Elizabethtown PA Rotary

If you want news, look on the home page for links to new postings. If you want commentary, check out the blog. If you want to find previous news items, you are in the right place. Also posted here may be random information that just doesn't seem to belong anywhere else on the site. Enjoy!

Melanie Snyder brought a compelling

message on restorative justice to us

and spoke of her experiences with

counseling young people who are at

risk of imprisonment for their bad

behavior. She is the author of a book

entitled, "Grace Goes To Prison."

She encouraged all of us to read the

Pew Center for the States study on

imprisonment, entitled,

"One In One Hundred:

Behind Bars in America 2008"

and

"One in 31: The Long Reach

of American Corrections"

November 13th was finally Steve Lane's chance to give his classification talk to the club! For this BIC Pastor, it was time for "true confession,"

and we heard it all... (whew!) but as everyone knows, "What happens at Rotary, stays ar Rotary!" If you weren't there, you missed a fun presentation by an engaging and committed Rotarian.

The Elizabethtown Interact Club Charter Celebration was held on Monday night, November 2nd at the Library with 11 new Interact members, 17 Etown Rotary members and a numerous parents and friends present for the ceremonies. Beginning with some good desserts and conversation, the formal part of the program included greetings by President Joe Rebman, remarks by District Governor Connie Spark and District Interact Chair Ken Stoner, and a moving reflection on the importance of Rotary in the history of Polio Eradication by Dr. J. Kenneth Kreider, who spoke of his cousin's experience with polio and his involvement serving in a hospital as a volunteer to assist people living with polio.

Dr. Amy Slamp spoke of the Interact Club's choice of projects, and related her experiences as a missionary in Kenya, and seeing the grateful recipients of the hospital toiletry boxes the club will prepare. She expressed her pride in the service orientation of these young people, and commended Club Advisor Frank Telenko for his "service above self" example to the students. Mr. Telenko followed up with brief remarks about his expectations for the Club and his lifelong commitment to the Elizabethtown community.

The new Interact Club members and officers were introduced and presented an Interact Pin, a yellow carnation and a certificate bearing a quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson,(gifts of District Governor Connie Spark) and assembled in front of the new club's banner for photos. Lastly, they were given the opportunity to sign the back of the new club Charter, which will be framed with a glass back so that future generations will see the names of the Charter members.

Rev. Ralph Detrick, Past President, offered a benediction to close the festivities which will be long remembered by the new Interact members as just the first step on a journey of community and international service .

District Governor Connie Spark and President Joe Rebman presented Brenda Barlet and Susan Grubb with their first Paul Harris Fellow recognition pins and certificates. Ralph Detrick and Tom Labagh were presented pins recognizing an additional level of support for the Rotary Foundation.

A good summary of what happened in October is posted on the blog by President Joe, but here's the scoop on our District Governor's visit.

We were blessed to have District Governor Connie Spark at our October 30th meeting to meeting with the Board at 11:30 AM, and then to speak to the club about the goals and priorities for the Rotary Foundation and District 7390.

She complimented us on the activity level of our club, and when asked what we could be doing better, she said, "You are doing everything right to serve your community AND the world." High praise, indeed.

She applauded the efforts of Dennis Zubler and Chuck Mummert as Assistant District Governors and for their involvement in District programs, suggesting that our Club could well have a future District Governor in our midst! Finally, she told us that we are a Rotary Club that leads by example!

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU? Well, a brown shirt on a USPS guy means that a partnership between the USPS and some of its major competitors is a good thing and saves everyone money. Our thanks to Dave Schmidt and co-worker Stacy Smith (with the title nobody can remember) for the candid update on the Postal Service. We may not understand what is going on there any better, but it certainly helps us understand why Dave is the way he is! Excellent program!

DUTCH DOBISH

Dutch_Dobish

...kept our business heads level with a review of methods of coping with the constant changes in the economy by tracking economic models and trends. He also answered questions about his career as a business coach, as VP of regulatory law with Rite Aid, and as an actor in the 1970's-- and of course, he dropped some famous and some forgotten names-- Uta Hagen (Tony Award winner for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?")... Paul Newman... you know... the salad dressing guy!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at the Etown Fair and donated to our Purple Pinky Project! $781 was raised to help End Polio.

Thanks to all the Rotarians and Interactors who staffed the booth and helped with the project throughout the week !

BEATRIZ MATOS-PEREZ

We are celebrating the arrival of

Beatriz Matos-Perez,

our exchange student from Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil

We had a great time meeting her at the August 20th picnic at the Cassell Farm Pavilion!

(SEE PHOTOS IN THE PHOTO ALBUM SECTION OF THE WEBSITE.)

She was welcomed by the club, the Mayor, Elizabethtown College, the Masonic Village and the Chamber of Commerce, and received a lot of welcoming gifts.

Thanks to everyone who attended the Installation Gala on Monday night. Good food, good entertainment, inspiring videos and the recognition of a lot of Paul Harris Fellows! A good time was had by all. Again, thank you to Ralph for his great leadership over the past year.

The Destination Imagination Team visited our meeting on June 12th to share a bit of their experience and to showcase a piece of their original song. President Ralph gave each team member a Rotary coin with the Four Way Test and explained its importance to all of us, whether or not we are Rotarians.

Eight years ago our E-town was instrumental in beginning this event and Ken Kreider was the first person to give a patient "story" of one surviving Melanoma. Every year a survivor gives a story and this year a young woman gave a very compelling personal story.

Even though our financial contribution is small compared to others, we were given credit at the event with these words by the chair, Dr. Gavin Robertson, "if it were not for the Elizabethtown Rotary, the Melanoma Symposium would not exist." So we got front and center play verbally several times, in all the publicity, and on the big screen during the program. Dr. Robertson, as director of the Symposium, mentioned Ken Kreider in his remarks to everyone. We should be proud of our club's support of this important annual event!

Jana Fialova of Czechoslovakia spoke to us eloquently about her home and the history of the Czech people. She described what happened to the mind-set of her people under German and Soviet rule. On a day when we celebrated the Rotary principles of Service Above Self and civic engagement by giving out the Douglas Pfautz Scholarship, it was sobering to hear how these same principles were twisted by totalitarian governments so that in present-day Czechoslovakia there is little interest in anything except self-interest. She encouraged us to continue our work in the community as it makes us a stronger and better country.

Rotarian Ken Brandt congratulates 3rd Grade students of Bainbridge Elementary on graduating from Junior Achievement.

Pictured with Brandt is Nicole Smith teacher of the class.

Board Members in attendance were: Detrick (presiding), Dupler, Hollinger, Miller, Cvek, Wolfe, Brill, Rebman, Labagh, and Bergman. Lots of topics but few notes. Attendance is stable-- some come all the time--some don't come at all. Finances are good-- Bob's got it down to the penny! Approved donations to Camp Ladybug and Junior Achievement. Agreed to split Taste of Western Lancaster County ticket proceeds 50/50 with the Library next year. They'll keep what they raise with their raffle, and we'll keep what we get from the adbook sponsors. Bart Ziegler volunteered to chair the committee. Joe talked about a new polio eradication fund-raiser-- the Purple Pinky! (This oughta be fun!) Golf Tourney report-- about $22,000 in sponsors. Need more, and need golfers. New Goal for the Foundation next year-- it is the central focus of our Rotary charity, and our goal is to get EVERY ROTARIAN in our club to contribute. A new matching funds strategy will be implemented to reward Sustaining Members. We have NINE Paul Harris Fellows to recognize-- (woo-hoo!) most at the Installation banquet; others at a club meeting. Good news-- so far 58 ppl are signed up for the Installation Banquet-- get your tickets soon, we only have room for 80-- June 29 at the Black Gryphon. We are moving forward with the plans to start an Interact Club at the high school. The Pfautz Scholarships will be presented at the first meeting in June-- 50/50 income will continue to be designated to this fund. Joe presented his 10 goals for the 2009-2010 term and they were unanimously adopted. Bylaws revisions were presented by Tom Labagh and unanimously approved to be presented to the Club for a vote on June 19-- following the 10-day notice requirement. See Deb for a copy of the Minutes, or come to the next meeting and hear it first-hand-- it's worth a make-up!

What a meeting! It had everything! If you weren't there, you missed a great one!

When Dave Hickernell speaks... Rotarians listen! An excellent program on the difficulties that lie ahead for the passage of the 2009-2010 state budget. Thanks, Rotarian Dave!

We also inducted two new members, Tricia Frank and Nichole Rineer, and we know they are both going to be great Rotarians! This is an "action shot" of Susan Grubb taking the photo for the newspapers.

We also had some fun saying goodbye to our May and June Students of the Month-- the summer is going to be strange without them-- they always bring so much to our meetings!

Oh behalf of the club, John E. Martin, II presented a $500 check to Glen Bootay for the Scouts of Troop 51 to help them purchase an equipment trailer to haul camping gear for nearly 60 active scouts in their program.