Our Greeter today was Gary Englehardt and he did a marvelous job.
President Jeanne Shipe rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Chuck Ehninger gave a very nice invocation.
Pres. Jeanne began the meeting having the members recite the Four-way Test. Then we recited the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. Flag.
GUESTS:
Sean Feges, guest of Bob Gordon.
And Gail Micca has returned from her European travels.
Pres. Jeanne showed pictures starting with the Dining Out party at Nostos on Friday, July 20th. And she showed pics of the bridal shower that she hosted in her home last week.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Please remember that the Collection jar is at the registration desk for cash and check contributions.
P-E Amir Famili asks for a volunteer to haul produce on Friday Aug 3rd.
PAUL HARRIS FELLOW AWARD:
Pres. Jeanne presented Gary Englehardt with his PHF +5 lapel pin from RI.
TT5 RESTAURANTS NEEDED:
Gary explained that we need at least 8 restaurants to provide food samples for a successful Tempting Tastes event. He encourages each of us to let our favorite restaurants know that we are Rotarians. This is especially true with our Dining Out parties. Bob Gordon suggests we have EBC make a table sign of “AW Rotarians Eat Here” for example.
CLUBRUNNER APP:
Pres. Jeanne again urged members to try the ClubRunner App to access AW information quickly. For example you can access a list of more than 100 events on our schedule.
OPEN AWRC POSITIONS:
Pres. Jeanne noted that the following positions should be filled promptly. Please contact Jeanne.
Community Service committee Chair
Future Chair to understudy Tempting Tastes annual fundraiser
AWRC Vice President
TOMORROW, July 26th is the next Thursday evening meeting at 5:30 P.M. at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville. A program about past, present and future Allentown-West Rotary Club finances will be featured.
AWRC ANNUAL PICNIC DATES:
Sue Weber has announced that the picnic will be held on Sunday, August 19th. A sign-up sheet went around. Next week Sue will e-mail those who will be bring food.
ROTARY LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:
On Saturday, October 20th there is an RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) training session at DeSales University. AWRC members will have their registration fees reimbursed after they attend. This is a great opportunity to learn all about Rotary.
NEXT MEETING -- August 1st
Our Greeter will be Ron Coleman . And our program will be our D7430 Governor, Cindy Hornaman (Emmaus RC) And at about 8:45 a.m. there will be a Board of Directors meeting in the Arts & Crafts room which is downstairs toward the medical center. All members are welcome.
Pres. Jeanne introduced S-a-A Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected some “guilty” fines.
Mitch began by drawing our attention to the three members wearing similar dress patterns today.
The door prize of varied coffee beans donated by Gary Englehardt was won by Jeff Kistler. Barbara was happy too.
The 50:50 pot of $38 was not won by Ernie Boll
whose ticket was drawn. Eight marbles remain.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Gary Englehardt (and Gwenn) are happy to be back from 2 weeks in California. There was some relief from being with the grandkids.
Ralph Witcher proudly announced that his son had the right answers when interviewed for a job with Chick- fil-A.
Geoff Legg says he is happy to be babysitting for his daughter’s kids.
Dan Crane told the story about Geoff Legg and some rope and going fishing.
Sue Weber is happy to confirm that a young lady Youth Exchange student from Croatia indeed will be hosted by AW Rotarians this next school year. It’s possible she may even be with us for the Picnic.
Joe and Peggy Goll are celebrating 42 years of marriage. And their son just changed jobs. He also noted that their van has just passed 200,000 miles.
Gail Micca said they had a great trip, and got home to attend her niece’s wedding too. And she is pleased that her nephew’s wife is expecting a child.
PROGRAM:
Our program today was Mitch Huston our PR Committee Chair and Sergeant-at-Arms. He told us about The Drum Corps International (DCI).
Mitch has been a member of the Volunteer Staff of DCI East since 1978. As the show came to Allentown in 1977, this year will be his 41st consecutive year on the Committee.
From 1978 to 2014, Mitch was the Supervisor of Corps Bus/Truck Parking. In addition he also was the Housing Director from 1986 to 1997. Mitch became the Chairman and Operations Site Manager for the show in 2015.
Mitch oversees a Supervisory Staff of 12 who have multiple responsibilities for organizing each year’s show as well as a Volunteer Committee of over 75.. The show has kept him very involved with the City of Allentown.
Mitch told us that there now are less than 100 Drum Corps. In the U.S. Years ago there were many, many more. During his talk he shared the following current Drum Corps Facts:
- Maximum Size – 150 members
- Age Range 14-22
- Avg. cost per member $2,500-$3,900
- 5 Coach Busses / 2-3 Tractor Trailers each club
- Instructors/Support Staff – 35-50
- Shows per Summer – over 115
- Miles Traveled – over 10,000 a year
- 100 Cities in 39 States have Corps
- World Championships in Indianapolis since 2009
Mitch described the DCI East, Eastern Classic Championships. He showed some pictures, including J Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown. He told of its history:
- Started in Allentown 1977
- Staff of over 75 volunteers
- 5 Chairmen
- Largest 2-day Event in Lehigh Valley
- Estimated annual attendance- over 20,000
- Performers/Staff – Over 4,500
- 2018 – 24 Corps from 18 States will compete
. brings about $1.5 million of business to town that week.
Mitch explained how the members manner of clothes has evolved from a military look to what now can be called “Costumes.” The Allentown Cadets only have their two Drum Majors wearing West Point type uniforms.
Friday, August 3rd – 6:00 PM
Blue Devils - Concord, CA
Blue Stars - La Crosse, WI
Bluecoats - Canton, OH
Colts - Dubuque, IA
Madison Scouts - Madison, WI
Mandarins - Sacramento, CA
Music City, Nashville TN
Phantom Regiment - Rockford, IL
Pioneer - Milwaukee, WI
Santa Clara Vanguard - Santa Clara, CA
Seattle Cascades - Seattle, WA
Troopers - Casper, WY
Saturday, August 4th – 6:30 PM
The Academy - Tempe, AZ
Blue Knights - Denver, CO
Boston Crusaders - Boston, MA
The Cadets - Allentown, PA
Carolina Crown - Ft. Mill, SC
The Cavaliers - Rosemont, IL
Crossmen - San Antonio, TX
Genesis - Austin, TX
Jersey Surf - Camden County, NJ
Oregon Crusaders - Portland, OR
Pacific Crest - Diamond Bar, CA
Spirit of Atlanta - Atlanta, GA
Mitch proudly noted that the Allentown Cadets have been the DCI Champion TEN TIMES.
Mitch showed pictures of the various Drum Corps and their outfits. And he reviewed the many sponsors that fund the event here in Allentown.
CLOSING:
We closed our meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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