FACE TO FACE ONCE AGAIN
Today was the first face-to-face meeting since March of 2020! And it was great.
Also we had a Zoom meeting. There were 26 people at Brookside CC in Macungie shaking hands and hugging -- and it was good. We had 11 people on line that participated in the meeting remotely.
Ron Coleman was our Greeter and he did an excellent job. And P-E Gail Micca was everywhere else looking after us.
Mitch Huston handled registration and 50:50 tickets.
Secretary John Scott made sure that the P.A. system and the Zoom signals worked for us.
For the first time in over a year AW Rotarians had a breakfast together, and the food was good.
After some conversations President Ralph Witcher opened the meeting by ringing our bell. This was his first time doing that.
TODAY’S GUEST:
ON LINE: Capt. Nick Millward calling in from Japan.
Pres. Ralph gave a very nice invocation with special mention for Marlene Heller, George Ikeda and Al Lewis.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Mitch Huston roamed the room with the microphone collecting real money for expressed happiness.
Jeanne Shipe is very happy to be with us all once again. She is considering moving to Ohio to be near family.
This was Kathy Ott’s first in-person AW meeting and she was pleased to pay happy dollars.
Herb Klotz said that he is thrilled to be back together.
Tori Morgan was happy to be at a “live” meeting.
Chuck Ehninger was happy this morning too.
Bill Palmer was happy to share the latest Polio stats. See below.
Murtaza Jaffer was happy to thank Tori Morgan for bringing her dog to visit.
Ron Coleman said it was good to be here.
Sue and Bill Weber are back from Hilton Head and happy to meet in person.
Ralph Witcher is happy to thank the AW leaders that make this all happen.
Dawn Costello’s granddaughter, Maddie, has qualified for the world triathlon competition this Fall.
Then Pres. Ralph led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S as we stood with hands on hearts looking at a real flag.
CELEBRATION DATES:
Pres. Ralph displayed the list of June members and their celebration dates. We applauded.
Pres. Ralph again said “The world needs more Rotarians.”
FOUR WAY TEST:
Pres. Ralph played the upbeat musical video featuring the Four Way Test and we all sang along and it sounded great.
OUR NEW FUNDRAISING RAFFLE:
AW Rotary has begun a fundraising raffle with the proceeds going to Enhance Education through our many scholarships and other youth programs. The winner s will be drawn on June 29, 2021. See separate article.
We need your help to insure our programs can continue into 2022. Go to https://allentownwestrotary.virtualraffle.org to purchase a raffle ticket -- or three.
THANK YOU NOTES:
Pres. Ralph reported on a note from Roslyn and from the LV Zoo. On June 21st more painting volunteers are again needed at the Zoo.
EMMAUS RC & FLAG DAY:
The EMMAUS FLAG DAY PROGRAM will be held on MONDAY, JUNE 14 at 6:00 pm at the Emmaus Community Park in the Arts Pavilion. Local students will read poems and essays about “What the American Flag Means to Me”. The program includes Emmaus Veterans, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and musical presentations by students. Dr. Raymond Fritz, retired member of elite SEAL TEAM ONE will be the featured speaker. Rev. Waldemar Vinovskis will give the invocation and benediction, Nathan Brown will preside and Mayor Lee Ann Gilbert will present proclamations to the winning students.
In 2020, the Emmaus Rotary took over the arrangements for coordinating the event. This is the 52 year for the celebration and the FIRST year for Rotary Sponsorship. We need support!
ZOO PAINTING PROJECT:
P-E Gail Micca says “We know how to make painting fun!” Herb Klotz, Ron Coleman , Lisa Walton and Gail helped to paint the picnic tables at the Lehigh Valley Zoo on Monday, June 7. Despite the high temps, we had a good time and we didn’t melt!
AWRC’S GARDEN DONATIONS:
P-E Gail Micca reports that we have made our first garden donations for the 2021 season. We donated 30 heads of beautiful red lettuce to Lowhill Food Pantry and 16 bags of lettuce and kale to Jordan Lutheran Food Pantry this week.
WILD POLIO CASES REPORTED:
Afghanistan
YTD New cases 01
Reported Cases
2020: 56 2019: 29 2018: 21 2017: 14
Pakistan
YTD New cases 01
Reported Cases
2020: 84 2019: 147 2018: 12 2017: 08
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD CENTER:
The next distribution will be on June 12th. Please volunteer to Jean Masiko.
SHELTERBOX, USA NEED:
Please consider donating to purchase a ShelterBox at this time of need. Some AW club funds also will be donated.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY:
Habitat for Humanity still needs volunteer painters on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Contact Amir.
AWRC CHANGEOVER:
The plan is to also hold a hybrid meeting at Brookside CC on Wednesday June 23rd starting at 7:30 A.M. Come early and circulate.
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
P-E Gail Micca asks that you take a look at this section on the left side of this bulletin.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS:
Starting June 9 there will be hybrid meetings twice a month, plus all-zoom meetings for two more Wednesdays each month.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday June 16, 2021 starting at 7:30 a.m. We will totally ZOOM. Our program will be Amanda Lawler & Lisa Walton, New AWRC Members giving their Classification Talks.
STATUS OF THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
Thursday evening meetings may be scheduled starting in July as one of the four monthly meetings.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Ralph Witcher introduced Denise Brown, Representative at Department of Labor & Industry - Office for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing. All about "Understanding Hearing Loss." Denise called in using Zoom and was able to show her slides. Ralph said that Emmaus RC heard Denise last week and said she is amazing.
Denise as a Representative wears numerous hats. One day she may be providing a training on hearing loss or interpreters to state agencies such as Area of Aging, the next day she is advocating for services for Pennsylvania Senior Citizens who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing and the next day she is providing assistance to an organization that is creating policy and procedures for contracting with interpreters or CART services. Brown has over 24 years of diverse experiences while working to promote the inclusion of Pennsylvanians who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing.
In addition to her current job, she has been an adjunct teacher at Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) and Bloomsburg University (BU) teaching American Sign Language (ASL) courses.
A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Denise graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Social Work from Gallaudet University in 1987, and a Master of Arts in Deafness Rehabilitation from New York University in 1989.
She is also an avid reader and enjoys traveling and walking with her beloved rescued dogs, Elmo (15) and Coco (7).
Denise noted that her agency with only 4 people serving 3 offices in PA, is the smallest state agency there is.
Denise said that there are 35 to 40 million people in the U.S. that are suffering from some degree of hearing loss. And unfortunately only 6 million of those are able to afford proper hearing aids due to limitations in medical insurance coverage.
Denise emphasized that there are many degrees and variations of hearing losses. A simple, low cost hearing aid is unlikely to do much good. She recommends a full analysis by a licensed professional audiologist.
Hearing loss is not a visible ailment. One can be losing hearing over time and others would not know it. Hearing loss actually is a communication loss.
Hearing aids are quite expensive, costing from $2,500 to $6,000 PER EAR. Denise said that Lip Reading can be helpful, but only 30% of the English language is discernable from the lips. And every one of us has different lips.
Besides some great hearing aids, there are some great technologies available. For example one can have voices converted to written words as they are spoken. It also is important that you face a person with hearing loss so they can see your lip motion and also have your voice enter a hearing aid properly.
CHANCE DRAWINGS:
For the first time since March 2020 we had tickets drawn for door prizes, and also for the 50:50 black marble that eluded Jean Masiko today.
CLOSING:
Pres Ralph led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”