Float preparations

Closing our 100th year in the Halloween Parade 
A big thank you to everyone who helped make our 100 Years of Emmaus Rotary parade float a success!

Preparations began Saturday afternoon at f Mike Irwin's home, who generously hosted the float assembly and provided the trailer. Special thanks to Courtney and Sam Kennedy, Jeffrey Burd, and Karen for their help with setup and decorating.

Representing Rotary on the float and along the parade route were Bob Kraus, Sam Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy, John Z. and Kona, Valerie and Mark, Cindy, Karen, and two Emmaus High School students, Michaela and Ash.

Cleanup on Sunday was quick and easy, taking just about 30 minutes thanks to the efforts of Sam Kennedy, Eric Loch, Karen, and Mike Irwin.

No parade is complete without candy! Approximately 55 pounds of candy were distributed to parade-goers. A special thank you to Karen, who purchased a large portion of the candy, as well as John, Cindy, Diane, and Mike Lahanas for their contributions. The crowd turnout was so fantastic that we actually ran out of candy halfway through the parade route!

Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time, energy, and generosity to help celebrate this important milestone for Emmaus Rotary. It was a wonderful way to honor our first 100 years while sharing Rotary spirit with the community.

Service Opportunities
Ralph Lewis Food Collection
Food Collection will happen the first of the month: see Joanne's email for details.
Stream Cleanup November 14  9am-12pm at Trout Creek Park in Allentown.

2026 State of the World
Our own Roger Whitcomb spoke to the club about the current "state of the world" as he sees it--this from the perspective of his career over many years as an historian and political scientist in higher education.  Roger began his presentation by reviewing a range of issues and challenges currently facing humankind.  The issues he touched on include the  wars in Ukraine and Iran, public health crises, food insecurity and poverty, the existential challenges flowing from the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, the continuing threat posed by terrorist groups, global warming and, perhaps most important of all, the significant changes that have taken place within the international system itself.

On that last point, Roger reviewed the history of America's involvement in the world, pointing out both some of its major accomplishments and significant shortcomings over time, all from an academic's perspective and not from a political partisan point of view.  He concentrated his latter remarks on the post-1945 era in which the U.S. overall was quite successful in promoting order and relative stability in the world.  Over the past twenty years or so, this approach has been partially abandoned by both Democrat and Republican presidents, leading to what he calls a "half-way house" of conflicting initiatives with uncertain future outcomes.

He ended his presentation by reviewing a list of questions which he had passed out to the group ahead-of-time--questions, he believes, go to the heart of what kind of country we want to be going forward. 

As Rotarians, our ability to make a difference begins with understanding the needs of the community we serve. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) has developed a Housing Data Dashboard that provides insights into housing affordability, availability, and projected needs across our region, including Emmaus. Housing challenges affect our neighbors, businesses, and the overall well-being of our community. I encourage our members to explore this resource and think about how we can use this information to guide our future initiatives. Explore the LVPC Housing Data Dashboard - https://housinglv.org/

Join our first book club - hosted by Sue Straeter
Interested in participating in an ERC Book Club? Contact Sue Straeter 610-762-5833