President Mike Markovitz brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Dave Kuffa leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Tom Kukuchka giving the Invocation.

 

 

Dr Christopher Andres - guest speaker
Wally Ruiz - guest of Marta Kovacs
Andrew, Kike and John – exchange students

 

 

Aun Schicktanz, wife of honorary Rotarian Tom Schicktanz, has passed this week and the club will make a donation in her memory to the Tunkhannock Public Library.

 

 

Pres. Mike presented a check for $10,000 to Rotarian Kristin Smith-Gary, Executive Director of the TPL.

 

Kristin Smith-Gary receiving library check from Pres. Mike Markovitz

 

Kristin provided a brief update on the Library.  Our donation helped fund the 1000 Books before Kindergarten (a preschool program where parents read 1000 books to their kids and they get prizes), the Wall Street Journal subscription, picture books, junior fiction and young adult books for the kids and summer and year round programs for all ages of kids.  A core of young adults has developed due to Rotary’s donation. 

 

Donations from the community provide 52% of the operating budget for 2019.  50K people visited the library, 151K books checked out, 4,500 uses of computers and 5,500 people attended library programs.

 

 

 

5 Students from Tunkhannock Area High School submitted applications for RYLA.   4 have been accepted to fill our existing 4 available slots (Jilian Landon, Alexis Brown, Caroline Reynolds, and Anthony Eckert).   1 has been put on the waiting list (Rebecca Mock).

 

 

The Next Board Meeting and Foundation Board Meeting will be Tuesday, March 19th at Community Bank in Tunkhannock at 7:30 am.   Ron Furman will be running the board meeting and next week’s noon Thursday meeting for Pres Mike as he will be out of town on a business trip to Cincinnati.

 

 

A Thank you card was received from the Rotary Rose Parade.

 

A Thank you was received from the College Misericordia Women with Children program.

 

Child Abuse Wellness Month – order blue pinwheels from Oriental Trading.

 

 

From the WCCC – Wyoming County Commissioners Candidate Forum will be April 4th at 6-8 PM at the Tunkhannock Area Intermediate Center.

 

 

Andrew – Went to Boston and saw MIT with Kike and host family. Last week, the Tunkhannock Robotic team won a robotic competition and won an award for the best code. Andrew is the coder.  He started tennis and may end up varsity.

 

John – went to Harrisburg for exchange student visit with Maryland and Harrisburg Districts.  They got to visit the state capitol building plus other fun activities. Sunday, the students went to Ron Furman’s sugar shack to see how to make maple syrup.

 

Kike – from Peru went to Boston with Andres and their host family. He rode the subway and it was amazing. Last week, he visited with exchange students in Harrisburg. They went to the Museum about PA, the cinema to see documentary about Great Bear. They played basketball and volleyball, partied with music and dancing. Coming up, he will be starting track and field practice.

 

 

 

District 7410 Conference is April 5-6, 2019 at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in Scranton.  Registration info is available at the District 7410 website.  You can use the link on our home page to get to the District home page. 

 

District 7410 Annual Awards:

 

The District is looking for nominations for District Rotarian of the Year / District Distinguished Rotarian. Candidates must be nominated by their Club.

Prior to adjournment, John Hovan led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

The Haiti MAC Medical Mission Program has been ongoing for 18 years from U of Scranton.  45 students have gone on mission and treated thousands of patients. 

 

They are going to Haiti to serve (not help) individuals.  Dr. Andres goes on these trips along with Drs. Richard Bevilacqua, Christopher Jones (Internist), Sarah Gonzales (from Boston).  They cover all aspects of medicine.  They also take 4 students with them on each trip (2-3 are 4^th year and 1-2 are 3^rd year and go next year also).

 

They just got back from their most recent trip and are now planning for next Jan. trip. Looking for sources of supplies for the next trip. Right now, they are focusing on medications, since they are hard to get in the country.

 

They use social media to get the word out and the students go out looking for medicine donations.  Bottles of Tylenol, ibuprofen and antacids go a long way in Haiti.  Dental stuff is also key, since the oral-fascial surgeon pulls teeth all day long (200-300 per day are pulled). Students sterilize the instruments as they go.

 

There is very rich cultural diversity in Haiti along with strong faith.  However, there are people who are very impoverished, and they go to some of the worst areas to work.

 

It is a 4.5 hr flight from NY.  There are 10 million people in Haiti, 1-3 million densely packed into a small locale, therefore, earthquake hit this area the hardest. They also get hit by hurricanes. Average salary is $500-600 per year for many people.

 

Their mission is based out of Saint Damian Pediatric Hospital which is run by Father Rick Frechette, a Catholic priest. Getting supplies into Haiti is usually tough due to customs, but now they have a contact in Haiti who helps them get through and not lose any supplies. They can’t bring in expired meds.

 

Foundation St. Luc is where they are based at the Hospital.  They attend mass each morning, many times they are funerals. Coffins can contain 3-4 children each.

 

There is a tilapia farm on the grounds of the hospital with 40-70,000 tilapia farmed each year.  They have several orphanages and schools.  They also have a chicken and egg operation with several thousand chickens.  They have banana and meringue trees and harvest them.  They make and store their own oxygen and are now trying to install solar panels for each building.

 

Their activities are 3-fold:

Cite Soliel is the slum of Haiti, the poorest location in the Western Hemisphere.  This is where they go primarily. Water is trucked-in in many areas.

 

Also, they are sent up into the mountains.  Leave in 90 degree weather and the temps fall down in 50 degrees in the mountains.  They stay in an orphanage overnight and then go back to see as many people as they can. No water in the mountains, rainwater or water trucks are the only sources of water.

 

The mission trips provide invaluable experience to both students and the doctors. Care is brought to many where limited or no care is available.  They need support for this program to survive. The money donated goes directly to the benefit of the people in Haiti.

 

Dr. Christopher Andres