Imagine you are sending your first grader off to school this morning and you do not have enough money to buy her a snack. All of the other students have snack time with a snack during their school day. This happens each and every day in the East Penn School District. Everyone wants to be the same as their peers, have similar clothes. similar shoes, etc but the difference between feeling better about things and making your day better comes when your tummy is full.
Snack time at school means everyone pulls out the snack(s) Mom or Dad sent with them this morning. Consider this... you do not have a snack....how do you feel as a child? You go home after school and you have nothing to eat, You have to wait until the next morning to get your next meal (at School) because, whatever the circumstances, you do not have anything to eat at home.
Does this make you more productive at home or at school? My guess is probably not. And then the school week is over and you fear the next meal you will probably have is Monday morning at school. What do you do on the weekend or in the summer when school is not in session?
As Rotarians, we determined that there is a need for help for some of our children. We have met one time with the Superintendent of the East Penn School district and formed an unlikely alliance between all of the service organizations in the East Penn Area. The Lions, Lionness, Kiwanis and the Masons together with Emmaus Rotary are looking into ways we can help these children feel better about themselves and have a good meal when they need it. We will meet with Kristen Campbell again this Friday as a group to get a better direction for our alliance. This is not a one and done type of scenario.
This is an ongoing battle about having healthy children become good citizens because they had the proper nutrition to listen, learn and excel. We are on an exciting journey, creating alliances between services organizations, pooling resources to help the youth of our schools in East Penn. If you are like me and would like to help please reach out to Steve, Cindy or myself and let's start the ball rolling in the right direction.
Rotarian Tony Moyer asked for help staffing this year's
4-Way Test Speech Contest at Emmaus High School and he now has the help he needs. He has invited additional Rotarians to be in the audience on February 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Emmaus High School.
And as we support our Interact Club, I thought it would be a good time to review:
What is the Four-Way Test?
Why is it on one of our banners?
Why do we occasionally recite it at the end of our meetings
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships. The test has been translated into more than 100 languages.
It was created over 70 years ago the midst of the Great Depression by a Rotarian to help rescue his beleaguered business.
That Rotarian was Herbert J. Taylor, born in Michigan and a graduate of Northwestern University. He did international work for the YMCA and served in the Navy during World War I. He is described as a mover, doer, a consummate salesman and a leader of men.
He and his wife settled in Chicago in 1925 and he began a swift rise in the Jewel Tea Company. He was asked to take on the leadership of the almost bankrupt Club Aluminum company and he put his own money into that effort.
A man of faith, Taylor prayed and then wrote a guiding ethical statement to help his company managers in their daily work. He decided that first 100-word statement was unwieldy and whittled it down to the 36 we now know.
He showed his four-point test to clergy and lawyers. He used it to guide the Club Aluminum industry he headed and to climb out of debt and begin paying dividends to stockholders.
In 1942, Rotary International adopted the 4-Way Test and in 1954, Taylor transferred the copyright to RI when he served as RI President.
Questions remain for us: Is the 4-Way Test useful today, for us in this highly technological, digital world?
Perhaps few things are more needed today than moral integrity.
"Eloquently simple, stunning in its power, undeniable in its results, The Four-Way Test offers a fresh and positive vision in the midst of a world full of tension, confusion, and uncertainty." (Darrell Thompson, Rotary of Morro Bay California)
The final test is in the doing. In his speech "About the 4-Way Test", Thompson quotes noted psychologist William James who said, "The ultimate test of what a truth means is the conduct it dictates or inspires." And Thompson championed our test by writing, "At the heart of Rotary today is the Four-Way Test, a call to moral excellence. Human beings can grow together. Modern business can be honest and trustworthy. People can learn to believe in one another."
At the beginning of his remarks, Daniel T. Banks, President of Silver Crest Insurance Inc., encouraged the Rotarians listening to make every effort to see the documentary "Fix-it" which will be shown at our off-site Thursday morning meeting at the Emmaus Theater on February 7, 2019. He said the documentary was well done and had helped him articulate some concerns he had about the medical industry.
He then took off his movie reviewer hat to give a brief history and explanation of Medicare which was signed into law July 1965 as an amendment to Social Security and now covers 56.8 million Americans. His firm has helped individuals negotiate the Medicare system especially when disability claims are complicated or denied.
After 10 years of experience, he can say he is not a fan of adopting Part C Medicare Advantage Plan (HMO or PPO) as there are significantly increased costs for advertising and administration in these private plans.
Community Service decided at a previous meeting to do a collection drive in the month of January and February in support of Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, where victims of abuse and their children find refuge. We are going to be collectingnew twin blankets and comfortersto support their great cause. We will collect through the end of February and deliver in the beginning of March. If you have any further questions, please speak to Nicole Steirer. Thank you again for your continued support. It is truly inspiring when we support great organizations with our donations.
