Today was a ZOOM meeting and there were about 40 of us on line. After 15 minutes of talking amongst ourselves with our Greeter being President Amir Famili, he opened the meeting at 7:45 A.M. P-E Ralph Witcher gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS ON LINE: District Governor Nominee, Bob Hobaugh, Kutztown RC; Carl Zvanut, EWB; Ginny Sandoval; Dale Hostetter; Jaden and Avery Matzinger, granddaughters of Dale Heffner; Sandi Boll, wife of Ernie; and Chad Butters, our Speaker;. It was nice to have Dawn Costello with us.
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.
Pres. Amir thanks all “first responders” for what they do and asks all to pray for them. And he reminds us that we are people of action.
CAMP NEIDIG 2020 IS CANCELLED:
See the details in the separate article.
LOHILL FOOD PANTRY DONATIONS:
Thanks go to the generosity of our AW Rotarians. We now are able to deliver sixty five, $25 each, Weis market gift cards to the Lowhill food pantry for distribution to their clients.
Pres/ Amir says: “You have truly demonstrated that Rotarians are people of ACTION.” The Lowhill folks thank AW Rotarians.
HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES:
Laurie Grube and her Bank are available to help small businesses work through the new government support options. They are very busy now.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD BANK:
See separate write-up. Jean Masiko thanks our friends from EWB and said that the plan is to do these distributions every Saturday.
OARKLAND C.A.R.E.S. UPDATE:
See Katrina Sundstrom’s separate report.
LUTHER CREST STATUS:
See Al Lewis’ separate report.
AWRC ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS:
Dr. Barbara Kistler has explained that this sub-committee met and agreed to make individual scholarship awards during our Zoom meetings starting on April 29.
AWRC PEN SET AVAILABLE:
Pres. Amir showed a picture of a Rotary pen set with AWRC on it for sale at $100. Each purchase will put $90 into an account to provide food for the hungry Thanks go to Gail Micca for making this happen.
MORNING MEETINGS;
President Amir Famili has suspended all AWRC face-to-face meetings until further notice. ZOOM meetings are now scheduled for each Wednesday at 7:30 A.M.
THURSDAY EVENING SCHEDULE:
No meetings for Thursday evening are scheduled yet.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Starting at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday April 29th. We will use ZOOM to meet together with appropriate distancing. Our program will be Dr. Ann Bieber , President of LCCC discussing a New Initiatives at LCCC. And we will award a scholarship to a student of LCCC.
HAPPY DOLLARS and MEMBER NEWS:
Pres. Amir conducted this part and kept score on who owes how much money. BTW it is $2 for ZOOM happiness.
Brad Maier said that his State Farm Insurance people will do a program in his office and cash donations to Rotary will be made. This is available through June 30, 2020.
Bill Weber invites all who want to get out to come to Tranquility Farm and walk around and fish in the pond. Please let them know that you are coming.
Diana Dunn asked Carl Zvanut about the Matru, Sierra Leone, hospital conference room use. Carl said that they did a Zoom meeting with the local staff and the computers worked fine. They thank Rotary.
PROGRAM #1:
Gary Englehardt introduced Chad Butters, Founder / CEO of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, in New Tripoli. Chad is a retired Army aviator with over 25 years of active duty military service. Chad has broad experience in project management, human resource management, leadership, operations management, problem-solving, regulatory compliance and system safety development.
Chad holds a B.S. Degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle University and earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Drexel University.
Chad’s 25 year active duty career as an Army Aviator took him and his family around the world, leading up to his retirement in 2015. His passion for family, agriculture, science, and history eventually led to the creation of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery,
He works closely with his daughter Carly, the General Manager, and his son-in-law Logan, the Director of Distillery Operations. Chad was in AWRC and participated in the first Tempting Tastes event.
Chad explained that their farm grows wheat, rye and barley that is used to produce a variety of alcoholic beverages. In February 2020 it was apparent that things were changing. Then on March 13th the team decided to convert their distillation systems, skills, and people to the making of bottled hand sanitizer solution.
Eight Oaks always has tried to be a positive influence on its community. When he saw scammers selling these sanitizers on-line for over $300, he took action. By Monday March 16 they had produced their first batch. In their first week they made 4,800 8 Oz. bottles of sanitizer.
They went on Facebook and told their story of wanting to supply their four surrounding counties using their distribution firm. Then CNN picked up the story. . Later they added two more counties.
Local companies like Niagara and Nestle donated thousands of bottles. And individuals made cash donations that grew to about $100,000 to support the work.
So far they have produced 100,000 8 Oz. bottles of sanitizer. Individual companies such as PETCO are buying these items. Prices are in the $.15 to .25 per Oz. range. Their product is at least 80% alcohol by volume.
They now have a 64 Oz. size in production. And they are following the F.D.A. guidelines. They will begin direct sales soon at $15 per 64 Oz. bottle.
Chad answered some questions and received many compliments for all that they are doing to serve.
PROGRAM #2 -- Amir’s surprise:
Dr. Robert M. Gordon of AWRC fame came on line from his Florida home to speak about the corona virus. Bob speaks from firsthand experience. On a business trip to New Orleans he contracted the virus.
Bob was extremely fatigued for about four weeks. He tested negative last week, and currently is back to feeling fine.
Bob talked about how we can get very anxious and fearful. This is a very contagious virus. But we need to remind ourselves that we are not helpless victims.
Thanks, Bob, for the visit this morning.
CLOSING:
Pres. Amir led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
Photos by Gary Heller
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