Meeting Notes September 16, 2015
Our Greeter this morning was Dale Utt and he did an excellent job.
President Herb rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Jeff Kistler gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS: Chris Blechschmidt – almost a member; Keith Koepke – returning member; Michaela Luzicova, our Y.E. Student; and Tim Rustin, new Director of LCTI, guest of Bob Nagle.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY MONTHLY COLLECTION:
Today Rotarians and guests donated a generous $231.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Last Wednesday we packed Snack Packs at Northwestern successfully. See separate note from Gloria.
The Tempting Tastes Two committee met last Friday and we are off to a good start planning for next year’s event. Mike Henry noted that we have 4 sponsors committed now. The next TTT meeting will be September 25th. That schedule is on our website.
Dan Crane announced 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.
Our next Thursday evening meeting is September 24th at 5:30 PM at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville.
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.
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.
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 for TODAY and TOMORROW. It is very rewarding.
Social Media is coming to AWRC led by Chad Butters.
Gloria is happy to report that she has received two checks for the Northwestern Lehigh Snack Pack program. One is from the Lions Foundation for $2,000, and the other is $333 from Ziegels Church.
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 David Caccese and the program will be Joyce Marin, Executive Director, Renew Lehigh Valley Sustainability Programs in the Lehigh Valley including Envision Lehigh Valley.
PURPLE PINKIE SCORESHEET:
Herb’s list of goals to measure our progress in having a successful district 5K Race for Polio Eradication:
9 of the planned 200 runners have registered.
We have $1,250 Corporate Sponsors; the goal is > $5,000.
5 – going to 8 - other RCs have committed to sponsor. We want more.
We have zero door prize gifts; we need 25.
We have 17 event volunteers and need 30.
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 21 of us registered. Please do it; it takes 5 to 10 minutes.
THE ROTARY FOUNDATION UPDATE:
Chair David Caccese said that he received 4 checks today toward our $10,000 Annual Fund goal.
MICHAELA UPDATE:
Michaela told us that she has been here for 18 days and now is in Parkland High School and working hard. She also is on the girls’ cross country team and doing OK. She plans to join the Interact Club at Parkland too. Her closing words were “I’m Great!”
Barb then presented Michaela with an AWRC shirt.
ROTARIAN of the WEEK:
The AW “Rotarian of the Week” is Dale Utt, a 30 year School Business Administrator and 8 year Consultant. Dale joined AW Rotary in 2003 and has chaired the Allocations – now the Scholarship - committee for years. He was our club Treasurer from 2003 to 2009, Treasurer for the AW Foundation, and Treasurer for PDG Bill Weber’s district conference in 2009. Dale really appreciates Rotary every May when he meets the High School students receiving our scholarships.
Dale also takes great pride in sitting at the “Geezers” table.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize bottle of wine donated by Dale Utt was won by Sarah Andrew.
The $58 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Jeff Kistler who selected a white marble.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis fined President Herb for his failing to call for the monthly collection for the Lowhill Food Pantry last week. Then he got Sue Weber for two photos in the press, and Joe Goll for his press article.
S-a-A Don then auctioned off two items brought to us and donated by Michaela. The Slovakian chocolate bar went for $18 and the handmade antique plate brought $50; proceeds went to the foundation.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Bill Palmer is happy to announce that Barbara Kistler has accepted an appointment as the District Chair of the PolioPlus committee. He also is happy that Mike Gschwendtner has become a member of the District Membership committee.
Bill’s third dollar noted that granddaughter Shaina finished 11th out of 100 cross country racers last Saturday – now college level, Division 3.
Keith is happy that wife Rhonda received a recognition award.
Dawn’s granddaughter continues to do well racing in cross country.
PROGRAM:
President Herb introduced Carl Zvanut, Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation Trustee whom he worked with at Air Products. Carl spoke about Leaser Lake. Carl also is a member of Engineers Without Borders, and has been to Sierra Leone. He has been on the Leaser Lake board since it started.
Leaser Lake is in the northwest corner of Lehigh County, and is the only lake in the county. It is about 150 acres and has an irregular shoreline that provides great fishing. The lake in 1970 was man-made with an earthen dam that had some serious problems. Their website has the banner: “FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1999 - WATER OVER THE LEASER LAKE DAM!!!” It happened earlier this year.
The care of the lake is controlled by a county group, a state group, and the foundation. So getting things done is a challenge and takes much time.
The Leaser Lake Heritage Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization established to promote the historical, agricultural, and conservation heritage of Leaser Lake and the surrounding parklands owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the County of Lehigh.
The Foundation assists with improvements to the park, including infrastructure
repair, in order to provide recreational opportunities to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Open space preservation is a top priority of the Foundation, as well as educating the public in the principles of conservation of natural resources.
Carl noted that a recent grant paid for replacing the rest rooms. They now may well be the best bomb shelters around.
Carl says there has been a lot of work done on the lake’s fish habitat. And they have completed a handicapped parking area and accessible boat ramp for kayaks and canoes. Also there are walking trails around the lake. He distributed maps of the lake for us.
They are working with the master plan from a few years back. There is a fishing pier and there are turtles too. The Hawk Mt. people now are involved.
Their funding comes from grants and donations. They received money from the Kutztown Lions club, and also a $45,ooo grant from Cabela’s.
There is lots of fishing now, and it’s catch-and-release for this year. Small electric motors for boats are allowed, but not gasoline fueled. The lake is quite deep at about 75 feet, and it is very clean with minimal silt deposits.
CLOSING:
Ba5rb hit the right note to start 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.”
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ocus on membership for our Club. 
