Does the pandemic with economic distress and political/social unrest make it harder to “count your blessings”?
Believe me. I understand. I would trade my stuffing for a family gathered around the table. My cranberry sauce for a hug from my grandchildren. My drumstick for so many raised voices that I couldn’t keep up. And my slice of pumpkin pie…??... Well, you get the picture and it is not a Norman Rockwell one of traditional Americana.
Just wondering…. What would remain if all that you took for granted, overlooked and were not intentionally grateful for was wiped out...erased off the great whiteboard of life? Makes you think, doesn’t it? Scissors, measuring scoops, frozen pizza…trash bags…. toothpaste….
I have been thinking about all the value Rotary brings into my life. Companionship, networking, a sense of purpose, a way to make a difference…. Truly, I am grateful for each and every one of you.
Together, we see a world where people unite
and take action
to make a lasting change across the globe,
in our communities,
and in our selves.
RI Mission Statement
Let me wish you a very Happy Giving Thanks Day!!!!
It is always a treat when JP Raynock holds our meeting program. He makes an excellent master of ceremonies and truly puts a lot of thought and effort into making his programs meaningful.
JP, thank you for your thoughtful words as you paid tribute to our Emmaus Rotarians who have served in all branches of our Country’s Military. It was a very special recognition of the Veterans who have continued to live a life of service above self. The addition of Sue Straeter’s lovely piano playing made it even more special.
Last week the Fellowship Committee completed a special mission on Veteran’s Day to thank ERC members for their military service. A small flag was placed in each Veteran’s yard to say thank you. This small act of gratitude for big act of selflessness was received warmly by our Vets and the committee was very happy to take the time to honor our friends.
Every week a group of our dedicated members help to pack food for hungry children in our community. Cindy Hornaman and Rick Zayaitz have been instrumental in organizing the logistics and funding of this important Emmaus Rotary project. Many of our members have volunteered countless hours to pack food, distribute the bags to families, unload pallets of food and even move our location headquarters. How can we ALL be part of the continuing success of the program? Support our Go Fund Me crowd funding initiative.
Since we started in July we have raised $4,255 of our $10,000 Go Fund Me Campaign goal to support The Emmaus Rotary Club, East Penn Food Program. As I have written before, it is important that our Club Members get involved in sharing this campaign so that we can reach our goal of $10,000. Donating and sharing is VERY easy and with just a few seconds a week, together we will make our goal! (If you need instructions on how to donate follow the steps in the read more section on how you can donate and share)
SHARING IS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR THIS CAMPAIGN TO GAIN MOMENTUM. Creating your own fundraising page as part of the campaign is a great way to invite your family, friends, co-workers, clients, and others to join you in our mission to help feed hungry children!
How to do it:
1) Click the blue JOIN button.
2) Sign in - follow the prompts to create an account or log in with Facebook if you have one.
3) Click the blue JOIN THE TEAM button. This will automatically make you a member of the team. Regardless of donation amount. You can donate whatever amount you'd like even $10 puts us closer to our goal. EVERY single dollar matters! You can create a team without donating (I tested this on my husband's cell phone to join the team it took 5 second to do) The goal here is create a page to engage your network and share the information to attract donors.
4) Now share your link! You can share multiple ways. Facebook, Twitter or copy your link and past it into an email to go out to your clients, workplace, family, friends, and other organizations your a member of. Remember to share often on your social media pages! Please consider creating a team for your business.
It's that simple. An easy way for "People of Action" like us to....well...take action!
If you need help with how to share you may reach out to me and I will do my very best to walk you through it or think of some creative ways you can help spread the word.
I have included an email that I sent out to another board that I sit on. Feel free to use it! Just click "read more" below.
If you have questions on how to use Go Fund Me please contact Meghan Reed 610-797-5942 / meghanreed517@gmail.com THANK YOU!!
Rotary Club to Club had its third meetup at the Michener Museum in Doylestown. Interested in meeting some new Rotarians in a fun way? Join us in early December for an outdoor meet up. Contact Dee Eng if interested. deeleng@gmail.com
Join your ERC friends at the Lehigh Valley Zoo's Winter Light Spectacular! We have 20 tickets available for $10 each (regular price $15 each). If you're interested, call, text, or email Tony Moyer at 610-295-7691/anmoyer1229@gmail.com. First come, first served! Tony will send your tickets to your home address. Payment can be sent to Tony at 331 N Broad St. Allentown, PA 18104 or Venmo Don Blose using the handle @DonBlose and fill in the comment section to note that it's payment for ERC LV Zoo. Looking forward to a safe, festive, outdoor holiday experience on December 9!
The inspiration I felt after last week’s morning meeting when past President J. P. Raynock presented awards to Wilmer Schultz and Dale Dries for perfect attendance over years and years and years of Rotary membership, lingers and sounds in my mind. I offer my sincere congratulations to both men. And I wonder, where you caught unaware when Raynock mentioned the set back Rotary faces in our efforts to eradicate Polio worldwide?
Sign. I wasn’t. I had heard this information 2 weeks earlier. It seems that the year 2020 has brought us a perfect storm of vaccination campaigns canceled due to the pandemic, the continuing distrust of the Taliban to these efforts, and the outbreak of a wild polio strain. I was heartsick when I heard this on the radio. I was so stunned at the time that my beloved companion canine Teddy came over to me to offer comfort and I truly saw the concern on his face.
It took me days. Then, I drew upon what I know about Rotary -- which includes Rotarians like Wilmer and Dale who are 100% all-in. Rotary is not just a club meeting at a country club. Rotary is a worldwide cause fueled by dedicated men and women who will work and give to make this world a better place. So we will go on in our fight to eradicate the dreaded virus Polio.
Our vision gives us resilience.
Resilience to work. There will be a community service project this Saturday morning at the Knauss Homestead to rake leaves. You can sign-up with Karen Hobson or Nicole Steirer. Talk to Cindy Hornamn or Rick Zayatiz if you can help pack or distribute food in our weekly efforts to ease hunger insecurity in our community.
Resilience to give. December 1st is Giving Tuesday. Last year in 2019, 27 million adults in the USA pledged over $20 billion to non-profits organizations on Giving Tuesday. Please consider making a commitment to the Rotary Foundation or the Emmaus Rotary Foundation. With your donations, earmark your intentions. Do you want to fight polio around to world? Or hunger among the families of the East Penn School District?
Resilience to show up. For now, we continue to meet both at Brookside Country Club and online using the Vox Tandem platform for our regular Thursday morning meetings. Each Monday, the executive committee-- your president-elect, first v.p and second v.p. -- will offer me their best council about continuing to meet in person and how to increase login attendance. Your presence counts. Do what you can to join us. Your voice matters. Contact me if you have questions, concerns, or problems.
This Thursday, there will be a Board meeting following our business meeting and program. Let me know if you have any items for our agenda.
And join me as I keep on keeping on. It will make my alpha male Teddy happy!
Club Members in Attendance at BCC received their Perfect Attendance Certificates (Rick Zayaitz, Bill Erdman, Fred Herman and Lexa Shallcross) Members who attended via Vox Tandem were also Recognized. JP gave some close ups of their certificates. congratulations to all and thank you for your resilience!
Our in person meetings continue at Brookside Country Club this Thursday, December 3rd. We hope you will join us. COVID safety measures will of course be implemented.
December 3rd 2020
Club member duties:
Greeter - Mike Waddell
Sign-in Table - Rick Zayaitz
Erey - Bill Erdman
Invocation/ Thought of the Day- Bob Goehler
We are meeting indoors with proper social distancing measures in place. There is no need to RSVP…just show up before 7:30 a.m., enter through the main entrance with your mask on, get signed in, find a seat, chat with friends, and enjoy the meeting.
While we meet in person this week at Brookside Country Club you also have the option to participate by joining us through the Vox Tandem platform. We will see you in person or online this Thursday, at 7:30am.
Please use the link below to join us this Thursday at 7:30am. To join us on the Vox Tandem Virtual Meeting platform.
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.
The following safety guidelines to be followed at Brookside Country Club: UPDATED 11/24/20
Masks can be removed for eating and drinking only but are expected to be worn at all other times, inside or outside. With the case count rising we are going to present to our membership that masks are always expected to be worn while inside and outside in dining areas.
BCC purchased a stand-alone thermometer that will be arriving this week for the foyer. It will be constantly on. Guests simply stand in front of it and it reads your body temperature. It will give you a single beep if someone is good to go, but it will set off a mini alarm if someone tests high. If you test high you need to retry, and if you test high again you are expected to leave the building immediately.
Tables will be set 6 ft apart to observe social distancing and each table will seat only 5 people.
There will be multiple hand sanitizer stations located throughout the Clubhouse. We encourage guests to use hand sanitizer upon arrival and throughout their time at Brookside.
Buffets will now be served by staff of Brookside (gloves will be worn by those serving food.)
Coffee will also need to be served (no station) and we will have to utilize single use packets such as salt, pepper, creamer, ketchup, and syrup.
It is imperative that if they feel sick or have contracted COVID - 19, you must stay home.
Please contact Lexa, Mike, or Meghan if you have any questions. Please also review the Rotary District Covid-19 Guidelines in this newsletter.
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:
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
NOW is the time to make your decision to become better educated about world-wide Rotary. If you have any wish to maximize your Rotary club membership, especially if you are new to your club, RLI makes it easy. Attend the virtual RLI training session on March 13, 2021. DEADLINE TO REGISTER FRIDAY March 5th.
Any Rotarian, newcomer and “seasoned" members, who attends a day of RLI programs becomes a more valuable, and more dedicated, member of your Rotary club.
Please register NOW for Part I, II, III, and if you have graduated you may register for the Post Graduate Course.
Click the link, on the left hand side under "Upcoming Classes", Find the information for the 7430 – Pottstown RLI and click on "more info", the next screen click "RLI Registration" on bottom right. Enter the security code as shown in the box, and click "Register Now". At this point you will be able to enter your information.
For other information or registration help, please feel free to call or e-mail Len Gieseler, District Chair, at 610-323-2201 or lgieseler2023@gmail.com.
When people, especially children, have access to clean water, they live healthier and more productive lives. However, at least 3,000 children die each day from diseases caused by unsafe water, which is what motivates our members to build wells, install rainwater harvesting systems, and teach community members how to maintain new infrastructure.
While very few people die of thirst, millions die from preventable waterborne diseases, providing the impetus for our members to also improve sanitation facilities in undeveloped countries. Members start by providing toilets and latrines that flush into a sewer or safe enclosure and then add education programs to promote hand-washing and other good hygiene habits.
For more information go to: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/providing-clean-water
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
