Pledge and Invocation:
 
President Samantha Maruzzelli brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Glenn Holcombe reciting the 4-Way Test and leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Dave Wilson giving the Invocation.
 
Guests:
 
Haley Toczko – 2016-2017 Rotary Exchange student to Slovakia
Ellie Toczko – mother of Haley
Kim Kenley - guest of Barbara Tourscher
Angelo Maruzzelli – guest of Samantha Maruzzelli
Kathi Keefe -  guest of Marta Kovacs Ruiz
Tim Zieger - guest of Marta Kovacs Ruiz
Clemence Molinatti – guest of Anne Sehne  - non-Rotary exchange student 2012 from France
Adam Sehne – guest Anne Sehne, 2012-2013 Rotary Exchange student to Ecuador
Alli Schroeder – guest of Anne Sehne - Adam’s girlfriend
Nico and Vito – 2017-2018 inbound Exchange students
 
Club News:
 
Exchange Student Update – Anne Sehne
 
Anne Sehne reported that country assignments were made during the exchange student meeting in Quakertown last weekend.  For 2018-2019, we have 2 full time outbound exchange students, a male student who will be going to Brazil and a female student whose country is still to be determined.
 
May Trip to CIA – Tom Kukuchka
 
34 people have already signed up for the May 15 trip to the Culinary Institute of America. We will depart Tunkhannock at 7 AM, stop at Route 84 Diner in Fishkill for breakfast on your own, then onto Rhinebeck NY for shopping & lunch on your own. Then onto the Culinary Institute of America for a 5 PM tour and 6 PM dinner at the American Bounty Restaurant.
 
Cost is $165 per person (based on 30 people, price will go down as more people sign up) which includes the bus, driver tip, CIA tour and dinner including tax and gratuity.  If you are interested, please give Tom your reservation.  Non-Rotarians are welcome to help fill the bus. The Club will begin collecting money for the trip in early April.
 
Sisile Maruzzelli, a Tunkhannock Rotary vocational scholarship winner who graduated from the CIA as a pastry chef, will hopefully meet us there and may help with the tour.
 
Interact Club – Dave Wilson
 
The TAHS Interact Club met Jan 10 and they are reorganizing and planning their events for the rest of this year.  They are coming to our Feb 1 Rotary Luncheon to provide an update on their activities and to present a check for Polio Plus.
 
Secretary’s Report – Carol Ziomek
 
Carol reported that the Newsletter went out. but the website and Facebook have not yet been updated. 
 
Exchange Students - Nico and Vito
 
Vito went to Quakertown to meet the other exchange students from the southern district and they learned where the outbound students will go.  Today he has a basketball game.
 
Nico, who is 17 & from France, also went to Quakertown, where they had to sleep on the floor, so it was not too comfortable.
 
Post-Holiday Social – Ann Way
 
The post-holiday social is Saturday, Jan 13 at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort and starts at 6 PM.
 
Membership Talk – Harry Sharpe
 
We had 3 prospective members in attendance today as it was a "Bring a prospective member" luncheon where the guest and their host both got a free lunch.
 
Membership Chair, Harry talked about the history of Rotary, which was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago. Tunkhannock Rotary was founded in 1925 by the Pittston Rotary. Rotary is the largest service organization in the world.
 

Membership Chair Harry Sharpe
 
He talked about the motto (Service above self) and the ideals of Rotary and about the various areas of focus, including polio eradication.
 
Harry described various activities of the Tunkhannock Rotary, which is active in the schools (supporting DARE, scholarships, Interact Club and dictionaries for 3rd graders etc.), exchange students, roadside clean up, candy cane day, donations to local organizations, and putting on the July 3rd fireworks.
 
The annual Harvest & Wine Festival allows us to give out over $50,000 in donations the last several years.  Harry read out the list of organizations to which we contribute. 
 
Our Rotary dues are $135 per year and weekly lunch is $13, which includes the tip. Harry has membership applications and he described the process for membership consideration by the Board and Club.
 
Exchange Student Photo Opportunity
 
One of the prospective members hosted by Marta Kovac Ruiz was Kathi Harter Keefe, who was a Tunkhannock Rotary Exchange student to Sweden in 1968-1969, the 6th student sent outbound by Tunkhannock. Additionally, Adam Sehne, 2012-2013 Rotary Exchange student to Ecuador was in attendance at the meeting.  It was a perfect opportunity to take a photo of former and current Tunkhannock Rotary Exchange Students. 
 

L to R: Adam Sehne, Vittorio Sica, Haley Toczko, Kathi Harter Keefe, and Nico Chaulet
 

Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Jan 18. It will be a Club Assembly with Rotary Moments.
 
President Samantha Maruzzelli adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.

Guest Speaker: 
 
Haley lived in the city of Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia, with 32,000 people, very touristy since located near ski slopes.  It is 4 hr from Vienna. The Liptovsky Mikulas Rotary was her host club. One perk for students in Slovakia is that travel is free. Rotary took her on a trip to Poland.
 
Her first host father was in the security technology business and her host sister was in Colorado, so they only met for 1 day at the end of Haley’s stay. They took her everywhere and introduced her to a lot of friends.  She joined in for kickboxing, skiing and other sports.
 
She was able to have Thanksgiving with other American students in Slovakia.
 
Most Slovak schools were 8 years elementary and 5 years high school.  But her school was different and was 5 years elementary and 8 years high school.  She went skiing with the school.  They have initiation for all new students, which was to do a traditional Slovak dance, which she showed a video of as part of her presentation.
 
There were 95 exchange students in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She had to take a Slovak test periodically to make sure she was learning the language.
 
She got to go to Bratislava and to the Xmas market there and also to Vienna during her stay.
 
Jan 10 she moved to her 2nd family. One of her host sisters had done an exchange to Chile.  While with her second host family she learned to play hockey.
 
In the winter, 60 exchange students came to her city for the skiing.
 
She also went to their Rotary District Conference and the Exchange students had to sing at the conference and there was a talent show. She sang in the chorus and was not a solo performer.
 
In April, she moved to her 3rd host family, where her new host mother was the sister of her first host mother. So, she was back in with the families.
 
Easter is significant for traditions in Slovakia.  On Easter, all the males go house to house and hit the women with willow branch whips and pour buckets of water on them to bring good health and beauty to the women. Haley got really doused with water and it was cold with snow on the ground.  The men were then invited in and provided with food and drink.
 
After her time in Slovakia, Haley did the Exchange Student Eurotour and visited 3 countries. They spent 3 days in Paris, 2 days in Barcelona (she loved the open markets and beach), then took a 24 hr ferry to Italy.  They started in Rome, hiked up Mt Vesuvius, visited Pompeii, Florence, Verona and Venice.
 
On her farewell weekend, the organizers scheduled a 5 hr hike, 8 hr bike ride and 8 hr rafting trip on the river to tire them out at the end.
 
Since her return, she has seen 2 American Exchange friends and went to London to see one of her host families. She will get a chance to see them again when they come to the states soon. She has made life-long friends around the world during her exchange and hopes to keep in touch with many of them and visit with them in the future.
 

Haley Toczko
 

Jan 13, 2018 Post Holiday Social
 
After an excellent dinner with delicious desserts made by Sisile Maruzzelli, District Governor Karin-Susan Breitlauch presented a club designated Paul Harris Fellow to Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell in recognition of his work helping people in need as DA, providing leadership in the attempt to reduce the opioid crisis in our area and promoting the natural beauty found here in Wyoming County
 

DG Karin Breitlauch presenting Paul Harris Fellow to DA Jeff Mitchell
 
DG Karin then presented multiple Paul Harris pins to Tom Kukuchka and John Proctor. 
 

Tom Kukuchka receiving his multiple Paul Harris pin from DG Karin Breitlauch
 

John Proctor after receiving his multiple Paul Harris pin from DG Karin Breitlauch
 
Due to the bad weather, the members of the Keystone Music group that were to provide after dinner entertainment were unable to come, so John Hovan told a story and poem, Randy Ehrenzeller also spoke and DG Karin read an entertaining piece written by a new Rotary Director.