Dear Fellow Rotarians,
This week, I was reminded several times of how powerfully Rotary has pivoted to meet the time we find ourselves in as we face the Covid19 pandemic. Let me give you several examples. The first two happened just last Friday:
On October 9th, Rotarians, their family, friends and co-workers gathered to move 16 pallets of food from Bethel Bible Fellowship to Faith Presbyterian. The move went quickly. We were done by noon and enjoyed pizza together.
We thank Bethel Church and Beth Lorah, head of the Groceries PLUS food bank which is supported by the community for months of hospitality. As they open back up, they needed their space freed for an afterschool program. We look forward to continuing to partner with them. In September, we handed out 432 bags of food to East Penn School District students.
Faith Presbyterian, also a member of the East Penn Food Coalition, has dedicated space for our need to store and pack food for distribution. Special thanks to Eric Loch, Mike Irwin, Gary Rohrbach, Rich Jensen (from the LV Passport Club), Alan Fornwalt, Chris Blechschmidt (form Allentown West), Joe Pugliese and his Son, Rick Zayaitz and 4 co-workers, Sue Wenner and her Son, Chad Stuckey, Courtney Kennedy, Gordon Reese, Craig Reber, Karen Hobson, Cindy and Chris Hornaman, and myself (photographer). I counted 7 trucks!
Later Friday evening, I got a text message from our Vice-president Meghan Reed who had been on the virtual fund-raising event for Shelter Box. "They raised over 40k over the past month and tonight!" she said. This includes $2,000 toward Shelter Box from Emmaus Rotary. As we texted a little longer, I thought of the virtual Purple Pinkie's Race to Zero and felt confident our District will also make that fundraiser a success. I am walking on Past District Governor Cindy's team this Saturday, October 17th. Maybe you can join us or make a pledge.
As I closed my eyes later that night, I recalled another zoom type meeting of all the Presidents in our area held on Saturday morning, October 3, 2020. We shared our challenges and successes and best practices. TWO -2- clubs during this time have each added FIVE -5- new members. Wow! And I thought, "Just tell Rotarians that something is difficult or hard and they will come together to make a difference."
Proud to be a Rotarian,
Lexa Shallcross
President Emmaus Rotary 2020-2021