The Rotary Club of Ambler

www.rotary.org – rotary international web site

www.amblerrotary.org – our web site

www.rotarydistrict7430.org – district web site

Vol. 81. Edition 49 June 7, 2006

Change-Over will be held on June 21 at 6 P.M

David Roberts will be providing some interesting entertainment via the old Flask and Swig routine.

It is requested that all Paul Harris Fellows wear their medals to the dinner.

JUNE 7 MEETING:

We opened President Tom’s 4^th from last meeting (but who’s counting Tom?) with the Pledge to the Flag, singing of “God Bless America” and since there were no volunteers, President Tom lead the invocation giving thanks for camaraderie and Rotary’s work. President Tom announced that he would be missing next week’s meeting as he and Bonnie will be representing The Rotary Club of Ambler at the Rotary International Conference in Malmo-Copenhagen. They even plan to visit with a former exchange student from Sweden whom they hosted many years ago. President Elect, John Snyder will be leading us next week, so we will have a preview of the year to come. As usual, thanks for assistance at today’s meeting went to Joan Coleman, Jim Caldwell, Bob Myers (set-up), Bill Hummel (50/50 –filling in for daughter, Kerrie) and Sharon Dager for being such a charming greeter and let’s not forget Oh, Donna at the keys. President Tom announced that John Snyder, Pat McGee and he attended this year’s one day District Conference in Allentown. They found the conference educational and rewarding and all came away with a much better understanding of Rotary. Tom’s lone joke was aimed at Hillary Clinton meeting with past Presidents. G. Washington told her not to lie, T. Jefferson said she should listen to people and A. Lincoln suggested she go to the theatre. Bada Bing…

GUESTS:

• Max Rose, from Doylestown
• Ann Dunnington from Springfield
• Mary Jane Johnson, guest of Jim Caldwell

• Kaori Yamamura, our inbound Exchange Student from Japan was with us and said a warm thank you for our hosting her for the past year. President Tom mentioned that Kaori said that she would not mind remaining here with us.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Rich Lawrence, co-chair of the Inbound Student Exchange program, is looking for volunteers to host our two students who will be arriving in September. A Young lady is from Canada and a young man is from Brazil. We need hosts for Sept.-Nov. One student will be attending Upper Dublin and one will attend G.A. Let Rich know if you can help or if you know someone who is not in our club who can help. We need host families before the student can get visas to enter our country. This process takes about 90 days, so we are pushing the envelope. PLEASE HELP RICH AND OUR EXCHANGE PROGRAM. His number is 484-530-5356.

• The Board of Directors thanks all members for turning off cell phones prior to entering our meeting room. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. We had only two phone chiming during today’s meeting. Please make sure that phone is turned off.
• “Rotary Has to Get Young Again” is one of the themes of Rotary and Jay Jablokov spoke of initiatives he will undertake with regard to recruiting, educating and retaining new members. If you know someone who you believe would be a good prospect, but you are not comfortable in inviting them to a meeting, let Jay know and he will be happy to assist in any way possible.
• Blue Bell Rotary is sponsoring a 5K Run/Walk: June 10 - 9:30 a.m. from Whitpain Township Admin Bldg., 960 Wentz Rd., Blue Bell. Register online at www.Active.com or email patti7430essex@comcast.net for a registration form.
• Liberty Lutheran Services invites you to the opening weekend of “The Lion King’ on Sunday June 11, 2006 – 1:00 P.M at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Tickets are only $35 and are on sale today. Call 215-283-2404.
• President Tom gave a report on our annual club golf outing to be held on “Change-Over” morning (June 21) at Sunnybrook CC. Jim Kline has devised a “new” handicap system that he says will be “fair to all concerned.” It will be interesting to see if Jim follows his instructions and actually assigns himself a valid handicap.
• District 7430 Change-Over dinner will be held on Wednesday 5:30-9:00 P.M., June 28^th at the Normandy Farms Conference Center. Let President Tom know if you are planning to attend. Ron Smith from the Blue Bell Club will be the District Governor for the 2006-2007 Rotary year.
• Ken Crest’s annual golf tournament will be held on Tuesday, September 26^th at River Crest Country Club. See Paula Kadel for more details.
• The District 7430 is raising money through the sale of lottery tickets. Each ticket sells for $25. The money will go to the District Foundation to support “Adopt a Village.” President Tom has tickets in his possession.
• District 7430 is also sponsoring a work project to help rebuild New Orleans. Groups will be traveling to New Orleans during the Weeks of June 7-14 and June 14-21. Lodging has been arranged for $40 per night. Expect out of pocket expenses to be around $1,000. If you have an interest in participating, see the good President.
• Coming October 7^th: Barbary Coast Dixieland Band. The committee, under the leadership of Mark Waltz, is already at work. We need a full house, so your support is encouraged.

COMMUNITY IN CELEBRATION:

• Phil Albright parted with cash because he was happy to see Woody Woodland in attendance for the second week in a row.
• Pedro Geraldino contributed with $1 in honor of the U.S. Soccer team who are competing in the World Cup. He pledges to part with $1 for every goal the team scores during the tournament. Frankly, it would be more impressive if he were willing to part with $1 for every point the Eagles scored next season
• Eric Faddis parted with $1 as June 9^th he will be golf free for 4 years.
• John Snyder deposited $1 in honor of D-Day.
• Walt West deposited $1 and announced that on June 8^th, he and Joanne will celebrate their 49^th anniversary. Congratulations to both of you!
• Arvind Bhakta recently returned from Brazil where he visited his daughter on an exchange program and is excited about a project he plans to present to the Board for their consideration.
• Bill McAuliffe was in San Diego to watch his 4^th grandchild graduate from college and states that he still has 4 who are in college. Get a good travel agent, Bill.
• Jim Caldwell reminded us that next Wednesday, June 14 is “Flag Day” and suggested that everyone wear a flag tie or scarf to next weeks meeting.
• Jay Jablokov donated $5 and announced that the pool in his new digs works well and had no structural damage even though it had not be used for 10 years or so

GRAND CLUB UPDATE:

The sixth drawing took place at the beginning of today’s meeting. The winners were:

• $50 – Kay Waltz
• $50 – Pedro Geraldino
• $100 – David Fox sold by Joe Schneider

The seventh drawing occurred at the conclusion of today’s meeting. The winners were:

• $50 – Gretchen Schneider sold by Joe
• $50 – Grace Landis
• $100 – Howard Levin sold by Eric Faddis

PROGRAM:

Alan Schmuckler spoke about “Homeopathic Remedies” and the history of homeopathy. Seems John Hahnemann (as in Hahnemann Hospital) was big into homeopathy, doing much research. He used the disease malaria, diluted and compounded to cure malaria. Another example which was sited of the power of homeopathy was in the 1918 epidemic of the Spanish Flu, when tens of millions of people world wide died. Seems hospitals which followed the homeopathic principles, experienced fewer deaths than in traditional medical hospitals.

50-50: the winner with the white tee and $12 was Mark Waltz.

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UP-COMING PROGRAMS: (Program Chair, Pat McGee)

6-14 – Cary Fleisher – Scholarships Presentations

6-21 – Change-over Dinner

6-28 – Elaine Caltabiano – “Rotary Business/Cultural Exchange Program” – a report on 4 weeks in Taiwan.

ASSIGNMENTS: (Chair, Elaine Hubing) Remember that if you can't fulfill your service obligation, please provide a suitable substitute and call Elaine to let her know:

Set-up/ Prayer/ 50/50 Greeters

Take-Down 4 Way Test 6-14 – Faddis Douglass Geraldino Fleisher & Howard

6-21 **************************Change-over******************************

6-28 Satterly Gessner Graham Holteen & Hummel

7-5 – Kline Roberts Lawrence Landis & Landis

7-12 – Jablokov Jacoby Irving Kadel & Kim

7-19 – McDowell McAuliffe Marinucci Miller & Bromberg

7-26 – Morrison B. Myers R. Myers Parkinson & Pribis

8-2 – Pugsley Reinoehl Reis Ries & Regan

8-9 – Schneider Smith Stranges Strasburg & Swansen

8-16 – Urban Waltz Weber Warner & Weir

8-23 – W. West Bass Zaffarano Williams & Woodland

8-30 – Bhakta Booth McDowell Blasko & Blumenthal

9-6 – Deragon Craig McGonagle Costa & Cox

9-13 – Fleisher Geraldino Holteen Graham & Howard

9-20 – Hummel Kadel Jablokov Irving & Kim

9-27 – Lawrence McAuliffe D. Landis Marinucci & Miller

ROTARY MINUTE: (Chair, Elaine Hubing)

6-28 – Albright 7-5 – Carey 7-12 – C. Dager 7-19 – S. Dager

7-26 – Ditter 8-2 – Douglass 8-9 – Faddis 8-16 – Gessner

8-23 – Gomberg 8-30 – Jacoby 9-6 – King 9-13 – G. Landis

9-20 - Lightkep

AFTERTHOUGHT: (Contributed by Sr. Editor-in-Chief, George B. Ditter)

You have, like your correspondent, probably pondered the paradoxical question of poverty in Africa, which is, to wit, how can there be poverty in a continent so awash in moolah that huge amounts of it can be parked in various bank accounts with nobody taking notice of the fact. Naturally, with apparently an international reputation for probity, your correspondent may be in possession of certain facts of which his average reader may be unaware. At the risk of possible betrayal of confidences reposed in him (but we will give no names), scarcely a day goes by that your correspondent does not receive some e-mail from a person in dire straits, so close and yet so far from wealth beyond the dreams of avarice lodged in some bank account that I could access, but they could not. By my reckoning, the amounts involved by now exceed 500 million (US) dollars. Only the fact that the demands of my current clients consume so much of my time and my duty is to them first, has prevented me from handling the apparently fairly routine task of transferring 50 million (US) dollars from some bank in Nigeria, being held in the name of some deceased or imprisoned person, to the United States to the relief of some widow or orphan and a fee of 30% of the funds in question. The issue that does plague me is, with so much cash tied up in banks, what do the people of Nigeria do for liquidity?

The answer it appears is to be found in the resourcefulness of political persons in Nigeria. According to news reports, Rep. William Jefferson (D- LA), last noted in the news for stashing $100,000 in cash in his freezer, undertook to relieve possible foreign currency reserve problems. He did so by delivering an undisclosed sum to Atiku Akubakar, the Nigerian Vice President, last summer, an installment of a sum that was to be 500,000 (US) dollars in a complicated plan of business investment in Nigeria, by a company, with which the Congressman was involved. For some unaccountable reason, the transaction was handled in person instead of over the Internet, possibly because Mr. Akubakar neglected to provide his fax number, Social Security number, bank account information and passwords, to Rep. Jefferson. In any case, it’s good to see that it is not all outflow, there is some money going in.