Our Greeter today was Don Davis and he did a marvelous job.
President-elect Jeanne Shipe rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Sue Weber gave a very nice invocation with special mention of Hurricane and Forest Fire victims.
P-E Jeanne began the meeting having the members recite the Five-way Test with the fifth question, “Is it Fun?” We recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the U.S.
GUESTS:
Steve LaPierre, Emmaus RC.
And Shirley Randall was with us today.
P-E Jeanne showed photographs from our last meeting including the Webers’ Norwegian granddaughter, Rikke.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Please remember that the Collection jar is at the registration desk for cash and check contributions.
SCHEDULE:
President Mike announces upcoming events at our meetings and a list of them appears on our website. A list of the appropriate contact information appears each week in the A-W bulletin.
THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
TOMORROW October 12th is a Happy Hour and Business meeting at the Holiday Inn starting at 5:30 P.M. Wendy Weaver Is the program.
DICTIONARY PROJECT 2017:
Amir Famili, Chair; will be back soon and will need volunteers to prepare the books and package and distribute them. P-E Jeanne has delivered them in the past and says it is a great experience.
OCTOBER 14th is the D7430 END POLIO PURPLE PINKIE RACE.
Herb Klotz extends a big “Thank You” to all of the volunteers that are coming to make it all happen. Please attend even if you do not run nor walk. It’s fun. You still can sponsor Chris.
PARKLAND SNACK PACKING:
October 18th is the start and it will be held mostly on the third Wednesday of the month. More Volunteers still are needed. Contact Ray Stock.
DINING OUT -- OCTOBER 27TH:
Please sign up to dine at Lily Sushi Grill-Seafood-Bar restaurant on Friday, October 27th, 6:00 PM, at 1908 Walbert Ave. Allentown 18104.
MEMBERSHIP MINUTE:
Membership Chair, Herb Klotz, again reminds us that we will be down about 10 members this year. So we all need to look for people who want to serve others, and actively pursue candidates for membership, starting with the Nov. 2nd Networking Mixer at Wegman’s. The meeting place is next to the Pub.
NOTE – Please tell Herb who is coming with you. We need a count for food.
Nov. 7th, Tuesday, is our day to volunteer for Meals on Wheels. Dorothy Bloom passed around a signup sheet. If you do sign up, it is important that you also show up. They count on us each time.
Nov. 10th, Friday evening is volunteer work at Kingdom Life Food Pantry to install new shelves. Please contact Jean Masiko.
AWRC’s FACEBOOK PAGE:
John Scott and Bill Palmer, along with Brian Peterka have been updating the AWRC Facebook page to try to promote non-members to get involved. Please check it out, “Like” and “Share” it.
.NEXT WEEK:
Our Greeter will be Chris Blechschmidt and the program will be Amanda Sellers, PsyD , Child Therapist on ADHD.
P-E Jeanne introduced our S-a-A Mitch Huston who conducted the raffle drawings.
The door prize bottle of wine was donated by Don Davis and it was won by Ginny Sandoval.
The $25 pot of the all-new 50:50 was not won by Ray Stock’s ticket. 13 marbles remain.
Mitch then told a very funny joke involving Ron Coleman’s selective hearing skills.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Ron Coleman is happy to report that after 3 weeks he finally remembered to bring his Rotary pin in from the car.
Steve LaPierre paid a dollar to malign the NY Giants football prowess.
Bill Weber is happy that Rikke visited from Norway, and observed that it’s good that they do not stay as 13 year olds.
Chris Blechschmidt reported that his daughter’s soccer team, while not all that good, in fact did most things right during last weekend’s tournament and tied for the win, but lost the “shootout.”
Herb Klotz is happy to be back. He walked the southern part of the Appalachian Trail for 185 miles, and on the way celebrated his 60th birthday. We sand a multi-pitched version of Happy Birthday.
Jerry Frank is happy to share that Sally walked another 5K and is 4 years illness free. He also is happy that his grandson now is an Eagle Scout.
PROGRAM:
Our Program today was Heather Evans, LCSW of thevast.org regarding: A Community's Response To Human Sex Trafficking.
Heather Evans is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She has over 17 years of experience providing individual, marriage, and family therapy to children, adolescents, and adults in inpatient, outpatient, nonprofit and residential settings. She received her undergraduate degrees in Biblical Studies and Social Work from Cairn University and Master of Social Work from Rutgers University. In the past, she has served as Regional Director for Lydia Counseling Center in Hillsborough, NJ and as adjunct professor at Cairn University.
Heather is co-founder of the Valley Against Sex Trafficking (VAST) Coalition, a united movement to resist the spread of human trafficking in the Lehigh Valley, PA region and world. She is co-chair of the Aftercare team and assists in training, equipping and mobilizing local individuals, organizations and service providers to address sex trafficking. In 2013, Heather received the Allied Professional Award from Crime Victims Council of the Lehigh Valley for outstanding commitment to victims’ services.
Heather has diverse experience in group-facilitating, teaching, speaking, and coordinating in various settings for children, youth, women, and families. It is her passion to use her counseling training and experience to educate others.
Heather began by saying that she is a morning person and that she laughed a lot this morning as well. She said that her primary job is Counseling.
Then Heather read a quotation from Elie Wiesel: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.”
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Heather has written “Our initial response to learning of human trafficking is to accept its existence in remote locations such as India and Thailand, and we may shake our heads in sorrow or disgust. Yet, it is remote. It is over there and therefore, there is little we can do from our American context.”
“Yet, the reality is, human trafficking exists in every state of the United States and the majority of victims of sex trafficking within our borders are national citizens. Its victims include men and women, 80% are women and half of these women are under the age of 18.”
“One does not need to be trafficked across country borders or state lines to be trafficked. Trafficking occurs when someone, through force, fraud or coercion, or is under the age of 18, is recruited and exploited in the commercial sex industry. Wherever there is a demand for prostitution, sex trafficking exists. This includes the Lehigh Valley, PA region.”
“The prevalence of human sex trafficking is far-reaching, spanning multiple demographic characteristics such as age, socioeconomic status, nationality, education level and gender, and our youth are vulnerable.”
“Lehigh County Deputy District Attorney, after two recent successful convictions of sex traffickers said "... it's hard for people to realize human trafficking is in the Lehigh Valley. It's here. This is the face of it."
“While learning about local prevalence is alarming and disturbing, there is hope. VAST (Valley Against Sex Trafficking) Coalition is leading the way in eliminating human sex trafficking and developing safe communities free from exploitation in the Lehigh Valley, PA region.”
“This group is dedicated to awareness, action, and aftercare efforts through strategic collaboration between service providers, faith communities, individual citizens, law enforcement and institutions. As we increase awareness among key individuals, we can successfully identify what exists and prevent future exploitation from happening. “
“A unified response is an effective response to eradicating human sex trafficking in our Lehigh Valley, PA region. To learn more or get involved, visit www.thevast.org “
CLOSING:
We closed the meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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