Today was a Zoom meeting with 40 people on line. After some conversations President Ralph Witcher opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M.
GUESTS ON LINE:
PDG B.J. Metz, Easton RC; PDG Linda Young, Saucon-Center Valley RC; Capt. Nick Millward, Rotary Peace Fellowship winner calling in from Japan; our Student of the month parents, Todd and Sheri Hernandez and Mr. David Combs, Guidance Counselor at Northwestern H.S. and Karen Rodgers, our newest member.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
REAGAN HERNANDEZ was honored as our Student of the Month of February. Jeff Kistler conducted the ceremony and showed her a certificate and an Amazon gift card that are coming to her. She was joined by her parents, Todd and Sheri Hernandez and by Mr. David Combs, Guidance Counselor at Northwestern.
Reagan thanked us for this honor and said that she likes to give back.
Counselor David Coombs congratulated Reagan and her parents.
See separate article.
HAPPY DOLLARS AND COMMENTS:
B.J. Metz said he was planning to join an AWRC meeting for a while. Then somebody sent him a link and there he was today. His Easton RC meets once a month in person at the Pomfret Club. Other meetings are via Zoom.
When asked Ernie Boll said that it was 78 Degrees there in Green Valley, Arizona yesterday.
Amir Famili’s daughter is getting married today.
We discussed the U.S. Postal Service and its late deliveries these days. Ernie Boll had a December letter that was properly addressed returned to him as undeliverable -- two months later.. Kathy Ott had a Kitchen Aide item delivered 3 days early ……. Not thru the U.S.P.S.
Gwenn Carr is happy that Gary Englehardt participated last evening in the Allentown Rotary Club’s Career Night. The event featured Scientists and Engineers. Thirty five students from various high schools in the Allentown area participated. It was a great session and the students’ questions were thoughtful and practical.
Herb Klotz is happy that yesterday RI announced that they are looking for a new Peace Center location in the Middle East.
Herb also is happy that he will be hiking the final -- he has done 2,100 miles already -- 110 miles of the Appalachian Trail and asks us to sponsor him as a fundraiser for the Annual Fund of the Rotary Foundation toward our annual goal. AND all donation dollars will be matched with recognition points up to 300, which gets donors closer to their next PHF recognition. See Herb’s e-mail.
Amir Famili is happy that Habitat for Humanity are completing 8 new houses. They need volunteers to help do the painting on two of them. Please contact Amir if you will help.
Karen Rodgers is happy that daughter Lily, who was in Interact at Parkland last year, now is at Jefferson and on the rowing team -- successfully.
OPENING:
Pres. Ralph gave a very nice invocation. Then he led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S.
CELEBRATION DATES:
Pres. Ralph displayed the list of February members and their celebration dates.
Pres. Ralph again said “The world needs more Rotarians.”
THE FOUR-WAY TEST EXAMPLE:
Pres. Ralph played a new videos about the 4 Wat Test. produced by Rotarians in India.
Marlene Heller then read to us the 4 items and asked for volunteers to tell about a recent application of the 4 Way Test in their life.
Nick Millward told of a Mongolian homeless family that had a single Mom and six children. Nick knew that there still was $1,000 left in the account of the Church funds to cover freight costs for shipments to Mongolia. He could use that money and nobody would know.
But their agreement with the Church was that the funds had to go for freight. So Nick told the truth to the Church. They came up with $1,500 even though only $1,000 was needed.
MEMBERSHIP:
Chair, Tom Friday welcomed our guests who were on with us today.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION:
Pres. Ralph moved this to March 3rd.
THON UPDATE:
Jacob Roma, current Penn State Junior, who last January told us about THON—FOR THE KIDS reported that their recent dance fundraiser produced $10.6 million for programs.
NATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY:
On March 11th the Emmaus RC will hold a celebration to which we all are urged to attend. Our own Barbara Kistler will be recognized as a former winner.
VALENTINE DAY RAFFLE -- NEW WINNER:
Kathy Ott announced that Gwen Pongracz has the next winning ticket.
NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION:
On March 6th there will be a new member orientation session.
NEW MEMBER INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
D7430 Membership Chair, Gary Volpe, announced S.T.A.R.T. This is an acronym for Simply Talk About Rotary Today. There is no better way to grow membership than to talk about the good we do. Over the next three months we will be receiving bi-weekly emails with tips and best practices to help us attract new members.
District 7430 will provide a $100 to our RC as an incentive to attract each new member joining between February 1st to April 30th 2021.
ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE (RLI):
Please see the separate article.
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
Service Chair, Gail Micca, asks that you take a look at this section on the left side of this bulletin.
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 March 3, 2021 starting at 7:30 a.m. We will use Zoom to meet. Our program will be Amanda Shurr, President & CEO, Lehigh Valley Zoo.
STATUS OF THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
No Thursday evening meetings are planned until after the pandemic..
PROGRAM:
Pres. Ralph Witcher introduced Erin Harris, SVP & CFO to discuss Preventative Measures, Challenges & Triumphs of Providing Essential Mental Health and Home Health Services during Covid-19. Ralph said that Erin is amazing as she acts as a Mother to the community. Erin has been 7 years with the group. She and her husband have two sons in High School.
During this presentation we learned the following about Preventative Health Measures (PHM):
-Who is PHM?
-What does PHM do?
-Why does PHM do what they do?
Preventive Health Measures (PHM) improves the quality of life for thousands of individuals through both Mental Health Wellness Centers in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania and Georgia, and through their Home Health Care division in Pennsylvania. Preventive Health Measures believes that health care is a basic human right. It must be available, coordinated and provided in a comprehensive way, and combined with other human services when appropriate. Preventive Health Measures has been servicing the community in this way.
Preventive Measures provides support to older people, younger people, people with disabilities and their careers to live independently at home and be part of the community.
After being a Stay-At-Home Mom for many years, Erin had a strong desire to start serving people with behavioral and developmental problems. So, she went to school and earned a Master of Arts Degree in Special Education. Erin’s passion to help her clients was finally realized as she started her new career as a Behavioral Specialist Consultant (BSC) and a Mobile Therapist (MT).
Erin is a native of the Lehigh Valley. She is a graduate of Northampton High School. She received her B.A. in Business Management from Muhlenberg College and her Master of Education (MEd) in Special Education from University of Phoenix.
Erin started her career with Preventative Measures, Inc. as a Program Director & Therapist almost 7 years ago. Today, Erin is Senior Vice President and CFO at Preventative Measures, Inc.
Erin thanked us for the invitation, and for Ralph’s glowing introduction. She also said that she loves her work.
Ten years ago they had about 65 clients. Now they have over 1,300 just in the Lehigh Valley. Erin emphasized that people need to be healthy both inside and out.
They have two offices in the Lehigh Valley and one in East Stroudsburg. They work with the prison inmates there.
When covid19 arrived there was a surge in people with depression issues. They accepted every single person who came to them for help. Fortunately they already had a virtual communication system in place sometime before.
They also reached out to our first responders and essential workers and offered them free therapy. And they have been giving scholarships to students who are studying mental health issues.
They have donated over $100,000 to local charities. Their goal for 2021 is $250,000.
Erin said that right now they are in desperate need of Therapists. The need to stay at home is really a bad thing for their clients.
CLOSING:
Pres Ralph led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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