Pledge and Invocation:
President Mike Markovitz brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Samantha Maruzzelli leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Dave Wilson giving the Invocation.
Guests:
Kevin Kitchnefsky – guest speaker
Jack Kitchnefsky – brother of guest speaker
Alice Robets – aide for guest speaker
Steve Kosloski, wife Tammy and Kyle (son) – host family for Andrew & Kike
Jim Lewis – guest of Dave Wilson
Andrew & Kike (Peru) – exchange students
Club News:
Nominations for Tunkhannock Rotary President 2020-2021
Pres. Mike is looking for Nominations for Tunkhannock Rotary President for 2020-2021. Please provide any nominations to Pres. Mike as soon as possible.
Board of Directors Meeting
This month’s Board Meeting will be Tuesday February 19, 2019 at 7:30 AM the Community Bank in Tunkhannock in the Main Conference Room.
Exchange Student Report:
Both Andrew and our newest exchange student Kike are living with the Kozloski Family and we were happy to have the family as our guests at today's meeting.
L to R: Kyle and Tami Kozloski with Kike and Andrew
Andrew – fully healthy today, unlike past meeting. He commented that he missed last week’s meeting due to final exams. His wrestling team placed 2nd in the District. Today is senior night wrestling against Dallas.
Kike (Enrique) flew in from Lima Peru on Monday to Atlanta to Philly and finally to Scranton on Wed. – He arrived yesterday (Wed.). It was the his first time traveling by plane.
Kike (Enrique) inbound exchange student from Peru
District News: Pres. Mike Markovitz
District Conference:
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.
New Member Introduction/Ice Breaker:
Mary Martin
Mary has a Biology degree from Bucknell. She has been especially interested in animal behavior. She then got a degree in nursing and work at Appalachian Regional hospitals where she did a lot of traveling in these poor areas. She then trained in pharmacy. Mary is now teaching people in their homes on how to do their injectable medicines and is also a manager for hospice.
Mary and husband Rotarian Bill Barber have lots of animals at their house on the lake. Bill is very good about feeding the animals in the morning.
She went to Costa Rica on a trip with her daughter. On that trip she realized the importance of peace through service to the poor in Costa Rica, hence her interest in joining Rotary.
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Mary Martin
Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Feb 21. This will be a Club Assembly so no guests should be in attendance.
Prior to adjournment, Samantha Maruzzelli led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.
President Mike Markovitz adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.
Guest Speaker: Kevin Kitchnefsky
Foundation for Spinal Cord Research and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis
Kevin is the founder of the Kevin Kitchnefsky Foundation for Spinal Cord Research. His presentation started with a heart wrenching 10 min video on the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which showed not only some of the rehabilitation work and research they are doing, but the ways that some people became paralyzed.
https://www.themiamiproject.org/
Kevin has been paralyzed from the chest down since a work accident in 1996. 27 pieces of chain link fencing (weighing 2,700 lbs), which were incorrectly packed, slide off a truck pinning him against the tractor-trailer, resulting in his sustaining half a dozen broken vertebrae and damaging his spinal cord.
The doctors at the hospital told him there was only a 1% chance of his walking again. However, he is determined to get out of his wheelchair one day. Kevin is a quadriplegic, so he does not have full use of either his arms or legs. His legs are completely paralyzed and he has limited use of his arms.
After leaving the hospital, he came home to Tunkhannock and started a Foundation in 2000, the Kevin Kitchnefsky Foundation for Spinal Cord Research (
http://kitchnefskyfoundation.org/). They raise funds for research into a cure for paralysis brought on by spinal cord injury. 70% of the money they raise is used to fund research grants (Research K Grants) to leading research organizations such as the Miami Project. 30% of the money is passed onto to NEPA residents (Individual K Grants), who need financial assistance due to spinal cord injuries or to organizations dedicated to helping serve these individuals. The Foundation has raised over $600K to date.
Their 2 major annual fundraiser events are their Golf Tournament Fundraiser that is held at Stonehedge Golf Course and the HarvestFest Fundraiser for families & children at the Triton in Oct. They are currently looking for business & corporate sponsors for this summer’s Golf Tournament and of course teams to participate.
In response to a question from Pres. Mike, Kevin briefly described some of the daily challenges living in a wheel chair. Bathroom functions are a challenge. He needs assistance doing many things able bodied individuals take for granted like dressing themselves, cooking their meals, etc. He does physical therapy every day. He has family and a professional aide to help him meet many of the challenges of daily living but he does have his bad days. He gets through the bad days by realizing there are people worse off than him.
Kevin Kitchnefsky
