Allentown West Rotary
Meeting, February 27, 2019
Our Greeter today was Jean Masiko and she did a marvelous job.
President Jeanne Shipe rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting and welcomed all to AWRC. Then Jean Masiko gave a very nice invocation
Pres. Jeanne began the meeting having the members recite the 4 Way test, followed with our saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag.
GUESTS:
Michelle Ramirez, guest of Amir Famili; Ron Helmuth, Bethlehem Morning Star RC; Andrea, our Youth Exchange student from Croatia; John and Marla McDonald; parents of our Student of the Month; Mr. Michael Sikora, a Northwestern Lehigh teacher; and Jeff Gutgold, husband of our Speaker.
Our speaker today has interviewed the President of Croatia. So Andrea from Croatia and Nichola posed for this picture.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PARKLAND SNACK PACKING IS TODAY.
DISTRICT CONFERENCE 2019:
Pres. Jeanne urges us all to sign up to attend this annual event right in Allentown.
DGE Herb Klotz explained that the May 3 to 5 Conference offers a single day option for Saturday. Herb said that the more AW Rotarians that go, the better it will be for us to help plan and run the 2020 District Conference -- His.
OTHER PLANS:
We are working on an updated strategic plan.
Marlene Heller has been adding to our Facebook page.
On March 13th we will induct a new member -- Katrina Sundstrom.
May 15th will be an Open House Mixer meeting here at Luther Crest.
It seems that with Andrea’s help that we will have an Outbound Exchange student for next Fall.
There are three new projects being considered for our support.
DINING OUT:
TOMORROW, February 28, Thursday, Tacos and Tequila Cocina and Cantina, 520 Hamilton St., Allentown, at 6 pm. Contact Herb Klotz if you want to be added to the list.
March 28, Thursday, Gio's Italian Grill, 6465 Village Lane, Macungie, (Route 100) at 6 P.M.
April 28, Sunday TT5 at the Holiday Inn 4 to 7 P.M.
SPECIAL AWARD MARCH 7th:
Our own Barbara Kistler will receive an award on March 7th at the Emmaus RC celebration of International Women’s Day.
LOWHILL TOWNSHIP FOOD PANTRY:
P-E Amir Famili needs volunteers. Please sign up.
TT5:
Gwenn Carr announced that there will be a Party on Saturday March 24th. The price of admission is to bring a gift for the TT5 Auction.
Our leader, Gwenn Carr says “The date for our main fundraiser is rapidly approaching and we need more sponsors. Sponsors are integral to the success of this fundraiser.
“If you can't be a sponsor please contact someone who can be a sponsor or who can provide a donation. Every dollar helps!
“To be a sponsor go to www.temptingtastes.net/Sponsor.pdf
Complete the form and send it to me at gwenn.carr@verizon.net.
“Our website is www.temptingtastes.net where there is more information.
“Our Facebook page is Rotary Tempting Tastes. Please visit and "like" our age.”
TT5 AUCTION ITEM PREVIEW:
See separate article.
FOUNDATION GALA IS COMING:
The annual D7430 Foundation Gala will be held on Saturday March 23rd at the Pottstown Brookside CC. It is a costume event for those who wish to do so.
THURSDAY EVE MEETING TOMORROW:
The next one is the Dining Out at Tacos & Tequila on February 28th.
RLI MARCH 30th:
Rotary Leadership Institute training is on March 30th at the Radisson in King of Prussia. Give it a try, if you have not done it yet. Your registration fee will be reimbursed to you afterwards.
NEXT MEETING:
March 6th -- Our Greeter will be ??? and our program will be . Shushma Patel our 2020 District 7430 Conference Chair discussing plans to make it the best ever for Herb.
Pres. Jeanne introduced our Sgt-at-Arms, Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected Happy Dollars.
The first door prize donated by our Feb 13th Greeter was a special Valentine Towel which was won by Dan Crane.
The second door prize was a breakfast donated by Jean Masiko and it was won by Ralph Witcher.
The $69 pot of the 50:50 was NOT won by Bob Gordon’s ticket being drawn followed by a white marble. Seven marbles will be around for next week.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Al Lewis put in $5 “unhappy” dollars because he did not see the 5 A.M. e-mail cancelling last week’s meeting -- he was there.
P-E Amir Famili said that last week’s PETS was good. And he distributed 2019-20 RI Theme lapel pins.
Dottie Bloom thanks the AW Rotarian volunteers that did Meals on Wheels on President’s day.
Herb Klotz said that the Annual Engineers Without Borders fundraiser will be a t DeSales University on Sunday April 7th from 4 to 7 PM. Cost is $60 pp.
Mitch Huston happily reports that the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce last night celebrated a new project for the center of Quakertown.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
MEGHAN McDONALD is our Student of the Month for February 2019, Rev. Jeff Kistler conducted the award ceremony. See separate article.
PROGRAM:
Our program today was Dr Nichola Gutgold, PhD, discussing Women World Leaders. Dr. Gutgold is a professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State Lehigh Valley. She is an internationally recognized scholar on the rhetoric of women in non-traditional fields.
Dr. Gutgold’s research has been featured in many publications. She has been a visiting professor at California State University, Chico, and University of Zagreb, Croatia.
She is the recipient of numerous awards for her teaching and research, including the 2016 Teaching Fellow Award from Penn State's University College.
Using a PowerPoint program Dr. Gutgold began with examples of women around the world who are in special leadership positions. These included:
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany (since 2005)
Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (since January 2009)
Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Lithuania (since 2009)
Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan (since 2016)
Hilda Heine, President of the Marshall Islands (since 2H016)
Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway (since 2013)
Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile (since 2014)
Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta (since 2014)
Ameenah Gurib, President of Mauritius (since 2015)
Saara Kuugongelwa, Prime Minister of Namibia (since 2015)
Bidhya Devi Bhandari, President of Nepal (since 2015)
Jacinda Ardern Prime Minister of New Zealand Since 2017
Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland
Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland
Corazon Aquino, former president of Phiippines
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former president of Phiippines
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, President of Croatia (since 2015)
Next Dr. Gutgold discussed the barriers for women. She listed:
Gender stereotypes
Career choice and preparation
Family demands
Sex discrimination
The political system
Under Gender Discrimination Dr. Gutgold included the quote:
“Teresa May has appeared in a fashion magazine and a national newspaper has commented on the Prime Minister and First Minister of Scotland’s legs. If you are a female politician, it seems there is no escape from scrutiny – not only on your political record but also your behavior and appearance. Women are judged on the ‘type’ of woman they are and it turns out this can be generally boiled down to three – butch, a bitch, or a mummy. If these stereotypes aren’t going anywhere, how can women in leadership positions get the job done?”
- Professor Sue Wharton
Career Choice and Preparation:
Women are initially attracted to running for office less as a career than as a way of providing public service. Issue mobilization is an important route to politics, as well as the realization that serving in office is a major way to have an impact on issues.
What do successful women need:
Academic
Elected Office
Foreign Affairs
Charisma
Dynamic
Look the part
Family Demands:
More women with young children are running for political office
Advocates hope that having more mothers running and serving in political office, will bring more insight into the myriad issues that affect women and working families.
Historically, having a young family has presented challenges for candidates.
The Political System:
How women rise:
Overcoming (or capitalizing) on the barriers:
“outsider” status
Widows (historically)
the electoral system
Does not require gender parity
fundraising
Moving Forward:
Parliamentary systems in other countries have allowed for the election of more women to office.
Tough media treatment of women candidates in the United States may keep more would-be candidates away from the US presidency.
Programs that encourage women to run are helpful.
Dr. Gutgold’s closing thoughts included “In the US – 2018 has been dubbed another “Year Of The Woman”. And she reviewed “Women Running for US president 2020.”
CLOSING:
We closed our meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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