The Greeter this morning was Joe Goll and he did a very good job.
President Herb rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Dale Heffner gave a very nice invocation, with special mention of Vern, Dale Utt and Mae Hostetter.
GUESTS:
Jean Machamer, guest of Herb; Ginny Sandoval; and Mary Ann Packel, guest of Mitch Huston.
There were 38 attendees this morning.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our next Thursday evening meeting is the January 14th Networking Mixer at Wegmans in the Timber Room starting at 5:30 P.M. The format will be different from the prior mixer. Please sign up if you will attend.
DOOR PRIZES are needed – please donate and give to Mike G.
PLEASE determine the names and contact information for candidates for membership and send them to Mike Gschwendtner.
Please contact your candidates and remind them to attend.
Also, those members who will attend should be prepared to be asked publically why they joined Rotary.
The Jan 2nd work at the Lowhill Food Pantry went well.
Today is Snack Packing at NWL HS; then we switch to the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays in support of the increase to weekly distribution.
Opportunities to Volunteer now are listed in the weekly e-bulletin.
Jan 8th is the next TT2 committee meeting. The one after is Jan 22nd.
The Service Committee will meet here next Wed. January 13th.
The next Thursday Evening Happy Hour meeting at the Holiday Inn will be on January 28th.
Ideas for projects to pursue in 2016-17 should be sent to Dan Crane.
Each member is asked to e-mail a response to Herb about the Rotarian-of-the-Week program.
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 Mike Henry and the program will be Chris Blechschmidt giving his Classification Talk.
ROTARIAN of the WEEK:
The AW “Rotarian of the Week” is Halyna Stegura who after college started her career in Nursing in 1974 at Sacred Heart. She also worked with the Visiting Nurses Association from which she retired in 2006, She has a number of Consulting jobs in Health Care since then.
Halyna first joined Rotary in the Bethlehem RC in 1997 and served on its board. In 2004 she transferred to AW and was our President in 2013-14.
One of her proud moments in Rotary was when she served as The Tooth Fairy in Bethlehem, heading up that effort to collect dental supplies.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by Joe was won by Halyna. Then Jerry Frank snagged a white marble and did not win the $85 pot of the 50:50.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis announced – with a smile -- that our fines for the last 6 months added up to $700. Great job, folks!
Don fined Ray Stock for late arrival, and Joe Goll for being late to start greeting. He fined Bob Gordon for being on TV twice. And Herb fined Don for losing a marble last week.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Halyna is happy that Dawn Costello is back home from the hospital. And just before the meeting Halyna spoke on the phone with daughter Mary who is in Cambodia right now.
Herb is happy to have Jean Machamer as our guest today.
Ginny is really happy that her daughter maxed out on the AP English exam.
Dottie Bloom quietly noted a 59th birthday coming up next Monday. We sang Happy Birthday fairly well.
Jean Machamer is happy that their Church members served a meal to over 200 needy folks on Christmas day.
Mike Henry happily told us that the Light Show at the Lowhill Church was awesome.
PROGRAM:
Today’s program was Gwenn & Gary with a Tempting Tastes 2 Kickoff presentation. Gary began by having last year’s committee members stand up, and then those of us who attended TT One. Then this year’s people also stood.
Some members were given folders with sample letters and cards. Gary noted that the TT2 logo is new this year and was designed by Jeanne Stock, Jeanne also designed the cards.
Sally Frank explained about the participating restaurants and other providers. Last year there were 10 of them, and 7 have agreed to return in 2016 because they benefitted from the experience. We plan to have at least 12 vendors represented this year.
Gary said that last year the attendance was 235. The goal for this year’s May 15th event is to have 300 attend. And Herb is working on the President’s basket of cheer; Barb did one last year and many tickets were sold.
Gwenn announced that the new Eight Oaks Distillery will be providing some samples at TT2. Also those with reserved tables will be in a VIP area and will have a private entrance and some other goodies.
Starting on January 15th tickets to TT2 can be purchased on the TT2 website at: http://www.temptingtastes.net/. Chad Butters is using Eventbrite and it should be easy to do. An individual ticket is $75 and it’s 2 for $125. Children 6 to 18 pay $25 each.
Gwenn emphasized the need for donations of items for both the silent and the “live” auctions. We took time for each table’s attendees this morning to discuss the kinds of auction items/ Then each table had a representative tell the group what was decided and who will do it.
Halyna complimented the TT2 top leadership on their skills. And we all applauded.
CLOSING:
Halyna hit the right note to start us off on a good 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.”
