Today was a Zoom meeting with 25 people on line. After some conversations Pres. Ralph Witcher opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M.
GUEST ON LINE:
Capt. Nick Millward calling in from Japan.
HAPPY DOLLARS AND COMMENTS:
Amanda Lawler and Ernie Boll were the first on line this morning.
Tori Morgan was on from her back porch along with her dog. Then she was driving and on the phone.
Kathy Ott’s granddaughter just was graduated from Emmaus High School.
Murtaza Jaffer and Kathy Ott are neighbors.
Bill and Sue Weber have a red fox family of four living in their barn and playing in their yard.
Gail Micca has signed up to attend her 40th High School reunion in Fargo, N.D..
Pat and Ralph Witcher are celebrating their 33 years of marriage on Friday.
Tori Morgan and others are starting a Sunday morning coffee clutch.
Amanda Lawler made best friend’s with Tori Morgan’s dog yesterday.
Ralph Witcher is happy to report that son, Seth, is in Atlanta performing.
Pres. Ralph offered our congratulations to Dawn Costello for granddaughter, Maddie, having made the triathlon world competition this October in Bermuda.
CELEBRATION DATES:
Pres. Ralph displayed the list of June members and their celebration dates. We applauded.
OPENING:
Pres. Ralph gave a very nice invocation and noted that Al Lewis is doing better. Then he led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S.
WELCOME ALL:
Membership Chair, Tom Friday, welcomed us al and urged us to keep inviting guests to join us.
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 then read Marlene Heller’s 4 Way TOAST.
Pres. Ralph said that his being our President this Rotary year was a great pleasure to work with us all. He also noted Jean Machamer’s response to what Rotary means to her.
OUR NEW FUNDRAISING RAFFLE:
Marlene Heller has posted this to our Facebook page and offers help to anybody to buy tickets.
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.
Thanks go to Len Salines for his work on this raffle.
WE DID IT !!!
President Ralph with great joy said that we actually held a face-to-face meeting last Wednesday with 28 in person and 11 on line. Special thanks go to Mitch Huston and to John Scott.
Pres. Ralph showed photos of the lovely door prize center piece flower arrangements by Lisa Walton.
Pres. Ralph said “Teamwork makes the Dreams work.” He said that the Kingdom Life food distribution last Saturday was very successful.
GREEN THUMB GARDEN HARVESTING:
Gail Micca reports that Amanda Lawler, along with her kids, Shannon and William, helped Helen (garden volunteer) and me harvest today. Lisa Walton and Nancy Snyder (future Rotarian) helped to bag all the produce purchased at produce junction. We were able to harvest enough Napa cabbage, lettuce, dill and kale to add a nice bag or two of greens to 75 bags of produce.
Today we donated onions, apples, oranges, bananas, peppers, cucumbers, scallions and parsley. Ron Colman helped to add the greens and bananas and load the cars up as they came through the Parkland C.A.R.E.S. delivery line. What a perfect day, start to finish!
VALLEY YOUTH HOUSE:
They now are hiring.
ZOO PAINTING PROJECT:
P-E Gail Micca says that the next opportunity to paint is on Monday June 21st. Please sign up.
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 23, 2021 starting at 7:30 a.m. IN PERSON at Brookside CC in Macungie. And we will ZOOM as well . Our program will be our annual Changeover ceremony that has Gail Micca becoming our new RC President.
NO MEETING ON JULY 7TH.
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 Amanda Lawler, a new AWRC Members, to give her Classification Talks.
Amanda and husband Bill and their two children, Shannon 10 years old just finished 4th grade at home, and William who is 7 years old, live in Allentown. Amanda and Bill will celebrate 15 years of marriage in November.
Amanda’s career began with working in her Father’s business of making icings and whipped cream items for local bakeries. Over time she worked in every facet of the business and learned much. She also did some teaching.
Amanda played ice and field hockey while in High School in Buffalo. Then she played ice hockey while in college and also did some coaching.
Family, Animals, and gardening are Amanda’s passions. They have 3 dogs -- each a “rescue” -- and we saw a picture of them. She loves growing their own fruits and vegetables and then cooking with them for the family. She also is an accomplished baker. And their children work in the garden too.
Amanda did a lot of sewing during the covid period, and Shannon did also. The kids studied from home last year.
After her son was born Amanda started selling essential beauty oils. This helped her get through a difficult time. Then when son William started school Amanda began to volunteer with Parkland C.A.R.E.S. She knew from teaching that some students take school lunch food home to have as their supper. Then she met Gail Micca, discovered the Green Thumb Garden, and the rest is history.
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Our second speaker today was ASHLEY LORAH, Vice President of Affiliated Chambers for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. Pres. Ralph reminded us that Ashley did a presentation for us in 2019.
Ashley is the Emmaus Main Street Manager and Assistant Vice President of Affiliated Chambers for the East Penn, Southern Lehigh & Western Lehigh Chambers, where she serves to connect, inform, and educate the business and organizational communities of those areas.
Ashley began her time with the Chamber as an intern at the Allentown Chamber and the Hamilton District Main Street Program in 2014. She started on the Affiliated Chambers team in July 2018 with the Emmaus Main Street Partners, East Penn Chamber, and Western Lehigh Chamber. After six months in that position, she was given the opportunity to expand her region to include the Southern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce as well.
Ashley explained what our opportunities are as a member of the Chamber for the next year. She noted that she was with us in 2019 when we presented a check to Parkland C.A.R.E.S.
Ashley is our liaison with the Greater L. V. C of C. There is a staff of over 30 people that are available resources for us. She said that each local chamber has its own b.o.d. Tori Morgan, Brad Maier and Murtaza Jaffer are on our local board.
The board meets once a month and all are welcome. You need a ticket ($20) and you get a meal. But they take the Summer off into August.
There is a massive events calendar on their website. We can get involved, and some events are free. They also hold “Happy Hour” Mixers we can attend and just pay for our own beverages.
Also noteworthy is that they have available many different “Snail Mail” lists that can be used for promotions. And we get one black & white ad free in the Morning Call. They also have ways to connect us with other groups, if that makes sense.
As she was completing her talk Ashley casually mentioned that she is an active member of the Emmaus RC.
CLOSING:
Pres Ralph led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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