The Rotaryite - Archive  Dec 1, 2010

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	THE ROTARYITE   Issued by the Rotary Club of Morrisville, PA   Club No. 3435 Chartered Jan. 30 1928   Meets Thursdays, 6:15 P.M. Michael's Restaurant Unless announced otherwise
Vol. 68 No. 3		December 2010

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

Here we are halfway through the Rotary Year and it seems that we've just gotten started! So much to do and so little time! But wait - that's just my own impatience.

Shelly Franklin is our newest member and she has been involved already, helping Andy deliver pumpkins to the Morrisville Family Y and being a part of the "book signing" for the 3rd Grade Student Dictionaries that Barry, Barbara, Juan, Andy and Ev delivered recently.

We have a Carnival and a Gourmet Breakfast behind us and the experience to help make the

the next Carnival and Gourmet Breaksfast even more successful. Barbara has been doing a great job organizing our parties and getting top notch speakers. Big E's health issues gave us a scare but he is now healthy and back as Seargent at Arms, getting our meetings off to a good start. Ted introduced the idea of the weekly business meeting agenda to be sure we communicate to everyone what is going on. And Juan has been doing a great job managing the grant covering our involvement in the Peru Water Filter Project. Lee continues to be a terrific representative for us through his leadership in Rotaplast. Bill, Linda, Ted and Dave are doing a fantastic job with the new and innovative Leadership Academy in Morrisville High School. The Internet 4 Way Test project was launched and is now represented on the 4 Way Test website operated by the grandaughter of the author, Herbert J. Walker. Tom Miller continues to promote the Foundation and encouraging everyone to become a Sustaining Member and a Paul Harris Fellow. Tom Mack and I have worked out a plan for placement of new Rotary roadsigns in the Yardley and Lower Makefield area and to relocate some in Morrisville. He, Ted and Dave continue to lead us in volunteering to help at the the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Dave has gotten up to speed as the new club Secretary and Joe, our Treasurer, is providing more detailed financial information regarding our donations to the Foundation. And Manny, you may have noticed, is becoming our "official photographer" and reporter. Linda is behind the scenes, making sure there is backup when Manny isn't available.

To help in recruiting new members, Aneza has volunteerd to be our "Net Keeper", a new positon in the club. She has begun contacting those on our Network list of prospective members and is Keeping them informed of what we are doing, mainly by way of email. So when you have the name of someone to put on the Network list of prospective members, give it to Andy and Aneza, along with an email address.

We have some important fundraisers coming up that we will need to promote effectively. Ted has some new ideas about the Carnival and it may be time to broaden the Gourmet Breakfast menu to appeal to a wider range of tastes. And we have two brand new events, the Fashion Show and the History Dinner. We can help promote these by visiting other clubs in our geographic area, not just in our District. Included are Levittown-Fairless Hills, Langhorne, Shady Brook, Bristol and Trenton, plus Newtown in our own District. Please let Denny know that you would like to be one of our Ambassadors and what club or clubs you would like to visit and get to know better. As an Ambassador you can help forge relationships between and among clubs that can benefit everyone.

Jimmy and I have been working with the District to be sure our website is properly linked to the District website. There have been a few bumps but we are getting there. Remember that as a member you have access on the website to member addresses, emails and phones. And for the newer members especially, an Information for New Members link has been added to our website under Useful Links, Rotary Websites. The link will take you directly to the Rotary International website section on New Members where you can find a wealth of useful information.

In the next month or so we will be addressing the next phase of the Rotary Recognition Garden in Williamson Park. We will develop a sales plan for personalized bricks for the garden and funds from that will pay for a brass marker in the garden to identify our club and its support of the community over the years.

May your Christmas and Holidays be the best ever! And remember the One who Served the Most for all of mankind.

Hal

Chaplain's Corner - Big E

A gift is not a gift unless you give it with your heart.

"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  Luke 6:38

Sergeant at Arms - Big E.

See Schedule of dinner money collectors posted on Rotary cabinet at Michael's Restaurant

 
Programs - Barbara Nuzzolo 

See Website Calendar for Upcoming Events

Birthdays

Rotarians		Spouses
December
3 Axel Augspatch
4 Bill Ferrara
12 Joe Urbano
16 Barry Vannauker
January
		4 Susan Ferrara
11 Merkle Cherry
		15 Sue Urbano
		19 Kathleen Miller

Our Projects

October 16, 2010

Gourmet Breakfast

The club served its Famous Gourmet Breakfast once again at the Morrisville United Methodist Church. This is an important fund raiser and an opportunity for the community to learn something about Rotary and to support our service projects.

October 23

Pumpkins for the Morrisville Family YMCA

New Rotarian Shelly Franklin (right) helped Andy Thompson (not pictured) deliver 100 pumpkins, compliments of the Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club, to the Family YMCA in Morrisville for the Y Halloween party. Providing pumpkins is another long standing tradition of the club.

November 11

Trenton Area Soup Kitchen Volunteers

Led by Rotarian Tom Mack, the club continued its volunteer service at the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.

Youth and Literacy

The Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club supported its commitment to Youth and Literacy through the 3rd Grade Student Dictionary Project and its High School Leadership Academy.

Student Dictionaries 

The Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club recently gave approximately 100 student dictionaries to all of the 3^rd Graders in Holy Trinity and the Grandview Elementary schools in Morrisville. The dictionary project is a long-standing tradition of the club and this year the club held a "book signing" at one of its meetings to personalize each dictionary with a member's signature.

November 11

Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club members at the "book signing" to personalize the student dictionaries for 3^rd Graders

November 15

Representative students at Grandview with Rotarians Barry Vannauker, Juan Proano, Ev Fletcher, Andy Thompson and Barbara Nuzzolo, classroom teacher Erica Poland and School Principal Laurie Ruffing.

November 18

Morrisville High School Leadership Academy

Rotarian and Morrisville Schools Superintendent Bill Ferrara updated the club on the new innovative Leadership Academy at the Morrisville High School which is now in full operation. He and the other Rotarians on the committee, Dave Sample, Linda Yonkin and Ted Fletcher, have gotten some 17 students fully involved in the academy, with parental backing. The students hear a community or business leader discuss his or her leadership style in a seminar setting and the following week the students analyze and explore what they heard.

November 18

Peru Water Filter Project

Rotarian Juan Proano returned from a trip to Lima, Peru, and reported happily that he had obtained all of the signatures necessary for the $10,000 Rotary grant for which we have applied. The next step is to raise $1,800 from other clubs in our District. A presentation schedule will be set up with clubs in our Rotary Area. 

Our Programs

October 14, 2010

One Rotarian's Story

Rich Norton, CEO of Eastern Armored Services and Past President of the Trenton Rotary Club, talked to the club about a major project he led in Trenton.  He was elected President of the club in for 2004-05, the Centennial Year of the club. He said he thought, therefore, that the club should do something significant to commemorate the event.

After looking around for a project he came upon the need for a barrier-free park for children. That was the beginning of a four year odyssey to raise some $450,000 for the park. He was able to get the Parks and Recreation department to handle much of the construction, access lighting, etc. but he still had to raise some $100,000 for the playground equipment.

He had to overcome resistance from some of the club members who thought it was too large of a project for them and he scrambled wherever he could to get commitments from the city, from businesses,  from foundations and from individuals.  The park was dedicated in June of 2007 and he showed a TV news clip that documented the event and recognized his hard work and leadership.

When asked what he learned from the experience he said, "Never take ‘no' for an answer and throw a large net out there to get as many involved as possible."

Shown is Club President Hal Long giving him a Robert Morris commemorative plate in appreciation of his motivating talk to the club.

October 21

Another speaker, Denise Distel, is Program Director of the M.O.S.T. (More Opportunities for Student Training) Program at Pennsbury H.S. The goal of the program, she explained, is to prepare special needs students for transition into adulthood in their communities and provide experiences which will help them develop job skills that can be transferred into paying jobs outside of the school. She can be reached at ddistel@pennsbury.k12.pa.us .

MOST participants pictured here with teacher Denise Distel at right include (l-r) Tyree Stewart, Scott Smith and Kirk Viteri.

November 4

Scott Cohen, Executive Director of the Burn Foundation in Philadelphia, and two burn survivors, Dennis Gleason and Rick Kelly, gave a riveting presentation about the mental as well as physical trauma and ordeals experienced by survivors of burn accidents. Scott explained that the Burn Foundation has been educating people on fire prevention and providing lasting support to those who were the victims of any type of burn for the past for 37 years. At present, the Burn Center is involved with Children's Hospital, and the hospitals at Crozier burn center, Temple, and Lehigh Valley.

Dennis Gleason said that he was a PECO lineman who in 1990 was the survivor of 7680 volts of electricity that entered his body and burned 20 % of it. This was a job site accident and happened very quickly. There was a huge gap between the time of Dennis' burn and the time of healing. He has a definite calling to give back to society and, while still working at PECO and being on the Burn Foundation Advisory Council, Dennis is a speaker for the Foundation and also represents PECO when speaking about safety issues that exist in the workplace. His message was that out of tragedy there are many silver linings that happen to make good out of a bad situation.

Rick Kelly explained that he was getting ready to enjoy his day on Sept. 20, 1986 at 3:20 pm about three weeks before his wedding. When he entered the laundry room of his house he was engulfed in flames due to an explosion that occured when gas from a leaking barbeque grill propane tank was ignited by the pilot light of a gas water heater in the same room. He said he remembers little of the painful time he spent in the hospital with 17% burns on his body. He does remember the kindness and the care given to him in the Nassau County Hospital. He, too, is a member of the Burn Foundation Advisory Council and feels a need to give back to the community. A little after this tragedy, Rick was able to complete the NYC marathon less than four hours!

The Burn Foundation has been involved in the lives of the more than 1100 burn victims have each year. Their mission is steadfast and important and there is always a need for assistance. If you would like more information, go to www.burnfoundation.org

(left to right) Exec. Dir. Scott Cohen, Rick Kelly, Club President Hal Long and Dennis Gleason

November 11

Veteran's Day recognition

As part of Veterans Day, Rotarian Ev Fletcher led the club in recognizing those members and guests who had served in the military. Then in a tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and didn't return, she read a very moving poem about "Things You Didn't Do".

"There was a girl who gave me (Leo Buscaglia) a poem, and she gave me permission to share it with you, and I want to do that because it explains about putting off and putting off and putting off - especially putting off caring about people we really love.  She wants to remain anonymous, but she calls the poem, "THINGS YOU DIDN'T DO" and she says this": 
 

          Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it?
          I thought you'd kill me, but you didn't.

And remember the time I dragged you to the beach, and you said it would rain, and it did?
I thought you'd say, "I told you so."  But you didn't.

Do you remember the time I flirted with all the guys to make you jealous, and you were?
I thought you'd leave me, but you didn't.

Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over your car rug?
I thought you'd hit me, but you didn't.

And remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans?
I thought you'd drop me, but you didn't.

Yes, there were lots of things you didn't do,
But you put up with me, and you loved me, and you protected me.

There were lots of things I wanted to make up to you when you returned from Viet Nam.

But you didn't.

November 11

Rev. Tom Brooks of the Frankford Memorial United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, gave a very interesting historical review of the evolution of the Military Chaplaincy which started at this time. His informtion came from his research for his unpublished novel set in the Civil War era. He noted that poet Walt Whitman became well known as a Civil War nurse and a chaplain out of his concern for the well-being of the soldiers in the hospitals and his work among them.

November 18

Rotarian Manny Abalo gave his Classification Speech. Manny was raised and educated in Liberia by very dedicated Christian parents who sacrificed much so that he and his siblings could have a good education. About the time he completed college, with a degree in journalism and communications, Liberia was in the throws of the terrible political upheavel and wars of the 1990's. Food became very scarce at one point, innocent people were dying of starvation and of being randomly slain by maurading bands of soldiers and he found his life in great jeaporady. He lived with his family in a section of Monrovia, the capitol of Liberia, that was controlled by one of the war lords. In his job as a broadcaster at the Catholic radio station in the area he had tried to report what was happening which was not what the war lord wanted to hear and the station went off the air. The war lord then asked him personally to help him by opening the radio station and broadcasting propaganda, which he declined in a face-to-face meeting. When Manny's friends learned of the meeting and Manny's refusal ot help they urged him to leave the country, which he did. He subsequently made his way to the U.S. and currently is employed as a mortgage counselor. In the meantime his girl friend at the time and now his wife, Aneza, fled the country and they lost contact until about two years later when he discovered that she was in Boston, having made her way there through university contacts. Although Liberia is now at peace and operating under a democratic constitution, Manny said he still is not ready to return for a visit becuse of the trauma he experienced there. Manny and Aneza reside in Bristol and have an 11 year old son.

Our Parties!

October 21

By Manny Abalo

Rotarians of the Morrisville-Yardley Rotary Club celebrated a wonderful and elegant Halloween evening on October 28, at the estate of incumbent President and Mrs. Harold Long in Yardley.

Members gathered in early evening in their best Halloween costumes and masks. It was a fun time with the sharing of a light meal. Rotarians shared some stories of their childhood days going trick-or-treating to "grandma's house" and the neighborhood. A particluarly fun part of the evening were the various games organized by Rotarian Barbara and her "crew". In one game various small items were cleverly hidden by Ted and Ev throughout the living room and the gathering was asked to locate and mark down the 'find". Several "winners" emerged, all claiming to have found the most items. Attendees thanked  Mr. and Mrs. Long for the warm Halloween reception and great time at their residence.

Some of the "elegance" Manny mentioned above! (For more pictures of the gala event, go to the Photo Albums section on the website.)