Dear Rotarians and friends,
There are three memorable Rotary stories from this weekend that I thought you might appreciate.
First, I participated for the first time in the Indian Valley Boys and Girls Club Career Fair on Friday night. There were about 15 tables spread out around one of the two gyms in the facility and each table had between 1 and 4 representatives present to talk about their work, with Jim Leary helping to cover the law enforcement table. We were encouraged to share what we do and answer prepared questions from students like, “What is your favorite part of your job?” and “How did you prepare for this work?” and “Do you have to work weekends?” If we gave interesting enough answers, the students might ask their own questions before asking us to sign off on their papers to show that they had visited our tables.
When I thought about the work I would share, I decided I would describe myself as a helper and include several different roles in my description of my work and I included the logos from CEPI, KAFO, STRC and Keystone Opportunity Center as examples of the organizations I support. I explained that I am a scientist and work with organizations that help protect people all over the world from diseases and also help build things people need like houses, schools, hospitals, wells, food and parks. Many students recognized the Rotary logo from events they had gone to and from signs they had seen and they were really excited when I mentioned parks. They asked if Rotary was helping to build things at the park in Souderton where the playground is and I explained that a friend named Leon is a member of our Rotary Club and that he is leading the work. One student also asked if I helped to build schools in Honduras and I explained that I had two friends in our Rotary Club named Jessmy and John who led work to build a kindergarten classroom. I was really happy that I went and thought it was interesting that our work at STRC stood out to them.
Second, I joined a group of volunteers at Keystone Opportunity Center to help with the annual postal food drive led by Clarice Foster, a member of our club and food Pantry Manager at Keystone. The event was well-organized and there were plenty of volunteers on hand to take in, sort, weigh and stock approximately 3,000 pounds of food. The food came in waves as mail carriers finished their daily rounds and volunteer drivers picked up boxes, bags and bins of food from the post office. The food collected should be enough to support the families who need it for about 6 weeks. The timing was great because many of the shelves were empty, but it made me think about the challenges of making sure they are kept filled with whatever comes in from donors. In between waves of activity I had a chance to catch up with Sarah Bergin, Ginny Vandenburg and Liz Herman and hear about Quakertown Rotary’s Designer Bag Bingo held on Friday night. It sounds like it was a lot of fun and a really great way to support another club.
Third, a member of another club in the District reached out to mention how much she missed Al. She has been thinking about STEM YEA and wanted to make a generous donation in Al’s honor. He really made an impression on people. It made me think about what a huge event STEM YEA is and how much coordination was needed to get it started. That made me think about BeerFest and how much work that was to get started, which made me think about other major, Rotary led projects in the community like the Boys and Girls Club and the Park. All of these projects required strong leaders and dedicated teams and they have such a positive impact.
In Rotary
Kate Hoath
President