Last Thursday we had the pleasure of hearing from one of our Community Grant recipients. Debra Lamb, Vice President for Development at Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers (LVCC) enthusiastically introduced the exciting program enrichment activities provided for local preschoolers and elementary school-aged children at their 25 centers. This year the MSR grant funding will bring Da Vinci Science Center outreach educators to LVCC’s Bethlehem and Easton locations. These preschool children will experience science in a fun and interactive way.
The many enrichment activities are provided to the children at no additional costs to their parents. They are fully funded from support by other organizations. This adds greater meaning to the importance of grants such as ours.
Debra seized the opportunity to tell us about the diverse LVCC programs for all the children served. I was stunned when she said of the 1,020 + children they serve over 70% of Black children and over 60% of Latino children could not swim. We are all familiar with the parables of teaching a person to fish or read so they will have skills for life. Seems to me there is a real challenge here to teach kids to swim and perhaps save their lives. Just food for thought.
In addition to her LVCC career, Debra is very active in the community. She has been in the Allentown Rotary Club since 2005. She will complete her second four-year term as an elected member of the Allentown School Board at the end of 2017. Her connections to MSR Rotarians include her colleague at LVCC, our own Shawn Deiter, and Sue Reeps who worked with Debra’s father in earlier careers with the US government.
Thank you Debra. Perhaps we will see you again this Thursday as you expressed interest in our next meeting . . .
THIS WEEK’S MEETING - please come early!
On Thursday February 25, our own Morning Star Rotarian, Bill Hunter, Director of International Outreach at Lehigh University, will host a unique program. Bill, together with Kristin Gutekunst, Project Manager, United Nations Sustainable Development Action Campaign, will have 10 virtual reality glasses with two films of 8 minutes duration.
Clouds over Sidra transports viewers to the Zaatari Refugee Camp, which is home to 80,000 Syrians fleeing violence and war.
The film tells the story of Sidra, a young girl who has been in Zaatari since the summer of 2013 as she tries to find normalcy in her new surroundings and hold on to the remnants of childhood. She takes us on a tour of the camp, providing her thoughts on school, her family’s makeshift tent, boys and football, and closing with her hopes for the future.
Waves of Grace captures a young woman’s tale of love, loss, and rebirth amid the Ebola epidemic.
In the film we accompany Decontee Davis, a native of West Point, Liberia, as she guides us through the streets of her township, into schools, hospitals, abandoned buildings and burial grounds. She finds solace by using her immunity to help patients, care for those orphaned, fight stigma, and in the faith of forgiveness.
Per Bill, “We will be the first Rotary Club in the world to view these films.” Please join us for a very contemporary reality experience.
Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering Community Service Event
Morning Star Rotary Club provided dinner for 40 guests of the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter last Thursday at Cathedral Church of the Nativity. Heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the fine effort by Morning Star Rotarians in contributing, preparing and serving the dinner at Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering.
In our best Morning Star tradition our service was to the individual men as guests at the Shelter. Their appreciation was evident in the many “Thank you!”s received during the event. Special cheers for Janet Kolepp ---- great job of bringing this all together. Heard a lot of Rotarians saying “we should do this more often.”
As your president, I really want to thank you all for the participation and support. It was a great time for Rotary fellowship as well.
Thanks again.
Note for your calendar – on March 24th we will have another service dinner opportunity. Hope to see you then!
Save the Date - May 17th!
RI President K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran
of Sri Lanka will be coming to King of Prussia on Tuesday, May 17th, to recognize District 7430 for raising over $2 million for the Rotary International Foundation. District Governor Doug Cook extends an invitation to all Rotarians. We have not hosted a sitting RI President in over fifty years. This is truly a rare event. It is a very rare opportunity to meet the incumbent RI President in celebration that evening.
If you would like to learn more about either Bethlehem Morning Star or Rotary International, please contact Ron Searfoss at rsearfos@ptd.net or 610-504-1460.
Be a gift to your world!
President Ron
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