Today was a zoom meeting with 22 people on line.
We stated at 7:15 A.M. with random conversations.
CHAT STORIES:
Ralph Witcher was wearing a very colorful shirt today.
Tori Morgan was dressed to go clay shooting today. This is an outing for clients that don’t play golf.
There were several comments about rifles, shotguns and pistols.
Marlene Heller said that Tori is a pistol.
Gail Micca and Tori will be playing in a golf tournament later this Summer.
Marlene just returned from Mass. where they celebrated her Mother’s 102nd birthday.
Gary Englehardt’s Mother was 102 years old last week.
Sue and Bill Weber are back from their home Hilton Head.
GUEST:
Just us today.
OPENING:
Pres. Gail Micca at 7:30 rang the bell and started the meeting.
Nicole McGalla gave a very nice invocation.
Then Geoff Legg led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S. Pres. Gail led us in the recitation of the Four-wat Test, and adding “Is it Fun?”
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of June member celebration events.
AWRC ANNUAL CHANGEOVER:
Our changeover will be on June 22nd at Madeline’s in Fogelsville.
DISTRICT CHANGEOVER:
Celebrate our 2021-2022 Rotary Year under District Governor Bob Hobaugh and Welcome our new 2022-2023 District Governor Len Gieseler
The Rotary District 7430 Changeover Dinner is on Tuesday, June 28, 2022 from 5:30 pm- 9:00 P.M.
Location is Brookside Country Club- Pottstown, 850 N. Adams Street, Pottstown, PA 19464
AWRC CLUB ASSEMBLY FEEDBACK:
We have a full board - Debbie Jack has stepped up to be our new Service Chair!
Pres. Gail sent us each an e-mail with members’ feedback.
1. Keep the morning meeting schedule.
2. Possibly replace a morning zoom meeting with an evening event, e.g. Dining Out.
3.To arrange for a monthly evening event all year, we need 12 member volunteers to each plan one. Contact Gail Micca.
Sue Weber will arrange for a Dining Out for us.
Thank you, Gail, for your great job with this summary.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NWL VETERANS MEMORIAL DEDICATION:
This was conducted on Monday, May 30th at 11 A.M. at Ontelaunee Park. Pres. Gail showed photos of the AWRC name as a major donor.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD BANK:
The recent distribution was made on Saturday, May 28th. The next date is June 11
PARKLAND C.A.R.E.S.:
Their food pantry work day will change from Saturdays to Tuesdays.
SNACK PACKS:
Last Wednesday was the snack packing at Parkland H.S. and at Northwestern Lehigh. These are the last for this school year.
Diana Dunn will lead this starting in the next Rotary year, and she needs a co-chair.
FIFTH WEDNESDAY MEETING:
Pres. Gail said that on Wednesday June 29th we will meet in the evening at The Green Thumb Garden and have a pot luck supper.
AWRC WEBSIT CHALLENGE:
Pres. Gail said that we may use a regular meeting to educate all members on how to access our website and set up an account -- a phone app is available. Our website has a lot of useful information.
GREEN THUMB GARDEN:
Pres. Gail showed photos of the garden showing how much things have grown since their planting.
She also mentioned that there now is a Girl Scout volunteering in the garden
RI ANNUAL CONVENTION:
Gail Micca, Helen Papathanasiou, and Herb Klotz will attend this event in Houston, TX. next week.
Amir Famili will conduct our June 8th regular meeting at Madeline’s.
STEM YEA UPDATE:
Gwenn Carr reports that STEM YEA is going well. We are in the final planning stages. Darlene Scott, of the Upper Perkiomen Club, one of our STEM YEA team members is the lead for the Celebration Dinner that we will hold on July 11, 2022. That's the final day of the Academy.
Gail Landis, of the West Reading/Wyomissing RC, also a member of the STEM YEA team, has accepted the position as STEM YEA Media Rep. Gail has a background in Public Relations and is planning several Media and News Alerts for the STEM YEA Celebration Dinner.
A SPECIAL NEEDS ROTARY CLUB:
After adults with special needs graduate from High School they are helped by the school to transition into the local community. Sadly, most are socially isolated and find it hard to participate with large groups of people. The Rotary Club of Hamburg came up with the idea to form a Satellite Club made up of special needs adults.
This club will help members gain new friendships, develop leadership skills, and help to better the community with service projects. The Satellite club will do separate activities and community service projects as well as participate with the Rotary Club of Hamburg with their projects.
The Helping Hands Club of Hamburg was chartered April 1,2022. To date the Satellite club participated in Hamburg’s Community Clean up and the Kernsville Dam beautification project. They have held a planning meeting at a local ice-cream shop and recently went miniature golfing at Kauffman’s Chicken Ranch.
Contributed by Gwenn Carr
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday June 8 IN-PERSON at Madeline’s in Fogelsville starting at 7:30 A.M. Come early and enjoy the conversations.
Our program will be Mary Ann Pickell, Owner at CarePatrol discussing: Planning Ahead for Senior Care Solutions.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Sue Weber is happy to be back home. And the Hilton Head Sunset RC sends greetings.
Herb Klotz will conduct a Breakout Session next week at the RI Convention in Houston. The session will then be divided into four webinars for future use.
Ralph Witcher is happy for Herb.
Marlene Heller while in Mass. last weekend met their newest great niece. They also learned that their nephew’s wife is expecting.
Ernie Boll just is a happy man.
Jill Kearney was very pleased with last Wednesday’s club assembly. And she is happy that the Webers are back.
Laurie Grube is happy to be celebrating her anniversary this Friday. And their granddaughter now is two months old.
Gail Micca is happy that Helen made it here.
John Scott’s daughter, Addie, now is 15 years old.
PROGRAM:
Program Chair, Ralph Witcher, introduced Helen Papathanasiou to give her New Member Classification Presentation. Helen is a longtime friend of Gail’s.
Helen began with a slide that included a Canadian, American and Greek flag. And she gave a phonetic version of her last name as Papa- thana – see-you.
Helen was born in Montreal, Canada and was raised by her Mother of Greek descent. When her Mother came to live in New York City she arranged for Helen to attend St. Basil's Academy, a residential school run by the Greek Archdiocese.
When her Mother became ill with cancer they moved to Toronto, Canada. Her Mother unfortunately died in the middle of Helen’s twelfth grade yea. So Helen went to live in Greece with relatives. She finished high school at Pinewood International School in Greece and went on to study chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
After graduating she decided to return to the U.S. and went to Seton Hall University in N.J. for her MS in chemistry. With her Master’s degree she moved to Toronto and worked for a year and a half in a testing lab for Nucro Technics.
Helen came back to N.J. and got married,. She found temporary employment at Berlitz where she taught ESL courses. Then they moved to PA where she worked at Bethlehem Steel as a temp in the lab until she had her first child, John.
A few years later she had twin girls Anna and Christina. John works for Microsoft in California. Anna now works as a data analyst for Vanguard in PA, and Christina is working on a Masters in musicology in Montreal, Canada.
Helen has done a good deal of volunteering through the years and was involved with the Mothers of Twins Club when her girls were young, arranging outings for the pre-school twins in the club. She was also involved with many volunteering opportunities when her children were in school.
Helen is a member of Friends of the Parkland Library and helps with publicity. She also is involved with the Parkland Garden Club, managing the publicity, Facebook page, and the website updates. She also helps out with maintaining the Butterfly Garden and is now serving as Vice-President of the PG club.
As a new member of the AW Rotary Club Helen has taken on the responsibility of scheduling volunteers for Meals on Wheels for the club. She also helps Marlene Heller with publicity and volunteers with the Green Thumbs Garden Project. As one of the newest members of the club, she is off to Houston for the Rotary International Convention next week.
Welcome to our family, Helen.
CLOSING:
Pres. Gail led us in reciting our motto “One profits most who serves best.”, rang the bell and adjourned the meeting.
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