President Mike Markovitz brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at the Tunkhannock Public Library with Ron Furman leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Tom Kukuchka giving the Invocation.

 

 

Tammy Kozloski – Host family for Andrew
David Weingust – guest of Mary Tempest
Andrew, John - exchange students

 

 

Pres. Mike began the meeting by informing everyone that today’s lunch was provided at no charge by Sally Purkey from Purkey’s Pink Apple, since our meeting had to be moved at the last minute from our normal meeting room there due to replacement of the air conditioning system.

 

Tom Schicktanz (longtime Tunkhannock Rotarian, a Past President 1978-1979, who is now an honorary Rotarian) was in attendance and thanked the club for the donation to the Tunkhannock Public Library in memory of his wife DeAun. Tom commented that it was appropriate that today’s meeting was at the Library. Rotarians were very happy to catch up with Tom and renew old acquaintances.

 

Ad Buck: Patty Ehrenzeller– the Kiwanis-Rotary downriver canoe race challenge will be Sun July 21 with special awards for any Rotary winners. The race will begin in Mehoopany to Riverside Park.  Canoes and kayaks will be in contention, maybe starting at 9 AM, but Patty will reconfirm the starting time closer to the event.

 

Ad Buck: Patty Ehrenzeller – Kiwanis is having a blueberry sale. 10 lb of blueberries for $30, $2.19 per pint. The order deadline is June 22 (must pay at time of order) and the blueberries can be picked up July 9 (9 am -1 pm) at the Triton Firehouse. 

 

Ad Buck: free dental care service at Mohegan sun arena by Don Davis relative coming with team of dentists this weekend.  Needs Spanish speaking people to help with translation.

 

Ad Buck:  Human Services June 22 bus trip to NYC - $30 per seat.

 

 

Membership Mixer Event was not very well attended.  Only had 15 Rotarians there, 3 prospective new members, and some family members.  Will have to come up with some other ideas for future.   Let Mike or Sandy know if you have any.  One idea brought up was when we have them to totally remove any sit-down tables / chairs and only have high tops that you have to walk up to / forces more interaction / more intermingling.

 

 

Next Flash Meeting will be this evening Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 5:30 pm at Bogey’s Restaurant. – This will be the last Flash meeting under Mike’s Presidency. 

 

 

Our Officer Installation and Awards Banquet will be Thursday evening, June 20^th, starting at 5:30 PM at Shadowbrook. Cost is $25 pp. It would be preferable if you can pay before the Banquet but if not, Elaine will accept payment at the door the night of the Banquet. There will be no noon meeting on that date, nor Flash Meeting that evening.

 

The Sign-up sheet was pass around with the menu and schedule. If you cannot attend our meeting to sign up, please let Mike or Elaine Walker know so you can be added to the attendance list. Deadline for registration is coming fast, since we need to let Shadowbrook know the final number of attendees by Monday June 17.

 

 

The Trail / Forest City Club Golf Tournament went well Monday with 15 teams participating.   Thank you to Albert Noble for all the work he did to help get teams / sponsors to make the event a success.  There was discussion about moving the tournament to a weekend next year.

 

 

The 5^th grade DARE graduation took place on Friday May 31 at 1:30 PM at the Middle School. Rotary has supported the graduation activities by paying for the t-shirt presented to each graduate and providing the $100 prize and a bookbag for the winning essay. This year’s t-shirts had DARE on the front of shirt and Rotary on the back. A lot of parents came to watch their student graduate.

 

Rotarians Sandy Lane and Mary Tempest attended, along with Rotarians Rich Seaberg (DARE instructor & TASD Resource Officer) and Cammie Anderson (Wyo Cty Drug and Alcohol Prevention Officer).

 

Rotarians Rich Seaberg and Mary Tempest with one of the DARE graduates

 

 

Pres. Mike presented a $500 check to the Special Olympics on May 31 at 10 AM at Memorial Stadium for their track and field event. The Club received a Certificate of Appreciation plaque for what we do for special Olympics.

 

Pres. Mike (right) presenting check to Special Olympics

 

Recently, Pres. Mike presented a $500 check to the Tunkhannock Community Ambulance Association and a $500 check to the Triton Fire Company to help support their extensive services to our community.  Both organizations were very thankful for our donations.

 

 

At the request of Rotarian Cammie Anderson, who is the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Officer for Wyo Cty, please take a few minutes to fill out the Luzerne/Wyoming Co. Prevention Needs Assessment Survey. The link to the survey is: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe06AgDzbU5lwJtY6Kab8YfTZIkfAPe4EY0peZuq3p4-na8_g/viewform

 

 

 

 

John – had a good week with his family, his older host brother, who is in the military came home. They went to a Brazilian Steak House in Scranton for his birthday last week. He said the food was quite good and authentic Brazilian. On Monday, they went kayaking since they could not go over the weekend due to the weather.

 

President Mike presented Tunkhannock Rotary Banners and Pennsylvania Books, signed by our Rotarians, to our departing exchange students, John and Andrew.  

 

L to R: John, Andrew and Pres. Mike

 

Anne Sehne reported that the District will have 9 inbound exchange students for 2019-2020. 2 will be coming to Tunkhannock along with Kike, who will remain until Dec 2019.  School starts Aug 26. First orientation is Aug 24.  No short term exchanges for us this year.

 

 

 

They are currently working on setting up the Late Spring/Early Summer Rotary Trip and Officer Installation and Awards Banquet.

 

 

Next Meeting will be Monday evening July 1 at 6 pm at the Tunkhannock Library.

 

Carol published the first announcement on Facebook re first ticket sales on June 22 at Founders Day. Please remember when you sell tickets to anyone the new info below. Changes this year include: no alcoholic or any other beverages, no coolers, no firearms. Ann Way is having a large poster made enumerating the changes for use at the booth and local ticket sale sites in Aug. The changes were strongly recommended by legal, security and insurance advisors. The Committee debated at length & further defined these changes and the Board of Directors approved them.

 

The following will be printed on the front of each ticket below the Festival info:

 

PRESALE ONLY - $25.00, Rain or Shine  Admit One – No refund, Must be 21 to Enter Festival Grounds, No Alcoholic or Any Other Beverages Through the Entry Gate, No Coolers – No Firearms – No Pets.

 

The back of the ticket will contain the following text:

 

There are risks involved in any Event. By presenting a ticket seeking admission to this Event you voluntarily assume all risk and danger incidental to the Event to the fullest extent of the law, whether occurring prior to, during or subsequent to the actual Event, and release the Tunkhannock Rotary Club from any liability, including, but not limited to, property damage, injury or death.  Ticket holders are expressly prohibited from bringing alcoholic or any other beverages, coolers or firearms through the entry gate at the Event. This ticket cannot be replaced if lost, stolen or destroyed.  It is unlawful to reproduce this ticket for any use and in any form.

 

 

This year Founder’s Day will be Sat. June 22. If you signed up for a shift at the Rotary Booth, please remember to report as committed to man the booth and help with set up and break down of the booth. 

 

Since the first Harvest & Wine Festival tickets will be sold on Founder’s Day, please read the changes above under Festival Committee report for background info, so you are prepared to explain the changes this year before you sell people tickets.  Ann Way is having large posters made enumerating the changes for use at the booth and local ticket sale sites.

 

 

The Fireworks will be Wed evening July 3^rd at Memorial Stadium. Rain date is July 5^th. Harry has confirmed with the Fireworks company and PopStar Drive.

 

No info on whether BP Wind Energy will be a sponsor this year, so Ron Furman and Harry will go to their Mehoopany location to discuss with them. Harry found someone to help with simple, brief grant applications to get funding from some local companies to help support the Fireworks.

 

 

Chelsea thanked everyone for helping her learn about Rotary. Let her know if there is any way that she can help.

 

 

See the forthcoming June District newsletter for information on the various events and activities happening in District 7410. Please support our fellow Rotarians at other clubs in our District for their fun upcoming activities/events.

 

 

The District is sponsoring seats at an Aug 11 RailRiders Baseball game. Tickets are $12 each with half going to Polio.

Prior to adjournment, Ron Furman led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

Due to technical difficulties, our Polish exchange student Andrzej was not able to show his slide presentation, but he did use his Website to review his experiences here up until Jan 2019.  He is on Facebook, Twitter and his Website is www.swietek.pl

 

At TAHS, he took AP calculus, electronics (he got to work on a Tesla cell) and Physics among his other courses. His teachers even told him as an A student, he did not have to take his final exams, but he took them anyway.

 

He also played soccer, which was an important part of the exchange for him, since he did not have to focus on studying since his subjects were easy for him. He also participated in wrestling (won his first wrestling medal 2^nd place in District), hiking and kayaking. He got to see his first American baseball game during his stay.

 

His personal website incorporates both English and Polish languages. He discussed his time in the states and some of the most significant moments from his exchange. Photos on his website include, the trips he had to a Taco Festival in New Jersey, Philadelphia, NYC, Pittsburgh, Delaware and Boston including his dream University, MIT.

 

He also discussed his time with the TASD Robotics Club in which he wrote the code for the robot, giving it “a soul”. They placed 12^th in the Robotics World Championship in Detroit.

 

He also posted photos of the different seasons in NEPA, visiting the Festival of Lights at Stone Hedge Country Club at Christmas, American food (his favorite is Philly cheese steak with fries), and celebrating Christmas American style, which is different from Poland. He even made Polish pierogis for Anne Sehne & family, thus sharing a bit of his Polish food heritage.

 

His first host family were the DeMarco’s and he enjoyed helping them for about 4 hrs. per week racking leaves in the Fall. He loved the colors of the leaves, which were very vivid on the trees. His first snowfall experience this year in Tunkhannock was when we got 2 ft of snow, much more than they get in Poland in a single day.  So, he spent a lot of time playing in the snow. 

 

He moved to the Kozloski’s home in Jan and they went to Delaware and the beach, even though there was 1 ft of snow up here, the beach was great there.

 

Rotarians were happy to learn more about his culture and time in America and wish him the very best in the future! To view more photos and read more about Andrzej’s exchange, visit his website.

 

Andrzej Swietek