March 8 Rotary Meeting

 

President Samantha Maruzzelli brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Norm Kelly reciting the 4-Way Test and leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Dave Wilson giving the Invocation.

 

 

 

 

Harry Sharpe got Fran Turner on the phone Fran so we could all say "hello".  Fran is doing well and happy in Saegertown.

 

 

Newsletter went out this morning and website updated.

 

 

Please sign up for the Spring Roadside Cleanup on Sat. April 7. We still need a few more volunteers to meet at the Fireplace Restaurant parking lot for the clean up.

 

Pres. Samantha had information sheets available on Rotary Direct so people can donate directly to the Rotary Foundation and have it automatically deducted monthly, quarterly or annually.

 

District Conference is coming up in Apr, so please register soon as the special room rates will be disappearing.

 

RI Convention is coming up in June in Toronto.

 

There was a great flash meeting last week with 8 members in attendance. President Samantha will be changing up the format in the future, so there will be a little more opportunity for fellowship and socialization for part of the meeting.

 

 

Don Streby needs help getting sponsors for the Harvest & Wine Festival.  Let Ron know if you want to help Don.

 

Ron will discuss the current plans further at our next club assembly.

 

 

The DA’s Office has confirmed that the next Wyoming County Drug Take Back Event will be Sat Apr 28 at the same pharmacies as last Fall.  There will be a meeting of the committee after our regular meeting on March 15.

Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Mar 15. Our guest speaker will be Raleigh Bloch, Chairman of the Board for the Seven Loaves Soup Kitchen.

 

President Samantha Maruzzelli adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.

 

Tina’s husband was a dairy farmer until 2012. His farm was in operation for 100 years.  They now have 60 head of beef animals, 5-acres of vegetables and greenhouses raising greens. They raise over 10,000 onions and 40 varieties of vegetables and sell them at the Creekside Farmer’s Market and the Trucksville Farmer market on Sat.

 

Farm Women United (FWU) is a new organization and only 3 months old.  Tina is now the Executive Director of FWU.  Their goal is to give a voice to the farmers and restore cultural respect to the farmers.

 

Today, there are forces working against small to moderate (500-700 cows) size dairy farms. Although there were over 1 million dairy farms in the 1960s, there are only 37,000 today.  Farmers are not getting enough financial compensation for their milk. Farmers are paid $17.46 for 100 lbs milk, but cost is over $22/100 wt. They are at the mercy of the marketplace.

 

Farmers are having mental health issues due to these issues and some are becoming suicidal since the profits are not coming back to the farmers. They are losing money and going out of business.  There are only 5 dairy farms left in their farm area.

 

Milk imports hurting US dairy farmers since we are importing milk from 120 different countries. India puts formaldehyde in their milk to preserve it since they do not have refrigerated tanks and we import a lot from them.

 

Tina recommended that every read labels on your grocery items and buy fresh, buy local.  Produce can travel over 1,500 miles to the super markets and some are sprayed to preserve them.

 

Irradiation is also being used to preserved foods.  Omaha steaks and Schwan’s ground beef are irradiated and these and other irradiated items should be marked with the appropriate symbol.  1/3 of all spices are irradiated. Some items may not be appropriately labeled even thought they are treated this way.

 

Lots of local farms sell meats and vegetables and you can check their website for locations.  They sell raw milk on her farm from a licensed farm in Honesdale, it keeps for 10 days.

 

2 projects ongoing:

Tina Carlin