Our Greeter today was Brian Peterka and he did a marvelous job.
President Amir Famili rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. opening the meeting and welcomed all. Then David Haight gave a very nice invocation with a special mention of Ronnee Klotz.
Secretary John Scott began the meeting by having the members recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Then he led us in reciting the Four Way Test. John then introduces our guests and reviewed upcoming events.
GUESTS:
Oliver and Carolee Smith, parents of Jacob; and Northwestern teacher, Stacie Schafer: Pat Witcher, wife of Ralph. And Jack Martin, guest of Ralph Witcher.
And Dawn Costello was with us today.
OUR APRIL 24-26 DISRICT CONFERENCE:
John Scott said that so far we do not have enough AW members registered. DF Herb needs even more so we can staff our table at the “Summit” and explain the projects that we do.
Herb Klotz noted that there are a number of ways to attend OUR conference. You can volunteer for some hours for any day, but Saturday needs the most.
ALSO we really need some more corporate sponsors.
LEARN ABOUT ROTARY:
The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) offers many levels of Rotary education. AWRC will reimburse the registration fee to members that attend the Saturday, March 28 session at DeSales University.
These courses are most worthwhile, especially to our newer members.
PARKLAND C.A.R.E.S. FUNDRAISER:
John noted the March 28th fundraiser. See separate notice.
DONATIONS ARE NEEDED:
Dottie Bloom is charged with setting up and stocking a Hospitality Room for both Friday and Saturday evenings at OUR April 24 and 25 District Conference. Donations of Beer, Wine and snacks for at least 40 guests are needed. Please contact Dottie at bloomnbunny@ptd.net.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
This great group still depends on cash donations from AW Rotarians. And volunteering for the produce pick-up and distribution on Saturday mornings is a very satisfying thing.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
Jacob Smith was recognized as AWRC’s Student of the month of February. Rev. Jeffrey Kistler conducted the ceremony. Teacher, Stacie Schafer said some nice things about Jacob. See separate article.
THURSDAY EVENING SCHEDULE:
Tomorrow, February 13th -- The meeting will be held at the Starlite Diner starting at 5:30 P.M. in the private back room.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
February 19th at Luther Crest with Len Salines as our Greeter. The program will be Daniel Delgadillo discussingthe Peace Corps.
Pres. Amir introduced Sgt.-at-Arms Len Salines who conducted the drawings and collected Happy Dollars.
The door prize bottle of wine donated by Brian Peterka was won by Laurie Grube.
The $66 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Bill Palmer’s ticket being drawn followed by a white marble. Eight marbles will be back next time.
HAPPY DOLLARS
Len asked if anybody knows the longest word in the dictionary (SMILES).
Chris Blechschmidt is happy to announce that Andrea, our Y.E. student from last year is coming here to visit.
Chris also is happy to report that wife, Allison, spoke at Amir’s Mosque last weekend.
Amir Famili said that Allison gave a great talk.
Also Amir has been appointed to the Board of Muhlenberg College.
Brad Maier urges us to support the Parkland C.A.R.E.S. March 28 event.
Pat Witcher is pleased to announce that today is son Seth’s 21st birthday. And Pat is happy to be here today.
Dawn Costello reports on her two grandchildren Alec now works for ESPN in advertising. Maddie is a Freshman at the University of Michigan and is a tri-athlete.
Jeff Kistler is happy to see Dawn here today. And he is happy that Barbara and he are going on a cruise to the Western Caribbean Friday.
Bill Palmer reports that Sue and Bill Weber are doing well in Hilton Head and sends their best regards to us.
PROGRAM:
Murtaza Jaffer introduced our speaker for today, Phil Armstrong, Executive Director, Lehigh County, to discuss the Priorities of Lehigh County. The Census and the new voting role. Murtaza noted that Phil was his H.S. History teacher, and that Phil likes Jeeps.
Phil graduated from Kutztown University in 1971 with a B.S in Secondary Education and a minor in social studies. He obtained his Master’s Degree in education in 1975. He settled in Whitehall Township where he taught social studies for more than 40 years.
Phil’s retirement from education led him to his next venture in public service when he was appointed to the Whitehall Board of Commissioners. In 2017 Phil became part of the Lehigh County Government.
Phil said he came to tell us a little bit about Lehigh County. Many residents know very little.
There are 50 municipalities in Lehigh Cty and Phil vests each one all year long. When he does he asks questions. And when folks ask for help solving problems, Phil tries to provide it.
The annual budget for Lehigh County is $514 million. Then $127 million of that comes from County Property Taxes. The other funds are “pass through” monies. And, Yes, the property taxes are increased by 3.8 % for this year. Phil said that they try to spend our tax monies very carefully.
Phil said a few years ago it seemed to be Party against Party. But this latest budget was approved by 7 to 2.
Phil discussed the County Justice System. They received a $280 million grant for their model Justice program. They added an Advocate to work with arrestees and speed up the processing times. Many of these people have mental health problems or drug issues. The shorter times have allowed them to close two wings of the jail.
Phil said that Lehigh Cty has a homeless Veterans problem, and that the Feds cut some money out. So a new Foundation has been formed to accept funds. Yesterday, Feb 11, State Senator Pat Browne presented the County with $200,000 for this cause.
Switching subjects to Elections, Phil said we switched to paper ballots last time to feed into the computers. Now we can go On-line up to 50 days ahead, and get an early voting ballot. They expect 40,000 to 50,000 mailed ballots, and need to find storage space for them.
Next Phil said that the 2020 Census is coming. We will receive postcards that we can fill out and return. Or we can go On-line and do it. It seems that ten years ago the census missed about 30,000 people. This cost the County many dollars in state support.
Phil asks all Rotarians and their friends to spread the word to reply to the census.
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir closed our meeting by our reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Gary Heller