Treasurer Gary Englehardt rang the bell to call the meeting to order.
Marlene Heller gave the week's reflection.
Guests
Chris Hornaman attended today's meeting.
Rotarian of the Month was Marlene Heller, for the work she does on the Palmer Post and The Beacon newsletters.
MEMBERSHIP MOMENT
Herb Klotz and Diana Dunn recently returned from Sierra Leone, where our club is working with Engineers Without Borders on a vo/tech project. Herb said it was great to work with a new Rotary club, the Freetown Sunset club. They exchanged club flags, and are planning to do more projects together. To date, we have worked on three schools and a hospital.
PROGRAM
Gary Heller, Historic Rescue Photography
Due to inclement weather, this meeting was held over Zoom.
Gary Heller started Historic Rescue Photography as a retirement project, combining his two greatest interests: photography and history. Formerly a professional photographer, he decided to use those skills to help preserve historic sites, offering his photography to historic societies at no charge, with the caveat that they use the photos to market and preserve their buildings. He has photographed historic buildings in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, being given extraordinary access "beyond the velvet rope." He showed photographs of many of the buildings he has photographed, including a few that are said to have paranormal activity, but assured us he has never seen any ghosts.
Gary's work can be seen at www.historicrescue.com
Black History Month:
The following article was contributed by Gayle Rogers of the Easton Rotary Club.
A Groundbreaking Pioneer of the Arts:
In keeping with the 2024 Black History Month Theme of Arts and Literature, lets shine a light on a change-maker, who made a profound contribution to our culture and whose career covered several categories within Arts & Literature and has left a lasting legacy.
Gordon Parks 1912-2006
Photographer, Filmmaker, Author
Considered a modern-day renaissance man, Gordon Parks was truly a man of many talents, largely self taught. He got his start as the first African American to work as a staff photographer for Life Magazine, documenting the brutal realities of being Black in America, and the fight for equal rights throughout the 1960s. This included capturing some of the most high-profile leaders of the time, like Malcolm X. “I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs,” he said in 1999.
In 1969, he became the first Black American to direct a major Hollywood film, The Learning Tree, based on his autobiography about growing up in Kansas. But he’s probably best known for directing the 1971 action film, Shaft, starring Richard Roundtree. Grossing $12 million, the movie became a major box office hit and had a huge cultural impact for challenging racial stereotypes in its portrayal of a Black detective who brings white criminals to justice.
In 1970, he helped found Essence Magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.
Mr. Clark fashioned a career that resisted categorization. No matter what medium he chose for his self-expression, he always sought to challenge stereotypes while communicating to a large audience. He was convinced that he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to, and he did.
REMINDER TO MEMBERS:
If you have not yet seen DG Diane's monthly message, please go to www.RotaryDistrict7430.org and click on the District Governor's message. AWRC and, in particular, our member Nick Millward, each came in for some special comments this month.
IMPACT CLUB UPDATE: NICK MILLWARD
- Nick has returned to Kyrgystan and his studies. He has also been very active in pursuing opportunities to strengthen Mongolian/American relations.
- Christy Brown of the Blacksburg, Virginia RC and Harriet Downer of the Denver RC are interested in supporting students for the 2024-2025 Mongolia 21|21 year. Harriet is also working with the Commerce City RC to help them understand the program.
- Nick presented to the Glendale Arizona RC on Thursday, February 8. The club’s incoming President (2025-2026), Adria Poindexter, is interested in Mongolia 21|21. Adria is also serving as an Assistant Governor for Rotary year 2024-2025.
- The Rotaract Club of Tsetsee Gung (in Ulaanbaatar) has asked Nick to serve as a mentor and provide insights about scholarships. This is a two-month-long program to provide professional insight to Rotaractors.
- The Mongolian Rotarians have asked Nick to return to Mongolia to speak at and attend the Mongolia Rotary Day in UB. He will be in UB for a week and will hold planning meetings regarding WASH, Interact Penpals, and wheelchair distribution. Nick will meet with the Mongolia 21|21 students for a casual dinner. The students have submitted their short updates to the FOM team and these will be provided to Peter Wohlsen to include in a pamphlet. Onzul (supported by the Oakdale, California club) from Selenge Province officially joined Rotaract.
- A meeting of Rotarians who are interested and those already participating in Mongolia 21|21 will be held in the last week of March.
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