Today was a Zoom meeting with 31 people on line.
Pres. Gail Micca opened the meeting at 7:30 A.M. by ringing an imaginary bell. And she welcomed us all to our quarterly assembly.
GUEST ON LINE:
None today
OPENING:
Ernie Boll gave a very nice invocation. Then Pres. Gail led us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the U.S.
AWRC HISTORY STORY:
Past President, Chuck Ehninger, delivered today’s story about our RC charter activities and lists of Presidents..
Pres. Gail then led us in the recitation of the Four Way Test to which we added “Is it fun?”
HAPPY DOLLARS & NEWS:
Herb Klotz was calling in from Charleston, SC.
When asked, Tori Morgan explained that her “day” job is as a Compliance Manager for an environmental engineering firm.
Tori said that she went to a meeting at Gail Micca’s house and was greatly impressed by the fabulous oil paintings done by Gail and Ed’s daughter.
Gail Micca reports that she has just reached the 50 lbs. of weight loss goal. Then she added that she has 40 lbs. more to go.
Ralph Witcher was calling in from Rhode Island and asked us to say “Hi” to Pat. Marlene Heller moved his picture over next to Pat’s.
Sue Weber was soliciting foods for our picnic.
Amir Famili has an apricot tree that has yielded about 50 lbs. of ftesh apricots and we are invited to come there and get some.
Marlene Heller is celebrating two birthdays. One is her Great Niece born 8 days ago. The other is Gary’s which is today.
John Scott is happy that the program that took many months now is over.
Tom Friday is happy to report that his 6th grandchild was born on Monday. Also his daughter has been named Dean of Students at Newman University.
Andy Phillips is happy to be on today.
Ralph Witcher is grateful for Kathy Ott’s good work.
Halyna Stegura is happy that she avoided a medical procedure and gets a follow-up in two months. And she will attend our picnic on Sunday.
Bill Palmer is loving his new rescue dog, Sunshine.
CELEBRATIONS:
Pres. Gail displayed the list of July member events.
PICNIC: -- SUNDAY JULY 25:
Sue Weber has 30 folks signed up. To attend others just need to e-mail her. The site is almost ready. Bring your fishing gear if you want to fish their pond.
Also it is suggested that you bring some folding chairs and maybe a card table.
ROTARY MEANS BUSINESS:
Tori Morgan said that a committee is forming and they meet on Sundays at Jay’s. All are invited to participate.
FOOD DONATIONS:
We have added two more sites where we donate food items.
MEALS ON WHEELS PROJECT”
Kathy Ott says we now have 6 volunteers signed up. We should be starting in September.
MONGOLIAN YOUTH PROGRAM:
We are collecting baseball equipment – used -- to send to Mongolia to start a youth baseball program. Katrina Sundstrom’s daughter is collecting as well.
GAIL’S BIKING CHALLENGE:
As a fundraiser Gail is still seeking sponsors for her 60 miles a week biking during this RY as part of our 60 year celebration next May
YOUR SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES:
Please take a look at this section on the left side of this bulletin.
STATUS OF MORNING MEETINGS:
There will be hybrid meetings twice a month, plus all-zoom meetings for two more Wednesdays each month.
NEXT MORNING MEETING:
Wednesday July 28, 2021 starting at 7:30 a.m. IN-PERSON at Brookside Country Club in Macungie. Our program will be Jill D. Kearney, CEO Specialty Moves by Design to discuss Downsizing & Decluttering.
STATUS OF THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
Thursday evening meetings may be scheduled starting in July as one of the four monthly meetings.
PROGRAM:
Pres. Gail Micca began this Assembly by asking Treasurer Chris Blechschmidt to report on our finances as of June 30, 2021. Chris used a series of slides to explain how our finances are structured.
We have a club operating account that collects dues and pays the RI and District dues and our other operating expenses. And we have our AW Foundation account which is a 501-C-3 and it keeps score on our fundraising income and the “good works” outgo expenses.
There also is a Reserve account that receives 10% of the net fundraising proceeds each year. And then 5% is moved to the Foundation account each year.
Our fundraising this pandemic year was about $10,000 which was augmented by several specific new causes and generous supporting donations. Looking at our commitments and plans for this RY, we are $8,200 short. Gail’s bike event will help reduce this. Other fundraisers are being considered. We do have about $81,000 in the bank now compared to $100,000 a year ago.
Gail noted that Ed’s company, Intel, will be matching the funds raised by Gail’s bike travels.
Len Salines, Fundraising Chair, said that our raffles brought in $10,000 last year and that another $4,000 was donated.
Len noted that this year we have added the selling of the meeting table centerpieces of flowers or baked goods as a fundraiser.
We also will have a Casino Night fundraiser event as our celebration of 60 years or service in May of 2022. And we may do a version of Tempting Tastes again.
Len needs members to join this committee.
Secretary John Scott reviewed his duties such as taking board meeting notes, maintaining club records in ClubRunner and at RI, processing new member applications, and securing items for our Changeover such as new badges. John also is the Race Director for the D7430 annual 5K to eliminate Polio from the world, and volunteers are needed now for this October event.
John then welcomed Michelle Steiner as our Club Secretary for this RY.
Tom Friday, Membership Chair, noted that we currently have 57 Active and 11 Honorary members. Last RY we added 9 new members, and two of them still will do a classification talk.
Tom said that he is stepping down from this position and that PDG Herb Klotz has agreed to be our temporary Membership Chair.
Herb Klotz said that we need more members on this committee. And we need to focus on engagement so that every member has an assignment. Also we need help to orient new members and to handle their induction.
Gail Micca as Service Chair for the first half of the last RY, reviewed our many service projects. There were feeding the hungry, scholarships, Community Bike Works, Meals on Wheels, gift cards at Christmas, etc. We packed about 2,000 snacks for home delivery to middle schools.
Lori Peters noted that we were able to have Interact students complete the entire snack packing work, without Rotarian help.
Kathy Ott said that the impact on Interact students who help prepare snacks is phenomenal.
Jean Masiko confirmed that the Kingdom Life Food Center needs volunteers to distribute items.
Gail Micca said that over 3,200 hours of members’ time was donated last RY.
Sue Weber, reporting on Youth Services said that Camp Neidig last June worked out quite well. We need a member to step as our Coordinator for this once a year 3 day event.
Sue said that Youth Exchange was stopped cold by the pandemic.
Gwenn Carr reported on the district STEM-YEA project. There are 12 Rotarians on the committee and 18 RCs are supporting the project so far. The event will be in July of 2022, and Kathy Ott is helping. About 96 kids will participate in the 4 night- 3 day sessions.
Marlene Heller reported on our Public Image efforts over the last RY.
We are moving to our goals nicely. She gave examples of our Facebook posts results where we do as well as a RC twice our size. We also do get some articles about the club published in the local newspapers.
CLOSING:
Pres Gail led us in the saying “One profits most who serves best.” And she rang an imaginary bell.