The Greeter this morning was Chad Butters and he did a great job.
President Herb rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Jean Machamer gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS:
Michaela Luzicova, Exchange Student, and Shirley Randall was with us.
UPDATE FROM MICHAELA:
Michaela says that she is very happy and still is having a good time. Somehow she earned the Honor Role for the second time.
She went to Maine and did some snowboarding and some skiing. In January she moved in with Dorothy and Rick Bloom and that is great. She now has survived a blizzard and has experienced her first ever “snow day” off from school. And she went to a wedding last week.
Also she has helped at an Emmaus H.S. fundraiser, and will speak to the Emmaus RC members about Slovakia in April.
And she addressed 3 elementary classes and Dottie says she did very well.
Finally, Michaela tried a new flavor of ice cream that was not so good.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Last Wednesday we did Snack Packs at Parkland. There were 9 volunteers plus 17 students -- including Michaela.
And on March 30th we will hold our regular breakfast meeting in the Library at Parkland H.S
Last Wednesday we volunteered at the Lowhill Food Pantry.
We sold out for our February Dining Out at Eight Oaks with catering by “29 Cooks.” and Mitch Huston’s Brass Ensemble for entertainment. See separate article.
Chad Butters put in a Happy Dollar and thanked us for our support. Chad then explained that he has started a “Barn Raising” program at Eight Oaks -- it’s in a Barn -- that turns over 10% of the gate to non-profits holding an event there. He presented us with a check for $345 to go to Snack Packs resulting from our event last Friday. Thank you, Chad.
Today we will be Snack Packing at Northwestern at 2:15 and need more volunteers.
The next Tempting Tastes 2 meeting is on Friday Feb. 26th.
NOTE that we need at least 100 more items for the Silent Auction.
We will be helping at the Lowhill Food Pantry this Saturday Feb.27th.
Our next Thursday evening meeting is TOMORROW February 25th at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Come and enjoy and learn about RAGs.
On April 13th our regular breakfast meeting will be at LCTI; and on May 18th at LCCC with our annual scholarship awards.
The annual Engineers Without Borders event will be on April 1st at DeSales University. Come and meet a real Astronaut.
On April 2nd - Saturday - there is a Rotary Leadership Institute session in Media, PA open to us all. We strongly recommend our members, especially newer ones, to attend; and we pay your registration fee.
The next opportunity relatively close will be in November. Go to rlinea.org
On Monday February 29th evening there will be new member orientation held at the Holiday Inn.
Our Caterer will rotate through four different hot breakfast combinations as a trial for us starting soon. Then we will decide our next step.
On March 5th Herb and 5 others leave for Sierra Leone.
Opportunities to Volunteer are listed in the weekly e-bulletin.
Next week our scheduled Greeter is Mitch Huston, and the program is Rep. Mike Schlossberg 132nd PA Legislative District on “Avoiding Social Media Disasters”
FOUNDATION MINUTES:
David Caccese reported that we have a lot of possible local projects being considered for a 2016-17 District Grant application. Also, the Ukraine project about Rehabilitation Medicine will be an International 2016-17 District Grant application.
David also gave a pitch for those folks receiving an income tax refund this year to donate some of it to the RI Annual Fund. And those over 70.5 years of age and taking IRA distributions can donate some to charity and not pay tax on it. David will help with all paperwork -- except check writing.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by Chad was a bottle of Eight Oaks Vodka. So S-a-A Don Davis auctioned it off and raised $45 that will go to the RI Annual Fund.
Then Jeanne Shipe’s ticket was drawn and she pulled out a white marble and did not win the $18 in the 50:50 pot.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis fined Mitch for no pin and then Herb for appearing on CH 69 TV about Engineers Without Borders.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Dottie Bloom is very happy to have Michaela living there, and said she was great with the elementary school kids.
Bob Gordon is happy about their great sailing adventure around St. John, U.S.V.I. And he says Michaela will crew with him in some Sunday sailing competition on Lake Nockamixon.
Bill Palmer is happy to announce that Yvette’s granddaughter has received a Scholar Athlete of the Year award at Emmaus H.S.; she is a senior now.
Herb is happy that Ronnee and he went to N.C. a week ago and visited with their two daughters and two grandchildren. He and his daughters also ran in a 5K “Chocolate” race. It seems there were 4 stations to stop for chocolate, and one for water. [ We might try a variation of this at our Polio 5K this Fall. ]
Jean Machamer is happy to have spent 10 days in Punta Cana, Dominican republic.
George Ikeda is celebrating his 94th birthday today. We sang to him.
Mitch Huston had a birthday last week so we sang to him today as well.
Don Davis was happy to report that with our last cash collection we were able to donate almost 1,200 lbs. of fresh produce to the Lowhill Food Pantry.
ROTARIAN of the WEEK:
The AW “Rotarian of the Week” is Ralph Wasiakowski who joined our Rotary club last Fall. Ralph is blazing a new approach to being a Rotarian by volunteering at multiple projects each month and attending fewer regular meetings. Ralph is the owner of a Financial Planning business. He joined Rotary to have a way to be useful and to give back to our community. He said that AW Rotarians are a very welcoming group.
PROGRAM:
Herb introduced Ralph Wasiakowski to give his Classification Talk. Ralph thanks us for the warm welcome he has received as an AW member, and for the opportunity to serve.
Ralph was born 38 years ago near Wilkes-Barre and was raised on a 40 acre farm in Sweet Valley. He attended what now is DeSales University and studied Sports Administration and Biology, and threw in a minor in Finance.
After graduation he went to work for the Allentown Ambassadors AAA baseball team for three years. By then he had decided that he hated baseball.
So with some mentoring he went into Financial Planning with American Express where his people skills were essential, and he loves it. After two years he started his own business. He discusses with clients the issues that are part of the intersection of their finances with their lives.
Ralph married in 2008 -- a turbulent time in our economy. His son, Jack, was born in 2010, and daughter, Hannah followed in 2013.
Ralph’s Father died in 2012 which emphasized the need for more Alzheimer research. This Ralph supports wholeheartedly.
Ralph feels lucky. He plans to keep doing his work and hopes that his wife, and then the kids, might get into and then take over the business. His hobby is his family, and he is into physical fitness, including martial arts.
He thanks Dan Crane for introducing him to Rotary. And he really likes working at the Lowhill Food Pantry and the Snack Packing work.
CLOSING:
Halyna hit the right note to start us on a nice rendition of “God Bless America.” Then we recited the Pledge to the Flag of the United States and then the saying “One profits most who serves the best.”
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