Home Page | Rotary Club of Tunkhannock

December 2020
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Good Luck to everyone who entered our Raffle! You can still buy calendar entries until Dec 24 for a chance at the Dec 25 Grand Prize. See article below for information on how to enter.

And the Winners are:

1	Kevin Kitchnefsky	17
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16

Each calendar costs $20, so feel free to buy multiple copies to increase your chances of winning. Winners can select prize or cash value. You must be 21 or over to purchase a calendar. One prize per calendar purchase, except all entries will be eligible for the Christmas Grand Prize Drawing. Daily winners will be posted on our Website and Facebook pages. Good Luck!

Calendar raffle entries can be purchased at Antonio’s Pizzeria (in Weis Plaza), Welch Insurance (71 E Tioga Street) and Tri-County Insurance. Rick Miller has also posted that “at Pro-Office Support and Life Money Management you can purchase a calendar "safely"! Drop an envelope into our "Black" box, left of our glass door 120 Bridge Street Suite 5, across from Post office, across parking lot from Endless Realty. Deposit a check for $20 for each calendar made out to Tunkhannock Rotary. Include your email address and phone number for each calendar. I will email you a confirmation, a calendar, a link to daily winners.”

Please consider supporting the Rotary Foundation on Giving Tuesday, Dec 1 at Giving Tuesday | My Rotary.

Volunteers Collecting Donations on Candy Cane Day 2020

Thank you to everyone who donated to our collection buckets manned by Tunkhannock Rotarians, Interactors, their families and friends at several locations in town on Black Friday, Nov. 27. Money collected from this event will be given to Interfaith Friends & Wyoming County Children and Youth to provide Christmas gifts to children in need in Wyoming County.

December is disease prevention and treatment month in Rotary. Disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease is so important to us. We lead efforts both large and small. We set up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. We design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together.

Our members combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why we also focus on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care.

We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases. Rotary members have hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time.

Welcome to our Website!

Service Above Self

We meet Thursdays at 12:15 PM
Shadowbrook Inn and Resort

201 Resort Lane
Tunkhannock, PA 18657
United States of America

District Site

Bulletins

On the first and third Thursday's of every month, the Tunkhannock Rotary will hold a flash club meeting at 5:30 PM 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.

Interact Club Awarded Certificate of Appreciation

At the Nov 12 Rotary Meeting, Vice President Mike formally presented the TAHS Interact Club with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Rotary Foundation for their donations to Polio Plus over the years that has now exceeded $1,200. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, Kinsley Schmeckenbecher, Interact Club President attended via Zoom along with other Interact Officers Emily Rickaby (Secretary) & Rebecca Fick (Treasurer).

Each of the officers expressed their thanks for the recognition and indicated how important it was to them to get this Certificate of Appreciation. They also expressed their pleasure at being a part of Interact during their time in the Club.

Kinsley Schmeckenbecher (President), Emily Rickaby (Secretary) and Rebecca Fick (Treasurer) of the TAHS Interact Club

Sheriff Robert Roberts Spoke at Nov 12 Luncheon

The guest speaker at the Nov 12 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook was Sheriff Robert Roberts. Sheriff Roberts provided details on his personal history in law enforcement and then gave information on the history of law enforcement in Wyoming County. He pointed out that the Sheriff is the highest-ranking law enforcer in some counties.

He then talked about the duties of the Sheriff dept. They handle courthouse and jail security, process licenses to carry in the County, assist other agencies as needed and are responsible to keep the peace in the county and to arrest violators of the law.

In the future, he wants to improve security at the courthouse with screening and inspection, increase public service and visibility (especially when staffing increases next year), enhance school patrols and expand to other schools to act as a deterrent.

Sheriff Robert Roberts

Fall Roadside Cleanup on Oct 31

For at least the last 23 years, twice a year, usually in the Spring and Fall, Tunkhannock Rotarians clean-up both sides of the roadside along 2 miles of Route 6 from the Fireplace Restaurant to beyond Route 87 towards Meshoppen. So, on Sat Oct 31, Rotarians, family and friends gathered at the Fireplace Restaurant parking lot to begin the Fall cleanup. Although it was a cold day, Rotarians are "People of Action" and were determined to get the cleanup done. Chairman Mike Markovitz commented “THANK YOU! We had 20 people show up to get the project completed in rapid time. We started at 9:00 am and were wrapped up by 10:15 am and headed home by 10:30 am! GREAT JOB TO ALL!”

Rotary Celebrates Halloween on Oct 29

On Thursday Oct 29, the noontime luncheon at Shadowbrook gave members and family the opportunity to dress up in their favorite costumes. There were 4 winners in the costume contest: Kaitlyn Markovitz - 1st place, Patty Ehrenzeller - 2nd place, Mary Tempest - 3rd place and John Hovan - 4th place. Congratulations to all the costume contest winners.

Some of our costume contest contestants

Deb Shurtleff Spoke at Oct 22 Luncheon

Deb Shurtleff was the guest speaker at our Oct 22 Rotary Lunchon at Shadowbrook. Deb is the President of Cloverknoll LLC, which offers shared space for wellness professionals in Tunkhannock.

Cloverknoll and Wyo Cty Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) have gotten together to revitalize the Wyo Cty Community Alliance, whose mission statement is: “connects and educates organizations who strengthen Wyoming County communities”. The Alliance will support and introduce the non-profit organizations to businesses, and they can provide service together.

One of the Alliance Programs is the Food Emergency Distribution (FED) Program, which is a collaboration of Wyo Cty agencies. There has been 15% to 25% food insecurity since the pandemic began. There is a signup at WCCC alliance (https://wyccc.com/alliance/) for families/individuals to receive hot meals, school lunches, baby and infant supplies and groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic this fall and winter. They also need volunteers to deliver the food.

Deb Shurtleff

Mike Donahue Spoke at Oct 15 Luncheon

Mike Donahue, Director of Human Services, was the guest speaker at the Oct 15 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook. Mike spoke about the breadth of programs offered by Human Services including: various programs to help those with drug and alcohol abuse issues, a variety of mental health programs, Children and Youth services, food and home insecurities and many others.

Mike commented that there are several Rotarians helping with many of the endeavors of Human Services. He finished his presentation with this comment: “As human beings, we need to invest in human beings.”.

Mike Donahue

Oct 10 Popup Pantry at Lazybrook Park

This event was coordinated by Membership Chair Mary Tempest to have a Rotary event on what would have been the Harvest & Wine Festival date (Saturday Oct 10, 2020) at Lazybrook Park. So, instead of hosting a crowd of wine drinkers, Rotary helped Child Hunger Outreach Partners of Wyoming & Susquehanna Counties (CHOP) with their first Wyoming County Pop-Up Pantry to feed families in need.

Volunteers from Tunkhannock Rotary and CHOP were at Lazybrook Park unpacking and distributing food to families as they drove-by the Rotary sponsored and newly installed inclusive swing set. The distribution was on a first-come, first served basis until all the food boxes were gone. The drive-by began at 1 PM and continued until almost 4 PM. Thanks to all the Rotarians and family members who helped with this event.

Rotarians are People of Action!

Tammy Burke Spoke at Oct 8 Luncheon

Our guest speaker at the Oct 8 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook was Tammy Burke from the Victims Resource Center (VRC).

Tammy is the Manager of Community Service for VRC. She is responsible for outreach and services including training for community organizations. She started as a counselor and still works with clients even though she does training and outreach.

VRC is for men and women who are victims of crimes and abuse of any kind. They have a 24 hr hotline and no cost. They can also help the families of victims to deal with the resulting issues.

Oct is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thurs Oct 22 is purple Thursday, so please wear purple on that day to mark its awareness.

Tammy Burke

Inclusive Swing Set Installed at Lazybrook Park

Since some children with disabilities cannot use the regular playground swings, they must sometimes just sit on the sidelines and watch their friends and siblings on the swings.

With this in mind, Tunkhannock Rotary 2018-2019 President Mike Markovitz applied for a District 7410 Designated Grant for $3,000 with a club match of $3,000 to buy and install an inclusive swing set at Lazybrook Park, home to our Rotary Harvest & Wine Festival. In fact, the matching funds came from the previous year’s profits from the Oct Festival.

In early August 2020, Rotarians Ron Furman and Norm Kelly joined Tunkhannock Township workers Bob Stevens and John Algar to dig holes, assemble the swing set frame and cement the poles into the ground.

On Monday Oct 5, the wood chips were finally delivered to finish up the installation of the swing set. Several Rotarians worked with the Township workers to spread the wood chips and hang the swings. It is rated for children 5-12 years of age.

l to r. Norm Kelly, John Proctor and Mike Markovitz

Brian Petula Spoke at Oct 1 Rotary Luncheon

The guest speaker at our Oct 1 Rotary meeting at Lazybrook Park was Brian Petula, who spoke about the Scholastic Shooting Program. The clay target shooting and action shooting programs are part of an Olympics partnership. It is a youth development program and not hyper-competitive and he is trying to get these programs into the Lackawanna Trail School.

The program is being sponsored by the Factoryville Sportsman’s Club and they are donating a lot of the equipment to help this endeavor. The Factoryville Sportsman Club program is open to all kids in the area, 7-12 grade students for action shooting or clay target shooting. Action shooting is capped since they already have 21 participants. Clay target is open to a larger group of students, so still places available with no upper limit. Practice on a Sunday afternoon to not conflict with other sports. Rifles kept at practice site since they are team rifles.

Brian Petula

PDG Karen DeMatteo Presents Awards to Club

At our Oct 1 Rotary Meeting at Lazybrook Park, Past District Governor Karen presented Past President Sandy Lane with a Presidential Citation for 2019-2020. We are 1 of only 5 clubs in the District to get one.

Sandy Lane (left) and PDG Karen DeMatteo

PDG Karen also presented Past President Mike Markovitz with certificate as #1 in the District for Foundation giving for 2018-2019 with $304.31 per capita giving.

Past President Mike Markovitz (left) and PDG Karen DeMatteo

Rotarians Help at WCCC FallFest Mixer

On Thursday evening, Sept 24, the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce (WCCC), of which Tunkhannock Rotary is a member, held its FallFest Mixer outside from 5-8 PM at Shadowbrook Inn and Resort. Gina Suydam, the Executive Director of the WCCC, is a Tunkhannock Rotarian. Several Rotarian businesses were represented, and several Rotarians volunteered to help at the event, manning the basket raffle table.

l to r: Mary Tempest, Francine Kanyok & Ann Way

Jane Merolla Spoke at Sep 24 Rotary Luncheon

The guest speaker at our Sep 24 Tunkhannock Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook Inn and Resort was Jane Merolla, Executive Director for Habit for Humanity Endless Mountains. Jane described how the local organization works.

They purchased land close to the P&G plant in Mehoopany, with 26 lots on which they have so far built 12 homes. They have been building from the ground up and the recipient family is a partner in the endeavor since they would never qualify for a traditional mortgage. The family gets a 30-year, 0% interest mortgage and they must contribute a minimum of 400 “sweat equity” hours to help with the build. Some of the monthly mortgage revenues are then used to build the next homes.

They hope to do 2 builds next year, although only the one this year due to the COVID-19 Mar 15 nationwide closure for Habitat. They had over 50 applicants for just this 1 home.

Jane Merolla (left) with Pres. Terri Detrick

Erica Wilbur Welcomed as Newest Rotarian

At the Sep 24 Rotary meeting, VP and Membership Committee Member Mike Markovitz inducted Erica Wilbur as our newest Rotarian. Anne Marie Steven was her sponsor, but could not attend, so Erica was welcomed by Membership Committee Chair Mary Tempest.

Erica graduated from Tunkhannock High School in 2005 and got her degree in nursing from Misericordia. She is now manager of medical surgical services and director of Emergency Services at Tyler Hospital.

l to r: Mary Tempest, Erica Wilbur and V.P. Mike Markovitz

Bob Baker Spoke at Sept 17 Rotary Luncheon

Bob Baker, editor of the Wyoming County Press Examiner and Advance, was the guest speaker at our Sep 17 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort.

Bob has been the editor of the newspaper for almost 17 years and spoke about the impact of COVID-19 on the newspaper and on Wyoming County.

Bob also reviewed the history of the newspaper, which has been in continuous production for 151 years since starting as the Tunkhannock Republican after the civil war.

Bob Baker

Rotarians Golf in Support of Spinal Cord Research

The annual Kevin Kitchnefsky Golf Tournament took place on Sunday, Sep 13 at Stonehedge Country Club. This event is a fund-raiser for the Kevin Kitchnefsky Foundation for Spinal Cord Research. Kevin, who was partially paralyzed in a work accident, was honored by the Club 2 years ago with a Paul Harris Fellow.

Tunkhannock Rotary was one of the event sponsors and also supplied a team of 4 lady golfers (Terri Detrick, Sandy Lane, Mary Tempest and Susan Kelly).

(l to r): Sandy Lane, Terri Detrick, Mary Tempest & Susan Kelly

Additionally, Rotarian Peter Sehne had his own team. Rotarian Mike Markovitz also played on his own team from Northeast Data that has been a recurring event sponsor.

Julianne Miller Spoke at Sep 10 Luncheon

The guest speaker at the Sep 10 Rotary Luncheon at Shadowbrook Inn & Resort was Julianne Miller, the President of the Tunkhannock Business and Professional Women (BPW).

BPW/USA, founded in 1919, promotes equality for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education, and information. BPW is making a big impact on the world. In PA, there are currently 75 chapters with over 1,800 members. It was one of the first women’s organizations to formally endorse the Equal Rights Amendment in 1937.

Tunkhannock BPW was organized in 1947 by Frances Coleman and they supported the first dental clinic in Wyo Cty. Among their various supports for women's rights, they teach women about physical & emotional abuse, advocate for affordable options for child care and care giving, have a Young Careerist program to encourage women to speak strongly and assertively, and promote equal wages for equal experience and education.

Julianne Miller, Tunkhannock BPW President

Pres. Terri Reunited with Her Gavel

At the Sep 10 Rotary Luncheon, Pres. Terri was initially downcast to not find her missing gavel waiting for her at her table, even though the Club had raised $306 for the Rotary Foundation, surpassing the Wicked Witch of the West's demand for at least $225. However, unbeknownst to Terri, the Wicked Witch had swooped in on her broom outside of the meeting room and gave the gavel to the waitress to deliver to Terri with her lunch. Pres. Terri was overjoyed to see her missing gavel, who was also very, very happy to see Pres. Terri.

Happy Pres. Terri reunited with her happy “precious gavel”

Although in view of its 6 week absence, gavel should have been quarantined for 2 weeks before interacting with Pres. Terri, Terri was so excited to get her “precious” back that she held onto it tightly through most of the meeting, afraid to put it down.

Pres. Terri later remarked that gavel seemed to be in amazingly good condition and did not appear to be too traumatized by its experiences with the Wicked Witch. Luckily, although he was standing by, EMT Mike Markovitz’s services were gratefully not needed.

Pres Terri sends everyone a big Thank You for saving her Gavel from a fiery end at the hands of the Wicked Witch of the West!!

The End (for now or is it?)

Pres. Terri's Gavel Saved From a Fiery Fate

It is a great relief to announce that Pres. Terri's gavel-napped "precious gavel" has been saved from a possible fiery fate. The Wicked Witch of the West threatened that unless the Club raised at least $225 for the Rotary Foundation by Sep 7, that Terri's gavel would be used as kindling for her Labor Day cauldron fire. Luckily, the Club raised $306 to ransom Pres. Terri's "precious". Now we just wait to see when and how the Wicked Witch will release gavel.

I like to start by thanking you all for your trust and support as I begin my journey as your Tunkhannock Rotary President.

I was honored to be invited to join Rotary in 2018 at the invitation of Club Secretary, Carol Ziomek. It’s been a busy 2 years learning about Rotary and getting involved in our Club’s projects.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that I’ve approached Rotary and most everything I do, with the question Why?

Why do we do it this way? Why can’t we? Why should we? Why don’t we? Lot’s of Whys!

Like many of you I believe that we have to understand the Why before we can take action. And time and time again, Tunkhannock Rotarians show they are People of Action!

When Rotary International President-elect 2020-2021, Holger Knaack announced his theme Rotary Opens Opportunities he was quoted as saying “We will capture this moment to grow Rotary, making it stronger, more adaptable, and even more aligned with our core values.”

What are those core values? FELLOWSHIP - INTEGRITY - DIVERSITY - SERVICE - LEADERSHIP

For me, those are the “Why” we do what we do.

Rotary International has set forth a 5-year Strategic Plan to address the How. The plan has 4 areas of focus:

Increase our impact;
Expand our reach;
Enhance participant engagement; and,
Increase our ability to adapt.

Those are all things we are already doing as a club. They are things we can build on.

As we begin the 2020-2021 my goal is for our Club to establish its own Strategic Plan to define and measure how we address those areas and to create continuity for the future leaders of the club.

Finally, I’ll end with a statement from the Rotary International website…

The world today is not the same as it was when Rotary was founded in 1905. Demographics have shifted, the pace of change has accelerated, and technology has created new opportunities for connection and service. What hasn’t changed is a need for the values that define Rotary: By honoring our past and embracing our future, we can evolve and keep Rotary not only relevant, but thriving.

The Rotary Club of Tunkhannock was officially chartered on Aug 25, 1925 by Rotary International President Donald A. Adams (1925-26) and Chesley R. Perry, Rotary Secretary (now called General Secretary). The RI assigned Club No. was 2109, which can be generally interpreted as our Club being approximately the 2,109^th Club admitted to Rotary. However in 1951, the charter numbers were discontinued and a new Club Number assigned that has no relation to the historic charter certificate numbers, hence we became Club 5408.

On Aug 25, 1925, the Rotary Club of Tunkhannock had 19 charter members (see below). The Club was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Pittston and its first President was William A. Kittredge.

Among the charter members of the Club, was a world-famous Olympic track & field athlete, Walter Beardsley Tewksbury, who became known as "the man who put Tunkhannock on the map" after the 1900 Paris Olympics, as well as, members of many prominent families in the area.

The regular weekly meetings of the Tunkhannock Club were held on Fridays at 12:15 PM at the Hotel Graham, which became the Hotel Prins and later Prince Hotel. With the sale and closure of the Prince Hotel for renovations in late 2009, the Club met at several locations (Twigs, Remingtons, Purkey’s Pink Apple and the Bogey Room at Shadowbrook) before finally selecting and moving in 2010 to Purkey's Pink Apple for its lunchtime meetings every Thursday at 12:15 PM. With the closure of the Pink Apple in June 2020, the Club moved its Thursday meetings to Shadowbrook Inn and Resort.

2020/2021 Rotary Theme: Rotary Opens Opportunities

RI President Holger Knaack stated in his Presidential Address: Rotary is not just a club that you join. It is an invitation to endless opportunities. It opens opportunities to serve in a project as big and historic as End Polio Now and also in a small community project, where you just plant a tree.

And it opens opportunities for you to live a richer, more meaningful life, with friends around the world, based on our core values.

As Rotarians, we are very blessed to take on leadership roles at this wonderful moment for our organization.

Everything we do opens another opportunity for someone, somewhere.

Therefore, the theme for our year is: Rotary Opens Opportunities.

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Welcome to our Website!

Service Above Self

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December 2020
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December 2020
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