Today was an offsite In-Person meeting at LCTI -- Lehigh Career & Technical Institute -- starting at 7:30 A.M. There were 51 of us present. The students prepared the continental breakfast.
Our Greeter was Ron Coleman. Mitch Huston handled registration, prizes and Happy Dollars.
GUESTS:
Dr. Lisa Greenawalt of LCTI and member candidate; Lisa Luciano, Allentown RC; and Kathy Frazier, Allentown RC.
OPENING:
Pres. Gail Micca opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M.
Chuck Ehninger gave a nice invocation.
Ron Coleman led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag.
Nicole McGalla led us in reciting the Four Way Test, and added “Is it Fun?”
CELEBRATIONS:
The member celebrations for April are listed below. Pres. Gail emphasized the 40th anniversary of Pearline & Tom Friday on Apr 16.
AWRC GREEN THUMB GARDEN:
Rotary Day of Service on April 29th will be at the Green Thumb Garden with Interact students. All are welcome to come and work.
We will do major planting in May and volunteers are needed.
PRIZES:
The $10 door prize was won by Kathy Frazier.
The $18 50:50 prize was won by Ralph Witcher who donated it to the LCTI program.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Herb Klotz was happy to report that they had a great time at the STEM YEA Raffle last Saturday in Pottstown, and Herb was a big winner.
Mike, a guest and running for the Parkland School Board, was happy to be back visiting a RC. He was a Rotarian in Texas.
Lisa Walton was happy that her fresh flowers sold out today.
Nicole McGalla is happy that their son was accepted into the college he wanted.
Gail Micca is happy for Nicole.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH:
Chair, Nicole McGalla, conducted the ceremony honoring Jessica Dutan as the S.O.M. for April. See separate article.
Jessica’s Mother was with us today.
Jessica thanked us and her teachers for all of their support. She may be heading for the Real Estate business.
Pres. Gail gave Jessica a pepper plant and a tomato plant from our garden.
HIGHWAY CLEANUP APRIL 16TH:
Sharon Goldner on April 16 told Facebook “Thanks to my mighty crew Mother Nature is Smiling”.
Gail Micca reports that approximately 20 bags of litter and debris were collected. Sharon and our garden friend, Doug, Ed, Gail and Diana helped.
POTATO PROJECT ON APRIL 22:
Meet at St. Peter’s Church in Fleetwood.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEETING:
Gail Micca reports that this was a Non Profit Business Partners Breakfast at Artquest;
Thank you to Brad Maier who sponsored the LV Chamber Non-Profit Business Partners Breakfast through his State Farm Insurance Agency and donated his table for our club’s exposure and hosted Bill Keba and Gail Micca to attend. It was a wonderful opportunity.
DINING OUT – MAY:
Bill Keba said our May Flex Meeting / Dining Out is tentatively scheduled for May 2 from 6:00 to 8:00 at Casa Catrina, 1905 Brookside Rd, Macungie.
We can arrive at 5:00 for drinks, although, and unfortunately, they don't have an official Happy Hour. A few of us have dined here and found it worthy of sharing. I hope you will attend. There is an access ramp near the main entrance.
Please let Bill Keba know your interest by replying to this email by April 17. [email protected]
SNACK PACKING:
The next Snack Packing event at Parkland is on May 17th.
The NWL Snack Packing dates is Wednesday, May 17th at 2:05.
STEM YEA RAFFLE:
Herb Klotz reports that on April 15 ten members and friends from the AWRC attended the 2nd annual STEM YEA fundraiser at Brookside Country Club in Pottstown. The AWRC Rotarian included Bill and Sue Weber, Gail Micca, Ron Coleman, Diana Dunn and Herb Klotz.
There was a reverse raffle and silent auction to raise money for STEM YEA. The guest speaker was doctor and author Peter Kowey who told us about his mystery novels and we all received one book to read!
The whole evening was a lot of fun including music, dancing and meeting other Rotarians and friends from our district. To top it off, Herb and one of our guests were both big winners from the reverse raffle!
Here are two special photos from the event:
Gail & Ed Micca
Sue & Bill Weber
ROTARY DAY OF SERVICE:
April 29th is this district-wide event. Pres. Gail has scheduled work at the Green Thumb Garden. Please come help.
KINGDOM LIFE FOOD DISTRIBUTION:
Ron Coleman, Ernie and Sandi Boll, Gail and Ed Micca helped to fill the trunks of nearly 375 families at the Kingdom Life Food Pantry on Saturday, April 15. In addition to all of the food shared on site, another 30 boxes were sent along with volunteers to bless families we know who are in need. Come and help next time.
The upcoming date for Kingdom Life Food Pantry Giveaway is
May 13.
Each time we start at 7:30 A.M. and usually are finished by 9:30 A.M. Volunteers are needed.
PARKLAND C.A.R.E.S. PRODUCE DELIVERY:
The Pantry will hold its food distributions on the first Saturday of each month for all of 2023. The next date is May 6.
Three volunteers are needed each time.
Food collections for Parkland C.A.R.E.S. will be held the third Wednesday of each month at the Pantry on Kernsville Road.
MEALS ON WHEELS:
Meal delivery by AW Rotarians takes place twice each week. Helen Papathanasiou needs substitute volunteers.
INTERACT BREAKFAST:
We will hold an Interact breakfast on May 31 at the Parkland H.S. Library. Start time is 7:30 A.M.
SPONSORS ARE NEEDED TO PAY FOR THE STUDENTS’ MEALS.
D7430 TRAING ASSEMBLY:
This is open to us all. It is on April 22 at the Bucks County Community College. Registration fee will be reimbursed by the club if you attend.
YOUTH EXCHANGE ISSUES:
Please work with Chris Blechschmidt to take our Y.E. student, Sam, to complete his “bucket list.”
ALSO, while we have one host family, we need a second family to take in next year’s Y.E. student. The Blechschmidts are not available for 2023-24.
MEETING SCHEDULE:
The second and fourth Wednesday of each month are In-Person meetings at Cedar Crest College.
The first Wednesday of each month will be a Dining Out meeting, or equal. It might not be on a Wednesday.
The third Wednesday of each month will be a ZOOM ONLY meeting with a program, unless we have a better idea.
FUTURE TOURS, ETC.:
All members are asked to make suggestions to Gail Micca about other tours, Dining Out events, etc. for future meetings.
NEXT MORNING MEETING IN-PERSON:
April 26 IN-PERSON at Cedar Crest College starting at 7:30 A.M.
The program will be Gwenn Carr, Gary Englehardt & Herb Klotz for the AWRC Path Forward Planning Session - Part 2.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Gail turned the meeting over to Dr. Lisa Greenawalt, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at LCTI. She gave us an update, and later a tour, of LCTI. Lisa is a future Rotarian.
CTSO's: An Opportunity for Student Leadership and Professional Development CTSO stands for Career and Technical Student Organizations.
Lisa was new at LCTI last Fall. She plans to expand school activities. She noted that they share a driveway with LCCC.
LCTI is 51 years old, having been started by Bob Nagle of AWRC. At this time they have 45 programs and 2,400 students.
Lisa explained how before LCTI each school had its own school trade courses -- if they could afford them. LCTI provides the trade training for all of the Lehigh County so all schools can send students there.
LCTI connects with local businesses and their efforts always are evolving. They have half day and full day student programs. And they have adult programs too.
Using slides, Lisa described a number of current programs. The one Jessica is in is DECA program for Marketing & Entrepreneurship.
This program includes learning public speaking skills.
The school has just completed a $4.2 million project of a state-of-the-art welding laboratory. It took four years to do.
The recently added an Animal school that was needed. It works with many veterinarians in the area to train future Vets.
Lisa answered some questions.
CLOSING:
Pres. Gail thanked the speakers and closed the meeting.
The meeting was followed by a tour.
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