At our September 10, 2026 meeting Morning Star Rotary hosted Sandra Gillen, Chairperson of the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission. Sandra spoke about the organization's history, programs, and outlined their various initiatives including the Mother's Day Fine Art and Craft Show, Rotunda exhibitions, and the Sculpture Garden.
Morning Star Rotary welcomes Jinnie, our 2026 Rotary Exchange Student from Thailand!
At our August 27, 2026 meeting, Morning Star Rotary welcomed Gina Stano, Executive Director of the Community Support Community of Greater Lehigh Valley. Gina shared that CSCGLV has served the region for 24 years, offering all programs and services free to anyone touched by a cancer diagnosis, not just patients, but caregivers, family, and friends, across several counties (804 people served last fiscal year). Services include individual, couples, and group counseling; weekly and monthly cancer-specific support groups; mindfulness offerings like meditation, Tibetan singing bowls, and yoga; a wig salon that's often a member's first point of entry; and a grief group open to anyone experiencing loss.
About 55% of referrals come through health network partnerships with St. Luke's and LVHN, and the organization runs entirely on community donations, grants, and fundraising events such as Wings of Hope, the Memorial Golf Tournament, and Golf for Cancer. Gina spoke personally about her mother's breast cancer survivorship and her grandmother's loss to the disease, stressing early detection and self-advocacy, and shared that CSCGLV is developing a new professional services line for 2027, including house cleaning, landscaping, and pet care support for members in treatment.
How Rotarians Can Help and Support
"Rotary believes in developing the next generation of leaders. Our programs help younger leaders build leadership skills, expand education and learn the value of service."
On August 13, Morning Star Rotary celebrated our annual Youth Services Day, welcoming the students the club sponsored for this past year's youth initiatives along with their families. Scholarship recipients Kate and Mia, both Freedom High School graduates, shared their college plans in medicine and pre-med at King's College and Cornell, and urged the younger students in the room to get involved and embrace being uncomfortable. Camp Neidig leadership participants Sasha and Aaron described how bringing so many young leaders together taught them to collaborate and step out of their comfort zones, while April, our STEM-YEA student, reflected on the wonder of studying space, planetary science, and the SETI program during STEM-YEA at Kutztown University. Congratulations to these outstanding students!
Morning Star Rotary
"Ben Tenaglia & Ron Searfoss Scholarships
Camp Neidig
STEM-YEA
Daniel Meyer, a rising junior and geography major at James Madison University, spoke to our members virtually via Zoom on July 23, 2026 about his month-long study abroad program in Nepal this past summer. The group of 15 students and two professors split their time between the capital, Kathmandu, and the Tsum Valley near the border with Tibet. Daniel opened by noting that Nepal defied his expectation of a single, uniform culture. Within Kathmandu alone he encountered a mix of Hindu and Buddhist traditions, visiting the Buddha Stupa and the Swayambhu temple, both major pilgrimage sites, and observing how neighborhoods differed sharply in layout and architecture depending on which community had settled them.
After a week in the capital, the group traveled roughly ten hours by bus and jeep, then hiked about 60 miles into the Tsum Valley, staying in villages such as Chumling. Daniel described a rugged landscape of narrow terrain, cliffside roads without guardrails, and cantilever bridges bolted directly into rock. Villagers farmed small plots of barley, buckwheat, potatoes, and spinach largely for subsistence rather than sale, since importing food from the south is difficult given the terrain. He explained a local set of customs called the Shagia, which prohibits hunting, killing animals, and even honey extraction in order to preserve harmony with the environment, meaning any meat eaten by the group had to be carried in.
Daniel also touched on a road-building project moving slowly through the valley, noting tension between officials in Kathmandu and residents concerned about noise, dust, and disruption to religious sites, even though many villagers supported the eventual benefits of vehicle access. He answered audience questions on water quality, which required filtering due to local pathogens despite tasting fine, and on temperature, which ran in the 80s and humid in Kathmandu and varied more widely in the mountains. The talk closed with reflections on his broader travels through JMU's geography study abroad offerings and childhood interests in world geography that first sparked his passion for the field.
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The organization runs two main programs. The residential shelter has seven beds for homeless mothers and babies, who can stay for up to two years while receiving intensive case management, including education support, parenting classes, budgeting help, and housing search assistance. The outreach program serves families from pregnancy through a child's second birthday with diapers, clothing, food, and appointment support, and does not require a housing crisis to qualify. Last year the organization served 558 total families, welcomed 196 babies, logged 1,500 pantry visits, and gave 213 moms holiday gifts for their children. The waiting list has grown from about 10 to 20 families in the past month, and Wendy noted the organization is one of the only local resources for homeless pregnant women without other children.
Wendy described the range of situations families come from, including domestic violence and trafficking survivors, and how the Life House partners with organizations like NAMI and Turning Point when a family's needs go beyond what the shelter can provide, such as active substance recovery or severe mental health needs.
How Rotarians can help and support:
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Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, and is considered a trek rather than a technical climb, meaning no ropes or glacier crossings. Dylan is carrying 20 to 25 pounds of daily gear while porters handle camp setup, cooking, and heavier equipment, and he is paying all his own trip expenses so that 100 percent of donations go directly to the Boys and Girls Club.
Dylan is funding the "Climb for Kids" campaign through corporate sponsors including Rotary, Just Born, and Post Road Management, each contributing 5,000 dollars, plus an employer match and individual donations, with about 11,000 dollars raised so far. He is planning a 10,000 dollar matching gift campaign launching the week before his August 1, 2026 departure, and credited Rotary specifically for helping him raise support he would not have had access to otherwise.
How Rotarians can help and support
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Darah is Bethlehem-born and raised, a Liberty High School graduate, and a lifelong member of the local arts community through Pennsylvania Youth Theater. She returned to the Lehigh Valley after completing her MFA at Michigan State during COVID, when limited opportunities in professional theater brought her back home. Darah was brought in by NCC colleague Brett Oliviera to direct West Side Story on short notice after the unexpected passing of former department head Bill Mutimer. That experience led to an adjunct role and eventually a full-time position as Assistant Professor and co-artistic director, alongside co-director Jessica Lopez Barkl.
Darah and Jessica spent their first months at NCC overhauling the theater curriculum to reflect new industry expectations, particularly post-COVID shifts in how theater is taught and what employers and four-year programs require. New courses include voice and speech, movement, a theater-as-live-experience writing class that takes students to regional productions, and an introduction to theater production and technology that places students on actual production crews. A central focus of this work is building formal transfer agreements with regional four-year schools including DeSales, Cedar Crest, East Stroudsburg, Bucknell, and Muhlenberg, so that students can complete their BA in theater in exactly two additional years with no wasted credits or money. NCC's goal is to clearly signal to students that the two-year pathway followed by a four-year transfer is the strongest route to a sustainable career in theater.
The Bill Mutimer Summer Theatre Series at NCC is a professional summer stock program that produces four shows each season, including a children's production for young audiences. The current 2026 season includes a just-closed run of A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the children's show Junie B. Jones' Essential Survival Guide to School. The series pays all actors, musicians, designers, and technicians, making it the only fully compensated community theater opportunity in the Lehigh Valley. Ticket prices are intentionally kept low to maximize accessibility. Sensory-friendly performances are offered for the children's show, with lights adjusted and sound modified for neurodivergent audiences. Alumni of the program have gone on to Broadway, including a current cast member playing Glinda. Licensing a single show such as Hairspray can cost between $10,000 and $13,000, and the program currently receives some support from NCC in addition to ticket sales while working toward full self-sufficiency through earned revenue and donations.
How Rotarians Can Help and Support
• Attend a show at the NCC Summer Theater Series. Kopachek Hall on the NCC main campus. Adult tickets are $25 (plus a $2 fee). Students are $15. Group rates are available.
• Bring friends, neighbors, and family, especially for Junie B. Jones sensory-friendly performances on June 27, July 11, and July 25, which are ideal for families with neurodivergent children.
• Spread the word within school, church, and neighborhood networks. The program needs to fill seats for Gypsy and Hunchback of Notre Dame, which run through late July.
• Consider corporate sponsorship. Darah specifically identified this as her next major fundraising goal and invited anyone with connections to business sponsors to reach out to her directly.
• Donate to the summer theater program or the NCC theater department. Show licensing alone can exceed $10,000 per production, and the program's goal is to become independent of NCC institutional support.
• Connect Darah on LinkedIn or via email with potential donors, sponsors, or community partners who care about arts education and accessibility.
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In addition to Debi’s professional pursuits, she serves on numerous civic, local, and regional committees and boards."
