Dear Rotarians and friends,
Several STRC members had the chance to tour the Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Inc. in Hatfield last week and then joined us for our weekly dinner at the Indian Valley Country Club to tell us about it. Tim Clemens led the way and shared some of the history of the company’s products. Rick Kowey, Karla Myers, Jean Wieder and Frank Tranzilli provided some additional details about the products and the business model. The company is one of only about four in the world that works on wooden coasters and they have been in operation for over 100 years with the business passing from one generation to the next within the same family. The current President is currently training his daughter to follow in his footsteps and take over the family business. (CLICK HERE to read more and see additional photos)
It made me think about how adaptable the company has had to be to stay in business for that long and keep up with consumer demands, changes in technologies, new safety regulations, etc. Adaptability is something we all need to maintain continuous employment that meets our ever-changing needs as well as customer and employer demands. We have heard from many of our members about how their companies or organizations have been successful in adapting, like Moyer Indoor Outdoor, Univest, Harleysville Bank, Living Branches, Care & Share, Keystone Opportunity Center, Rubin, Glickman, Steinberg & Gifford PC, Souderton & Telford Police, Souderton Area School District, Indian Valley Education Foundation, the Chamber of Commerce, and more. It is many of those same organizations that are the strongest supporters of the community.
I am thankful to Rotary for giving me that awareness of how interconnected so many of our local businesses are in service to the community. Knowing that many of you are running the businesses and seeing the positive impact the businesses have makes me want to support them even more, to keep the overall community strengthening going.
In Rotary
Kate Hoath
President