Rotary has 6 areas of focus:

 

1.           Promoting peace - Today, 42 million people are displaced by armed conflict or persecution. Through partnerships with several leading universities, Rotary Peace Fellows develop the skills to strengthen peace efforts, train local leaders to prevent and mediate conflict, and support long-term peace building in areas affected by conflict. Rotary provides up to 100 peace fellowships per year at Rotary Peace Centers.

2.           Fighting disease - More than 100 million people are pushed into poverty each year because of medical costs. Rotary aims to improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in underdeveloped areas. Rotarians educate and mobilize communities to help prevent the spread of major diseases such as polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. Many projects ensure that medical training facilities are located where the workforce lives.

3.           Providing clean water - More than 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation facilities. At least 3,000 children die each day from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water. Rotary projects give communities the ability to develop and maintain sustainable water and sanitation systems and support studies related to water and sanitation.

4.           Saving mothers and children - At least 7 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. To help reduce this rate, Rotary provides immunizations and antibiotics to babies, improves access to essential medical services, and supports trained health care providers for mothers and their children. These projects ensure sustainability by empowering the local community to take ownership of health care training programs.

5.           Supporting education - Sixty-seven million children worldwide have no access to education and more than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Rotary’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

6.           Growing local economies - Nearly 1.4 billion employed people live on less than $1.25 a day. Rotary carries out service projects that enhance economic and community development and develop opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. Rotary also helps strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.

 

 

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

 

 

Anika Sehne – guest speaker – 2016-2017 outbound exchange student to France.
Paula Nogueira – guest of Anne Sehne – from Brazil
 

 

 

Please update your profile information on our ClubRunner Website by Sunday, June 24 so that Carol can run an updated member directory for President Elect Mike Markovitz. Also, insert your favorite portrait photo into your profile or Carol will insert one for you and you may not like it as much. If you do not remember how to log into our tunkhannockrotary.org member section of our website, please contact Carol at cziomek@ptd.net for login info.

 

Please take some photos at Saturday’s Founder’s Day booth and e-mail to Carol so that they can go into the slide show for our Year in Review.

 

Our Officer Installation and Awards Banquet is Thursday, June 28 at 5:30 PM (social) with dinner at 6 PM.  Cost is $25 per person. Please let Carol know at cziomek@ptd.net no later than noon on Monday June 25 if you plan to attend, as we need to turn in the headcount that afternoon. You can pay at the door on June 28.

 

 

Anne Sehne will become the new District 7410 Youth Exchange Chair on July 1.

 

Al Noble pointed out that Tunkhannock has several members on key District Committees. Karen Fuller – District Finance Committee, Ron Furman – District Membership Chair, Anne Sehne – District Youth Exchange Chair, and Carol Ziomek, Al Noble and Ron Furman – District Foundation Committee.

 

Please consider and register for the District 7410 Jamboree on July 14-15 at George Hock Park in Falls, PA.  Cost is $12.95 per person.  The BBQ cookout and live Bluegrass music will begin around 3 PM on Saturday July 14th, although the canoe trip will begin in Tunkhannock at 11 AM on Sat. Canoe rentals are available at Susquehanna Canoe and Kayak Rental (570-388-6107). The canoe trip and overnight campout are optional and all Rotarians, family, friends and anyone else can participate in all or some features of this event.  Anne has communicated with Roger and the District will cover the cost for any of the remaining inbound exchange students to attend.

 

Sunday July 1, the District Banner Exchange and high tea that will take place at the Ramada Inn in Clark Summit at 2 PM. The event will celebrate District Governor (DG) Karin Susan Breitlauch’s year and commemorate the Installation of Roger Mattes, Jr. as District Governor. Our very own Norm Kelly will be honored at the event as District Rotarian of the Year.  Please consider attending to honor Norm and support Roger Mattes as our new DG.

 

 

District Membership Chair Ron Furman inducted Terri Detrick into Rotary. Carol Ziomek was Terri’s sponsor. Please welcome Terri into the Rotary Family.

 

L to R: Carol Ziomek, Terri Detrick, Pres. Samantha Maruzzelli and Membership Chair Ron Furman

 

 

Pres. Samantha reminded everyone to please sign up to help at the July 3^rd Fireworks and for clean up. If you want to help, but have not had the opportunity to sign up at one of our meetings, please contact Harry Sharpe at hsharpe@ptd.net to do so or just show up and report to Harry on July 3.

 

 

Club Foundation Chair Al Noble presented Bill Milligan with his Paul Harris +2 pin. Bill, who has severed several years on the Club Foundation Committee, gave a brief but to the point response to the membership “If you haven’t donated yet, cough up now”.

 

Bill Milligan (left) with Foundation Chair Al Noble

 

 

Everything is under control but be prepared for brief periods of showers. Set up will be done by George, Harry, Ron & Norm W.  Those manning the booth during the day will be: 10-12 Dave Wilson and Frank Oliver, 12-2 PM Ruth Gorski and Elaine Walker, 2-4 PM Ron Furman and Harry Sharpe. We will advertise the 2018 Harvest & Wine Festival, sell the first Festival tickets and provide info about Rotary.

 

 

Interfaith Friends will be holding a Day of Sharing event on Saturday Aug 18 at Lazybrook Park from 12 to 4 PM.  Popstar Drive will play and there will be food, wine and beer vendors, activities for the kids and raffles for the adults.  Non-profits will have free booth space. You can raise money, if you have something to sell or raffle.

 

Terri left some applications for sponsors and vendors for members to use if desired.

 

 

Posters and rack cards for the Festival are now available. Please start posting them around town as usual.

 

We still desperately need a chair for the sponsorship committee.  Terry Furman and Jennifer Williamson will help getting sponsors, but we still need a chair for the sponsorship committee.  Please contact Ron Furman at furman@epix.net if you are interested in this important position for the Festival.

 

 

Ryan Visneski installed the last 3 mini libraries this week at Lazybrook Park, Eaton Hills and Susquehanna Apartments.  Two additional mini libraries are in place at the Dietrich Theater and Creekside Gardens bringing us to a total of 5 mini-libraries in the Tunkhannock area.

 

Ryan installing the mini-library at Eaton Hills

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

 

Anika began by treating the members to Swiss chocolates. 

 

The exchange students had orientations prior to leaving for their countries.

 

Anika left for her exchange on Aug 22, 2016 and came back in mid-July 2017. Although her exchange was in France, she flew to Geneva Switzerland, since it was closer to the town, where her first host family lived.  She was greeted at the airport by members of her 2 host families.  Some of their children had on exchange previously.

 

She was able to attend events in her local host Rotary club, Annemasse Genevois.  One event was a fundraiser with go-carts, but it was outside and her hands were freezing.

 

They visited Lac Annecy, which was 30 min south of her host town and is one of the largest lakes in France.

 

La Rochelle (10 hr from her host town) is where they had an event for all the exchange students in France. While there, she got to meet the host sister of her brother from his exchange to Ecuador.  The President of Rotary International came and spoke at this event.

 

At their District Conference, all the district exchange students attended and exchanged more pins, so her jacket was really filling up.

 

For her exchange, she had a choice of going to a public or private school, and since she did not want to worry about grades and dress codes, she selected a public school.  One of the first differences she noted was that at lunch, they used real utensils, plates and food and not just disposable tableware as in the US.

 

Her daily school schedule consisted of a 10 min walk to the bus while with her first hosts and a cat that greeted her daily during her walk to the bus.

 

She learned rock climbing while in France and took park in an event where the students dressed up in costume and she went as Tom Brady.

 

Anika had 2 host families during her exchange.

 

Her 1^st host mom worked at the UN in the technical department. Her host sister was away on exchange in Mexico. One other host sibling was in college and she also had a small host brother. 

 

Anika toured the UN in Geneva. She saw firsthand the giant chair with a broken leg monument across the street from the UN, that symbolizes opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva. The Red Cross Headquarters is also across from the UN campus.

 

At the Red Cross, she did an exercise where she was asked to be a Red Cross volunteer told to navigate a package blindfolded through an obstacle course with help from her little host brother.  She successfully navigated the course and delivered the package, but they told her the only thing she did wrong was that she did not verify that the package was harmless before she started. When the package was opened, it contained weapons and money.

 

One of the great foods she had was Raclette cheese, which is melted and into which potatoes, meats and other foods are dipped. 

 

Her host family took her to a Charlie Chaplin Museum. They also went to Barcelona in Spain in the winter, where they went to a church, which had fabulous stained glass inside.

 

In Jan, they have King’s cake, which have 2 trinkets inside and if you find one of the 2 trinkets, you get crowned as king.  She found both trinkets, so she was double crowned.

 

In her 2^nd host family, she had 3 host siblings. They took her to Lyon and also took her to Disneyland Paris. She was surprised to see how very small it was compared to Disney World or Disneyland and it only takes about 1 day to see everything. She also got to see the last part of the Tour de France near the finish line.

 

Toward the end of her exchange, she took the DELF French test to assess her language skills.  Exchange students in France usually take the B1 or B2 (most proficient) exam at the end of their yr in France.  She decided to try for B2 and got her B2 certificate in French.

 

After her year, Anika then did the 2 week Eurotour of Paris, Strasbourg, Munich, Prague, Vienna , Venice and Milan and then back to France.

 

Her mother, Anne came to visit her at end of her year.  They also met up with 2015-2016 inbound Belgian exchange student Louis Metens.

 

She went to a French Fry Museum and learned one of the theories as to why they are called French fries since they are Belgian in origin. One story goes that during WWI a Belgian soldier (who spoke French) offered a fry to an American soldier, but since the Belgian had a French accent, the American thought that he was French and called them French fries.

 

Anika also went to the Netherlands & Amsterdam, where they did a canal boat tour of Amsterdam. She noticed that lots of people use bikes to get around in Amsterdam, as well as, the canals.

 

Anika got really close to her 1^st host family, although she was also very friendly with 2^nd host family. At the end of her time in France, she got to meet her 1^st host family’s daughter, who had returned from her exchange in Mexico.

 

After her presentation, Anika presented President Samantha with a club banner from her host club (Annemasse Genevois) in France.

 

Anika Sehne (left) presenting club banner to Pres. Samantha