President James Good called the Zoom meeting of the Harrisburg Rotary Club to order at 12:02 PM. Rotarian Vladimir Beaufils led the club in a meaningful invocation, followed by the inspirational song "Lift Every Voice and Sing," performed by the Kirk Franklin Spiritual Power Workshop and the pledge.
President James also reminded club number 23 of the Rotary Four Way Test, asking our Rotarians to site the Four Way Test….always a good reminder of who we are and what we stand for.
Prior to turning the program over to our speaker, President James made a few comments and announcements:
Thanked fellow Rotarians for their service and for serving on one of our many committees that do the real work. For participating in and for caring about club activities.
Pointed out how Rotarians are making a difference, not only in our local community, but across the world.
Reminded our Rotarians how important it was to make our $100 financial commitment to the Harrisburg Rotary Foundation. All Rotarians making their commitment by September 9th will have their name added for a drawing on the 14th. The winners of the drawing will be featured on a billboard, thanks to the generosity of Past President Andy Rebuck.
Reminded us that Rotary District 7390 is sponsoring a webinar on Club Runner on September 14th.
Asked for volunteers for the Harrisburg Kipona to be held Labor Day Week-End
Announced that there will be a Rotary Leadership Institute on October 10th….more details to follow.
President James introduced Susan Cann, Director of Development for the Downtown Daily Bread, a recipient of $800 from our “lunch” fund. Susan thanked the club for our donation that will feed 400 people as part of their mission.
President James introduced Rotarian Ellen Brown to introduce our program on Care Court. Care Court was started by fellow Rotarian and Past President Karen Snider, of blessed memory, along with Judge Kane. Ellen introduced Rotarians Richard Utley and Karen Paris to highlight the program. The intent of Care Court is to work with those who have been released from incarceration to assist in their reentry into the community to reduce the rate of recidivism. While the schedule is generally to meet with potential clients the 4th Wednesday of every month, this schedule has been somewhat interrupted over the past few months due to the pandemic. Karen and Richard both asked Rotarians for additional volunteers, volunteering their time to answer any questions about the program.
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In addition to Richard and Karen, the following individuals discussed their participation in the program:
Heidi Freese from the Middle District Court. Heidi discussed the role of Care Court volunteers to reintegrate these individuals back into society with basic life skills such as employment, housing and obtaining a drivers license.
Mark Butler, U.S. Attorneys office. Mike reiterated the importance of the program in the basic assistance of people helping people.
Dan Karhnak from the U.S. Probation office. Dan has been involved with the program as a volunteer since 2013. Dan discussed how important the assistance with basic life skills can be for individuals who have been incarcerated for long periods of time and don’t have the basic skills such as the use of a cell phone. Dan discussed the importance of being a mentor to be part of a support system to greatly reduce the rate of recidivism.
In closing, President James asked for Rotarians to speak with Karen or Richard about the program, as well as informing the club that Karen Snider had started a fund (KSCareFund.org) to support Care Court, which contributions would be welcome.
In closing the meeting, President James announced that there would be no meeting next week in celebration of Labor Day, and our next meeting (via Zoom) would be on September 14th. The meeting was adjourned at 1:00.
Respectfully submitted,
Sam Levine
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