This Monday, your leadership and I made the difficult decision that for the rest of the calendar year 2020 Emmaus Rotary will ONLY be meeting virtually/on-line using the Vox Tandem platform. Please read the article here which gives you a link to the meeting! Join us.
Here is an excerpt from the email I sent to our officers and directors Monday on :
Our Governor and health officials of the Commonwealth of PA are asking everyone to stay home as much as possible-
especially to not meet indoors in groups - to help stop the spread of the Covid19 virus.
It is time for us to go virtual for the remainder of 2020.
This is a hard decision as we enjoy each other.
Yet, the last line of our 4 Way Test runs through my mind:
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Please weigh in now if you have any questions, concerns, or comments about this decision to only meet on Thursday mornings using the Vox Tandem platform.
Tonight, we will be contacting Brookside to let them know.
We will meet virtually on Dec 10th and 17th.
On Christmas Eve Day and New Year's Eve Day no meetings were scheduled.
We are all so done with this virulent virus and the numerous ways it has disrupted our lives. I am ready to wash my hands of the whole thing! (Hmmm...Not a bad idea.) Unfortunately, it is not done with us. So we will do what we can; which includes for me, staying up late on December 31st to make sure Old Man 2020 is outa here!
And, what we can do is pretty good.
Community Service staffed a tent at Emmaus Old Fashioned Christmas to help youngsters write letters to Santa. Karen Hobson got some adorable photos. A few are printed here in the Trumpet.
Fellowship sold out all the tickets for this Wednesday night's walk through the light display at the Lehigh County Zoo. I am looking forward to some more great photos! (Remember to follow us on Facebook and to like and share the posts there.)
We continue weekly to pack and distribute food to the students and families of the East Penn School District. The need is there. So are we. A big shout out to all the Rotarians who sustain this service to our community: Thank you!
There is a Board meeting next week after our regular morning meeting. Please let me know if you have any agenda items for us to consider.
Because of the current rise in COVID-19 cases, we will be having our weekly meetings virtually for the rest of 2020! There will not be an in person meeting this week but we sure would love to see your smiling face when you join us online! Stay tuned for updates next week as we prepare for our meetings in 2021. Hopefully we will be able to meet in person at Brookside Country Club in 2021. Keep reading the Trumpet for updates! We are trying hard to make everyone feel like a part of the virtual meetings.
Please use the link below to join us this Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. or sooner if you want to chat with the others!
We still encourage you to invite a virtual guest to help introduce Rotary to someone who could make a great Rotarian. Simply share the link provided in the red section below with your guest. Ask them to please sign in as - their name (guest of) - in the name field so we know who they were invited by.
To enter the virtual meeting, just click this link or copy and paste it into your URL Browser. Please note that you will need Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser to join the meetings.
2) Scroll down on the sign in page and you will see the list of recorded meetings under "Public Room Recordings".
3) Click on the blue presentation button of the meeting you'd like to view. 4) Click on the triangle shaped play button at the bottom left of the screen to play the recording.
5) Enjoy!
Be Well and Stay Safe Friends,
Sal Verrastro Trumpet Editor in training 2nd VP ERC
Weekly Door Prize Donations Needed! Be our next meeting's prize sponsor!
It seems like we all like the idea of winning a festive prize at our meetings (in person or online). We have had some very generous and fun donations since incorporating this new aspect to our meetings. Many thanks to all who have donated a prize! It is a nice way to give back to each other. Do you have a hobby or talent you can share with the club? Maybe you love to bake, sew, or garden (IE Garlic). Let’s get creative with our door prizes and share a little bit about ourselves in the process! How about we show some love to the local businesses in our community? They have shown us support with raffle donations and sponsorships throughout the years. Consider purchasing a $20.00 gift card from one of the many small businesses in the East Penn Area. As we know every little bit helps. It's also a great way to start a conversation about Rotary and invite business owners and managers to a club meeting.
So if you’d like to sponsor a door prize contact Don Blose, Meghan Reed, Sal Verrastro or Lexa Shallcross.
A special thank you goes out to the EHS Interact Club for collecting items for Angel Network and others in need in our area! A special thank you goes out to Allie Hafner for running the school collection and Luke & Peyton Rautzhan for running the neighborhood collection.
On Saturday December 5th, our Emmaus Rotary participated in Emmaus's Old Fashioned Christmas at the Emmaus Triangle. Nicole and Karen help children write letters to Santa and "mail" them. An awesome time was had by all and what a great way to get into the Christmas Spirit! Thanks to all of our Rotary Elves who helped!
Karen and Nicole from the Community Service Committee are collecting any gift cards and other items you may be willing to donate over this holiday period for needy Lehigh Valley families. Last year many Emmaus Rotarians took on getting gifts for needy local children in our area with Angel Network and Zion's Food Pantry. Zion's Food Pantry are asking for gift cards of a $25 value to either Walmart or Target to help them spread the cheer to local families. Also Turning Point has various items of household needs as they move into new homes. We have also been asked by Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley for $25 gift cards for a drive-by party for the children. Contact Karen or Nicole for more information and for how you can get your donation to the right place!
Please use the following link for the Jefferson Elementary School Angel Network Wish List:
Giving Tuesday donations to our Go Fund Me Campaign from over 20 donors have pushed us to the $5,560 mark. THANK YOU to everyone who donated and took the time to share the campaign so that it can gain more public awareness.
We have reached a critical point to fund the East Penn Food Coalition, Feed East Penn Students Program. We currently serve over 200 children a week and need your help to raise $20,000 by February to continue to feed hungry kids in our community. Please consider donating to the go-fund-me campaign to provide students with "backpacks" of food to take home over the weekend. Please click on the link for information and to donate now.
Surely there are women in our Emmaus and Lehigh Valley communities with an outstanding record of volunteer humanitarian service who have given their time and efforts to advance RI’s Mission to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance understanding, goodwill, and peace, and who are leaders in their chosen field.
Now is your opportunity to nominate a woman from our community who personifies these qualities to receive the Emmaus Rotary Club International Women’s Day Celebration (IWDC) Rotary Award on March 11, 2021. For the fourth year, on behalf of the Emmaus Rotary Club, I am writing to encourage you to submit a nomination by January 24, 2021.
You will find detailed information about the nomination criteria and how to submit a nomination when you click read more below. If you have any questions before this date, please feel free to e-mail me at aruizorbin@aol.com or to call me at my cell #610-392-5134.
On behalf of our Club’s IWDC Committee and on my behalf, I thank you for your support and look forward to receiving your nomination.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Alicia Ruiz-Orbin, Committee Chair International Women’s Day Celebration
December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month
Fighting disease
We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
We believe good health care is everyone’s right. Yet 400 million people in the world can’t afford or don’t have access to basic health care.
Disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease is so important to us. We lead efforts both large and small. We set up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. We design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together.
Our members combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why we also focus on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care. For more information go to: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/fighting-diseases
COVID-19 is impacting us all in our personal, professional and Rotary lives. We must base our decisions about Rotary activities on the health and safety of our members and compliance with government and health regulations. Even though we may not be able to conduct the usual weekly in person meetings, many of our clubs are leading or participating in food and other relief programs in their communities. These efforts will likely be continuing through the balance of this Rotary year and into the future.
With this in mind, the following are guidelines for all Rotary District 7430 activities:
All guidelines set forth by the Governor, counties and other authorized persons in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the CDC should be followed.
Should any Rotarian be diagnosed with or have symptoms that they suspect to be consistent with COVID-19, that Rotarian shall:
Not participate in any Rotary event that involves a personal appearance at the event.
Report their diagnoses or symptoms to the Rotarian supervising any program in which they have participated in-person within fourteen (14) days before the diagnoses or occurrence of symptoms.
We also suggest that you adopt guidelines for your clubs that reflect the current health crisis.
Welcome to the Emmaus Rotary Club!
We meet at 7:30 AM on Thursday mornings
at Brookside Country Club, 901 Willow Lane, Macungie, PA 18062
