The Rotary Club of Ambler

www.rotary.org - rotary international web site

www.amblerrotary.org - our web site

www.rotarydistrict7430.org  - district web site

President, Patrick A. McGee

Publisher -Eric Faddis

Editor -Steve Pribis

The Spring Gala and Pizza Party is history.  We now must turn our attention to the Grand Club:

Walt West reports that 200 Grand Club tickets remain to be distributed.  The Grand Club is one of our major fund raising activities and it is one we always enjoy.  It's sort of like the 'Jelly of the Month' club.  The Grand Club keeps giving, week after week, for 10 weeks.  We have fun watching Bob King draw tickets and read the winner's name.  Our final $1,000 prize will be drawn at Change-over on June 25^th.  Back off 10 weeks and this means that we need to begin our drawings on April 30^th.  That's only 3 weeks from now.  We must distribute ALL 1,000 and we must sell ALL 1,000 tickets in order to net $7,000 noted in the following box.  Your cooperation and efforts are greatly appreciated.   Here's how the Grand Club works:

APRIL 9 MEETING:

President Pat (only 11 more weeks to go, Pat) took the gavel back from Maria today and opened the meeting by asking us to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (did anyone notice that our flag with the broken eagle wing was not displayed?) and sing, 'America the Beautiful.'  Bill McAuliffe offered the invocation by acknowledging the beautiful spring day, asked for blessings around the world and for blessings for our service people.

Bob the King

Bob King needed to be recognized before the introduction of guests and visitors.  Bob, being ever so humble, offered an apology for crediting an INCORRECT answer on question number 3 of the Trivia portion of the Spring Gala.  Bob, with foot in mouth said the answer should have been 1963.

VISITORS/GUESTS:

·         Jim Hoffman was a guest of Dick and 'Her' Grace Landis

·         Denise Lewis was a guest of Maria Kim

COMMUINITY IN CELEBRATION: (Happy $$)

• Drew Graham recounted how his father owned a hardware store in Jenkintown and his father was a member of the Jenkintown Rotary Club.  He remembered the old Horn and Hardarts automats (H&H), which was also in Jenkintown.  For those who are not old enough to remember ' food was in view through rotating dispensers.  You deposited the proper about of money ($.10, $.25) into a coin slot and the food door would open and you enjoyed.  It seems that they only hired Irish girls.
• Elsie Casimir offered two dollars; one to update your correspondent on her recently elected position, which again was missed by ole what's his name.  Elsie also wanted to congratulate Maria Kim for an outstanding program last week
• Bill McAuliffe offered congratulations to Maria Kim
• John Gerhard was proud (actually still is) of his son, John, who won a scholarship to Red Bull Music Festival in Barcelona, Spain
• Lamont Satterly deposited $1.23.  Seems Lamont's mom uses a bean bag which is heated in the microwave for 1 minute and 23 seconds to ease the pain in her back.  She put bag in microwave and punched in 1233, sat down and waited for the bell.  After several minutes she realized that the bell had not sounded, so she stood and opened door only to discover that the bag had burst, with smoke rushing out and  those pesky beans flew all over the kitchen.  She told Lamont that the good news was that the smoke alarm didn't go off.
• Dick Booth announced that his son-in-law John recently passed the PA Bar exam
• Tom Morrison contributed $5 as he has just returned from California (and 17 jumps) where he competed in some events for sky divers over 60, over 70 and over 80.  In the over 80 group, he and four other men completed a formation; in the over 70 group, 18 jumpers completed a formation on their 5^th attempt and in the over 60 competition, 43 divers joined together (all records).  To think, some pay to jump out of planes while most of us pay to stay seated and enjoy a soft landing!
• Maria Kim added an additional 4 dollars: one for ALL of us, one for Eric Faddis for sticking with her after she first joined Rotary and almost decided not to follow through, one for Denise Lewis, Maria's best friend for her support in our projects and one for her father who told her, for the first time in her life, that he was proud of her and her efforts to organize last week's meeting
• Eric Faddis congratulated Maria and is proud that he mentored Maria in her early years of Rotary as he saw such wonderful traits and potential
• Tom Murphy paid a moving tribute to his late mother-in-law by reading a passage from her diary describing a dream she had of her late husband and espousing ever lasting love for him

PROGRAM:

Rick Snider traveled from Lexington, NC (the home of the best barbeque in the world) via bus, train, plane, automobile and it's a pretty good bet that other means of transportation were used as his American Air Line flight was canceled. 

Rick is a volunteer for Mercy Ships and presented an extremely moving video, 'Acts of Mercy' which took us to Nigeria and followed three patients that were the recipients of some life changing surgery (Mercy Ships is an international project that Pedro Geraldino has proposed to our Board of Directors to receive our $5,000 of support for 2007-2008).

Rick is a member of the Lexington Rotary Club and said that he was introduced to Rotary while he and his wife were in Honduras in 2001 helping to rebuild a village that had been devastated by Hurricane Mitch.  Rick discussed how much Mercy Ships and Rotary have in common.  The following information on Mercy Ships was taken from their web site:  www.mercyships.org :

Since 1978, Mercy Ships has performed more than 1.7 million services valued at over $670 million and impacting more than 1.9 million people as direct beneficiaries.

Some of the more notable statistics include:

• Performed more than 32,500 surgeries such as cleft lip and palate, cataract removal, straightening of crossed eyes, orthopedic and facial reconstruction.
• Treated more than 212,000 people in village medical clinics. Performed more than 183,000 dental treatments.
• Taught over 14,500 local health care and professional workers, who have in turn trained many others in primary health care.
• Taught 95,000 local people in primary health care.
• Trained local medical professionals in modern health care techniques.
• Delivered more than $60 million worth of medical equipment, hospital supplies and medicines.
• Completed more than 900 community development projects including construction of schools, clinics, orphanages, water wells and agriculture programs.
• Demonstrated the love of God to people in over 550 port visits in 70 different nations.
• More than 850 career crew from over 40 nations serve today.
• More than 1,600 short-term volunteers serve

®_

Surgeries & Health Care

Mercy Ships provides free, specialized operations that save lives, improve quality of life and restore hope.

Reconstructive Surgery

Volunteer facial reconstructive and plastic surgeons remove deforming tumors, correct cleft lip and palates, fix congenital abnormalities, and increase mobility for those disabled or disfigured by burn contractures, scarring, noma, or leprosy.

Obstetric Fistula (Childbirth Injuries)

Emergency care for childbirth is unavailable in most cases, resulting in death or disability. Birth injury fistulas require specialized procedures to provide relief from the chronic humiliation of constant urinary leakage. Mercy Ships surgeons repair fistulas and afterwards provide women with new dresses and headdresses as symbols of their restored lives.

Blindness

Most of the world's blind live in poor nations where eye care is inaccessible. Mercy Ships ophthalmic surgeons perform free cataract operations restoring sight to the blind. Additionally, doctors correct pterygium, strabismus and eyelid deformities and remove painful or ugly blind eyes, replacing them with prostheses. Ophthalmic educators train local medical personnel in primary eye care.

Dental

Dental service is almost non-existent in many of the countries Mercy Ships visits. Mercy Ships conducts free mobile dental clinics, providing relief from infected or rotting teeth, doing extractions, and giving fillings and performing restorative work. Additionally, teams provide dental hygiene education and training of local personnel.

Community Empowerment

Mercy Ships partners with locals to rebuild and improve the health of their communities.

Rehabilitation & Reintegration

Mercy Ships assists the disabled and displaced in restoring functionality for work and life. In conducting personal and community development programs for the disabled, Mercy Ships helps disabled persons reach a place of self-reliance by teaching skills training and providing financial support for micro enterprise, in addition to physical rehabilitation.

Education & Skills Training

Mercy Ships helps break the cycle of disease through prevention and knowledge. Community health

Education teams train students in basic health and hygiene, first aid and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Additionally Mercy Ships teams teach literacy and the opportunity to learn a marketable skill.

Agriculture programs and women's empowerment projects contribute to sustainable community development. Mercy Ships mentoring program provides one-on-one training of local surgeons and other health professionals.

Water Projects

Mercy Ships helps to alleviate water problems by digging wells and repairing existing water systems in villages without access to potable water. Trainees receive education in how to dig wells and take care of the wells and pumps. Teams also work with villagers to build latrines and teach them about waterborne diseases and sanitation options.

Construction

Working with local leaders, Mercy Ships teams assess community needs and furnish skills, planning, and materials for building projects such as schools, clinics, orphanages, etc. The fact that residents are actively involved gives the local community a strong sense of ownership. Local workers provide most of the work, furnishing them with a source of income and pride in accomplishment.

Mercy Ships

50/50:

Ah, shucks, the white tee

Scott Stimson won his first opportunity to draw the red tee and received $12 for his effort.  Our pot next week will start at $434.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Plan now to attend the District Conference in the Pocono's, the last weekend in April, with the Bethlehem Club as the host club.  Start saving now as this looks to be an extremely exciting conference.  This will be a combined District Conference with Districts 7430 and 7450.  It is anticipated that the cost to Rotarians will be somewhere between $650-700 per couple.  The District will be subsidizing a portion of the actual cost.  Let Geff Ries know if you are planning to go so he can make some effort to coordinate plans.

UP-COMING PROGRAMS:  (Chair, Joan Coleman)  

4-16 - Angel Flight

4-23 - TBA

4-30 - Larry House ' Classification  

5-7 - Bob Adams ' Wissahickon Valley Watershed

ASSIGNMENTS: (Chair, Elaine Hubing)

Remember that if you can't fulfill your service obligation, please provide a suitable substitute and call Elaine Hubing at 215-643-2294 to let her know or deal with…

Set-up/ Take Down Invocation		50/50 Greeters
4-16 ' Morrison	Satterly	Murphy	R. Myers / Parkinson
4-23 ' Reis	Reinoehl	Ries	Satterly / Smith
4-30 ' Schneider	Snyder	Strasburg	Swansen / Timlin

ROTARY MINUTE ASSIGNMENTS: (Chair, Elaine Hubing)

4-16 Pribis	4-23 ' Ritter	4-30 - Stimson

District 7430 and 7450

Rotary Conference

GOLF TOURNAMENT

April 25, 2008

Skytop Lodge & Resort

Cost: $100 per golfer - registered for conference

$125 per golfer - not registered for conference

FYI: � Limited to first 100 golfers

� Golf sign up is open to District Conference attendees until April 6.

� Golf sign up will open to non-attendees on April 7.

� Proper golf attire required. Soft spikes only. No jeans or tank tops.

� You do not need a foursome to register. One to three people will be matched with other golfers.

Questions? Call or email:

� District 7430 Don Foellner 610-767-1686 dfoellner@verizon.net

� District 7450 Dave Lafferty 610-358-1200 dave@kdcom.com

Schedule:

� Registration Begins 8:30 am

� Driving Range Opens 9:00 am

� Shotgun Start 10:00 am

Format: 4 Person Scramble

Awards: Immediately Following

District 7430 and 7450 Rotary Conference Golf Tournament

April 25, 2008 � Skytop Lodge & Resort

Contact Name ____________________________________________________________________

Contact Person(s) Club ___________________________________________________________________

Mailing Address_____________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip_________________________________________________________________

Email________________________

Phone _______________

Players Names: Fee: $100 Attendee or $125 Non Attendee

1. _________________________________________________________$ ____

2. _________________________________________________________$ ____

3. _________________________________________________________$ ____

4. _________________________________________________________$ ____

Total $ ____________

Make check payable to Bethlehem Rotary Club for total shown above.

Mail check with completed for m to

Bruce Palmer, Buckno, Lisicky & Company CPAs,

444 Main St., Bethlehem, PA 18018