Today was a Zoom meeting with 29 on line.
Pres. Gail Micca opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M. And she welcomed us all.
GUESTS ON LINE:
Nick Millward, calling in from Kurdistan; Briana and Ken Carpenetti, parents of our student of the month; Eric Roberts, Parkland H.S. Guidance Counselor; Debbie Jack, Exec. Dir. Parkland Community Library.; and Clay Reilly, guest of Herb Klotz.
OPENING:
Pastor Jean Masiko gave a very nice invocation. Then Pres. Gail led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S. She then led us in the recitation of the Four Way Test to which we added “Is it fun?”
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
Emma Carpenetti, a Senior at Parkland High School, is the AWRC Student-of-the-Month for November. Rev. Jeff Kistler conducted the ceremony honoring Emma. See separate article.
Emma thanked us and said Rotarians do good things. Eric Roberts praised Emma and wished her well. Her Father revealed that Emma is a “triplet.”
AWRC HISTORY STORY:
Past President Ernie Boll delivered today’s story about our long time support of The Rotary Foundation.
QUESTON OF THE WEEK:
Pres Gail revealed her latest plan to promote more knowledge of RI. Starting at next week’s meeting there will be a quiz that should get our attention.
2022 ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION:
Pres. Gail noted that this annual event will take place June 4 to 8 in Houston, TX. She plans to attend, as does Herb Klotz.
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of November member events. We sang -- poorly -- Happy Birthday for Jeff Kistler.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Amir Famili will be collecting produce.
PARKLAN C.A.R.E.S. PANTRY:
Nov 13 is produce delivery and packing work. Volunteers are needed. Katrina Sundstrom asks all to come see what they do.
SNACK PACKING:
Kathy Ott asks for volunteers for Wednesday Nov. 17 at Parkland.
FAMILY PROMISE:
Gift card donations for homeless and sick are coming along, but more are needed.
LEHIGH VALLEY REFUGEE CENTER:
Amir Famili said that one member has donated a female bike. A male bike still is needed.
Sharon Rodgers has made beautiful Pumpkin centerpieces for sale, with proceeds going to cancer research.
Meals on Wheels still can use more backup volunteers.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD DISTRIBUTION:
Jean Masiko noted that the next distribution will be on November 20th.
CASINO NIGHT AT THE WHEELS MUSEUM:
The date is January 29th. Details were distributed at the last meeting. Chair, Len Salines, said that we need to sign up sponsors, hopefully by Thanksgiving.
PIE CRIMPING CHALLENGE:
Due to a late arrival of the machine, Stephanie Fenstermacher of The Buttered Crumb, now must crimp the edges of her pies by hand. On Friday Nov. 12 there will be volunteers to do this and each will earn $15 an hour for our AW Operating fund.
ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY:
Saturday, December 11 will be our annual holiday party at Brookside Country Club in Macungie. A sign-up list is available now with 3 food options.
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
There is an updated list of service opportunities in the coming weeks: on the left side of this bulletin. They are:
Habitat for Humanity – Any Tuesday or Thursday morning
contact Amir, familiamir@gmail.com
HAPPY DOLLARS & NOTES:
Nick Millward called in from Kurdistan where he has been for 3 weeks. He is studying and will be there thru next May, except for Christmas mid-term break.
Gail Micca said that she had cut her own hair.
Jeff Kistler worked at the Polls yesterday in Heidelberg Township.
Ernie Boll called in from Arizona at 5:15 a.m. his time.
Ron Coleman’s Kitchen is all torn up -- getting updated.
Amir Famili was at Habitat for Humanity yesterday.
Herb Klotz welcomed guest Clay Reilly.
He also recommends attending the June 2022 RI Convention in Houston. It is only held in the U.S. every 5 years.
Herb also promoted the annual RI Foundation Seminar at DeSales University on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Nick Millward has hooked up with a dozen grandparents -- 11 are “babushkas” -- in Kurdistan to be of service.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS:
The first and third Wednesday meetings in November and December will be via Zoom. The second and fourth will be in-person at the Starlite Diner.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday November 10, 2021 in person starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Starlite Diner. Our program will be PDG Herb Klotz, Zone 32 Coordinator 2021-24 providing a Rotary Foundation Talk
PROGRAM:
Program Chair, Ralph Witcher, introduced Katrina Sundstrom who then introduced Jenae Holtzhafer, Founder & Exec Dir Kindness Project. The Kindness Project: Shining a Bright Light for the Foster Care Community.
Katrina and Janae have been friends for 10 years. She said that the “Kindness Project” is incredible and Jenae is a Force.
The Kindness Project is a volunteer-run, donation-based, nonprofit organization created to provide support to foster families in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas. We supply clothing, shoes, furniture and other essential items free of charge as children in the foster care system are placed in their homes along with seasonal supplemental support. Our physical shop, "The Kindness Exchange," is located in Emmaus, PA.
Our mission is to provide a brighter future for children in foster care by offering free essential resources and enrichment opportunities.
Jenae (Wolfe) Holtzhafer is a lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley. She and her husband, Brian, a Parkland middle-school science teacher, have two teen sons, Addison, a sophomore at Montana State University, and Weston, a freshman at Emmaus High School. They live on a small farm on South Mountain with a border collie, Kit Carson, two goats, Jasper and Percival, and a flock of chickens.
In 2010, Jenae and Brian got involved with The Fresh Air Fund, a nonprofit based in NYC that has offered new experiences to over 1.8 million underserved children since 1877. Together, they built a volunteer host family base in the Lehigh Valley starting at 15 host families in 2011 and growing to over 100 local host families in 2017, inviting over 100 NYC children for ‘fresh air’ and special memories in the Lehigh Valley.
Jenae was awarded the 2011 Volunteer Chairperson of the Year Award and the 2012 Volunteer Fund Representative of the Year Award by the Fresh Air Fund and was eventually hired as a field consultant to expand host family bases throughout other areas of northeast and central Pennsylvania.
Knowing they could not have more children of their own, and having a passion to help children, Jenae and Brian came to the realization that they might be able to offer even more support to local children in need, perhaps through foster care. They were just waiting for the right time.
In October 2017, Faith Church’s pastor Joe Henseler gave a poignant message that spoke to Jenae and Brian. Having partnered with Salvation Army Children’s Services in Allentown, the church encouraged families to consider adoption or foster care. As much as Jenae and Brian loved their work with The Fresh Air Fund, the impact was temporary, just one or two weeks each summer. They knew they had more to give and began the foster care application process with the Salvation Army.
Through their foster care training, they learned about the expenses and needs of foster families and the gaps in support to children in foster care. Jenae’s friend had just begun a foster closet in Berks County called Threads of Change. Jenae expressed her interest in helping expand this free service to the Lehigh Valley, as nothing of this nature existed in most of eastern PA.
In October 2017, Jenae met with directors from Lehigh County Children and Youth Services to gauge if the need was concrete in our area – to which they said YES! Through grassroots efforts, she and Brian began collecting clothing, shoes, baby equipment and other child-related items, filling their dining room, garage and basement with bins filled with donations.
By March 2018, a physical store was open in a rented space in Emmaus, volunteers were assigned hours to work at the shop, and processes for donations and distributions were being implemented.
As of Fall 2021, The Kindness Project has developed a volunteer team of almost 100 people serving over 750 local children in foster care. They have partnered with almost two dozen foster care agencies in a dozen counties throughout eastern PA. The number of donations has been endless. And they proudly own a 2-acre property with a 3,300 square foot shop and 1,500 pole barn for storage.
Jenae graduated from Pennsylvania State University with high distinction with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies which has supported her knowledge in childhood development. She has attended TBRI (Trauma-Based Relational Intervention) training which has provided great insight to children coming from some of the hardest places.
Jenae is happiest when she is serving the community in ways that will make it a kinder, better place. For her efforts, she has humbly received the 2016 Iron Pigs Community Star Award and was the recipient of the Inaugural 2019 Kindness Award from Lehigh County Children & Youth Services. She was also honored to receive the 2019 International Women’s Day Award from the Emmaus Rotary Club.
One of her favorite quotes is “My life is like a loan given from God. I will give this loan back with interest." ~ Happy, a 2011 feature documentary
Janae is grateful for this opportunity to share her vision of The Kindness Project with the Allentown West Rotary Club.
Janae reminded us that she met with AW Rotarians four years ago. She and Dale Heffner’s daughter, Jessica Nonnemacher, told us about Threads of Change.
As the pandemic comes to an end there seems to be a tsunami of children who need foster care. There are 16,000 in PA currently. Neglect is a common reason for kids to move to foster care. Sometimes it is a relative that steps up.
Many times the care starts as an emergency with a Foster Parent getting a call saying the child is on its way to you now. And they have no clothes, food, supplies, etc. on hand. That is where the Kindness inventory makes things work.
The Kindness Project is a not-for-profit foundation. They hold a mini-golf tournament each September, among other fundraisers. They receive donations of clothes, supplies, etc. on a regular basis. But they always need cash to help run the effort. Janae is the only paid staff member.
Janae is working on ways to provide other support to the foster kids. This would be Tutoring, music lessons and Art classes.
CLOSING:
Pres. Gail led us in reciting our motto “One profits most who serves best.”, rang the bell and adjourned the meeting.
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