Pres. Sue's 11/6 Message

Greetings Rotarians,

A few years after my husband and I were married, and he was finishing up his post doc work, we were trying to figure out where our next move would be from AZ (we were really tired of fire ants and giant cockroaches and snakes). We got out a big map of the United States and studied it. If we could live anywhere, where would we want to live? We had a lot of criteria we were looking at and eliminated a lot of places. We had family on both coasts, in lovely places, it was tempting to be near family, especially since we hoped to be starting a family soon and knew we would appreciate “free help” but then we decided we wanted to avoid any place that had the high likelihood to be affected by natural disasters.

So we settled on the Lehigh Valley, and I think we made a wise choice.

This week our speaker is Alicia Ruiz Orbin. She was one of the participants on the recent Rotaplast trip. She will tell us all about it and about the upcoming Rotaplast Auction.

I am sure that many of you are wondering about Rotary’s reaction to the recent devastation from Hurricane Sandy, so close to home. Tony Janetta sent out a message and some in the District are considering mounting a fundraiser to help those clubs in NJ and NY. Tony reminds us that Rotary is not a “disaster response organization” and that is best left to the Red Cross but there may be some longer term efforts and some matching grant projects we can do, along with some clothing and food drive projects.  I will keep you posted on those efforts as I get information, and the District website is a good source of info: www.rotarydistrict7430.org .

This is a busy time of year for our club and especially to new members it may seem that there is never a time when Rotary is NOT asking you for money. First there were dues, then there was the race, then the concert, and why does Susan keep asking me to bring in books?!? Then we have a speaker about Rotaplast, November is Foundation month. There is always a disaster some place that we are asked to help (Shelter Box). Soon after I joined Rotary, I almost quit because it seemed that all it ever did was asked me for money.

But here is what you have to remember about Rotary, and this is the really, truly awesome thing, things, really about Rotary. Rotary does not expect you to give to everything. Rotary allows you to follow your passion. It gives you the opportunity to give what you can and what you want to where you want, to follow your passion. And to find others who share that passion. If you are passionate about literacy, start a book drive. If you are passionate about clean water, or clothing, safety, or even better, if you don’t know what you are passionate about, but want to find out, you can do that here, at Rotary. Rotary builds leaders.

And because Rotary is built by volunteers, and because it is built by people you know, the time and treasure and talent that you do donate, will get to where it needs to go, swiftly, and securely and entirely.

Most Sincerely, Susan