THE GREAT AW 2015 CHANGEOVER
DINNER CELEBRATION
Wow! What a great party! If you were there, you know; if you missed it, we missed you. Today’s meeting was a special evening party to celebrate our 2914-15 Rotary year accomplishments and the AWRC leadership Changeover. Almost 40 of us met at the LCCC Community Services Building at 6:00 PM for this annual event. Joining us was DG Gary Fedorcha, and DGE Doug Cook.
Also joining us were Matthew and Stephanie Kistler; Matt is Barb and Jeff’s son. Matt played the piano and Stephanie played the violin providing us all with lovely background music all through our dinner. A real treat.
President Barbara Kistler led the meeting which began with an invocation by her partner Rev. Jeff Kistler. Barb introduced our guests and thanked DG Gary noting that part of this year’s success is due to the grants given us by District 7430 for which we are grateful. Barb then asked members to introduce their spouses and guests.
During our very enjoyable dinner with the wonderful background music we were treated to hundreds of projected pictures of the past year’s many events, It was a reminder of all the good that AW Rotarians do and the fun that we have.
After dinner President Barbara began the program by explaining that the question that is shaping our program for tonight is “How did Allentown-West Rotarians light up Rotary in this past year?” She started with membership noting “Last year we were worried about dwindling membership. I’m happy to report that after tonight we will have inducted eight new members.”
Barb called forward Membership Chair and President-Elect, Herb Klotz to conduct the induction of two members tonight. They are Wendy Weaver (sponsored by Barb Kistler) and Brian Peterka ( sponsored by Dan Crane). Afterwards the new members received a standing ovation.
With Herb remaining up front Barb called up the Membership Committee members present: Ernie Boll (who serves as co-chair), Gwenn and Gary, Jeff Kistler and Mike G. were thanked by Barbara for making membership a priority this year and especially in organizing the successful Membership Event in January. That innovative event and the members joining after the event led directly to the establishment of our alternate Evening Meeting at the Holiday Inn in Fogelsville. Having this Thursday night Happy Hour time slot twice a month for members means that we can expand our outreach to people who may not be able to come to a breakfast meeting.
Next, Barb brought up those serving on the Fund Raising Committee. This includes, Jerry and Sally Frank, Gwenn and Gary, AJ and Mike Henry, Mike G, Herb, Dan Crane, and Sue and Bill Weber. Also, Chad Butters and Jeanne Shipe are on the committee.
Funds raised by the Club are used in the following fiscal year except for the summer Pig Roast. We had the most successful Pig Roast to date last July. Notice the new shirts we initiated at that event. Barb still will take orders for AW shirts.
WHAT DID WE DO?
We had abandoned the Reverse Raffle and Barb was not hopeful about what we would leave for Herb to use for good works, District grant matches and scholarships. Tempting Tastes 1 was terrifically successful. Barb is most proud of this group particularly the leadership of Gwenn, Gary, Sally and Sue. This group along with others used a combination of expertise and just plain hard work to net $29,000 for our Foundation work. We can’t thank you all enough.
We lit up the Rotary skies with our Service Projects including our two signature projects having District Grant support. Unfortunately, the Community Service Chair, Gloria Zimmerman, could not be with us tonight. The Service Committee folks who were there came up to be recognized. That included Jean and Joel Masiko, Dale Hostetter, Dan Crane, AJ and Mike Henry, and Bill and Sue Weber.
We raised around $3000 this year just by taking a collection each month at our meetings for the Lowhill Food Pantry. The Food Pantry is our partner in the Snack Pack program at NWL. Think about all the young people who depended on the Snack Packs over week-ends this past year. We raised over $2000 from members for the Dictionary Project. We expressed our gratitude to Luther Crest by sponsoring a holiday concert and gave volunteers a break at Meals on Wheels for Veterans and President’s Days. We keep parks clean and mulched. Thank you al.
Youth Service is a separate firework in the Rotary skies. Bill and Sue Weber, Jeff Kistler, Mike G, and Sarah Andrew came forward. Thanks go to Bill and Sue for working tirelessly for our Exchange Program. We had Roberto this year and will have both an inbound and an outbound exchange student next year. Bill serves as the Board representative while Sue also serves as Rotary advisor to the Parkland Interact Club. Jeff organizes and executes our Student-of-The-Month program honoring 6 students from our three high schools.
Sarah participated in the Miracle League a couple of weeks ago and we hope to establish a relationship with Community Bike Works through her work on their Board. Mike is our Camp Neidig Chair and just accompanied our three students who attended this past week-end. Thank you for all that you’ve done for Youth Service.
Bill Palmer and persons on the Publicity Committee went forward. They include Gwenn, Gary, and Bob Gordon. Publicity for Allentown-West has never been so good! Our weekly Bulletin is the best thanks to Bill! And we did have several occasions to set up our info table - thanks to Gwenn, Gary and many others. Thanks, Bob for working on our website. Thanks for making our Club more visible.
Publicity is a major arm of Club Service and Barb called up the workers who make this wheel roll. That includes Dale Hostetter, AJ and Mike, Halyna, George Ikeda, Jeff Kistler, Bill Palmer, Jeanne Shipe. Barb appreciates organizations that are “run” well (the difference is in the details) and with these folks we have worked to make Club Meetings and Dining Out as efficient and meaningful as possible. Thank you Dale for handling our money; we couldn’t run this Club without your carefulness.
Thanks AJ and Mike with help from Halyna for organizing our monthly Dining Out occasions. We had some memorable times this past year including at Webers for our picnic, Schleicher’s, Louie’s, Blue Mountain Winery, Iron Pigs, and the 19th St. Shanty. This couple also gets to every meeting early to set up the projector and banner etc. And they fill in as Greeter as needed.
Jeff Kistler organizes and recruits for the Invocations for each meeting. Bill Palmer assigns the Greeters. George, an Honorary Member, makes sure the flag is at our Luther Crest meetings. Finally, Jeanne Shipe organizes and schedules the program speakers for each meeting. Thank you for your work on Club Service.
This year brought a ton of surprises and unexpected and special events. The Burkholders visit was one. The Healy Foundation was another. Then Ihor arranged for The Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.N. to come to a LV Rotary meeting.
Now for the icing on the cake. The Foundation/International Committee also includes grants. Chair, Jean Masiko, Bill Palmer, Herb Klotz and Jaime Gonzales came forward. Barb thanked them for helping us reach and surpass our goals for this year. We saw many of the Paul Harris Fellows from our Club from last week’s photo. Thank you.
Barb thanked Jean for her service and for helping us to know the benefits of giving to the RI Foundation. Bill is our resident expert on RI Foundation and guides all that we do. Herb, Jean and Joel and Jaime, thanks for having hearts for international service and for expanding our horizons to the world-wide community in which we exist.
But there’s one more thing. I’d like Herb to stay up here. Barb explained about the new Global Grant for Sierra Leone, the work of the Membership committee, and then asked us all to rise to honor our Rotarian of the Year, Herb Klotz. See separate article.
Next Barb asked Past DG Bill Weber to come forward to install Herb as President of AWRC for 2015-16 along with those of us who will be serving on the Board of Directors. That includes Dan Crane, Mike G, Dale Hostetter, Bill Palmer, and Barb. PDG Weber praised AW Rotarians for having such a fabulous year. Then he explained the Rotary management theory where all DGs and RC Presidents are replaced every July first.
PDG Bill thanked the board members for their service and then fired them. Next he did a swearing in of the 2015-16 board of directors, including affirmation from the other members present.
Barb called up George Ikeda and Ihor Fedoriw to present the President’s gifts with a brief explanation. George explained how the Japanese painting is passed to the next AW president each year.
Barbara thanked everyone for attending this Changeover and for all their time and talent given to Allentown-West Rotary. She then asked us to rise and do what the late Ralph Zettlemoyer would like us to do. We sang accompanied by Matt at the piano, first “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and then the song designed for Lighting Up Rotary “R-O-T-A-R-Y”. We concluded with reciting the Pledge to the flag of the U.S. and saying “They profit most who serve the best.”
.jpg)
.png)
ocus on membership for our Club. 
