New Rotarian Brennan Purcell delivered his classification talk yesterday, and it was aptly titled “A Life in Transition.” Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Brennan is Professor of History at DeSales University, teaching everything “from Plato to NATO,” as he says. Brennan’s a Stanford graduate with his doctoral degree from Harvard in 17th Century European History, but along the way in his graduate studies, he spent a year in Munich (where he met his wife) and another at Oxford. More recently, he completed an MBA at DeSales and now does business consulting and has been sharpening his interest in the history of business organizations. Brennan and his wife are the parents of two children and maintain a bilingual home (the children both speak German). Based on his talk, I’d say Brennan is a latter day Renaissance Man who sees Rotary as a natural extension of his commitment to service. Welcome to the Bethlehem Rotary Club, Brennan. We’re glad to have you with us.
Thanks to Dennis Morton, who sponsored Brennan and introduced him.
We also welcomed our Artisan of the month, Rebecca Minnelli, a senior from Northampton High School studying culinary arts and event management at the Bethlehem Area Vo-Tech School. Rebecca spoke with presence and maturity about her career goals and hopes for the future, which include a baccalaureate degree in Hospitality Management. She was accompanied at the meeting by her mother Lynn and her Culinary Arts teacher, Larry Fortunato.
Other News
Here is an important “Save the Date” notice:
On Friday, June 3rd, the Bethlehem Rotary Club will hold its Centennial Gala at the Hotel Bethlehem, marking 100 years of service to the Bethlehem community. PP Diane Donaher is heading up a steering committee for the black-tie event that will feature dinner and what is shaping up to be an enjoyable and memory evoking program.
Along those same “anniversary” lines, our club will participate in the City of Bethlehem’s 275th anniversary by staffing a Rotary booth at the Community Celebration Day on Saturday, June 25th at Steel Stacks. There will be a sign up sheet for volunteers to staff the booth. Please try to help with this if you can. We’ve been a meaningful part of the city’s history and this will be a good opportunity to showcase Rotary to a wider audience.
Please try to help Bethlehem Rotary meet our Rotary Foundation Goals for 2015-2016. As noted by PP George Mowrer last week, our goal is to raise at least $16,000toward our annual giving to help fund projects locally and around the world; and, we are striving for 100% club participation by having every member donate something toward the Foundation. Please put a reminder note next to your bills and check book and send your contribution to George Mowrer @ 4513 Virginia Drive, Bethlehem 18017. Make your checks payable to “The Rotary Foundation.”
Thirty Rotarians and guests went bowling at Revolutions on Thursday, February 18th, for a night of fun and fellowship. We’ll have a full report (which I hope doesn’t include medical details) at our next meeting.
A Personal Note
As of this writing, Don Hunter is still hospitalized but improving. He’s grateful for the cards and other good wishes from Bethlehem Rotarians. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.
Next Time
Our speaker on Wednesday, February 24th will be Rick Anderson, President of the St.Luke’s University Hospital and Health Network. Rick will be introduced by Kamran Afshar. I hope you can attend.
