Today was a Zoom meeting with 24 people on line.
Pres. Gail Micca opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M. And she welcomed us all.
GUESTS ON LINE:
Nick Millward, friend of the club
OPENING:
Chuck Ehninger quoted Mother Teresa and then gave a very nice invocation. Then Pres. Gail led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S. She then led us in the recitation of the Four Way Test to which we added “Is it fun?”
AWRC HISTORY STORY:
Past President Amir Famili delivered today’s story about our Dictionary projects over the years. This project is no longer useful and will be replaced soon.
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of October member events. She noted that PDG Herb Klotz yesterday celebrated 10 years of Rotary service.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Amir Famili said that a farm in Kutztown provided lots of fresh produce at a very low price.
SNACK PACKING:
Oct 13 was snack packing at Parkland H.S. Thanks to Kathy Ott’s great planning it was a great success.
Gail said that our usual donated produce via Second Harvest may not continue. Then our snack costs will increase.
AFGHAN REFUGEE INFO & DINING OUT:
Amir Famili told us “TOMORROW Thursday, October 21st, Nick Millward has arranged an educational and dinner program at the Afghan Kabab and Grill in Allentown. The purpose of this dinner is to develop a better understanding of the situation in Afghanistan and how we can support Afghan refugees coming to the Lehigh Valley. The speaker is Mohammad ali, a recent Afghan immigrant to the Lehigh Valley and former employee of our U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The program starts at 6pm with dinner for purchase, followed by the presentation at 7pm.
We need to inform the restaurant on the number of attendees so they can set up the room and bring extra resources for serving the food. Hence, either via email or text please, let me know if you plan to attend the dinner?
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
There is an updated list of service opportunities in the coming weeks: on the left side of this bulletin. They are:
Habitat for Humanity – Any Tuesday or Thursday morning
contact Amir, familiamir@gmail.com
Collect baseball equipment, send emails to friends and neighbors to help collect, contact Nick Millward, nick@ycaps.org
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD DISTRIBUTION:
Ralph Witcher said that they distributed supplies to over 300 clients last Saturday.
The next distribution will be on November 20th.
HIGHWAY CLEAN-UP:
Gail Micca reported on Saturday, Oct 16: “Small but mighty crew! The highway is sparkling clean!
Karen Rodgers, Len Salines, Dennis Houser, Nick Millward and his mom, Bonnie Millward and Gail Micca participated and we had a great time!” The next Highway cleanup is in April!
GARDEN CLEAN-UP:
The 20 Northwestern Interact students did a fantastic job along with Jean Machamer, Karen Rodgers, Nick Millward, Gail Micca and three friends of the garden, Helen Papathanasiou, and Gary and Deb Haas. They cleaned up both gardens, moved the 5 raised beds and the soil too. They weeded, tilled and made the gardens happy again!
MEALS ON WHEELS:
Pres. Gail said that yesterday they had a great time.
DICTIONARY PROJECT FUTURE:
A detailed survey of elementary student needs seems to have made the dictionary project obsolete. There will be a zoom meeting on Monday October 25 at 6:30 P.M. to discuss options and ideas for a similar project for youth.
FAMILY PROMISE:
Kathy Ott said that we are seeking at least 20 gift cards for gasoline for these people who used to go by bus.
PIE CRIMPING CHALLENGE:
Due to a machine failure, Stephanie Fenstermacher of The Buttered Crumb, now must crimp the edges of her pies by hand. She is offering a donation of $0.75 to AWRC for each pie our volunteers crimp. She really needs our help.
CASINO NIGHT AT THE WHEELS MUSEUM:
The date has moved out to January 29th. Details will come next week.
We need sponsors.
ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY:
Saturday, December 11 will be our annual holiday party at Brookside Country Club in Macungie.
HAPPY DOLLARS & NOTES
Ernie and Sandi Boll are heading to their Arizona home this Saturday.
Michelle Steiner had a Corvette convertible given to her.
Tori Morgan this morning had her dog with her.
Gail Micca gave us a weather forecast of sun and warmth for the next two days.
Nick Millward said that today7’s speaker was on a train in Japan and is on time.
Katrina Sundstrom is happy that she and her daughter attended a Kindness Project meeting.
Herb Klotz was thinking about his 10th anniversary of joining AWRC. The late PDG Yvette Palmer conducted that induction, and Bill placed the lapel pin.
Ralph Witcher is happy that AW members are the happiest ever and credits Pres. Gail.
Gary Englehardt related a funny story from their visit to Rome last week.
Amir Famili’s daughter has taken a position as an Attorney for Facebook in San Francisco. Amir is going to SF to visit.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS:
The first and third Wednesday meetings in October thru December will be via Zoom. The second and fourth will be in-person at the Starlite Diner.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday October 27, 2021 at the Starlite Diner starting at 7:30 a.m. Our program will be Rhonda Miller, Founder SPEAK UP for BEN, Inc. Speaking Up: Changing the Dialogue to End the Stigma Epidemic.
PROGRAM:
Program Chair, Ralph Witcher introduced Nick Millward to then introduce Priyanka Borpujari, Rotary Peace Fellow to discuss What to Pack on a 750-mile Walk Across India.
Between 2018 and 2019, award-winning journalist Priyanka Borpujari - Rotary Peace Fellow at the International Christian University in Tokyo walked 750 miles from west to east India, as one of the walking partners to two-time Pulitzer-winning journalist Paul Salopek, on his epic Out of Eden Walk project, that traces the path of human migration.
Priyanka delved into the experience of the walk and offered practical tips for anyone keen on undertaking such an endeavor. She started by showing pictures of all of the items that she packed at the beginning. Then we saw the photo of how that group was cut in half. It was too heavy and many items were unnecessary.
Priyanka showed a picture of her with her huge backpack along with a donkey carrying the balance of items.
As people do these walks they usually walk with someone who knows the surrounding areas. That way she learned a great deal about where she was and the local communities. She said driving in a car blocks out the details. Walking opens up a ton of information.
Priyanka showed many photos of the areas she experienced. Some were bodies of water that had temporary bridges in flood season. She also showed pictures of buildings and countrysides. One picture was of two young boys carrying water up a slope, dumping it on their path to make it a mud slide. She also noted that just walking along highways truly is boring.
Priyanka next is going to Dublin, Ireland to earn a PhD. At some point she will join Paul again and walk the west coast of the U.S.
CLOSING:
Pres. Gail led us in reciting our motto “One profits most who serves best.”, rang a bell and adjourned the meeting.
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