Our Greeter today was Geoff Legg and he did a marvelous job.
President Amir Famili rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. opening the meeting and welcomed all. Then Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation, including special praying for Ronnee Klotz..
P-E Ralph Witcher began the meeting by having the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he led us in reciting the Four Way Test. Ralph then asked our guests to stand and introduce themselves.
GUESTS:
Tina Cerafesi from East Penn Neighbors helping Neighbors, guest of Murtaza Jaffer; Pat Witcher, wife of Ralph; Patty Huff, guest of Ralph Witcher; and Pam Vecellio, guest of Murtaza Jaffer.
VOLUNTEER PROJECTS:
Tonight – painting at the Center for Vision loss.
Saturday – produce collection and distribution at Lowhill Food Pantry.
LEARN ABOUT ROTARY:
The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) offers many levels of Rotary education. AWRC will reimburse the registration fee to members that attend the Saturday, March 28 session at DeSales University.
These courses are most worthwhile, especially to our newer members.
ROTARIAN OF THE MONTH:
Chris Blechschmidt, our Treasurer, is the AW Rotarian of the Month for January, said Gwenn Carr.
Gwenn also asked members who did volunteer hours in January to stand, and gary Englehardt handed out candy as a thank you.
PHOTO REQUEST:
AW Rotarians do a lot of good things and take a lot of pictures. In order to maintain the best quality photos on file, it is requested that the original be sent first to Gary Heller, our RC Photographer.
TEMPTING TASTES 6 DATE CHANGE:
Pres. Amir confirmed that TT6 has been rescheduled to September 13, 2020. Planning meetings will resume on February 7th.
DONATIONS ARE NEEDED:
DG Herb Klotz reminds us that Dottie Bloom is charged with setting up and stocking a Hospitality Room for both Friday and Saturday evenings at OUR April 24 and 25 District Conference. Donations of Beer, Wine and snacks for at least 40 guests are needed. Please contact Dottie at bloomnbunny@ptd.net.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
This great group still depends on cash donations from AW Rotarians. And volunteering for the produce pick-up and distribution on Saturday mornings is a very satisfying thing.
THURSDAY EVENING SCHEDULE:
February 13th will be held at the Starlite Diner starting at 5:30 P.M. in the private back room.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
February 5th at Luther Crest with Brad Maier as our Greeter. The program will be Tom Friday giving his Classification Talk,
Pres. Amir introduced Sgt.-at-Arms Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected Happy Dollars.
The door prize bottle of wine donated by Geoff Legg was won by Bill Palmer, who then presented it to guest Patty Huff at his table. .
The $33 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Halyna Stegura’s ticket being drawn followed by a white marble. Lots of marbles will be back next time.
HAPPY DOLLARS
Len Salines is happy. So is Ernie Bolll
Herb Klotz encourages members to register for OUR April 24 to 26 District Conference.
Herb is happy that last evening he visited a Rotary club and participated in an AXE Throwing contest.
Diana Dunn is happy that the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) team now is in Sierra Leone working on the Matru Hospital Global Grant that we support.
Halyna Stegura is happy that her return from Africa’s 90 Deg weather seems to have warmed up the Lehigh Valley a bit.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Amir introduced our speaker, Anil Srivasta originally from Bangalor, India, now a U.S. citizen who told his own story all about Organ Donation. Anil is a Rotarian in an e-club and also a Mason. He is a graduate of Kutztown University where he studied Criminology. As a teenager he was a Rotary Youth Exchange student from India who went to Canada.
Anil has evolved into a Motivational Speaker on behalf of the over one million people right now that are waiting for organ donations.
Anil discussed the emotional issues regarding organ donating. For example, a donor’s parent or spouse become against donating in fear of losing their donor family member. As it turns out, AW member Murtaza Jaffer some years ago donated a kidney to his Father. Murtaza confirmed that he has no ill effects and feels great.
Anil told the story of how his brother telling him in 2009 that he will need a kidney transplant. At first Anil was reluctant to donate, but after speaking with two former donors, he decided to go ahead. And in 2013Anil indeed gave one of his kidneys to his brother.
But for some time before that he struggled with a law in India that required his wife’s written approval for the donation. She said “No” because of the fear of losing Anil and his support for their two teenage children. He even thought about divorce so she would not have to sign.
Today Anil is quite fit. He says he can do a 10 meter sprint in 14 seconds.
Now Anil has completed meeting with about 94,000 people telling his story as he and his wife travel around the world. Recently they were in Alaska and then California, driving it all and sleeping in their vehicle many nights. He will speak at the Emmaus RC tomorrow morning, and then head for Cincinnati.
Anil pointed out that Social Media has a lot of “Junk” about organ donation. He urges us all to sign up as organ donors. And it is important that our family members know of this and make it happen.
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir closed our meeting by our reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Heller