Our Club welcomed Denise Veres, founder and executive director of the Shanthi Project located in Easton. She recalled visiting a Rotary Club in her youth as part of a singing group but playfully teased she was never invited back – until now.
By training, Denise is a clinical research scientist. She has used her expertise to develop yoga-based interventions and mindfulness techniques can successfully address a wide range of clinical issues, including depression, anxiety, eating disorder, and pain-related disabilities. A not-for-profit organization, the Shanthi Project has been measuring pre- and post-yoga and mindfulness outcomes since its inception and has consistently reported statistically significant decreases in stress, anxiety, and impulsivity, as well as increases in self-control, energy, and overall feelings of well-being in our juvenile offenders and prison inmate populations.
The Shanthi Project provides services to incarcerated men and women, the homeless, recovering addicts, juvenile offenders, special needs students, and at-risk children in urban schools. Many of these individuals have experienced emotional and physical trauma throughout their lives, and not only does yoga help them better cope with life’s stresses, studies show that yoga actually reverses the effects that trauma has on the brain. Trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness practices help to rebalance the nervous system and enhance brain functioning to ease symptoms of post-traumatic stress and the daily stressors of life. This results in better concentration, decision-making, and self-control.
The Shanthi Project is currently serving 1,000 children in our community thanks to the support of area businesses who are helping to sponsor her work in local schools. Denise’s goal for the Shanthi Project: that every child has a chance for success.
For more information about the Shanthi Project, Denise can be reached at 610-737-8006 or denise@shanthiproject.org.
Announcements and Updates
We welcomed BAVTS Artisan of the Month, Gian Cabreas, and his teacher, Karen Mustonen. Gian was one of the BAVTS students who participated in this year’s Taste & Tunes.
Thirsty Thursday was held on October 20th at 5:30 pm at Twisted Olive. Twisted Olive was one of the restaurants that participated in Taste & Tunes. Hopefully, everyone who participated had a great evening of fellowship.
The Purple Pinkie 5K Run/Fun Walk was held on Saturday, October 22nd at Lehigh Carbon Community College. Thanks to all who walked or ran to help eradicate polio!
The Taste & Tunes Committee will be inviting Tony & JoJo Muir, our Honorary Chair, and Paul Lynch, executive director of Second Harvest, to our Club for an official check presentation on November 2nd. Stay tuned for our final tally.
A call went out to Club members who might be interested in learning to write grants for our Club. Rotary requires Club members to attend formal grant-writing training to be able to serve in that capacity for our Club. We NEED a few grant-trained Club members in order to submit future district and international grants for our Club. The next training session will be held on Saturday, October 29 from 7:30 am to 1:00 pm at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell. Please see President Gail or Director Bill Fitzpatrick for more information.
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, Bob Smith and Patricia Young will be attending so there are car-pooling opportunities available. Please contact President Gail for more information.
Don’t miss our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon on Thursday, November 16 at Moravian Village. Local Rotary Clubs have been invited to join us. 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 October 26 program will feature a panel of local small businesses presenting on economic development in our community.
Join us on 24 October for World Polio Day and share your voice that we are closer than ever to creating a polio-free world. Rotary will host its fourth annual World Polio Day: Making History live stream event at 18:00 EDT (UTC-4) from the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The event brings together the biggest names in the global fight to eradicate polio. Watch live on Endpolio.org
.jpg)