Pledge and Invocation:
President Mike Markovitz brought the meeting to order at 12:15 PM at Purkey’s Pink Apple with Norm Kelly leading the Pledge of Allegiance and Lou Divis giving the Invocation.
Guests:
Jeff Swire – Patriot’s Cove
Club News:
Lou Divis reported that the Peace Camp kids made a signed t-shirts for the Rotary Club. The camp encourages peace and artistry with 7 children this year. DA Jeff Mitchell wants to get more kids involved next year, including at risk children.
Tom Kukuchka went up to the Wyo Cty Community Fair to cook breakfast yesterday at the Kiwanis food stand.
Other News
Dues of $135 are now due, so please pay Treasurer Elaine Walker ASAP. Make check payable to Tunkhannock Rotary. Check can also be mailed to Tunkhannock Rotary, P.O. Box 325, Tunkhannock, PA 18657.
Pres. Mike is looking for ideas for a Fall Mixer to attract new members. He needs ideas quickly to get this set up. So far, no one has put forth any ideas for the mixer.
Rotarians at work blue t-shirts have arrived from Samantha, so please pick up your shirt if you ordered one.
Community Announcements
Rotary will be helping out at the Wyoming County Community Fair on Friday, August 31 from 2pm – 6pm in the Kiwanis Food Booth. Sign up with Pat Ehrenzeller if you are available to help.
Committee Reports
Drug Take Back – Carol Ziomek for Frank Oliver
Posters and rack cards for the permanent drug drop boxes are now available. Please take some, distribute and post.
Ann Way delivered 3,000 rack cards and some posters to Ann Marie Stevens at Tyler. They will have them at their booth at the Wyo Cty Community Fair and also give to patients at the hospital.
It was also suggested that they should be given to nursing homes to give to the patients and their families when they go home after their stay.
Harvest & Wine Festival – Ron Furman
Posters and rack cards are now available for the Festival. We need as many volunteers as possible, so please sign up for an assignment. Poster and rack cards went to Kaminski market. They are still working on the electrical, but it should be fine for the Festival. We need people to stay and help clean up after the event.
Local ticket sales have started.
Next planning meeting will be Sept 10 at 6 PM at Tunkhannock Public Library.
Secretary’s Report – Carol Ziomek
Aug 23 Bulletin went out this morning.
District News – Pres. Mike
Harford Fair – Final Report – Dave Palmer – ADG – District 7410. They got some interest in Rotary and will give leads back to local clubs.
Our next Meeting will be Thursday, Sept 6. Our speaker will be Donna Fetzko who will “Destress Your Day”.
Prior to adjournment Norm Kelly led the recitation of the 4-Way Test by the attendees.
President Mike Markovitz adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.
Speaker: Jeff Swire
Patriots Cove
Jeff is a Sergeant first class Army retired. He & his brother were both in Iraq. He served as combat engineer dealing with unexploded ordinances. He sustained a non-combat injury to his spine, but stayed and would not leave his men. Upon his return, had spinal surgery to implant bracket in his spine at Walter Reed. His injury became septic and eroded spinal tissue. He became too sick to serve and they sent him home. He was discharged without adequate care. He lost hope and had really wanted to serve. His wife advocated for him and found a surgeon in 2015 who operated and found that his spinal damage was even more extensive. He went into a deep depression after all this. His wife left her job and started a home business to take care of him.
They left Carolina and moved back to Noxen PA to the small home his grandfather had in Noxen. He needed an outlet to hunt and fish at his own pace.
Over a year ago, they bought a piece of land 1 mile away . 18 acres with Beaver Run waterway running through it. They built a brook trout habitat for the stream in 4 days with 15 volunteers in 3/4 miles of their stream.
Wyo Cty Conservation came in and tested the water. High phosphates and low dissolved oxygen (1.9 instead of 7-9). Phosphates coming from septic systems on property. They took care of the septic issues and made improvements to the stream so that the dissolved oxygen is now around 8.
They are trying to provide an environment for healing for our Veterans and First Responders severely injured in the line of duty. They also provide a place for support and healing for their Caregivers. They are helping healing of the injured by fostering productive communication, a re-connection to nature and the tranquility and challenge of trout fishing. They believe they can address the injuries to the Mind, Body and Spirit.
Someone is donating for a building for the Caregivers. They will learn how to run a business from home, while they are taking care of their spouses.
They are committed to taking care of all of Beaver Run, not just their section. They are all unpaid volunteers. Hemlock is a perfect tree to build habitat for the Run. Atlantic Pipeline is cutting trees to put in pipelines and they want the hemlock for the habitat.
There is a challenge getting first responders in communication routes. Depend on Fire chief, EMS chief etc to know which first responders need help. They can provide a place of solace, healing and relaxation so they can heal.
They practice catch and release and try not to have any invasive species.
They are a program of Hunts for Healing (post 9/11 veterans and first responders). Most organizations do not include caregivers.
Just opened in April and only do 1-day events now. In spring, they will do 3-day events.
21 veterans per day commit suicide.
In 3 days with help from 12 Misericordia freshmen, they planted an orchard of mature fruit trees and berry bushes with 30 trees and money raised by Bible camp ($1,200). Their attendees will be able to fish and forage next year.
They are looking for mentors, including fly fishing experts.
Jeff Swire talking about Patriot's Cove