We had the pleasure of welcoming Billy Staples, educator, author, sports enthusiast and co-founder of the BEST, Inc. Billy began his presentation commenting on the remarks made by our BAVTS Shadow, Alexandra (Ali) Laurent, who shared her own passion for pursuing a career in commercial arts.
Billy adopted Bethlehem as his home after getting his first teaching job in the Bethlehem School District. He was as passionate then as he is now about helping at-risk students pursue a college education. In 2008, with the help of some generous benefactors who helped to fund the foundation, he co-founded BEST, Inc. (Better Education Support Team) to identify students in need of college financial assistance who agree to follow BEST guidelines while they pursue a degree in their chosen field of study. As part of the process, a mentor is assigned to each student who qualifies for an award who follows the student throughout his/her college career. Students are expected to return to their community following graduation to seek and accept, if offered, employment for two years (24 consecutive months).
Today, BEST has graduated 51 students, while 52 others are currently in the program pursuing their college education. Billy shared some incredible stories about students in the BEST program who have overcome tremendous adversities proving that the principles of BEST work. Thanks to Billy’s passion for helping students become the best they can be, these scholarship awardees have been given a priceless gift of opportunity.
Announcements and Updates
We welcomed BAVTS Shadow student Alexandra (Ali) Laurent, her mother and her teacher, Steve Mantz, to this week’s Rotary meeting.
The next Fun & Fellowship activity for Thursday, October 20th at 5:30 pm. Thirsty Thursday will be held at Twisted Olive. Come out and join your fellow Rotarians to help patronize one of the restaurants that participated in Taste & Tunes.
A thank-you note form Krista Hill, director of youth programming at Northeast Ministry, was shared with Club members. Krista wanted us to know how very much the kids enjoyed attending the Phillies Strike-Out Hunger game in August, especially dancing to Beatles music and seeing Chase Utley!
A second note from Tony Muir, honorary chair of Taste & Tunes, was read to the Club. In it, Tony expressed his heartfelt appreciation for coordinating the event and selecting Second Harvest Food Bank has our beneficiary. He complimented our Club on how well-organized the event was run.
A reminder was made about the October 22nd Purple Pinkie 5K Run/Fun Walk at Lehigh Carbon Community College. You can run or walk to help eradicate polio – just DO IT!
Scholarships are still available to attend the Rotary Leadership Institute on November 12, 2016 (7:30 am to 3:30 pm at Bucks County Community College). Tyler Papaz, Ham Malek and Bob Smith will be attending so there are car-pooling opportunities available. Please contact President Gail for more information.
Please note that our joint Thanksgiving Luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 16 at Moravian Village. Our guest speaker will be Jan Musser-Geier, outreach & marketing coordinator for the Salvation Army Foster Care & Adoption Services. Cost of our lunch is $20, of which $5 will be donated to Polio Plus.
Another service project is being planned to help fight hunger in our community. Our Club will be participating with other Area 2 clubs – Morning Star, Nazareth, Easton and Saucon Valley – in a food packaging/distribution project through Outreach Hunger to benefit local food pantries in our respective communities. The event will be held on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at Moravian College. Special thanks to Mark Reed for offering space at the college. Catherine Trawinski and Diane Donaher will be coordinating these efforts for our Club. We will need a good number of volunteers to help package food that day so please mark the date on your calendars now.
Our speaker for our October 19 meeting will be Denise Veras, therapeutic yoga instructor who will be talking about the Shanti Project.
Rotary members have been working with Rotary’s project partner for disaster relief, ShelterBox, to respond to the humanitarian needs that have arisen following Hurricane Matthew’s destructive path through Haiti and along the coast of the United States, impacting communities in Florida, Georgia, and South and North Carolina, USA. ShelterBox is currently sending supplies to help with a cholera outbreak in the southern region of Haiti. Learn how you can help.
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