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

 

 

Andrew, John and Kike, exchange students

 

 

During lunch, Pres. Mike showed a slide show entitled “Mikie’s Mallet”, which details the exploits of his Rotarian liberated Pres. gavel. Pres. Mike has been able to hang on to his gavel for almost his whole term of office, which is quite an accomplishment with multiple Rotarian liberators on the look-out for a chance to take the gavel. The gavel accumulated some significant expenses that Mike will have to pay to get his gavel returned to him at the Officer Installation and Awards Banquet on June 20.  So, please remember to bring some cash to the Banquet to help Pres. Mike ransom his gavel.  All money collected will go to the Rotary Foundation.

 

Ad Buck – Patty Ehrenzeller reported that the Kiwanis Club is selling fresh blueberries to help fund their programs for kids  They are a 10 lb box for $30 or $2.14 per pint.  Blueberry pick up will be on July 9 at Triton from 9 to 1 PM. Patty has a sign-up sheet.  

 

Also, Patty reminded everyone that Kiwanis has challenged Rotary for a canoe/kayak race in July.  More info to come.

 

Ad Buck – Drug and Alcohol Prevention Officer for Wyo Cty, Cammie Anderson, asked for a few volunteers to stay after the meeting for a 5-10 min focus group on attitudes re opiods/alcohol and where are the problem areas in Wyo Cty. The Survey is designed to determine what we need to do and/or do better.  Cammie wants us to get our Wyo Cty needs met.  The survey link is below, so please forward to everyone you know. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe06AgDzbU5lwJtY6Kab8YfTZIkfAPe4EY0peZuq3p4-na8_g/viewform

 

Ron Furman said the trees Rotarians & family helped plant last year on his property are coming up.  He also some spare Heirloom tomato plants available, if anyone wants some.

 

The Club received a Thank you from the Schicktanz family for the memorial donation to the library.

 

 

Contrary to a small rumor, there WILL be a normal Noon Meeting next week – Thursday May 30th at 12:15pm here at the Pink Apple.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Club Rotary Foundation co-chair Samantha Maruzzelli presented George Gay with a Paul Harris (+2) pin to recognize his donations to the Rotary Foundation. George was pinned by Samantha.

 

L to R: Foundation Chair Samantha Maruzzelli, George Gay and Pres. Mike Markovitz

 

 

 

The next committee meeting will be Monday evening June 3 at 6 pm at the Tunkhannock Library. This year the committee and Board of Directors have decided that there will be no coolers, no outside beverages, or firearms allowed to be brought into the Festival.  Tickets will also indicate that ticket holders attend at their own risk.

 

 

Samantha urged that members get their donations made to RF before mid-June.

 

 

This year Founder’s Day will be Sat. June 22. As we get closer to the event, George will need volunteers for 2 hr shifts at the Rotary booth and help with set up and break down of the tent.

 

 

Committee has reviewed the applications and finalized the winners for scholarships to be presented at Senior Awards night on Thursday May 24.

 

 

The Rotary Basics book is now online for new and experienced members to use to learn more about Rotary.  It can be found on our www.tunkhannockrotary.org homepage under the Download Files section in the left hand column.

 

 

Chelsea talked about possibly working along with Dave Kuffa to record and share videos of members talking about why they joined Rotary.

 

Gina said it’s great to see the interaction on our Tunkhannock Rotary Facebook page, as people are following the “I am Rotary” posts.  She asked that people please share these postings to their personal Facebook pages and friend’s pages.

 

Sam still has room for more “I am Rotary” pictures.

 

 

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

 

 

The Fireworks will be Wed evening July 3^rd at Memorial Stadium. Rain date is July 5^th.

 

 

See the May 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.

 

 

TAHS Lock in – The Board approved a $200 donation to the annual lock-in event at the School.

 

The club has 4 checks still to be distributed:  Special Olympics which Mike will present at the upcoming event, Northern Tier, Tunkhannock Community Ambulance Association and  the Triton.  All other approved donations for 2018-2019 have been made.

 

The Patriot’s Cove service project has been canceled for now, since Jeff Swire indicated they are very busy with other volunteer projects right now.  2 other ideas are in the works for a service project to end Mike’s year as President.

 

The Northeast Rotary Golf Tournament is coming up and we will have a golf team sponsored by the Club.

 

We also now have a golf team for the Kevin Kitchnefsky Golf Tournament on June 23, so they will revise our application to a 4-person team and monetary donation totaling $500 as previously approved by the Board.

 

Elaine reviewed the Treasurer’s Report that was presented at Tuesday’s Board of Director's Meeting.

Prior to adjournment, Terri Detrick led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.

 

 

Joao Guilherme Tonet Oldoni, “John”,  is from Brazil and 17 years old. He is taking classes in graphics, 3D printing, computer and electronic devices. He lives in the south of Brazil and was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Herval D’Oeste in District 4740.

 

The north region of Brazil is mostly forested with the biggest river in the world. The Northeast has lots of culture.  The Midwest has the capital and agriculture.  The Southeast has rural, business and city areas.  The South region has abundant culture from Europe, including Italy and Germany.  He is from the Parana region with lots of waterfalls, gardens and an innovative theater structure.

 

Brazilian foods are good! Most common is barbecue (Joao assured us it was much better than American), candy with peanuts, condensed milk frozen bars, puddings and green herb drinks made with hot water.

 

Joao lives in the city of Agua Doce (Sweetwater), which is the 5^th biggest city in his region. They have windmills for power generation. His city is big on wine production and their vines have won awards worldwide. They do not have snow, but it does freeze there.

 

In addition to his Mom and Dad, he has a sister. They have a great pool that they spend a lot of time in.  He plays bocce ball for his school and state teams.  He got a scholarship for next year to play for his bocce team.

 

Joao then described his time since arriving in Tunkhannock. The first 2 weeks were spent at Anne Sehne’s house since his English was not so good and her son helped him.  He helped with Rotary’s roadside cleanup in the fall.  He went to a Taco Festival in NJ and had fun.

 

The exchange students went to Philly to see the Liberty Bell, Rocky statue and the Eastern State Penitentiary Haunted House.  They also went to NYC around Xmas and he saw ducks in Central Park, other landmarks and the Twin Tower Memorial. He also met one of his friends in NYC who was there on business.

 

The students also went to the Dickens celebration in Wellsboro and to Harrisburg to see the State Capitol and learn how the legislature works. The Washington DC trip was for all the exchange students from our District and, in addition to many historic sites including the White House, they went to the Paul Harris Memorial, which is located in “The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway, a national monument in Washington D.C. Located adjacent to the White House, the monument is composed of 34 bronze medallions honoring people who "through their caring and personal sacrifice, reached out to others, building their dreams into movements that helped people across America and throughout the world". They also took a photo of the whole group with the Pennsylvania statue.

 

Joao then briefly enumerated the various activities he got a chance to experience while in Tunkhannock. At the beginning of his exchange year, he attended a breakfast that Anne Sehne arranged to introduce the 2 exchange student to the teachers at Tunkhannock Area High School (TAHS). With his first host family, he went to the circus to see the tigers.  He attended the Bloomsburg Fair, had his first Thanksgiving Day and attended a hockey game. Last weekend, he went to TAHS Prom.

 

At TAHS, he played soccer and did well and basketball. He got to see an actual professional baseball game, not just on TV. 

 

For Halloween, he carved fabulous pumpkins. This winter he went skiing and built his first snowman.  He also got to see the incredible light displays at Stonehedge Country Club at Xmas.

 

He really wants to get into Penn State Wilkes-Barre for soccer, but he may need to go back to Brazil to finish his senior year instead, if they will not count his year at TAHS.