Home Page | Rotary club of Harleysville

Suzanne Owens

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Al Engle

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Sarah Bergin

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Business During COVID

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Martin Luther King

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Covid-19 Update

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We Are All in This Together

Adopt-A-Highway

Rotarians at Work

Montco Commissioners meet us on Zoom

Harleysville Rotary in London

Toastmasters International

It was announced last year at the Rotary International Convention that Rotary and Toastmasters were forming an alliance for their mutual benefit. For Rotary it is an opportunity for members to hone their leadership skills by improving their public speaking. To that end, Hannah Merschen of the Jolly Road Toastmasters club in Blue Bell, explained how that can be accomplished.

Whack & Roll

Keystone Opportunity Center

Our Rotary club has had a long standing relationship with Keystone Opportunity, located in Souderton. Their mission is:

The mission of Keystone Opportunity Center is to help community members in need by offering a comprehensive array of social services that educate, encourage and empower them to become self-sufficient.

Our guest, Executive Director Malcolm Friend, explained that they've seen a spike in the number of families asking for help during the Covid pandemic. Unemployment in our area is currently at about 10%. More people are becoming homeless as they lose jobs. Keystone Opportunity can temporarily house people in hotels but this is a stop gap measure. Currently they are housing about 6 families/month with private landlords.

The center also has a food pantry which served 285 families in July alone! The food pantry has a "fresh for all" program to distribute fresh produce.

Their biggest challenge today is their education program, which had to lay off teachers. The government funding they receive has been "redistributed" resulting in the center having to make cuts.

Every Friday the center posts "Immediate Needs to the Community" to their Facebook page. Please share their posts to your Facebook page to get the word out to our community.

Garden of Health Reaches New Record

Rotarian and Founder of the Garden of Health, Carol Baurer, displays a cake baked in honor of reaching the goal of distributing 100,000 pounds of food so far this year to those in our area who are suffering from food insecurity during this pandemic emergency.

New District Governor

Virtual Visit by District Governor

District Governor Janet Kolepp spoke about the new relationship that Rotary has with Toastmasters as well as some new efforts to increase Rotary's public image through posting videos such as Linked In, ClubRunner, Rotary websites and other social media. President Dan is part of the Public Image effort this year.

One of our district's goals this year is to increase membership by 50 new members. The District currently has 46 clubs and 2 satellite clubs. Gary V. is working to start another club in East Norriton Township with a "car club" theme. All it really takes is to keep our current members and to add at least one new member/club. That should be easy!

District Governor Janet was born in Racine, Wisconsin, which happens to be the birth place of Paul Harris, who was 1 of the 4 founding members of Rotary, in 1905. And no, Janet didn't know Paul! Janet is a member of the Bethlehem Morning Star Rotary Club and last year served at Assistant District Governor. Thanks, Janet, for your inspiration!

Jenna's Blessing Bags

This week our own club member, Jacqui Burleigh, founder of Jenna's Blessing Bags, spoke to us about her late daughter Jenna, who very sadly and tragically was murdered in August 2017 in the Temple campus area of Philly. Jenna was truly a free-spirit who believed in good vibes, human kindness, and equality for all. She also had a great deal of love for animals and empathy for the homeless. She was always helping people in some way.

Pack the Purse

Pack the Purse Success Story

Bridget D. and Eva F. from the Satellite Club organized this project to help women and their children at The Women's Center of Montgomery County. These women/children are often victims of abusive homes and have to flee their homes in a hurry, often leaving with just the clothes on their backs. Children may have to leave their most prized possessions like a comfy blanket or toy behind. The project goal was to pack many a large purses/bags with the "essentials" such as toiletries, clothing, and the "warm fuzzies" for the kids. This effort was a huge success for the satellite club.

Mona Gold's Classification Talk

Mona Gold, who was just inducted into our club last week - gave her classification talk this week. She was the first classification talk of the new Rotary year so what a great way to start off.

Mona is a retired horticulture therapist and has held a variety of positions throughout her career. She was even a judge for the Philadelphia Flower Show for over 25 years.

We welcome Mona and her expertise to Harleysville Rotary. We know she will be of great value especially with the Garden of Health.

2020 Club Changeover

Club Changeover

The changeover ceremony this year was held in the THP Pavilion at Reed Park in Harleysville. This was the second consecutive live-in-person meeting that the Club has held since March. It was also a simulcast meeting in Zoom for those who were unable to attend.

New President, Daniel Watson-Bey, wearing the official badge of office is shown here presenting a miniature gavel to outgoing President, Gary Volpe.

Various awards were made to members that Gary recognized for their contributions this past Rotary year. Dan also made a special presentation to Gary for his outstanding accomplishments in membership.

Click on Photo Albums for more photos of this event (Web only - not available on App)

Rotary Trivia

The RRRRRReturn of RRRRRRRotary Trivia!

Those purveyors of puns, clowns of comedy, jesters of jokes, Larry and Phil some how escaped their quarantines of confinements to bring us another exciting and spellbinding round of Rotary Trivia! This week's brain teaser was in honor of Rotary Founder Paul Harris. Our unlucky contestant was our out-going president, GGGGGGary Volllllppppeeeee! (and the crowd roars....) This week's question was:

What was Paul Harris's middle name?

A. Pennington

B. Percy

C. Parker

D. Phil

President Gary looked to the peanut gallery and asked Marsha for some help, but she couldn't get into the internet fast enough to answer, so he looked to the audience. We unanimously said it WAS NOT PHIL!!!! Most of the audience thought it was Percy.... so that's what President Gary chose. Was he correct? Yes he was!!!! And what a lovely prize he won too, a Rotary plastic cow with a fence around it. MOOOOVE over Turkey Hill Cow! Another "priceless" prize if ever there was one... or not. Congratulations to President Gary for a job well done... or at least that cow beef might be well done...who's to say????

We learned that Paul Harris was born in Racine, WI in 1868 (he's just a little bit older than Larry Moss) but moved to Wallingford, VT as a small child to be raised by his grandparents. Later he earned a law degree and moved to Chicago to practice law. Read more about him by clicking on the link below.

https://www.rotary.org/en/history-paul-harris-rotary-founder

Sebastian Riding Associates

Sabastian Riding Associates

Boys & Girls Clubs

North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Clubs

Bob Kreamer, Executive Director of the North Penn Valley Boys & Girls Clubs, joined us for our weekly virtual meeting on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Bob is the head of these 3 clubs and has been with the clubs for 33 years in various capacities. In our area, we have 3 local Boys and Girls Clubs: North Penn, Indian Valley (in Souderton), and Wissahickon Valley (in Whitpain Township and is a more recent addition). The first local club was founded 54 years ago by 6 dads who had a total of 22 kids and felt that there was a need to serve young boys/girls who were less advantaged financially, academically and socially.

They now operate on a $1.9M annual budget (in 2020) and provide after school programs to help with homework as well as "grab and go" food/meals currently for all school aged kids (not in school due to Covid)... no questions asked or proof of club membership required on the latter. They are also sending out grocery store gift cards to families in need.

The clubs of course have now grown to 3,600+ boys/girls (between ages 6-18 years). Membership is $20/annually but the majority of their funding comes from community support and individual donations. Summer camp has always been available except sadly for this summer due to Covid-19.

Garden of Health

Classification Talk

Mark Singh-Heuter Classification Talk

Newer member, Mark Singh-Hueter, was raised (along with 2 younger brothers) by his American missionary parents in Papua, New Guinea and Australia and was home schooled until the 4th grade when he was sent to boarding schools for most of the rest of his formal education. While growing up, Mark and his family had their own barbershop quartet while mom played the organ!

His college career began at Capital University in Columbus, OH where he joined the Air Force ROTC which led him to spend 4 years in the military following college! Later he enrolled in seminary and did and internship in Manhattan, NY, which afforded him many cultural and artistic entertainment opportunities.

Along his journey he met and married his wife, on Long Island, and together they have a daughter, whom he visited in Argentina (she was temporarily there) and got to experience a local Rotary club!

Mark loves gardening/growing vegetables and is an avid volleyball player, when we're not all quarantined and social distancing!

Both Dean Shollenberger and Steve Godsall-Myers led Mark to join Rotary, through their mutual connection of Advent Lutheran Church in Harleysville, where Mark is the pastor, Steve is the former pastor, and Dean is a member.

Garden of Health

Planting Day

Saturday, May 16th was officially planting day for The Garden of Health. This organization was founded by Rotarian Carol Bauer as a non profit dedicated to supplying thousands of pounds of fresh produce each year to local food banks and soup kitchens. Harleysville Rotarians and others volunteer their time to plant, fertilize, weed and distribute the fresh vegetables. See next page to view some of the happy participants at work. Some have masks and all are social distancing.

Adopt-A-Highway

Fourteen members of the Harleysville Rotary, under the direction of Charter Member Len Ruth, cleaned four area roads in and around Harleysville on Saturday morning, May 9, 2020. This service is provided by Harleysville Rotary 3 or 4 times each year. Eighteen bags of trash were picked up along the shoulders of the roads on this day. We wish it were less. Keep America Beautiful - Please Do Not Litter

Harleysville Rotary Welcomes Paul Nye

The Rotary Club of Harleysville happily welcomes Paul Nye as its newest member. Paul is a graduate of the Lutheran Seminary and has a Doctorate of Divinity and is a Doctor of Ministry. While Paul has served as a church Pastor, he has dedicated most of his life to being a leader in volunteerism and as a professional fundraiser. He was also was active in the past in the Rotary Club of Norristown. Harleysville Rotarians are looking forward to drawing on Paul's life experiences. Congratulations to Paul Nye!

ClubRunner Explained

President-Elect Dan Watson-Bey, led a discussion on Zoom regarding the capabilities and operation of ClubRunner, which is the host for our club website and the smart phone app that accompanies it. During this period of quarantine, we have become more dependent on electronic communication to keep members in touch and to disseminate information on our many on going projects. The public is encouraged to visit HarleysvilleRotary.org to discover who we are and what we are all about. COVID-19 has not stopped us from providing Service Above Self.

Mental Health in a Pandemic

A virtual appearance at our virtual meeting on Wednesday April 22, 2020 was made by James Mast, LPC. Mr. Mast is a Licensed Professional Counselor and certified family therapist in Harleysville. He noted that during a period of high stress like we are all experiencing in this Covid19 pandemic, belonging to a group like Rotary answers the need for "belongingness". Frequent contact with fellow members of any "tribe" of which you are a part can do much to lessen the tensions. The more you are involved the less your tension becomes. People with a common purpose, be it religious or secular, can use these connections to maintain their sense of purpose and benefit by the compassion of others. We thank Mr. Mast for his counsel and expertise and thank Rotary for providing an outlet for its many members.

State Representative Visits Harleysville Rotary

State Representative Steve Malagari Visits Harleysville Rotary

State Representative, Steve Malagari, visited our virtual meeting on April 8th to bring Harleysville Rotarians up to date on several important current topics including the Federal Stimulus Package, the new Vote by Mail initiative, How State Government is currently conducting business under the current quarantine, and the importance to Montgomery County of the Federal Census now in progress. Mr. Malagari also announced that he is opening a second office in Souderton to better serve his constituents. Members were very appreciative of the information and his insights.

Valerie Assmus Joins Rotary

President Gary formally inducts new member Valerie Assmus into the Rotary Club of Harleysville.

Sponsor, Dinah Hayes, pins Valerie with her new Rotary International lapel pin - a proud symbol that is recognized worldwide.

Gary officially welcomes Valerie as a new member in good standing.

Harleysville Rotary currently has over 50 members between the Harleysville Club and the Skippack Satellite Club.

Lois Ruth Classification Talk

New member Lois Ruth gave her Classification Talk with a focus on all those who mentored her in her career at Merck. Lois began her career doing lab work in the cardio vascular research division. Now she is the company liaison to the FDA and all the global equivalent organizations. It is her responsibility to see that the correct materials get to the right people at the right time around the world. She thanks her peers and colleagues for helping her achieve her success as she climbed the ladder. Harleysville Rotary is proud to have her as a member and looks forward to working with her in our various projects.

Garden of Health

Posted on Feb 12, 2020

Garden of Health

Rotarian Carol Baurer, who is the founder of the Garden of Health, reported that the organization distributed 6,000 lbs. of fresh produce last year to various food pantries. This year she expects that the yield will double based on the new garden expansion project. She also announced a new pilot program in Norristown in which the organization will deliver meals five days a week to seniors or disabled folks that do not qualify for Meals on Wheels. Fifteen families are currently enrolled in the program.

Carol's vision has resulted in an amazing volunteer effort that is growing in leaps and bounds. We thank her for not only her vision but her commitment to making all this a reality for local citizens suffering from food insecurity. Volunteers are always welcome to help maintain the gardens and/or deliver the fresh food.

Strategic Planning

Every organization needs a plan and Randy Floyd, who has been charged with Strategic Planning, led the discussion on Harleysville Rotary's plan for the next Rotary year which begins on July 1st. Members are encouraged to summit project ideas that fit within our capabilities and best meet the community's needs. Sometimes funding must be included in the proposals if it exceeds our current budget. Suitable projects are approved by the membership and the board and then a committee is formed for each new project. The Club appreciates Randy's leadership and insight in this critical function.

Thank You from EM Crouthamel School

Posted by LRM on Nov 22, 2019

Thank You from EM Crouthamel School

A team of Harleysville Rotarians attended the EMC School Assembly in November, to be honored by the students for the Club's contribution of 35 new books to be placed in the school's new library.

These were presented in celebration of Harleysville Rotary's 25th Anniversary. The goal was originally 25 books but was increased to 35. Pictured above (from left to right) are Past President Steve Godsall-Myers, Chuck Heckenberger, Larry Moss and Past District Governor Frank Romano. They are standing in front of a display created by the students at the entrance to the library.

WELCOME TO ROTARY

We are neighbors, community leaders, and global citizens uniting for the common good. With you, we can accomplish even more. We are ordinary people working together to accomplish extra ordinary things.

The Rotary Club of Harleysville is a volunteer service organization whose members donate their time and resources to help others in the community and throughout the world since 1994. Working together makes a positive difference and fosters friendships. We welcome you to join us and discover the spirit of Rotary.

The men and women of the club represent a cross section of the area’s business, professional and community leadership and, like the other 1.2 million fellow Rotarians worldwide, are committed to the concept of “Service above self”. As volunteers we actively support a broad base of local community groups and initiate projects to help make our community a better place in which to live and work. As members of the world’s largest service organization our club participates in many projects designed to stimulate world understanding and peace.

TO OUR ON-LINE GUESTS, we encourage you to explore the stories and pages of our website and we welcome any further interest you may have in our club

Reed Memorial Park

Aug 18, 2011 by Richard Wagener

THE CHARLES REED MEMORIAL PARK PROJECT

The largest project undertaken by the Harleysville Rotary Club has been the development of the Charles Reed Memorial Park in Lower Salford Township. Conceived by Rotarians and carried out in partnership with the Harleysville Lions Club, the project spanned several years and required raising about $300,000 to bring it to fruition It Includes a picnic pavilion as well as ball fields and playground for community use. Rotarians continue to maintain the landscaping.

Join the Harleysville Rotary Club

We meet In Person

Wednesdays at 7:00 AM

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Harleysville, PA
United States of America

Every Wednesday at 7 AM

Harleysville Satellite Club

2nd & 4th Thursdays

Timeout Sports Bar

4024 W. Skippack Pike

Skippack, PA 19474

You can also attend the meeting on Zoom

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Daniel Watson-Bey

Dear Friends and Fellow Rotarians,

I am Daniel Watson-Bey. Throughout my life I have strived for opportunities to be of service to the community in which I lived and worked. I had the honor of mentoring youngsters, through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and other organizations serving underserved communities.

Four years ago, I was invited to attend an Awards Ceremony hosted by the Harleysville Rotary Club. The awards were in honor of Local Leaders and were based on the 4 Way Test. These Principles clicked with me instantly, because without knowing, they were the Ideals by which I have lived my life. Also during this event, I was introduced to ROTARY TRIVIA. This educational and entertaining Game Show helped me make the decision to join This Club.

This year the Rotary International Theme is ROTARY OPENS OPPORTUNITIES. Which for me, Rings through louder than the LIBERTY BELL.

In harmony with this theme, as the 2020-21 President of the Rotary Club of Harleysville, I will help our club continue in a True Tradition of Service. We will also OPEN THE OPPORTUNITY to help address the needs of our Neighbors in our Community. We will continue to do so through our Hands on Activities and our Giving efforts.

During these unsettling times, we will utilize technology and communication to Open Opportunities towards Growth and Understanding. We will indeed accomplish our goals with team work from me and you, our Dedicated Club Members! Looking forward to an AWESOME Year!

Daniel Watson-Bey

Club President 2020-21