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Hope Everyone Had a Happy Valentine’s Day Feb is Peace and Conflict Resolution month in Rotary and it is fitting that we also celebrated Valentine’s Day on Feb 14. Did you know? It derives its name from the Latin februo, which means “purification rites.” During the ancient Roman festival Lupercalia, thongs made from goatskin were used in purification rituals, which took place during the month, earning it the name februarius. When February was first added to the calendar along with January in 700 BC by Numa Pompilius, it became the last month of the year. Pompilius tacked on these two months to line up with the lunar cycle. However, Romans believed odd numbers to be lucky. Since February ended up being the unlucky one, they placed it at the end and shortened it so the bad luck wouldn’t last long. February remained there for nearly 200 hundred years. Then, both January and February moved to the beginning of the year. Julius Caesar attempted to align the calendar with the solar season creating the Julian calendar. February, already a short month, gained a few days bringing it to 28. Then every four years, a leap day was added. Under the current Gregorian calendar, the leap year functions differently. Leap years are divisible by four, with one exception. Centennial years must be divisible by 400. February is unique in other ways, too. Because it usually has 28 days, once every 6 years, it’s the only month to have 4 full 7 day weeks. In the years that aren’t leap years (otherwise known as common years), February and March start on the same day of the week. The month has some fun events. Everyone loves to talk about Ground Hog Day, Valentine’s Day, and the Super Bowl in February. However, the big news in February is that pitchers and catchers report kicking off spring training for a new baseball season. What’s a truer sign of spring? Black History Month takes place during February because Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were both born during the month. One of the earliest flowers to bloom in spring is the primrose. It is also the flower of February. If you are born in February, you are either an Aquarius or a Pisces. Your birthstone is the pretty purple quartz called amethyst. Throughout February, we enjoy chowing down on homemade soups, grilled cheese sandwiches, chili, stuffed peppers, and cherry pie. This is especially true in the Northern Hemisphere, where the winters get a little more than brisk. In the Southern Hemisphere, summer is peaking. Today is? Since this Bulletin is produced on Wed Feb 17, let’s remember that Feb 17 is National Random Acts of Kindness Day. Make a note to do nice things throughout the day. Are you looking for ideas? - Pay for the coffee or meal of the person in front of you in line.
- Leave a kind note for someone, no explanation needed.
- Share words of encouragement. You never know who might need them.
- Put your skills to work for someone in need. For example, offer to create a résumé for someone seeking a new job.
- Drop off a load of groceries at the local food pantry.
- Mail a “thinking of you” card to someone you’ve not to talk to in a while.
- Order a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to anyone in the hospital. That means, call the florist and tell them to pick a hospital or nursing home and deliver flowers to the person the front desk thinks needs it the most. It could be a sick child, an elderly person with no family or college student down on their luck.
- Send a thank you note to the local fire department, police departments or any military personnel.
- Just smile.
- Compliment the first three people you talk to.
- Write a hand-written note to a teacher.
- Say good morning to the person next to you on the elevator.
- Pick up litter. Spend 10 minutes cleaning a park or your neighborhood.
- Place uplifting notes in library books, on restroom mirrors, on someone's locker, or on their computer screen.
- Dedicate 24 hours to spreading positivity on social media.
- Hold up inspiring signs during rush hour.
- Leave a generous tip.
- Set an alarm to go off three times on World Kindness Day. When the alarm sounds, stop what you're doing a call/text/email someone simply to tell them how awesome they are.
2021 District 7410 Conference 
Highlights of Rotary Meeting Pledge and Invocation: President Terri Detrick brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM online via Zoom. George Gay lead the Pledge of Allegiance, Dave Wilson gave the invocation and Ron Furman led the first recitation of the 4-Way Test. Guests: Katharine Pohidal - guest speaker
Sandy Johnson – colleague of Katharine Pohidal
Cathy Franko - HANDS Club News: Volunteer for COVID Vaccine Clinic – Ann Way & Pres. Terri Detrick They had the first meeting of the Committee on Tues night and they are getting the word out to the community. Some people have expressed concern for their own safety if they volunteer, but all CDC and PA DOH guidelines will be followed. Ann urged people to get their name on the list and as they start the scheduling, they will contact people. They may also need volunteers for future clinics as well so this database will be valuable. They have over 100 volunteers in the database right now. Pres. Terri mentioned that the electronic volunteer form has now been modified to indicate you must be 18 years or older and that there are other jobs like parking attendant that do not bring you close to people. Pres. Terri also indicated that the Examiner will be doing an article on the EMA sponsored Vaccine Clinic after interviewing Gene Dziak. Gene indicated that Rotary was in charge of the volunteers needed and Pres. Terri was asked for a quote for the paper as to why Rotary was interested in being involved. This article may appear in the Feb 17 Examiner. Board of Directors Meeting – Pres. Terri Detrick There will be a Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday Feb 16 at 7:30 am via Zoom. Next Flash Meeting – Pres. Terri Detrick There will be a Flash Meeting on next Thursday Feb 18 at 5:30 pm via Zoom. Committee Reports Membership - Mary Tempest & Ron Furman The District and our Club needs new members to get District 7410 up to 1100 members by July 1. Maybe adding 3-4 to our club would be good. Please talk to your friends and family about Rotary and the good we do for the community. We would love to welcome them as members and helpers with our community programs. Rotary Trivia - Mary Tempest - How many clubs in our District 7410? Norm Kelly got it right at 42.
- How many Rotarians are in District 7410? 1,071 currently.
Public Relations – Carol Ziomek The piece on the Dietrich Theater donation appeared in the Feb 10 Examiner. Carol is still looking for contributors to the Weekly Bulletin. Just a paragraph or two would be perfect although longer contributions would also be welcome. Tell us about your favorite hobby, holiday, work activity, job before retirement or anything else that would be of interest to your fellow Rotarians and help us get to know you better. Or contribute a thought for the day, prayer for a special occasion or favorite quote, poem or original poem. RI and District News: District 7410 Auction – Pres. Terri Detrick The Rotary Auction began Feb 1 and will run until March 14th. You can view and bid on the items at https://www.trellis.org/rotaryauction. Many local items are available. Diversity and Inclusion Series – Pres. Terri Detrick See email below: “My humanity is bound up with yours, for we can only be human together.”
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu- Dear club and district leaders, Humans are composed of unique and intersecting sets of social identities, defined by our physical, social, and mental characteristics. Examples include race/ethnicity, gender, social class/socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disabilities, and religion/religious beliefs. By considering each other’s lives, experiences, and perspectives, we allow a community to be not only about what we have in common but what makes us different. Register now for, Exploring the Black Experience in Rotary on Thursday, 25 February at 15:00 Chicago time (UTC-5), and submit your questions to our experts. A recording of the session will be available to everyone who registers. Through hearing stories of Black Rotarians around the word, we will: - Open ourselves to talking about race and identity.
- Become aware and acknowledge how our own social identities impact the club and community experience.
- Allow space for all Rotarians to bring their full, most authentic selves to our organization.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and questions. Sincerely,
The Membership Development Team
Rotary International
P.S. Throughout 2020-2021, Rotary will host a webinar series to explore diversity, equity, and inclusion. Read more about the sessions that will be offered. Secretary Report: Carol Ziomek The Club received two thank you notes this week. - From Cathy Franko on behalf of HANDS for our donation toward the 2021 FANS Camp.
- From Ann Marie Stevens at Tyler. “Please extend our Thank you to the Tunkhannock Rotary for the signs that we received at the facility recognizing our healthcare workers. We truly appreciate this recognition and the role that the Rotary plays in supporting our entire community.” Much appreciated, Ann Marie.
Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Jan 21. Our guest speaker will be Raleigh Bloch from the 7 Loaves Soup Kitchen, who will provide an update on their services & accept our check presentation for the Soup Kitchen. Terri Detrick asked everyone to silently say to themselves the 4-Way Test before they go about the rest of their day. President Terri Detrick adjourned the meeting at 1:57 PM.
Program: Dr. Katharine Pohidal
Ruth Matthews Bourger Women with Children Program Katharine is the Program Director of the Women with Children (WWC) Program and her colleague Sandy Johnson is the Program Coordinator. Katharine began with a Thank you to the Club for the $1,000 donation for gifts for the kids for Christmas. Many of the moms live at the poverty level and this gives them the chance to give their kids a good Christmas. They will do PR on our donation when things open up. The WWC program was started in 2000 by Sister Jean Messaros, a Sister of Mercy and Vice President of Mission Integration at the University. The program empowers economically disadvantaged single women and their children to realize their full potential through higher education. The women must first be accepted into Misericordia and then can apply for the program that will provide them with 4 years of free housing and various types of assistance and enrichment programs for themselves and their children. They can currently accommodate 16 single mothers and their children in three houses. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a whole new level of operation to the program. They never closed down the program and the families stayed in their homes, since most are home insecure or homeless. They were able to support the families through all this and also had 6 families graduate last year. Support from the community was great during 2020. Women graduates go into professional careers and even one going to get a Masters. The program covers the tri-county area, which includes Wyoming County. Now accepting a few others, like a mom from Minnesota. Children can be 2-9 yr old at their mom’s admission, so that they are no older than 12 at mom’s graduation. They are adding a 4th home in Aug for 4 more families. Therefore, they will service 20 families and be the largest and oldest of such programs in PA. They are driving the model with more core collaborations. They are on the Board of the Robin Hood Mobility organization for 4-year pilot approaches to address gaps in mobility from poverty. They are talking about providing services to the HANDS families and have programs for rural and city programs. They are looking at the impact of COVID on this region and included in the target cohorts are single mothers with children. The WWC program will have openings for the Fall, so please refer any single mother families to them, if they may be interested in this program. Sandy Johnson is the Program coordinator, who helps with food, clothing and other essential services. Cathy Franko – Robin Hood Foundation conducted a survey. The results said Wyo Cty does not have a homeless shelter but does have multi-generational families living in a single residence. This aligns with the homeless, since they are moving from one relatives home to another couch surfing. HANDS could help with the learning and educational processes for helping the kids learn and thrive. Housing is the most critical issue for these families. Rural families need more attention since they tend to get bypassed due to scarcity of resources and logistical challenges. Housing will be an even bigger issue when the moratorium on evictions ends. Elaine – Do you help with job placement? During their last year, they are planning for what they are going to do and where they will live after graduation. The Program provides support during that transition. They take furniture donations to help the families in their off-site homes. The Board provides gift cards and support to help them get started. All the women have to work during their schooling. Full time students (12 credits or more)- are expected to work at least 10 hr per week while studying full time to help meet their expenses for tuition and personal needs. In addition, many have to do internships as part of their schooling.  Katherine Pohidal |
