Dear Fellow Rotarians,
You could see me. I did not know it.
I could hear you. You did not know it.
Was it a cluster, ahmmm...snafu?
or a mime’s delight?
So let me take a few paragraphs to review some parts of last Thursday’s Club Assembly. When my technology skills failed, Mike Waddell, our President-Elect, stepped right up and carried on reviewing some PowerPoint slides and moderating the flow of the meeting as Cindy Hornaman, Jim Palmquist, Bill Erdman, and Alicia Ruiz-Orbin all contributed. Thank you to everyone!
Don’t miss this one…. Our service hours have blown through all goals! Panicked by the pandemic, I low-balled a goal of 60 service hours last Spring. As of January 4, 2021, we have banked 553 service hours! We have completed five service projects and are continuing to fight hunger insecurity in our community each week when we hand out food to students and families in the East Penn School District.
Thank you to everyone who has planted trees, raked leaves, handed out Halloween candy, contributed personal size hand sanitizers, helped children write to Santa, and packed or distributed food. And “thanks” to the Rotarians who have organized, scheduled or raised funds for these community service projects.
During the Club Assembly, I wanted to introduce a new group of Emmaus Rotarians who are looking at our common life-- our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group. Here is a description of what they are up to--
Globally, Rotary International is focusing on making our organization more diverse. RI is calling the effort ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’.
DG Janet Kolepp has formed a group in our district to focus on these issues also. Alicia Ruiz-Orbin and Jim Palmquist are part of that group.
Emmaus Rotary wants to reflect the community in its membership. It is not only to attract a broad range of people to help do our service projects but also to enrich the lives of all members by knowing diverse people where we live. If Rotary teaches us anything, it is that diverse people are quite interesting and broaden our outlook on life. Look at our diverse members and the guests we have had from all over the world at club meetings.
Rotary is a diverse organization. But as society diversifies and we see more diverse people in our daily lives, Rotary wants to be sure our clubs show that local diversity in its membership. We think the Emmaus Rotary Club is doing pretty well in diversity. But the Executive Committee formed a Working Group to explore the issues, to communicate their results, and to brief the Club at a future meeting about Rotary’s new statement on diversity.
The committee includes Mike Waddell and Sal Verrastro from the Executive Committee, Alicia Ruiz-Orbin, Jim Palmquist, Nelly Kabiru, Rose Galeano-Phillips, David Dunn & Geoff Boyer. We are meeting regularly and adding to our core group.
A few paragraphs? Okay, I’ll try to wrap it up.
The final agenda item for last Thursday was to look at members’ involvement and to encourage each one of us by seeing that each member has a “My Rotary Account”, receives and reads the weekly Trumpet, plans to attend some of the on-line training held both by RI and our District, knows how to download the ClubRunner app, and actively serves on at least one club committee. I hoped to invite some discussion. Please look at future newsletters and for upcoming club programs and announcements to help you engage more completely…. And, as always, ask your leadership for help when you have questions!
Going forward, my plan is to double up at our Sargeant at Arm’s office on Thursday mornings so that I do not feel like a mime in a glass box ever again. Thank you for your help and patience as I up my tech game.
Stay well… and remember to pay your dues (ha! Gotcha. Bet you thought I was going to write “remember to wear your masks, maintain your distances and use your hand sanitizers!”). You may Venmo your dues payment to Don Blose -- make a notation that is “dues” or mail a check to Jim Palmquist.
Yours in Rotary,
Lexa Shallcross
Emmaus Rotary President 2020-2021