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Meeting Notes APRIL 1, 2015
Our Greeter this morning was Pat Panfile and she did an excellent job.
President Barbara rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation starting with a quote from Mark Twain about being fools every day, and then a special mention of prayers for Don Grammes.
GUESTS: Anita Pickar, Samantha’s Mother, and Dan Repscher, Assistant Principal at Parkland.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
Rev. Jeff Kistler honored Samantha Pickar as the AW student of the month for March. See separate write-up.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Barbara showed photos, first of the Thursday evening March 26th AWRC meeting. She noted that the Purse sale had netted $268 so far for Polio eradication. April 9th and 23rd are the next evening meetings.
Then there were photos of the March 27th Joint meeting with the Allentown RC with the Ukraine Ambassador to the U.N. And Ihor gave us an overview of the event.
Snack Packing will be at Northwestern Lehigh HS today April 1st. The Middle School students will help too.
Parkland snack packing is on April 15th.
Tempting Tastes – Please sell at least 5 Admission tickets; but on-line. Sponsors still are needed. At our April 8th meeting there will be some great real food samples.
Gary said that Pinnacle Ridge Winery has signed on. Sell more admissions.
Halyna reminds us that the silent auction needs items; a sign-up sheet is going around.
Note that TT has a Facebook page and a website.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) on April 10th will hold their silent auction at the DaVinci Science Center.
April 22nd’s meeting will be at the Northwestern Lehigh Middle School with Dr. Mary Ann Wright speaking, and we will award the Student of the Month for April.
Our April Dining Out will be on Sunday 4-26 at 6:00 P.M. joining with Emmaus Rotarians to put on a potluck dinner for the Friendship Exchange visitors from Wales. Location is Legacy Oaks in Macungie. Details will follow.
May 16th is the District Training Assembly in Blue Bell at MONTCO CC starting at 8:00 a.m. Club officers and members are encouraged to attend. The fee is $30 which covers lunch. At 2:00 PM there will be an RI Foundation Grant Model training session for certification. Earlier Barb and Herb will be presenting AW projects.
New member Orientation training sessions will begin again soon.
Anna Jean is the scheduled Greeter for April 8th. The program is Gwenn C. & Gary E. Count Down to Tempting Tastes: 3 weeks & 4 Days. Special edible treats will be available.
GAMBLING:
The door prize gift donated by Pat Panfile was won by Joel Masiko. The $133 pot of the 50:50 was won by Stan Drabick who selected the black marble out of five total.
FINES:
S-a-A Don Davis fined Barb Kistler for mot recognizing new member Chad Butters. Herb had no Rotary Pin, Al Lewis signed in at the wrong place, and there were three latecomers.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Vern is pleased to announce the birth on Monday of hid first great grandchild.
Herb was doubly happy today. First he went to the Dominican Republic with EWB and there is a likely project for water to two communities. Second he took his grandson and family to Disneyworld.
Bill Palmer is most pleased to share that granddaughter Shaina has been offered a place this Fall in the Engineering School of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Al Lewis is happy that some good friends visited over the weekend.
PROGRAM:
President Barbara noted that being awarded a $30,000 Global Grant from the RI Foundation IS a big deal. And she reminds us that we still have not quite reached our goal for the Rotary year ending June 30th with our donations to the RI Foundation’s Annual Fund.
Barb then introduced Tom Powers and Herb Klotz from Engineers Without Borders to update us about the Centennial School Global Grant. Herb began with the background that the Centennial School is a secondary school with 22 buildings that was greatly damaged during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. Since 2010 EWB has been committed to helping rebuild the infrastructure.
Herb noted that the $30K Global Grant has 5 partners: AWRC, Fleetwood, Nazareth, Doylestown and the 15 member Bo Rotary Club in Sierra Leone is the “host” club.
Herb reviewed the Ebola situation noting that the schools in Sierra Leone have been closed since March 2014. The southern part of SL is relatively Ebola free now. Liberia is almost recovered. Sierra Leone is expected to be free of new Ebola cases in 3 to 6 months.
The new Global Grant has two parts. First are things that Rotary can do such as education with $10K going for books, and $4K going for teacher training. And AWRC also has applied for a new District Grant to cover the travel expenses for two educators to go to SL and assess the teaching methods and needs.
Tom Powers is the lead Electrical Engineer on the SL project for EWB. Tom also is this year’s President of the EWB Lehigh Valley. Tom expressed Thanks to AW Rotarians for their continued support of SL projects.
Tom said that the average annual income in Sierra Leone is $640, and that Teachers do better at about $1,200 per year. There are not many roads in SL, no “land lines,” no electric power grid and no postal system. They communicate withhold cell phones and a fairly good internet.
There are two projects for early 2016 – if no Ebola – to provide electric power to the Administration building and the Library. Two months ago they reinforced the roof on the Admin building to support the extra weight of the new solar panels.
Solar panels still are the way to go. They are cheap and long lasting. The Deka batteries weigh160 lbs. each, cost about $500 each and should last 5 to 7 years. The buildings will have lights and printer capabilities as well as charging stations for cell phones and laptops -- and a much needed PA System. Having lights available for 4 hours in the evening is a great resource for the teachers. Right now there can be as many as 100 students in a single classroom.
A local grant paid for the Library repairs completed in 2011. But it is located in a poor orientation with the sun, and near some fruit trees and growing fields. They may run the electricity to it from another source to start, such as the water well generating system.
Sustainability is always part of these projects. One way to get this is by charging a fee for the usage which covers the mantence and a person to do it.
CLOSING:
President Barbara hit the right note to start us singing a good rendition of “God Bless America.” This was followed by the recitation of the Pledge to the Flag of the United States and then the saying “One profits most who serves the best.”
ocus on membership for our Club. 
