Today was a Face-to-Face meeting at Madeline’s in Fogelsville. There were 24 folks there, along with 14 more people on the Zoom line.
Our Greeter today was Tori Morgan and she did a great job.
Mitch Huston handled registration, and the 50-50 tickets.
GUESTS:
Bill Dellicker and wife, Trudee, re the Ontelaunee Park War Memorial.
OPENING:
Pres. Gail Micca at 7:30 rang the bell and started the meeting.
Ernie Boll, via zoom, gave a very nice invocation.
Then Ralph Witcher led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S. Gail then led us in the recitation of the Four Way Test to which we added “Is it fun?”
AWRC HISTORY STORY:
Past President, Chuck Ehninger, delivered today’s story about the many AWRC additional service projects.
WAR MEMORIAL UPDATE:
Bill Dellicker said that yet this week, weather permitting, the granite base units will be installed at the Memorial site.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION:
Due to a missing script, Laurie Grube held an informal, but legitimate, new member induction ceremony making Ben Long our newest member. Tori Morgan is Ben’s sponsor.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2022-2023:
The following positions were elected by the members:
President Gail Micca
President-Elect Jill Kearney
Immediate Past President Ralph Witcher
Vice President TBD
Secretary Michelle Steiner
Treasurer John Scott
Membership Chair Tori Morgan
Seargent at Arms Mitch Huston
RI Foundation Chair Herb Klotz
AWRC Foundation Chair Amir Famili
Youth Services Sue & Bill Weber
Service Chair Kathleen Ott
Public Relations Chair Marlene Heller
Fundraising Chair TBD
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of March member celebration events.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AREA 1 WOMAN OF THE YEAR:
The ceremony for our Gwenn Carr will be held tomorrow at the Emmaus RC’s 7:30 A.M. meeting. Come join us.
GENERATORS FOR UKRAINE:
So far two used generations have been donated. St. Mary’s Orthodox Church in Allentown is leading this effort. Supplies also are needed.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD BANK:
The next distribution is on March 12. Volunteers are needed. Contact Jean Masiko.
DISTRICT 7430 ANNUAL CONFERENCE:
Pres. Gail said that right now she, Herb Klotz and the Webers are registered for this event. Try it. You’ll like it.
AWRC 60TH CHARTER NIGHT PARTY:
April 29th at Madeline’s in Fogelsville. Registration instructions are coming soon. Today’s room will be expanded for this party.
HIGHWAY CLEAN-UP”
We have a Leader and a date. The Leader is Sharon Goldner. The date is Saturday April 9th. Please contact Sharon to sign up.
ROTARY DAY OF SERVICE -- APRIL 30:
AW Rotarians will work with members of the downtown Allentown RC to operate a day of “Shredding” at the Macungie Center on Brookside Road. Anybody can bring up to 4 boxes of items to be shredded.
Volunteers are needed for 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.
PRODUCE DELIVERY:
Thanks go to Karen Rodgers for delivering produce for the last 3 months.
SNACK PACKS:
Pres. Gail will Chair this program for the next 3 months.
March 16 is the next packing event.
MEALS ON WHEELS_
Helen Papathanasion will Chair the M.O.W. program for the next 3 months. Please let Helen know if you will substitute.
This program is going great.
AWRC GREEN THUMB GARDEN:
Pres. Gail showed the pictures of the newly installed six raised beds.
R.Y.L.A CAMP NEIDIG:
Our 2022 Camp Neidig Youth Leadership Program will be held June 17th- June 20th at Camp Manatawny. AW Rotarians are needed to volunteer for this weekend.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday March 16 via Zoom starting at 7:30 A.M. Come on at 7:15 and chat. Our program will be Patrick Cicero, State of PA Consumer Advocate Pennsylvania State Consumer Advocate Office & Utility Assistance.
HAPPY DOLLARS & 50:50:
Srgt-at-Arms Mitch Huston had some numbers drawn. Tori Morgan won the $31 of the 50-50. Then Ralph Witcher won the bottle of wine donated as the door prize by Tori Morgan. And Gail Micca won the bottle of wine donated by Laurie Grube.
Ben Long is happy that his wife will deliver their new baby in June.
Bill Dellicker is happy to say that their son is running for Congress. He just happened to have some forms here for signatures.
Herb Klotz is happy that we are here at Madeline’s.
Sharon Goldner is happy that she now is Cancer Free!
Chuck Ehninger is $5 happy and loves it here at Madeline’s.
Jeanne Shipe is happy to be here at Madeline’s and added $8 for her 8 years as a Rotarian.
Mitch Huston is happy to be going to Maine in May. He also said he will soon schedule a knee replacement.
Chris Blechschmidt reminded us that 5 years ago on a grant we had two Physical Therapists here from Ukraine on an exchange program. One he knows still is there.
PROGRAM:
Program Chair, Ralph Witcher, introduced PDG Herb Klotz who will share his presentation on his Appalachian trail journey.
Herb joined Rotary in 2011 and he is currently the Zone 32 Rotary Coordinator which covers the Northeast U.S. and he is responsible for promoting membership growth. Herb was the 2019-20 District 7430 Governor and the 2016-18 District Membership Chair. From 2016-19, District 7430 increased its membership in 3 of the 4 years, added 4 new clubs, 4 satellites and had a net gain of nearly 100 members.
Herb is a retired Chemical Engineer and a charter member of Engineers without Borders – Lehigh Valley Professionals and has been actively involved in partnering with Rotary on global and district grant projects in Sierra Leone, Africa, and the Dominican Republic. He has traveled to both locations on multiple occasions.
Herb said that this is the third time he is making this presentation.
He explained that each “Hiker” ends up with a “Trail Name” given by someone else. His special name is “Jack Rabbit.”
Herb said that it took him 15 years to complete hiking the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail. This trail is one of three in the U.S. and the most difficult because of its elevation changes.
The App Trail runs from Maine to Georgia, through 14 States with 464,500 feet approximate of gain/loss in elevation. The Trail has about 3 million visitors per year.
Herb described his back pack that he had here today. Everything in it must be useful, e.g. clothes, emergency items. This weighs about 20 lbs. and then adding food and water takes it up30 t0 35 lbs. Later Herb said for many miles he walked wearing Hiking Boots. After a bad experience with blisters, he changed to wearing appropriate sneakers.
With some exceptions, most of the time you are hiking there are other hikers to talk with, especially at the overnight locations.
Herb started his hiking of the Trail on Dec 28, 2006 and did one-day hikes and multi-day hikes regularly, some with one of his three children Herb told stories about some of his travels on the Trail. One time when he was looking for a place to sleep in his tent overnight he walked and met a Mountain Lion. He backed up slowly and moved to a safer site.
Once Herb retired from going to work, he extended the length of his hiking of the Trail. In September 2018 he went from Southern VA
to Northern TN (178 miles). His last leg to complete the whole Trail was 110 miles in Georgia. Herb noted that on one hike the AWRC sponsored him.
CLOSING:
Pres. Gail led us in reciting our motto “One profits most who serves
best.”, rang the imaginary bell and adjourned the meeting.
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