y. (Every Rotarian, Every Year) theme asks each of us to donate some amount, say $25 and up. We want to be a 100% RC,
ROTARIAN of the WEEK:
The AW “Rotarian of the Week” is Stan Drabick who we think is the 3rd longest member of AWRC, Stan joined in 1978 and he served as our Treasurer for 9 years. He is a Painting and Papering Contractor. His hosting of Youth Exchange students is what got him interested in Rotary. He likes bee-keeping, woodworking and hunting. He is proud of the electrical work that he did for the Flag Pole at Ziegels Church. Stan also was the guy who got the Ontelaunee Band Shell re-finished.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by David was won by Bill Weber.
The $74 pot of the 50:50 was not won Dale Utt who selected a white marble.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis fined Herb for his Greeter work this morning.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Sue is glad that George Ikeda is back at meetings. Sue asks us to pray for Dawn who will have hand surgery next Tuesday.
Dawn is happy that her 15 year old granddaughter came in 2nd at a cross country race.
David is happy that Herb filled in for him as the early Greeter.
Dan Crane is happy to report that Bob Gordon gave $20 and proposes we adopt a “Play or Pay” plan. Bob signed up for the Ontelaunee work detail, but will go sailing instead.
Geoff Legg is happy that he attended his 50th reunion at Muhlenberg College.
Gwen Pongracz is happy that the 7th annual Lehigh Valley Middle and HS Leadership and Ethics conferences are coming on October 20th and 21st.
George Ikeda is just happy to be back.
Herb was most pleased to have attended the 10,000 Men in Unity special event to help men realize God's purpose for their lives! It took place on September 19, 2015 at PPL Center.
PROGRAM:
President Herb introduced Joyce Marin, Executive Director, Renew Lehigh Valley Sustainability Programs in the Lehigh Valley including Envision Lehigh Valley. Joyce brings extensive experience in downtown revitalization and local ordinances that support traditional neighborhood design from her time as Main Street Manager and council woman in Emmaus. She also served as Director of the Department of Community and Economic Development for the City of Allentown. Joyce is a founding co-chair of RenewLV in 2006. And she knows George Ikeda from his days in the Emmaus RC.
RenewLV’s mission is to promote smart growth and efficient governance in the Lehigh Valley in order to revitalize its core communities, preserve open space, and create an economically and environmentally sustainable foundation for the region’s future growth. RenewLV’s regional initiatives include:
•Food Sustainability;
•Farmland Preservation;
•Smart Transportation;
•Smart Growth Education and Outreach;
Today Joyce focused on the Transportation issue, pointing out that the 32,000 traffic deaths last year were not really accidents. Our current traffic controls, and road systems are planned for this. She believes that the plan should be for Zero deaths, For example, we could restore passenger rail service to the Lehigh Valley (LV). The right-of-ways still are there.
Joyce said that the “Cars First” approach is making us sick with lung disease. The LV is ranked 14th highest in poor air quality in the U.S. The “fine particulates’ from auto emissions damage our lungs. There are 230,000 deaths each year from lung disease. The growth of warehousing in the LV brings in greater truck traffic and those diesel exhaust fumes.
Joyce noted that last week the Physician General of the U.S. has estimated that 86% of deaths are related to people being inactive, Riding bikes and walking more instead of driving cars is recommended. They have a new strategy called “Vision Zero” promoting better planning of bike paths, for example, as well as “multi-modal-transportation” which is trains, bikes, and feet with more sidewalks.
CLOSING:
Herb hit a note to start a rendition of “God Bless America.” This was followed by the recitation of the Pledge to the Flag of the United States and then the saying “One profits most who serves the best.”
