Meeting Notes MAY 6, 2015
Our Greeter this morning was Joel Masiko and he did an excellent job.
President Barbara rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS: Dave Dries, Spring Township-Centennial RC; Wilmer Schultz, Emmaus RC.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President Barbara’s first words were “WE DID IT ! referring of course to a very successful first annual Tempting Tastes fundraiser last Sunday. Gary Englehardt said we will net at least $15,000, probably more.
Barb showed photos from the Wednesday 4-29 Snack Packing day at NWL HS.
Saturday May 2nd was the Parkland Resource Fair at Asbury Church. AWRC had a display table staffed by Joel Masiko, Bob Nagle, and the Utts. The highlight was when a family stopped by and thanked AW Rotarians for the snack packs their son receives.
Saturday May 2nd was the Ziegels Church Yard Sale. Pastor Candi expressed many thanks to Gloria Zimmerman for all of her efforts. The proceeds are about $1,700 all of which goes to the Snack Pack program. Way to go!
The Youth Services Committee will meet this morning immediately following this meeting.
Our next Thursday evening meeting at the Holiday Inn will be on May 14th.
The Snack Packing at Parkland is scheduled for May 13th and May 27th.
Barb announced that she now has received $2,000 for new ShelterBoxes. Thanks Rotarians. It’s what we do.
.May 16th is the District Training Assembly in Blue Bell at MONTCO CC starting at 8:00 a.m. Club officers and members are encouraged to attend. The fee is $30 which covers lunch. At 2:00 PM there will be an RI Foundation Grant Model training session for certification. Earlier Barb and Herb will be presenting AW projects. ALSO a session on fundraising will be held.
Rodale Park Clean-up is on Saturday May 9th, Meet Dr. Dan in the parking lot at 8:30 for coffee and donuts first.
May 20th is our annual meeting at LCCC to award 9 scholarships to students from four area schools.
Sunday June 7th is our day to help at the Miracle League baseball game. Some Interact students will be there to help too.
Jerry Frank is the scheduled Greeter for May 13th. There will be a Club Assembly as the program.
RECOGNITION AWARDS:
Barb called Halyna Stegura and AJ Henry to come up front and presented each with a special blue pin that recognizes that each recently has sponsored a new member for AWRC. Thank you.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by Joel was won by Dale Hostetter after many tickets were drawn with no responses. The $65 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Rev. Jeff Kistler who selected a white marble.
FINES:
Substitute S-a-A Geoff Legg fined HIMSELF for mixing up the change as folks paid for breakfast; fined Candi for her lateness; and fined visitor Wilmer for no pin – he confessed.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Herb is soooo happy that that Gwenn, Gary and the TT team did such a great job last Sunday. He said it makes budgeting easier for next year.
Herb also is happy to announce that both of our 2015-16 District Grant applications have been approved for funding by the district committee.
Dave Dries put in $10 for the happiness of the annual D7430 Conference being over and such a huge success, He thanks AW Rotarians for their support, and specifically noted the excellent presentations made by Herb and the Webers.
Halyna is happy that she met many new people at Tempting Tastes, since it drew such a large crowd.
Sue is happy for Dave Dries and the fine job he did as Conference Chair. And she thinks that the Tempting Tastes party was wonderful.
Bill Palmer is happy that granddaughter, Shaina, took first place in the 3200 meter race at League competition with 18 High Schools and 30 runners yesterday.
Dottie Bloom noted the Meals On Wheels golf tournament coming up. Brochures were on each table.
PROGRAM:
Program Chair Jeanne Shipe introduced Sharon Jones Zondag, Executive Director, The R.K. Laros Foundation, who spoke about :Why Bees Matter.” Sharon is a fourth generation Beekeeper and trained at Penn State as well as at Cornell. The tradition has been passed on from her great-grandfather, who took up beekeeping to increase the yield in his orchards and to produce honey. Sharon is Northampton Community College's planned and major gifts officer. She is sharing the art of beekeeping with the college community.
Sharon started her first hives at the college in May 2012 with a swarm of bees that her father brought from his hometown in upstate New York. Bees swarm when they run out of room in their hive.
With the help of students, faculty and staff, Sharon set up the apiary behind the college's community garden on the main campus in Bethlehem Township. Each of the two hives holds 40,000 to 60,000 bees and Sharon plans to add more hives this summer. She recently helped some Brownies get their “Buzz” badges.
Sharon proudly informed us that all “worker” bees are female. All the bees work solely for the survival of the hive. Bees have been cultivated for over 8,000 years. They were brought to America in 1620.
There are about 35,000 varieties of wild pollinators around the world. Her dad has been a beekeeper since 1970, and goes around collecting swarms and relocating them. For many reasons the U.S. loses 30% to 50% of its hives every year. Back in the 1940s there were 6 million beekeepers around the world. It has dropped steadily to only 200,000, which in recent years has increased to 250,000.
Sharon said that we have lost 10 million hives since 1990. This becomes very important when we realize that one third of our diet comes from food grown because of pollinating insects. “Hand” pollination also is being done.
Sharon noted that the beekeeping industry is on the rise. And there is legislation coming in PA to regulate that work. A federal pollination task force was launched in the Summer of 2014.
Each beehive has one queen, and she lays from 1,000 to 3,000 eggs each day. Each hive produces about 100 lbs. of honey each year. The bees live for about 5 weeks in the Summer, and die as their wings simply wear out. These days there is no damage done to a hive as the honey is removed.
Herbicides kill many natural flowers that bees use. So Sharon urges us to plant more flowers and flowering shrubs. And she hopes we will buy local honey.
CLOSING: Barb hit the right note to start us singing a good 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.”
ocus on membership for our Club. 
