Home Page | Rotary Club of Tunkhannock

On the first and third Thursday's of every month, the Tunkhannock Rotary will hold a flash club meeting at 5:30 PM at Bogey's at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort. This is a 15-30 minute meeting for those members or prospective members who cannot make our regular 12:15 PM meeting. If they so desire, members and guests can stay after the meeting for drinks and/or dinner.

If you are interested in joining Rotary, but cannot make our luncheon meetings, please join us at one of our Thursday flash meetings to learn more about Rotary and our international and community based activities.

Inbound Exchange Student Kike Presented at Nov 21 Meeting

Kike Caro Paredes our inbound Exchange Student from Peru gave his end of exchange presentation at the Nov 21 Rotary Luncheon. Kike will be returning to Peru at the end of Dec.

He provided an overview of Peru, its foods, his family and his time in the US including his very long and traumatic 2 day trip to actually get to Tunkhannock. He got the opportunity to visit a lot of US cities and experienced a lot of firsts: first flight, snow, roller coaster ride, American football game and American Thanksgiving dinner.

After his presentation, Pres. Sandy presented Kike with a club banner and book on the state of PA signed by many of the club members.

Paul Harris Presentations

At the Nov 21 Tunkhannock Rotary Luncheon, Pres. Sandy Lane presented a first Paul Harris to Don Davis for his cumulated donations of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.

Don Davis receiving his Paul Harris from Pres. Sandy Lane

Additionally, Pres Sandy presented a Paul Harris +6 pin to Jeannie Brady for her cumulative donations to the Rotary Foundation.

L to R: Pres. Sandy presenting PH+6 pin to Jeannie Brady

Louis Marcho Spoke on The Wall That Heals

Louis Marcho, funeral director at the Sheldon-Kukuchka Funeral Home, was the speaker at our Nov 14 Rotary Meeting. Louis spoke about The Wall That Heals, which will be coming to Tunkhannock on April 30 through May 3, 2020. The Wall that Heals is a mobile ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While it has been in other counties, it has not yet been in Wyoming County. There are over 58,000 names on the wall, all of whom lost their lives in Vietnam and it honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the US Armed forces in the Vietnam War. Donations and volunteers are needed to help defray the costs and support the Wall being displayed 24/7 at the Tunkhannock Football Field.

Donations can be made to the First National Bank in Tunkhannock, checks should be made payable to “The Wall That Heals Tunkhannock” or mailed to 73 W. Tioga St. Tunkhannock, PA. To learn more about how you can help the effort by volunteering or providing help of various sorts, please call or email Louis Marcho at 570-836-3321 or twtunkhannock@gmail.com.

Louis Marcho

Halloween Hat Fun

The theme of the Oct 31 Rotary luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple was Rotary Halloween Fun. Mary Tempest and Ron Furman, co-chairs of the membership committee, coordinated a wear your favorite Halloween Hat Contest, as well as, a Rotary trivia contest between tables of participants.

The 3 finalists for the Hat contest were selected by a panel of Rotarian judges, who did not wear hats to the meeting. The finalists were Sandy Lane, Mike Markovitz and Patty Ehrenzeller. The winning hat was selected by the assembly, who voted with their level of applause for each finalist. And the winning hat was worn by Mike Markovitz!

Rotarians in their favorite Halloween Hats.

Finalist (l to r) Sandy Lane, Winner Mike Markovitz and Finalist Patty Ehrenzeller

The table that won the Rotary Trivia contest was comprised of exchange student Ale, Patty Ehrenzeller, Don Davis and Terri Detrick. Congratulations to all the winners, but everyone was actually a winner, since it was such a fun event.

Ale & Jana With Their Pumpkins

Our exchange students, Ale and Jana, have been getting into the Halloween spirit with their pumpkin selection and carving. Great job!

Margy Kester Talked About Strokes at Oct 17 Meeting

Our guest speaker at the Oct 17 Rotary Luncheon was Margy Kester, who is the Geisinger CMC Stroke Program Coordinator. She talked about the different kinds of strokes, their risk factors and the importance of rapid response and treatment to reduce disabling consequences.

Margy Kester

Happy Birthday to Alejandra

A very Happy Birthday wish for our inbound exchange student Alejandra (Ale) Carolina Vizcaino-Ruiz from Ecuador. We hope you had a great day with the Tempest family and with Kike and Jana.

Rotarians Prepare for Harvest & Wine Festival

Posted on Oct 10, 2019

Our Rotarians are hard at work preparing Lazybrook Park for Saturday's Harvest & Wine Festival. Online ticket sales end at 11.59 PM on Fri Oct 11. Tickets purchased online will be available at the "will call" table at the entrance to the Festival.

Exchange Student Jana Vlckova Spoke at Oct 3 Meeting

Our inbound exchange student from the Czech Republic, Jana Vlckova was the speaker at our Oct 3 Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple. Jana told us about her family, her favorite activities, her school and many of the traditions, foods and highlights of her country.

She then spoke about her current host family, the various activities she has experienced so far during her exchange and of course school.

Jana Vlckova

Rotarian Jim Welch Celebrates 90th Birthday

At the Oct 3 Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple, the Club helped Rotarian Jim Welch celebrate his 90th birthday with a cake with 90 candles, a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday and later a gift of a Rotary jacket.

Jim Welch with his birthday cake and wearing his new jacket with President Sandy Lane

Don Davis Presented at Sept 26 Luncheon

Rotarian Don Davis was the speaker at our Sept 26 Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple. Don spoke about a genetic deficiency of a protein called alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), which results in deterioration of lung function due to destruction of lung tissue with loss of elasticity of the lungs. This is a rare genetic disorder passed down in families. The primary symptoms are shortness of breath and lots of bronchio infections.

Patients are treated by replacing their missing AAT by weekly infusions of Prolastin. While Prolastin slows down the progression of the disease, it is not a cure. Some patients with severely compromised lungs can have double lung transplants and may do very well thereafter.

Don emphasized that if you know someone with chronic lung problems, have them get a genetic blood test to see if they have AAT deficiency, so that they can take the Prolastin to slow down the progression of the disease.

Don Davis

Sept 20 Fireside Chat

On Friday, Sept 20, the membership committee convened the first Fireside Chat/Orientation for new, senior and prospective Rotarians and guests at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort from 6-8 PM. The event was organized by Membership co-chair Mary Tempest with locale arrangements by Fellowship Committee co-chair Francine Kanyok. The evening began with a social period with light snacks and drinks.

Several topic tables were set up with Rotarians knowledgeable on that topic in charge. Participants had to move between tables to ensure they were exposed to information on the various topics of discussion including, ClubRunner/Rotary Foundation, Youth Services, Committees, Global Projects and Rotary Facts. The Rotary Facts table was a lot of fun and included a Rotary quiz, although one senior Rotarian, who shall remain nameless, changed the questions such that no one could even guess the correct answers. Door prizes were awarded at the end of the meeting.

Membership Committee Co-chairs Mary Tempest & Ron Furman

Orientation Activities

DG Karen DeMatteo Addressed Sept 12 Meeting

District Governor Karen DeMatteo was the speaker at the Sept 12 Rotary Luncheon. Karen is a 10-year Rotarian, has traveled to Honduras on projects and looks forward to her service as District Governor (DG). DG Karen gave out pins with the Theme for the year “Rotary Connects the World”.

Our RI Pres. wants us to grow Rotary and for our projects to increase our impact in our communities. Rotary has spent 20 years on polio eradication and raised billions of dollars to this end.

She then introduced our very own Samantha Maruzzelli as the new District Membership Chair and the source of resources to help grow membership, do meet and greets, and hold Fireside chats to educate members in the basics of Rotary. The Learning center at Rotary.org is a valuable resource with great classes.

Rotary Leadership Institute is coming up Oct 26 at Lackawanna College in Scranton from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. It is a BOGO opportunity. For every 2 members paid for by a club, 1 will be refunded after they attend the course.

Sam and DG Karen are starting a new club in the District in Swiftwater with the employees of Sanofi Pasteur, who are the only manufacturers of the polio vaccine. They are looking to have the meetings outside the factory at a local restaurant for these employees.

The polio fundraiser at the RailRiders Game was a success with $3,000 raised. Karen has also asked each club to donate $1,000 to polio and we have already allocated $2,000 for a polio donation from the club.

Rotary will be the major featured sponsor for the Steamtown Marathon Oct 12 & 13. 3,000 runners will have the end polio now and Rotary wheel on their shirts. The Race is the 13^th. Oct 12 is the Expo day, where the runners go to pick up their bibs and info. The expo site will include a Rotary booth.

District Conference will be 2 single day conferences: Apr 18, 2020 9-9 PM at Shadowbrook and May 2 at Woodloch in Hawley. There will be different content at both. There will be Memorial services at each, 1 traditional, 1 a lantern release.

DG Karen DeMatteo

L to R: Pres. Sandy Lane, exchange students Jana, Ale, Kike and DG Karen DeMatteo

Rotary Welcomes Alejandra Carolina Vizcaino-Ruiz

Alejandra Carolina Vizcaino-Ruiz is our 2019-2020 inbound exchange student from Ecuador. Ale’s father is a tourist guide and her Mom works in a travel agency. Her big sister is 21 years old and studying technology in Ecuador. Nicky and Bruno are her pet dogs. She practices fencing and also dancing.

Ecuador is a small country, which includes the Galapagos Islands, and now uses American money instead of their old native currency. The Galapagos are famous for its old large turtles.

Ale then shared pictures of some of the traditional foods and their national costumes. She lives in Quito, the capital city, with the famous Basilica del Voto Nacional. They also have a volcano, Pichincha, as well as other nearby volcanos, the equatorial line and approximately 1.9 million people. Dec 6 is Independence Day and they have parties and play cards.

Inbound Exchange Student Alejandra Carolina Vizcaino-Ruiz

Welcome to All 3 Tunkhannock Exchange Students

At the Sept 5 Rotary Luncheon, the Club had the opportunity to welcome and hear from all 3 of our inbound exchange students:

Jana Vickeva from the Czech Republic, who arrived in Aug,
Lol-Enrique (Kike) Caro Paredes from Peru, who has been here since Feb and
Alejandra (Ale) Carolina Vizcaino-Ruiz from Ecuador, who arrived in Aug.

The students talked about their classes at Tunkhannock Area High School, sports and activities with other students and their host families since their arrival.

(L to R) Jana, Kike and Ale

Former Indian Exchange Student Returns

At the Aug 29 Rotary Luncheon, senior members had the opportunity to greet former inbound exchange student Matesh.

Matesh Kurkani was an inbound exchange student from India 37 years ago and was hosted by several Rotarian families. He and his wife are both Rotarians. He has come back several times to visit. Don and Jean Sick took him to Niagara Falls and other places.

When he went back to India, he got his MBA in Finance and started his own non-banking finance company. He also owns a construction company that builds and sells condominiums in India.

They have 2 daughters. His 24 yr old daughter is a lawyer and member of the bar in India. They are flying into Ottowa, where she is pursuing further studies. Their youngest daughter won a scholarship at Wheaton College in MA, where they have visited.

He has wonderful memories of his time in Tunkhannock and encouraged the current exchange students to make the most of their time here.

Former Inbound Exchange Student Matesh Kurkani

Norm Kelly Reports on 2019 RI Convention

At the Aug 29 Rotary Luncheon, Rotarian Norm Kelly completed his report on his trip to Europe and attendance at the RI Convention in Hamburg, Germany. The Convention badge was recognized for free transportation around the city. There were approximately 26,500 people in attendance.

Hamburg was wiped out in the war and this is mostly a new city. The Conference was on the waterfront with the Endo Polio Flag flying in the harbor. There was a 2.3 mile walking tunnel under the harbor. He and Marcia visited the beautiful Botanical Gardens.

The RI Convention was split over several buildings. Pres. Ian Riseley brought Rotaract into RI. Toastmasters and Rotary have now combined and will teach public speaking to clubs.

This year they are really trying to end polio finally, so everyone marched with their polio t-shirts for 5 miles thru the city. $50 million has been raised with a $100 million match from the Gates Foundation.

Lots of heart-warming stories were told at the meeting about people who were helped by Rotary or offered help to others. Every speech is on the RI website under the Convention heading if anyone wants to listen to some of the outstanding speakers.

Rotarian Norm Kelly

Fran Langan Spoke at Aug 22 Meeting

At the Aug 22 Rotary Luncheon, our speaker was Frances Langan, Ed.D. Keystone College, who is Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Strategic Initiatives at Keystone College and is also a registered nurse. She has been at Keystone for over 30 yrs.

Their Mission and Vision is to: Inspire students, support students, empower students, transform lives. This year they will have 360 new students for a total of over 1,200 full time students.

The new President wants to forge strong career pathways and professional development. They will be offering continuing education certificates in a short period of time. They are also adding new programs in computer science starting in Sept. with a concentration in artificial intelligence: quantum computing, machine learning and software development. They have 3-D printing resources.

New Developments. For first time in 71 years, they will have a football team at Keystone.

Frances Langan

Paul DeMarco Reported on His Exchange to Brazil

Our guest speaker at the Aug 15 Rotary Luncheon was returning Outbound Exchange Student to Brazil, Paul DeMarco. Paul spent his gap year in Recife, Brazil between his 2018 graduation from Tunkhannock Area High School and his upcoming attendance at Notre Dame University.

At his school in Recife, the students stay in the same room, but the teachers move rooms. There were about 50 students per class and they went from 7:30 AM to 1 PM and were then done after that. His favorite part of school was the break where he got to go and pay soccer with his friends. He did play with the school basketball team, but sports were not a big thing there. They only practiced 1 hr. per week.

He did enjoy play time at the beach, surfing and going to concerts and Recife soccer matches. He even got to go to training with the Recife soccer team and had photos with some of the team star players.

He helped serve breakfast to the homeless through a church down there and also helped with a poor village to whom the church provided clothes and stuff.

Rotary sponsored several service projects and 3 Rotary trips in which he got to partake.

They did a trip to Iguaza Falls near the border with Argentina, and Paraguay. The Falls are much bigger than Niagara Falls. They did a boat trip under the Falls.
The students spent 10 days in the Amazonian rain forest on a boat on the river. They slept in hammocks and climbed trees. They visited Manaus city in the middle of the Amazon, which is a big rubber trading city. They also went to see the pink dolphins in the river. He had the opportunity to hold an anaconda around his neck and went piranha fishing.
They did a trip to Rio. They went to the beach on Ipanema and also to Carnival.

Paul DeMarco giving a talk on his exchange year in Brazil

After his presentation, Paul presented President Sandy Lane with a club banner from his host club in Brazil, the Recife Rotary Club in District 4500. Paul had given them a club banner from the Tunkhannock Rotary Club during his stay in Brazil.

Pres. Sandy Lane receiving a Recife Rotary Club banner from Paul DeMarco

Norm Kelly Talks About His European Trip

Our speaker at the Aug 8 Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple was club member Norm Kelly, who spoke about his recent trip to Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany prior to attending the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany.

Norm reported on his and Marcia's trip with loads of wonderful photos, anecdotes and interesting facts on what they saw (well-known, as well as, very interesting lesser-known sites) and will postpone the highlights of the RI International Convention until he talks again on Aug 29.

While traveling they saw signs for the Inner Wheel – a lady’s organization for Rotary, since woman were not allowed in Rotary until 1987. This organization was founded in 1924 in England and still has over 100,000 members.

One of their most somber visits was to the American Cemetery outside Luxemburg. There are 5,073 soldiers and Gen Patton buried there, mainly were Battle of the Bulge casualties.

Rotarian Norm Kelly talking about his European adventures.

Ann Way Receives 2018-2019 Presidential Award

At the Aug 8 Rotary Luncheon, Past President Mike Markovitz presented a 2018-2019 President's Award to Ann Way.

Mike commented: “Not only have you taken on the tasks of being a Club Liaison to the Exchange Student Program, handled many aspects of the Fellowship Committee in planning events, covered for officers as needed, not to mention providing a tremendous effort on the Wine Festival Committee and handling the very tedious task of ticket sales, (Big Sigh – Wheew) … but you also handled the daunting task of scheduling all of the numerous speakers for the year. Having little idea what it took to schedule all those speakers (I sure do now), when I came to you back in June and made the weeee request of ensuring we had the most interesting speakers all year and to avoid “Check Acceptance Speakers”, I can imagine now the “Are you Crazy Markovitz !!!??” that must have occurred after that request.

Thank you Ann for an awesome job this year in all that you did! For those efforts, I would like to honor you with a President’s Award for your efforts this past year.”

Ann Way receiving a 2018-2019 President's Award from Past President Mike Markovitz

Jenny Huang Talks About Her Upcoming Exchange to Bolivia

Jenny Huang was the guest speaker at the Aug 1 Tunkhannock Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple. Jenny talked about her upcoming exchange to Bolivia and her desire to learn their culture and traditions and to enhance her Spanish fluency. She graduated from Tunkhannock Area High School in 2019 and will be going to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which is the largest city in Bolivia for her gap year before attending Penn State University. She is undecided on her area of specialization at Penn State, but thinks it might be in a medically related area.

Best wishes to Jenny for her year in Bolivia!

2019-2020 Outbound Exchange Student Jenny Huang

Doug Harbach Discusses Gambling Regulations & Revenues

The guest speaker at the July 25 Rotary Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple was Doug Harbach, Director of Communications, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, who gave a illuminating presentation on the workings of the Board. This Board regulates land-based casinos and a variety of other gambling enterprises, including online gambling in PA. They do not regulate horse racing, lottery games or small games of chance.

Doug discussed the various new gambling endeavors that the Board has approved, as well as, the tax benefits to citizens from the tax revenues generated by gambling. Casino taxes provide property tax reductions to homeowners through the Homestead Act, which is currently saving Tunkhannock area residents $234 per qualified property. Some of the tax revenues from the other gambling endeavors will benefit the General Fund, horse racing and the problem gaming funds.

In addition to regulating gambling in PA, the Board also ensures that resources and tools are made available for individuals with gambling problems, including counseling and a self-exclusion program.

Doug Harbach

2019 Peace Camp

From July 15-19, the Rotary sponsored Peace Camp was once again held at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Tunkhannock. Rotarian Rev. Lou Divis coordinated the camp and several Rotarians were guest presenters to the 20 participant children (ages 6-12). Campers feel totally affirmed, and learn through practice how to end bullying, stick up for themselves and their friends, and control their own anger and angry responses. Peace Camp includes time for drumming together, practicing yoga, hearing from great speakers, and enjoying great food. The children also received t-shirts for the Tunkhannock Rotary Peace Camp.

Rotarian Cammie Anderson gave a talk on drug and alcohol avoidance/safety. Rotarian Ron Furman brought the children homemade maple syrup for their pancakes and told them how you tap the trees and make maple syrup.

Cammie (left) & Ron

Rotarian Mike Markovitz, Pres. of the Tunkhannock Community Ambulance Association and a Dive Team member, brought the Dive Team Truck and spoke to the kids about water safety and the dive team activities. The kids also got a chance to hop aboard the jet ski that the dive team uses at work and to try to save a drowning swimmer, albeit on land.

Mike with the Campers & Chaperones

Although not a guest speaker, Rotarian Samantha Maruzzelli helped coordinate the daily lunch menus and provided food for the campers, including their favorite, pizza in the park. One member of the Tunkhannock High School Interact Club also helped out during the week and enjoyed it so much that she has decided to help out again next year.

Peace Camp is one of the activities that is funded by the proceeds from the annual Harvest & Wine Festival.

Loghan Hirkey Spoke at July 18 Meeting

Loghan Hirkey is the current Wyoming/Lackawanna County Dairy Princess and began her reign in June 2019. She has been doing talks to children and this is her first time speaking to adults.

She will compete in the state pageant in Sept. She will perform a skit and read her speech, “Refueling with chocolate milk”. Loghan read her State Pageant Speech that informs athletic directors/coaches the benefit of drinking Chocolate Milk to refuel your body after an intense game or being active. If drink 16 oz of choc milk after exercise, athletes have fewer muscle injuries than other drinks after exercise.

There is a state-wide campaign to “Fill a Glass with Hope” by several Dairy associations to ensure families do not go hungry by providing them with fresh milk from food banks. She asked for donations to help fund this program. She will take donations to the Pittston food bank, since they have a large refrigeration system to store the milk.

Loghan Hirkey - Dairy Princess

Rotarians Learn About Equines for Freedom

The guest speaker at the July 11 Luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple was Marica Ramey from Equines for Freedom. Marica is part of the counseling team that treat military veterans and first responders experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. They use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with horses as the therapeutic intervention to help these individuals process traumatic memories, decreasing nightmare, flashbacks and traumatic reactions.

Marica Ramey

Tunkhannock Welcomes 3 New Members

At the Jun 27 Rotary luncheon at Purkey's Pink Apple, Membership Chair Ron Furman inducted 3 new Rotarians: David Weingust sponsored by and pinned by Mary Tempest, Mary Linden sponsored by Samantha Maruzzelli but pinned by Wade Linden and Tim Kerestes sponsored by Marta Kovacs-Ruiz and pinned by George Gay.

David Weingust – Northeastern PA has been home for all his life. His mother worked at Mulligan Printing and he worked there for 10 years. He now works at GEM 104 Radio as an account executive, marketing consultant.

Mary Linden – has lived in Tunkhannock since 2005 with Rotarian husband Wade. Their son Jason was involved in RYLA for several years and then was a Rotary 2014-2015 exchange student to Mexico. They also have an older son Chris. Mary now works as a parent educator with HANDS and previously was in the TASD as a substitute teacher and reading assistant. Over the last several years, Mary has been helping Rotary with the Fireworks, Harvest & Wine Festival and Candy Cane Day.

Tim Kerestes – He is a Physical Therapist. His wife is Jamie and they have 2 little girls, Charleigh, who is 3 and Sullivan, who is 7 months. He is happy to be a member of our Club and to be around the quality people that he knows we are in our Rotary Club.

L to R: Pres. Mike Markovitz, Mary Linden, Wade Linden, George Gay, Tim Kerestes, Membership Chair Ron Furman, David Weingust and Mary Tempest

The Return of Mikie's Mallet

Every year, the current Club President must guard their gavel with extreme care. Gavels have been known to walk away, accidently get lost and even disappear in plain sight. This fun tradition has been ongoing for at least 39 years. A notation in the minutes of the May 8, 1980 meeting states that: “President Kent rejoiced at the return of his gavel….”

Several weeks ago, Pres. Mike's gavel was liberated by a loyal Rotarian, who felt sorry for the gavel having to constantly bang the Club bell. While out of Mike's possession, his gavel decided to check out what it was like to be an EMT, since Mike and many of his family are all EMTs. Based on photos from a reliable but unnamed source, Mikie's Mallet went off for EMT training, running up a rather large bill that would need to be paid before the gavel could be returned to Mike (see photo album on this website for more info on the gavel's exploits).

At the Officer Installation and Awards Banquet on June 20, the Club passed around a donation box to help Mike redeem his gavel. All money collected goes to the Rotary Foundation. During the proceedings, incoming President Sandra Lane presented Mike with his thank you presents from the Club, which included a beautiful wall plaque with a clip for his President’s gavel. But of course, Mike did not have his gavel to go into the clip.

At that point, Sandy announced that a total of $408 was raised for the Rotary Foundation. Now that the money was raised to redeem the gavel, Mike’s EMT family wheeled in his grandson Jayson on a gurney with the gavel in his little hands. Jayson was also wearing a t-shirt with a gavel on the front. Although reluctant, he did eventually hand over the gavel to Sandy for her to put it into the clip on the plaque.

Sandy with the empty gavel plaque and the EMTs rushing Jayson in with his grandpop's gavel, which he was reluctant to return. Maybe his wants to hold on to it to practice until he becomes a future Rotary Club President.

President & Officers Installed for 2019-2020

At the June 20th Officer Installation and Awards Banquet at Shadowbrook Inn and Resort, Rotary District 7410 Governor (DG) Roger Mattes installed the incoming President Sandra Lane and Officers and Directors who will begin their terms on July 1.

DG Roger made some brief remarks where he enumerated many of the great strengths of the Tunkhannock Rotary. He then installed Sandy Lane as Club President for 2019-2020 and then installed the rest of the incoming Officers including: President-elect Terri Detrick, Treasurer Elaine Walker, Secretary Carol Ziomek and Directors Jon Buxton, Ron Furman, Samantha Maruzzelli and Mary Tempest. Absent were: Vice Pres. Don Davis, Directors: Karen Fuller, Norm Kelly, John Proctor and Ann Way.

L to R: Incoming President Sandra Lane, Samantha Maruzzelli, Mary Tempest, Treasurer Elaine Walker, DG Roger Mattes, Secretary Carol Ziomek, Jon Buxton, Ron Furman, President-Elect Terri Detrick and Outgoing President Mike Markovitz

After the installations, Pres. Mike gave his end of year speech in which he reviewed some of the highlights of his Presidency and thanked everyone for helping make this a successful year for the club. Pres. Mike was saluted by a standing ovation from all those in attendance.

Incoming President Sandra Lane then ended the evening by sharing some of her plans for the coming year, including even more community-based and family oriented projects.

Outgoing President Mike Markovitz and Incoming President Sandra Lane

Rotarian of the Year Award

At the June 20 Officer Installation and Awards Banquet, the final award presented was the Rotarian of the Year award to Samantha Maruzzelli. In presenting this prestigious award, Pres. Mike remarked: “…to me she totally exemplifies the true meaning of a Rotarian, being ALL-IN when it comes to participating in all club events and activities, being a true mentor, a listener when needed, and a leader, finding new ways to better our club every day. As a past President of our club, she attended District training activities, collaborated and initiated many new ideas that have made our club a better club and more attractive to new members, many if not all of those ideas continuing on today.”

Past President Samantha Maruzzelli receiving the Rotarian of the Year Award from Pres. Mike Markovitz

Distinguished Service Awards

At the June 20 Officer Installation and Awards Banquet, Pres. Mike presented a Club Distinguished Service Award to John Hovan for his 34+ years of service in Rotary and especially our club. This past year John raised an amazing $4,200 from Rotarians / Family and Friends. Those efforts were then doubled by the Operation Smile Project accounting for an astonishing $8,400 to provide much needed cleft pallet surgeries to 34 children in the Philippines in honor of the Philippines and Tunkhannock Girls Little League Softball World Series Teams.

At the June 27 Rotary Luncheon, Pres. Mike presented a Club Distinguished Service Award to Glenn Holcombe for giving from his personal time and pocket, designing amazing works for multiple events that we sponsor. Glenn's works and photography are eye catching, extremely professional and have helped us bring Community Awareness to the Drug Take Back Program, Harvest and Wine Festival, Fourth of July Fireworks, among many other events.

Pres Mike with John Hovan (left) and Glenn Holcombe

Service Above Self Awards

At the June 20 Officer Installation and Awards Banquet, Pres. Mike presented Service Above Self Awards and Pins to Anne Sehne for her dedication to the Exchange Student Program and Albert Noble for his passion and commitment to the Rotary Foundation as our club Foundation Chair.

Pres. Mike with Anne Sehne (left) and Albert Noble

In 1989 I joined the Tunkhannock Rotary Club. My employer (Tunkhannock Area School District) wanted the Administrative Staff to be part of the community .The Superintendent Kent Kresege was a long time Rotarian and asked if I would be interested in joining Rotary. Rotary changed my life.

I sponsored an exchange student, who is now a US citizen and mother. When I was 30 years old , I was told I had to have surgery that would prevent me from having children. This remarkable girl who was born in Serbia the week of my surgery became my Exchange Student in 1996 and Rotary changed my life.

In 1999-2000 I became president of our club, 10 years after joining the club. I chaired a group exchange team from our District to go on a 5 week exchange with a club in Africa . I was Treasurer for approximately 8+ years Now in 2019-2020, 20 years later, I am becoming president again with our club. I have 30 years total in our club and Rotary is still changing my life.

The Rotary International President, Mark Daniel Maloney, selected as his theme for the 2019-2020: Rotary Connects The World. The world has become a smaller place through Rotary. The Club’s participation in world grants and the exchange student program has helped our club connect with the world.

We have an amazing club and everyone helps make our club special in the community. I planned to focus my year as president making a difference in the community. We have many resources available to us to make a tremendous impact in the community. Also family is very important and sometimes has to sacrifice family time due to Club events. I would like to include family in many of our events to help make our club stronger.

Our past President Mike Markovitz has structured valuable committees which I plan to keep in place to continue his work. Samantha Maruzzelli started the Flash Meeting twice a month and Mike Markovitz continued them. I will also keep these meetings going to make attendance easier for our members. I want to make this year enjoyable to all members and bring new members to our club.

2019-2020 Rotary Theme: Rotary Connects the World

RI President Mark Daniel Maloney’s theme for 2019-20, Rotary Connects the World, asks Rotarians to strengthen the many ways that Rotary Connects the World, building the connections that allow talented, thoughtful, and generous people to unite and take meaningful action through Rotary service.

ROTARY’S VISION:
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

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