Welcome back Rotarians! I am incredibly grateful for our hybrid meeting technology, and even more delighted to see so many of you returning to our meetings in person.
Join us for a traditional Monday lunch meeting in June (see schedule below) or a Rotary Alternate Meeting (RAM) in the evening. RAM includes brief announcements and gives us more time for networking and fellowship. Our next alternate meeting is this Monday May 23 at the Hill Society (5:00-6:00 pm) I'll be there and I'd love to personally welcome you back to Rotary.
Past President and Charitable Fundraiser Icon Betty C. Hungerford Honored at Homeland 155th Anniversary Celebration
submitted by Bob Saline
This year Homeland Center and Homeland at Home celebrates its 155th anniversary, and an event marking the historic occasion will honor a woman known throughout central Pennsylvania for her exceptional charitable fundraising and community dedication.
Homeland’s 155th Anniversary Celebration event on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at Hilton Harrisburg will honor Betty Hungerford. In addition to being a fundraising tour-de-force, Hungerford has repeatedly broken barriers for women in Harrisburg’s public relations profession throughout her remarkable career.
As Homeland Center’s director of development for 20 years, Hungerford has played a crucial role in raising funds for benevolent care, ensuring personal and skilled care Residents are never asked to leave because they can no longer afford to pay.
Hungerford’s tireless work goes far beyond Homeland. As a volunteer, Hungerford also lends her fundraising expertise to nonprofit organizations including Theatre Harrisburg; Polyclinic Medical Center Auxiliary; Harrisburg Symphony Society; and the Rotary Club of Harrisburg, for which she served as president in 2015-16.
“Betty’s civic spirit and dedication are a true inspiration,’’ said Homeland President and CEO Barry S. Ramper II. “An influential group of strong women spearheaded Homeland’s creation in 1867, and Betty embodies their spirit.’’
Hungerford also blazed a trail for women in the Harrisburg area’s public relations profession, earning respect and admiration from her peers.
She was honored with the Pennsylvania Public Relations Society’s Ernest R. McDowell Award in 1997; named Fundraising Professional of the Year by the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2006; and received the Public Relations Society of America Central Pennsylvania Chapter’s Frederick E. Leuschner Award for Excellence in Public Relations in 2014. In 2017, she received the Karen Snider Women in Philanthropy Award from the Foundation for Enhancing Communities.
Tributes to our “Queen Bee’ have been flowing in regional media including:
ABC 27 TV
Harrisburg Regional Chamber/CREDC
Online Publishers
PennLive
PRSA Central PA newsletter
Susquehanna Style Magazine
The Burg
Various other social media outlets
Homeland’s tradition of care began 155 years ago after the Civil War. Eighteen women of nine churches in the city of Harrisburg vowed to help orphaned children and widows left homeless in the wake of the war. They rallied support to establish the “Society for the Home for the Friendless,” which by the 1950s became Homeland Center with a new mission: caring for the community’s seniors.
Today, Homeland Center occupies a full block along Fifth Street in uptown Harrisburg, where it offers exceptional personal care, skilled nursing care, memory care and short-term rehabilitation. Homeland consistently receives the highest recognition for quality care, staffing and safety, ranking it among the best in the country.
Homeland Center is part of Homeland’s broader continuum of care. Homeland at Home, a community outreach program of Homeland Center, provides quality care and support to Patients and Clients in the comfort of their own home.
For more information about Homeland’s 155th Anniversary Celebration, including tickets, tributes and sponsorships, visit homelandanniversary.org.
The mission of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area, Inc. is clear and very straight forward. It is to build a better community for pets and people through compassion, protection, education and collaboration. At the same time, these few words cover a lot of responsibilities to our pet friends.
At the helm of this critical community resource is Rotary Club of Harrisburg (RCH) member Amy Kaunas the Executive Director for the Humane Society. Spend just 10 minutes with Kaunas and you understand her commitment to the Society and RCH. Passions with her full gusto.
To get a sense of the impact of the Society, a quick look at important numbers tells a story:
More than 10,000 animals assisted every year
Animals in the Society’s care at any time 500
500,000 people served in the Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry community service area
The Society assists animals and owners with residential care, an adoption program, low-cost veterinary clinics, a pet food bank, counseling services and much more. The shelter employs more than 50 full-time and part-time employees and operates with a $2.4 million budget.
Recently as part of the Club’s Service Project Monday community outreach, members volunteered to help the Society with a major need.
Participating were Amy Kaunas, Ellen Brown, DGE Juliet Altenburg, Susan Anthony, and Wendell Hoover and family.
More than 20 members of the Rotary Club of Harrisburg (RCH) packed food for HANNA's Pantry for its Service on a Monday project at Susquehanna Township High School.
The Club Service on a Monday was initiated to provide more avenue for Service Above Self and to make it easier for members with busy work schedules an opportunity to volunteer and serve at different time periods in a day.
More than 100 bags were filled for members of the pantry including HANNA Packs for students in the Communities in Schools program.
The RCH volunteers also ate lunch and heard Dr. Tamara Willis, school superintendent, John A. Fabian, HANNA Foundation president, and Lori Shienvold, pantry executive director. Rotarians then toured the Pantry.
HANNA's Pantry, a project of the HANNA Foundation and an agency with the Central PA Food Bank, provides food and essential products to residents of Susquehanna Township in need.
Founded in 2019 and in collaboration with Susquehanna Township School District, the Pantry currently serves several hundred individuals and families at drive through distributions twice a month.
More than 100 volunteers help HANNA’s almost daily with deliveries, inventorying, packing and distribution.
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Rotary Club of Harrisburg
Meeting Minutes
May 16, 2022
Submitted by Karen Paris
The meeting was called to order at 12:10 P.M. by Matt Staub, President. Our meditation moment centered on the Four Way Test and “America the Beautiful” was our song for the day. Matt had several announcements. First, he noted that attendance has gone up markedly over the last couple of weeks; he feels that it is a really good sign. Andy the Man had our joke for the day, and we spent several minutes doing a meet and greet with old (and new) friends. We had twelve guests today in attendance, with a total headcount of 62 individuals.
Matt had several announcements. On May 25, 2022 the Club Leadership Assembly will be at WSCC at 8:00 a.m. On June 21 there will be a year-end celebration (also at WSCC). On May 23, 2022 an alternate meeting has been added for Rotarians’ convenience. It will be held downstairs from 5-6 PM at the Hilton from 5 – 6 PM and is intended to engage people in service projects, get new members better acquainted, and let guests and potential members see what Rotary stands for.
Wendell Hoover introduced the winners of the Science Fair Project. Annabel Hathaway and Ari Callahan won the virtually-judged competition with an experiment on “green” products and their effects on the environment. They introduced the concept of metabolization of the chemicals that are considered “green”, how they are passed around and work their way into our system. They tested using aquatic plants and got their baseline data from that. In conclusion, they noted that although some products advertised being “safe”, they were really no “cleaner” to the environment and the advertising was false. What a great project with proof that you just can’t fool the numbers even when you hope for a given result!
Mary Olivera introduced our speaker, Gene Barr, who is originally from the Philadelphia area. Gene Barr has three children, hails from Philadelphia, is a history buff, and has 45 years of professional work experience. (Not related to his presentation, he did note that if you want any details on cheesesteaks, to give him a call…) Gene summed himself up at the start of his presentation by saying “my philosophy is to treat everyone with respect”. He is a firm believer that almost everyone shares common principles regarding life. However, when he watches the news, sometimes it feels like he is living in two separate countries.
In terms of PA’s economy and growth, he noted that PA lost a congressional seat last year because the Commonwealth is not growing (it is shrinking slowly). And, he says we have good healthcare and education, a great workforce, energy, proximity to markets, etc. BUT, we (Pennsylvanians) do not make the Commonwealth attractive to investing. Our tax structure keeps investors out, our legislators and legislature are held in low esteem as well as Congress, and nothing gets done despite the high payroll for legislators, both State and Federal.
He did note that small business is still held in high esteem, however. If PA wants to grow, it will need to change what is does. PA lost $22 Billion of investment in manufacturing in 2022 which went to Columbus, OH, and Arkansas and West Virginia – this might be attributable to the PA corporate tax rate. His solution centers on getting the governor & all four caucuses on the same page to attract new business. Education, attracting investments, education, our youth, and changing the perception of business in the only way PA will be successful. People in PA want 1) career opportunities, 2) education for their kids, 3) safe streets and neighborhoods. He closed by noting that he firmly believes in a free market system as it trusts people to make the best decisions for their own families. Matt thanked our speaker for his update on PA and upcoming retirement. Then Matt closed with an exciting announcement - 2026 is a big Club Anniversary. More details to follow!!!
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