May 2 Rotary Luncheon

 

President Mike Markovitz brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with George Gay leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Jon Buxton giving the Invocation.

 

 

Arjun Fulp President - Honesdale Interact Club – guest speaker
Hannah Holbert - Secretary - Honesdale Interact Club - guest speaker
Kinsley Schmeckenbecher -Vice President TAHS Interact
Rebecca Fick – Treasurer TAHS Interact
Kim Kenley – guest of Barbara Tourscher
Kaitlyn Markovitz – guest of Mike Markovitz
Andres, John & Kike– exchange students

 

 

Ad Buck – Tunkhannock Public Library’s Books & Brew event will take place on May 19 at Lazybrook Park.  Tickets are available from Elaine Walker, at the Library, online and at several local stores.

 

 

The next Membership Mixer Event will be Thursday evening May 30th from 6pm – 8pm at Bogey’s Restaurant. 

 

Please return those suggested invitees forms that Pres. Mike handed out and respond to his recent similar e-mail request, as we need people to invite. 

 

Please contact Francine Kanyok with any setup questions / ideas / etc.

 

 

Our Officer Installation and Awards Banquet will be Thursday evening, June 20^th, starting at 5:30 PM at Shadowbrook.  There will be no noon meeting on that date, nor Flash Meeting that evening. 

 

Please contact Francine Kanyok with any setup questions / ideas / etc.

 

 

We had a nice party at Triton Hose Company for Fran Turner’s 100th Birthday this past Sunday Apr. 28^th. Thanks for the great turnout of Rotarian’s. Photos from the party can be found in a photo album on our www.TunkhannockRotary.org website.

 

 

The next Flash Meeting will be Thursday, May 2 at 5:30pm at Bogey’s.

 

 

 

 

President-elect Sandy Lane will be running next week’s meeting as Mike will be away in Albany, GA on a business trip.

 

 

Andrew – Poland – TAHS Robotics team took 2^nd place in their division and the 11^th team in world for robotics. This was the first time he coded for a robot.

 

John – Brazil – had a great trip to Washington DC sponsored by Wellsboro Rotary. They recently had senior night for volleyball (13 wins -3 loss). He got on the honor role for Tunkhannock.

 

Kike – Peru – Recently, they went to Washington DC, White House, Capitol and Supreme Court.  They saw beautiful museum and the city. Kike thanked Dr. Black for a great trip with the Wellsboro Rotary Club. Next Monday is track and field senior night.

 

 

 

They are working on setting up Late Spring / Early Summer Rotary Trip and upcoming Mixer and Installation Dinner.

 

 

Next Meeting will be Monday evening May 6 at 6pm at the Tunkhannock Library.

 

 

Our booth application is in and we should be in the same location as usual on Sat. June 22.

 

 

Frank announced that Ruth Gorski will co-chair the committee with him next year.

 

The Drug Take Back Event was Sat April 27th, 2019. DA Jeff Mitchell posted on Facebook “The Drug Take Back was another success. A total of 263 pounds was collected, …... Thanks to CVS, Rite Aid, Lech's, Tunkhannock Rotary Club, Tunkhannock Township and Boro Police, DEA, and Det. Dave Ide for their help.

 

As always, there are drop off boxes available all year at the courthouse, Tunkhannock Township Police, Tunkhannock Boro Police, and Pennsylvania State Police.”

 

 

 

35th Rotary Relays Invitational took place on May 1.  7 schools participated. Thank you to all Rotarians and family & friends who helped with this event.

 

Wyo Area – boy’s winner
Dallas – girl’s winner

 

 

Saturday, April 27th, 2019 was Spring Road-side Cleanup.  Thanks for everyone who helped with the cleanup. Photos of the cleanup are in a photo album on our website.

 

 

 

The 2020-2021 District Training Workshop will take place Saturday, May 4 from 8 AM to 1 PM at Holiday Inn Wilkes Barre East Mountain, 600 Wild Flower Drive, Wilkes Barre, PA. It is open to all Rotarians as per invitation from DGE Karen DeMatteo.

 

While the emphasis is giving our incoming Presidents, Secretaries and Treasurers their final training to empower them for their year ahead, break out sessions and an over view from the recent Council on Legislation are informative and useful to all members of our clubs.

 

Sandy Lane, Carol Ziomek and Mary Tempest will be going and Anne Sehne will be teaching an exchange student program at the Workshop, so Tunkhannock will be well represented at the Workshop.

 

 

Prior to adjournment, George Gay led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

Hannah is a Junior, who plans to study physics and business.  Arjun is also a Junior, who plans to be a development engineer in the Army, then go to work for Lockheed Martin or something similar. He lives at the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale.

 

The Honesdale Interact Club is raising $15,000 for a project in Kumbo, Cameroon in Africa.  Arjun went over to the site in June 2018. Their Community Center was built by the Honesdale Rotary and has the largest library in Cameroon. Over 3,000 kids go through the library annually.

 

Although there is a contentious political climate between the English side and French speaking government, their center is politically neutral, so people are flocking there to escape the conflict. They are also well-connected to the royal side of the government, which helps them also. Unemployment is 95% in this area of Cameroon.

 

The Center also has a construction and carpentry vocational school there. They set the standards for construction in the area

Their women’s empowerment program teaches children & women how to make jewelry and have a business. Hannah related a story of a woman raising children by herself (women are considered second class citizens), who went to the community center to learn how to make jewelry for sale over here.  Now, she can support her own children and also her sister’s children. Therefore, this is a sustainable program.

 

They also have a mobile healthy clinic van that goes around to treat/teach people in the area.

 

The Interact Club has partnered with the Himalayan Institute (located in Honesdale), who go to impoverished areas and have a great network to help people in these areas. Shipped over 30,000 plus books in English to Cameroon.

 

Hannah reported that they are missing modern technology since their computers are very outdated, there are limited staff and resources and education is expensive. They are still using floppy disks in these computers. They do not have technical training over there.  The Interactors want to give them an opportunity to learn and advance.

 

Their goal is to raise $15,000 to send over 30 new computers and money for educational scholarships.  Also, they hope to be able to fund more technical staff and computer literacy courses.

 

The Interactors are going to clubs to hopefully raise $500 per club or whatever the club can afford to contribute.  They are also doing a “Balls Away” fund-raiser.  1,000 numbered balls will be released along a course in Honesdale with several winners for the first balls to reach the end of the concourse. Cost is $5 per bouncy ball and many Tunkhannock Rotarians signed up for balls. 

 

The Interactors have raised about $5,000 so far and hope to reach their goal by July 1. They plan to send 2 students over to the Cameroon.

 

They are willing to advise our Interact Club or our Club about a Balls Away event if there is interest in such an event for Tunkhannock.

 

Arjun Fulp and Hannah Holbert