Our Greeter today was Bob Gordon, and he did a marvelous job. Also, President Mike distributed RI 2017-18 theme lapel pins to the members.
President Mike Gschwendtner rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Mike then gave a very nice invocation. Then he rested.
President Mike began the meeting having the members recite the Four-way Test. We did quite well.
President Mike said his plan this year is only to make us stand once each meeting, which we did as we recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the U.S.
GUESTS:
Dr. Robert Rueshman, guest of Bob Gordon.
Then Mike showed photographs from our last meeting including from Friday evening’s Dining Out, and from Y.E. student Marti from her California tour. Then we saw photos from the Camp Neidig 6-19 closing ceremonies where we had sponsored four campers. The final pic was the Lowhill Food Pantry volunteers with our AW Rotary at Work sign.
NOTE FROM MIKE G.:
Please send to Mike any pictures you have from the previous week’s activities. They might be featured in the next meeting.
Volunteers are needed to give weekly invocations. Please contact Mike.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
Kingdom Life Food Pantry volunteers are needed for this Friday. Contact Jean Masiko.
MEET R.I. PRESIDENT IAN RISELEY:
Members may join and meet RI President Riseley on Saturday Aug. 12th in N.J. Contact President Mike.
SCHEDULE:
President Mike will announce upcoming events at our meetings and a list of them along with the appropriate contact information appears each week in the A-W bulletin.
PARTY FOR Marti:
On July 9th there is a party for this year’s Youth Exchange Student, Marti, starting at 4:00 PM at the Earl Adams Memorial Park at 8935 Breinigsville Rd. Please bring beverages and a food item for your group to share around. There is a pavilion reserved. Wendy Weaver has a sign-up sheet going around.
THURSDAY EVENING MIXER:
July 13th at Eight Oaks Distillery with your guests. Let’s have a great turnout. Please sign up so we get a headcount to order the food. Cost is $10 p.p. Snacks will be available; cash bar.
NEXT WEEK:
Our Greeter will be Dan Crane, and the program will. be Members Report on What I Saw & Did at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, GA in June.
G.A.B. DAY INTRODUCED:
As the first business by our new S-a-A, Mitch Huston, he introduced G.A.B. Day which translates to: “Give a Buck” Day. And he collected a fist full.
LUCK OF THE DRAW:
Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Mitch Huston, conducted the raffle drawings.
The door prize donated by Bob Gordon was won by Len Salines. It was very special and secured by Bob Gordon while he was in Alaska a week ago. The exact name is cocoa moose turds. It is a collector’s item and not edible.
The $100 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Jeanne Shipe’s ticket. There now are but 3 marbles left in the bag.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Mitch Huston began with a joke directed at Bob Gordon that got some good laughs.
Dale Heffner is happy that Bob Gordon came to Alaska for 4 days and went salmon fishing with great success.
Bob Gordon happily thanks Dale Heffner for showing Bob how to catch two monster king salmon.
Len Salines was happy to see a bear while hiking the other day.
PROGRAM:
President-elect Jeanne Shipe introduced our speaker Kristie Fach. Kristie holds a B.S. in Biology from Moravian College. She is the Director of Ecological Restoration, Wildlands Conservancy,3701 Orchid Place, Emmaus, PA 18049. She has been doing this for 15 years. They are the Lehigh Valley’s Non-profit Land Trust Creating lasting connections to nature since 1973.
Kristie’s projects are associated with the 109 mile Lehigh River watershed running from the Poconos to Easton and the Delaware river. They have a staff of 35 people and they concentrate on Land Protection and Water protection.
Kristie used a series of slides and described some of the projects they have done and are doing. She mentioned a Preserve on South Mountain as well as the one in Emmaus. They also have programs for area children starting in the elementary schools.
They partner with various groups for projects, some of whom may be “experts” in a discipline. And they write grant applications that, if approved, help fund their work. And they manage these projects, including the long-term oversight afterwards.
Kristie discussed Trout Creek Park where they got $100,000 to do landscaping changes that brought in many species of birds and offered good fishing finally. Then she told about Jordan Park in Allentown where an old Dam kept the water stagnant. They removed the Dam and also added new pathways, and restored about a mile upriver. And there was the Coplay Creek restoration that finished after a year, and there was less flooding and better fishing.
There was a project at the Trexler Game Preserve that relocated the Bison to a new water source and cleaned up the stream pollution.
In the northern part of the Trexler lands there are 300 acres of green space planted with a single species of trees. This area does not support wildlife very well. The project underway cuts down the trees and plan5ts a variety of shrubs, trees, grasses, etc. that will in a few years bring in over 50 species of birds. They also relocated the biking trails.
CLOSING:
We closed the meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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