APR 30 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

 

On April 23, our current Vice President and soon to be President Elect Sharon Fontana took the podium for her classification talk. Even though Sharon is a new member of Morning Star, she has been a Rotarian for over fifteen years. Sharon started her banking career right at the top – working for a Wall Street firm. She worked full time and went to college at night – a self-made woman! She particularly liked her role as an international banker helping fashion companies with import financing – a possible explanation for her great fashion sense. She continued her banking career in the Poconos (said she is still waiting for the train to come to Stroudsburg). She loves the direct customer interaction in branch banking. She moved to Lafayette Ambassador Bank as the Bethlehem Branch Manager to continue in a customer facing role. Sharon has two children: Rachael, an NYU grad, and Matthew, a Robert Morris grad. Sharon enjoys the outdoors, especially biking hiking and the beach. We are glad that Sharon chose Morning Star to continue her Rotary life and that she has stepped up to a bigger role in our club leadership.

 

Sharon brought Robert Aspenleiter as her guest. Bob is a Regional Manager with Mazda and we hope to see him around more frequently. This week, expect to see both Dee and Jess Elliott’s guests as part of the “Prospective Member Challenge”. We need two volunteers for the “Prospective Member Challenge” for May – who will take the challenge? Or just make the commitment to pick one or two acquaintances to introduce to Rotary and share our “Service Above Self” ideals. Guests are always welcome.

 

This week’s program (4/30) features the engaging, wonderful and beautiful Annika, our 2014 – 2015 exchange student from Finland. You don’t want to miss her tales of being hosted by the Kolepps, the Mohrs and the Bakers – complete with pictures.

 

Friday night May 1 is all hands on deck for the MSR Spaghetti Dinner. By now you should have signed up for your volunteer roles. Val Walk will still accept table sponsorships, desserts or gift baskets for the raffle. Watch for emails from Val or Jean Searfoss if there are specifics about your role. In the meantime, sell your tickets and give your ticket proceeds to Sue Reeps.

 

I did not attend the District 7430 Conference in Gettysburg last weekend. We will have to get the story from our attendees: President Elect Ron Searfoss, Immediate Past President Jean Searfoss, Conference Treasurer Tom Hartzell, District Exchange Student Committee Member John St. Clair, Conference Registrar Marianne Aronson and husband Steve, and our Exchange Student Annika.

 

Janet and I did have the pleasure to attend the wedding of Christopher Isaacs, the eldest son of former MSR members McGehee and Betty Isaacs. Here is a picture of the Isaacs and Kolepps at the reception – proof that we did not just skip the District Conference.

 

 

 

Add these upcoming club events to your calendar. See the MSR website for additional information:

Here are District events of interest. More details are found on the District website.

April is over with only May and June left in this Rotary year, please do your part to meet our 2014-2015 initiatives – “Every Member Brings a Prospective Member” and our “Every Member Every Year” Rotary Foundation contribution.

 

If you are visiting Bethlehem or our website or you want to learn more about Bethlehem Morning Star or Rotary International, please contact Tom Kolepp via email at tkolepp@gmail.com or via mobile phone at 484-241-1251.

 

Let's continue to "Light Up Rotary". Regards. President Tom