Our Greeter today was not here in tome to greet.
President Mike Gschwendtner rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Pastor Jean Masiko gave a very nice invocation.
Pres. Mike began the meeting having the members recite the Five-way Test with the fifth question, “Is it Fun?” We recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S.
GUESTS:
David Haight, friend of Al Lewis; Fred Herman, Emmaus RC; and Craig Mucher, guest of Amir Famili.
Pres. Mike showed pictures of last week’s meeting at Parkland with VP Amir “pinning” new member John Tacca. Then we saw a basket of cheer and Barbara Kistler and friends at the TRF Gala on St. Patrick’s Day. We also saw some Parkland snack packing pics. He finished with some TT4 auction items.
LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Please remember that the Collection jar is at the registration desk for cash and check contributions.
Amir needs volunteers for this Saturday to buy and move fresh produce.
TEMPTING TASTES 4:
Gwenn Carr has materials -- Posters -- promoting TT4 and asked for more Auction items and more Sponsors. It’s time to sell more Tickets too.
KINGDOM LIFE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
Jean Masiko needs some help for this Friday evening.
YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT HOST:
Sue Weber said we have two host families for the 2018-19 school year and need a third. Gail Micca raised her hand and thus we have a plan. The young lady from Bosnia will attend Parkland H.S.
SCHEDULE:
President Mike announces upcoming events at our meetings and a list of them appears on our website. A list of the appropriate contact information appears each week in the A-W bulletin.
THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
April 12th at 5:30 P.M. at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville is the next meeting.
TT 4 MEETING:
The next TT4 project meeting will be at the Holiday Inn on Friday, April 6th starting at 7:30 AM.
TT4 AUCTION REVIEW PARTY -- APRIL 8th:
Gwenn and Gary are having a party at their home on Sunday, April 8th from 4 to 7 PM. The admission fee is one or more items to be auctioned off at TT4. Snacks will be served.
Dorothy Bloom needs some volunteers to help at the registration tables.
PUERTO RICO SUPPORT:
Herb and Ronnee Klotz visited Puerto Rico and St. Marten during their cruise and were disturbed by the obvious needs to recover still from the hurricane devastation. Herb said that there now is a “Donor Advised Fund” set up with the Rotary Foundation to accept donations to help in this relief effort. See separate article for check writing instructions.
ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS (EWB) EVENT:
April 15, 2018 from 4 to 7 P.M. at DeSales University is the annual EWB fundraiser Auction and Dinner. AW Rotarians as EWB partners are encouraged to attend and enjoy the fellowship and bid in the auctions.
NEXT WEEK:
Our meeting next week will be at the Northwestern Middle School Cafeteria with Student of the Month & the NW Interact Club Students.
Pres. Mike introduced S-A-A Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected some “Guilty” dollars. Because it had been so long since a drawing, Mitch gave out double tickets this morning.
The Door Prize donated by the club was won by our Emmaus RC guest, Fred Herman.
The $96 pot of the 50:50 was WON by Chris Blechschmidt’ s ticket. Many marbles will be available next week.
Bob Gordon told a joke about pushing a piece of letter paper and it still remaining stationary !
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Chris Blechschmidt paid a dollar and donated his other $95 of winnings to a fund for his daughter’s friend on the soccer team who needs help.
Randy Beitler is happy to announce that his son is getting married.
Joe Goll is happy that he recently had dinner with his son in NYC. His son had just returned from Greece.
Sue Weber is happy to see her friend Scott here this morning.
Gwen Pongracz is happy to have the three contest students with us this morning. And she is looking forward to seeing her new grandson in MD this weekend.
Dan Crane is happy that he came to the right place for our meeting this week. He also told a joke about a man going into a bar with a set of jumper cables being told not to start anything !
PROGRAM:
Gwen Pongracz explained that our program today was three area High School Freshman students competing with a 5 to 7 minute speech. The speech topics were to be about an ethical issue and how it relates to Rotary’s 4-Way Test.
The audience was cautioned to provide no favoritism applause nor to leave the room during the speeches. It was noted that this contest series was first introduced to our 45 RC district via AWRC during Bill Palmer’s year as DG,. And PDG Bill Weber and Sue conducted the very first contest at Parkland H.S.
The contestants were brought forward with just a number to keep their names secret until after the judging. The three speakers were:
First - Maggie Mauro from Northwestern Lehigh who spoke about the issue of acceptance of individuals regardless of their differences.
Second was Miss Brensinger of Northwestern Lehigh who discussed the issue of privatized federal prisons vs. Government operated prisons.
The third speaker was Tyler Bartman of Parkland H.S. who discussed the need for setting personal goals and then never giving up.
The Judges today were Donna Beach, Dan Crane and Len Salines. The Timekeeper was Ginny Sandoval, and Barbara Kistler was the Scorekeeper.
First place and $100 went to Tyler. Second was Miss Brensinger and $75. Third place was Maggie who received #50.
All of us agreed that this was a very special event for us. Thank you Gwen and Ginny for making it happen.
CLOSING:
We closed our meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
