Good Grief! A lament of frustration and a little despair most notably coined by the lovable loser Charlie Brown of the Peanuts. I'll be honest with you Friends....I've felt that Good Grief feeling a number of times over the last 3 months. Yes, while I present myself to the world as a never-ending enthusiastic and energetic person there are times when balancing Rotary, family, relationships (of all sorts), career, general life responsibilities, and my health can seem like a gauntlet. The list can seem overwhelming. I know each of you understands this feeling. And knowing that we are not alone in those feelings and having a supportive community around you is important. I have learned over the last 48 hours just how important these things are.
Each of us has or has had a lot on their proverbial plate at one point or another. Many of us keep those heaping portions served up on that plate to ourselves. Sometimes you just are not aware of what someone is going through behind the scenes. That is why the Fellowship and strong Leadership of Emmaus Rotary Club is so critical for a healthy and vibrant club atmosphere. Over the months and years of being a Rotarian we have formed meaningful bonds with each other in lots of ways. Those relationships are the glue that keep us inspired together. Keeping up with relationships can be hard work, but it is work worth doing because losing ourselves in daily rat race is not the meaning of life. The difference we make together and the experiences of we share together are what we will look back on at the end of this road called life.
For those in this ERC family that are new. You are part of something big. Welcome!
For those in ERC for a long while. You have set the stage for tremendous work. Thank You!
For those in ERC we haven't seen in a while for a multitude of reasons.... you matter, and we care about you. We miss you! If you need a Friend. We are here. For those in ERC we have lost. You are not forgotten. You have built a legacy.
For every ERC member looking at life's plate and feeling like GOOD GRIEF, I hope you know you have a family here.
In closing sometimes grief is a good sign. We feel frustrated when the things we care most about aren't working out as we envisioned.
It certainly won't feel like it in the moment, but in its boiled down, bittersweet form, grief is an extension and act of love. Without love you wouldn't ever feel its punch to the gut. It presents itself when we lose. Lose a companion, lose control, or lose something meaningful. We don't like losing. It's uncomfortable. But what comes after loss can be inspiration and growth. We grieve the things we've love the most. I'd rather feel some good grief than never love or care enough to feel it.
It is with great sadness that I must share the unfortunate news of the passing of our Friend, Ralph Lewis. Ralph was a member of Emmaus Rotary for 20 years. His kindness and generosity will truly be missed. We will remember him fondly as a person who loved his family and friends tremendously, deeply cared for the people in his community, and served to make a difference in the world. Ralph was instrumental in starting our Food for the Needy monthly program and as a past President 2006-2007. Ralph was also Paul Harris Fellow and major contributor to the Rotary Foundation. His work has helped many people. Even as life threw challenges his way he still cared in a big way and was a positive person. I will always remember his amazing golf skills even when he couldn't see! Ralph was a friend and an inspiration to many. He will be greatly missed by Emmaus Rotary Club. His legacy of helping local hungry families will live on through the great work of Joanne, Ashley and our Club Support.
At this time the Lewis Family is planning Ralph's services. As I learn more I will share more with the Club. We will of course unite as a group to pay our respects. If you wish to send your condolences to the Lewis Family, sympathy cards can be sent to his Wife and our Friend, Kathleen Lewis at 5758 Tavistock Lane, Macungie, PA 18062.
Please keep Ralph and the Lewis Family in your hearts and prayers.
Sincerely, Meghan Reed President, Emmaus Rotary Club 2022/23
Board Meeting This Week! Thursday February 23, 2023. 8:40am- 10am in the downstairs banquet room at Superior Restaurant.
Ralph E. Lewis Food For The Needy Collection EVERY THURSDAY THIS MONTH.
Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley are very low on their care packages they give out, and particularly - FULL SIZE - SHAMPOO and CONDITIONER for their Safe House families. Karen Hobson will be collecting each week for them - she will leave a box for you to place any items you may give. Thank you.
Share with us whats happing when its happening,Where and when are you travelling to??
What are you celebrating??
When you Share your Happiness, you are supporting a good cause.
4th Quarter Funds raised will go to the Emmaus Rotary Scholarship Fund.
Call for Mentorship! You may have noticed some new faces at our meetings recently because our membership is growing! The Welcome Committee strongly encourages our seasoned club members (three years of service or more) and/OR any past presidents to become mentors for our new members. Mentorship offers a valuable opportunity for our experienced members to share their vast knowledge and expertise with new members who can benefit from their guidance. Becoming a mentor can positively impact our new members' attendance, participation, and overall engagement.
Mentors are asked to: • Let the new members know how to contact them • Check with new members regularly to make sure they’re comfortable • Introduce them to other club members • Encourage them to invite someone they know to a meeting • Show them Rotary’s tools on My Rotary, including Club Finder and the Learning Center • Talk to new members about open roles they could fill or opportunities for involvement • Accompany new members to events when possible
Subject: Semi Annual Dues / January 1 st , 2023 to June 30 th , 2023
This is to notify you that semiannual Emmaus Rotary Club dues are payable by January 15th, 2023. Please remit $110.00, check made payable to the EMMAUS ROTARY CLUB, Attn: Jean Onyambu at the address below. You may also give the check to Jean at a club meeting. Alternatively, you may also choose to pay the full annual dues by sending $220.00 which covers your dues commitment from 01/01/2023 thru 12/31/2023. You will not be billed in June 2023. VENMO: To pay by Venmo, if your Venmo account is based on a bank account or debit card, you can send $110 or $220 to Don Blose. If your Venmo is based on a credit card, send $113.30 or $226.60 by Venmo to Don. Background: To give members an alternate way to pay, Don Blose has offered to use his Venmo account to accept dues payments. Members can Venmo dues to Don, he will write a check and the Secretary will deposit it. The only glitch is that to use credit card based Venmo transactions to pay dues, there is a service charge of 3%. It would raise the dues to $113.30 or $226.60 for Venmo payments based on credit card. Venmo accounts tied to bank accounts and debit cards have no fee. You can also make a contribution at this time to the ‘Rotary Foundation’ and/or ‘Emmaus Rotary Club Foundation’ by writing separate checks for each. Please note that contributions to both foundations can be made at any time during the Rotary year. Please attach the form below with your check or checks to help ensure proper credit is given. Please remember January 15th, 2023 is the dues payment deadline.
Emmaus Rotary Club Dues NAME: ________________________________________________________ Dues: Made payable to “EMMAUS ROTARY CLUB”. $ ______ Rotary International Foundation Contribution: This check must be made out to $ ______ “ROTARY FOUNDATION” and separate from checks for dues or the Emmaus Rotary Club Foundation. Emmaus Rotary Scholarship Endowment Fund: This check must be made out to $ ______ “EMMAUS ROTARY CLUB FOUNDATION”. Thank you in advance for your timely response. Jean Onyambu Club Secretary Cell: 4842013335 Email: erclubsecretary@gmail.com Address: 1055 Cetronia Rd, D3, Breinigsville, PA 18031
Joshua Scoble is a 16 years old boy living in Emmaus and has Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOB) since 3 months old. Last year Joshua's Future of Promises (FOB) Bingo for a Cure raised $90,000 for FOB Research and over the past 16 years his family have raised $1.3 M for FOB research!!
On 3/19/23 is the next bingo for this great organization and they could still use some help.
How can we help?
1. We could help make baked goods for them to sell at the bake sale the day of the bingo event. (eg. a few cookies in a small baggie).
2. We could donate any type of $20 gift card for them to use in their raffle baskets the day of the bingo event.
Both of these can be dropped off at Karen Hobson's home 2 Stoklea Drive, Emmaus. The gift cards can be dropped off any time but the baked goods can be dropped off on Saturday, March 18. Karen's cell number is 484-560-1711.
3. Help is needed with Set-up : tables, chairs, programs, (last year 1,400 were at the event), at the Agr-Plex on Saturday morning, 3/18/23 from 10 am - until noon, pizza then follows.
4. Help is needed at Tear Down : 5 pm - this is physical work and should take approximately 1 hour on Sunday, 19th March at the Agr-Plex.
Bingo is at the Agr-Plex Hall in Allentown Fairgrounds on Sunday, 19th March, Doors open 10.30 am, Bingo Begins at 1 pm. Tickets are $35 (and a $4 processing fee added) and at the Door $40. Tickets can also be purchased online and at Buss Paints, see flyer for more information.
Alicia Ruiz-Orbin Receiving The Rotary Foundation Major Donor Award. Congratulations Alica and Thank You for generosity!
Photos Below. Cindy Hornaman and Mike Mihalik share their experiences in Mfuwe, Zambi while completing a HUGE Global Grant Project. The project built a new science wing, provided computers and lab equipment, and provided vocational training to the teacher at the local school. Congratulations Cindy and Mike on the coordination and completion of this incredibly life changing project for the students of Mfuwe.
ERC Fellowship Invites you to attend Emmaus High School’s night at the Phantoms on March 4, 2023!
Rotary values giving back to the Angel Network! Get your Tickets TODAY!
The EHS Interact Club, Key Club, and Chorale will be hosting the EHS Phantoms Night open to all East Penn Families and Friends. The EHS Choral will be performing O Canada and selling discounted group tickets for just $23. $5 from each ticket sold will go directly to support EHS Angel Network and the Music Department. Order tickets before Saturday, February 4th to be entered into a raffle for free future tickets, one of 6 spaces on the Fanboni during the game, and Phantoms swag. Use this link:https://fevo.me/3FrksVA and please share with anyone who you think would enjoy a fun night out at the Phantoms while supporting our EHS Community.
Do you like to Travel? And…………….Do Rotary Service?
We have an opportunity to participate in a National Immunization Days For Polio in January , 2023 . We just Learned of this opportunity. The participants are limited to 25 Rotarians. Contact Cindy Hornaman at hornamca@ptd.net if you are interested for application.
NID EXPERIENCE 2023 :Brief Itinerary
24 Jan 2023 : Arrive New Delhi, India.
Check in JW Marriott Aerocity, Overnight.
25 Jan 2023 : Sightseeing around Delhi, Overnight.
26 Jan 2023 : Leave for Agra
Red Fort, Marble place etc, Overnight
27 Jan 2023 : Sightseeing in Agra
Taj Mahal, Travel back to Delhi, Overnight.
28 Jan 2023 : Delhi
Late lunch with Rotaract Youth Noida? See projects? Overnight.
29 Jan 2023 : NID – Visit projects, Overnight.
30 Jan 2023 : MOP UP Day—NID
Interact visit Projects Overnight.
31 Jan 2023 : Early Morning flight to Kolkatta
Stay Oberoi Grand or Taj—if too expensive, you pick one
Sightseeing around Kolkatta
Mother Teresa House
Overnight.
1 Feb 2023 : Kolkata
Second NID experience, Visit projects, Overnight.
2 Feb 2023 : Free Day in Kolkatta
Day with Rotarians, Overnight.
3 Feb 2023 : Fly to Delhi to leave for home.
The Cost for the below itinerary based on the below hotels would be USD 2950/ Net per person for 25 persons traveling together.
The single supplement is still $1295
Dates
City
Hotel
Nights
24 Jan to 26 Jan
Delhi
JW Marriott Aerocity
2
26 Jan to 27 Jan
Agra
Trident
1
27 Jan to 31 Jan
Delhi
JW Marriott Aerocity
4
31 Jan to 3 Feb
Kolkatta
Taj Bengal
3
Inclusions
1.
10 nights accommodation sharing a double room
2.
Daily breakfast
3.
1 Lunch or Dinner in Delhi, 1 Lunch or Dinner in Agra
4.
All transfers excursions and sightseeing tour by Volvo Coach
Rotary and Welcome.US are working together to support displaced Ukrainians.
Offer people who have fled the war a stable environment
Rotary has been collaborating with our partners and other organizations to meet humanitarian needs in and around Ukraine. Clubs have been providing food, water, medical equipment, and other supplies.
What people who have fled their homes need most is safety — and Rotary members have been instrumental in finding them shelter. But people still need help.
That’s where Rotary members in the U.S. can get more involved. Rotary is collaborating with Welcome.US, an organization working to engage more Americans in welcoming newcomers, with a focus on sponsoring refugees.
Through Uniting for Ukraine, Rotary and Rotaract clubs and members in the U.S. can sponsor a person or a family that has fled the war and help them relocate to the United States.
To sponsor a Ukrainian refugee family and offer them a stable environment:
1) Worldwide polio cases have decreased an astounding 99% since 1988 due to Rotary’s PolioPlus participation in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Rotarians have vowed not to stop until polio is wiped from the earth to prevent this deadly disease from ever making a comeback.
2) $1.5 billion could be saved annually around the world if polio were eradicated. This money could be applied to other public health priorities, and the savings in human suffering is immeasurable.
3) More than $650 million have been contributed by Rotary members to PolioPlus.
4) The Gates & Buffett Foundation offered to donate $355 million to PolioPlus for polio immunization campaigns in developing countries if Rotarians contributed an additional $200 million by June 2012. Success is imminent as $160 million had already been raised by December 2010.
5) 9,000 secondary-school students annually experience life in another country through the Rotary Youth Exchange.
6) How big is Rotary International? 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world initiate service projects to address today’s challenges, including literacy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water, and environmental concerns. The clubs get to work immediately whenever a crisis strikes; at this very moment Rotarians are busy in the earthquake regions of New Zealand and Japan.
7) 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders make up the Rotary global network of community volunteers who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help build goodwill and peace in the world numbers.
8) The organization that holds the highest consultative status given by the United Nations to nongovernmental organizations is Rotary International.
9) The first Rotary club meeting was held in Chicago on February 23, 1905. Five years later in 1910 Canada welcomed its first Rotary club to Winnipeg.
10) The furthest a Rotary Club banner has ever traveled: In 1968 astronaut Frank Borman, member of the Houston Space Center Rotary club, carried a banner on the Apollo 8 flight to the moon!
For more information about Rotary International please visit the website http://www.rotary.org/
I welcome your questions send them to me I will search
Can Tabs For The Miracle League LV / Submitted By Bob Halsey
In 2018 We started collecting the Tabs from all types of cans Soda, Beer, Seltzer, Tuna Fish, Sardines, Soup Cans, Etc. In 2018 we were able to deliver Five Full One Gallon Jugs of Tabs…Last year, 2019 we were able to deliver Three Full One Gallon Jugs of Tabs. So far this year 2020 we now have One Full One Gallon Jugs. I would hope we can again this year, 2020, can fill at least another Five Full One Gallon Jug OR MORE. I turn these into the Miracle League in the Middle of October, right before Halloween. They turn them into the Dupont Children’s Hospital in Wilmington Delaware. Other organizations also collect these Tabs, in total the Hospital has been able sell these for enough Money to pay 75% of the Utilities Cost in their Ronald House, where Families to stay at a very Nominal Cost when their Handicapped Children need to go for Treatment. You can bring Tabs every Thursday to our regular Breakfast Meetings.
Meghan's tab collection pictured. How is yours looking?
• District 9100 which comprises 14 West African Countries is recognized as the largest geographical District in the Rotary world. It was created in 1985 and uses three official languages - English, French, and Portuguese.
• The Rotary Club of Papeete, Tahiti, which is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is the club that is most remote from any other.
• The southernmost Rotary meeting is that of the Rotary Club of Base Marambio Antartida in Antarctica. If in the area you can also visit the Rotary Club of Base Antarctica Esperanza. Both are Spanish speaking clubs that meet Wednesday evenings
• To visit the northernmost club you must travel above the Arctic Circle to the Rotary Club of Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A.
• If you attend the El Aguilar club in Argentina, you are meeting with the highest club in the world at 16,000 feet (4,880 meters) above sea level.
• The lowest club meets at 40 feet (12.2 meters) below sea level at El Centro, California, USA.
• There are 69 Rotary clubs with the word “Tokyo” in their club names.
• It is said that there is a Rotary meeting being held someplace in the world every hour of every day. If you attended one meeting per day, it would take nearly 80 years to visit all of the more than 34,500 Rotary clubs in the world, and by that time, no doubt, there would be thousands more new clubs to attend
Rotary International Theme for 2022-2023 Have you heard? Rotary International President-elect Jennifer Jones (who is also our first female president) has announced the 2022-23 theme Imagine Rotary. “Imagine, a world that deserves our best, where we get up each day knowing that we can make a difference.” The theme is a special one: the theme graphic was designed by an Australian Indigenous artist to link with the Melbourne Convention in 2023. Some of the symbolism includes: Circle connections to one another Dots around it - our people There are 7 Dots for Rotary's 7 areas of focus Circle + dots around it - a navigation star, our guiding light Green solid line - digging stick (used when doing hard work); for us it's People of Action, represents the tools for getting things done The colors purple, green & white - celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion Freedom to express ourselves differently but still with a special connection Purple is also the color of Rotary's Polio campaign Green represents the Environment White stands for peace; it also represents Empowerment and Newness and also the colors were utilized for the women's movement, highlighting the opportunity to grow our female membership.
The Emmaus Rotary Club embraces, practices and promotes the Rotary International Core Values of Service, Fellowship, Diversity, Integrity and Leadership.
