Our speaker on December 14 represents one of the most well-known companies in the Lehigh Valley, PPL. Carol Orbando-Derstine, a fellow Rotarian from the Allentown Club, provided an informative overview of the scope of PPL’s business model. First and foremost, Carol reminded us that PPL does not generate power; it is a distributor of electrical power. Customers are encouraged to shop for the best rates for power generation at PApowerswitch.com, but should keep in mind that it is extremely important to review the terms of each provider very carefully before making a final selection.
PPL currently serves 1.4 million customers across 10,000 square miles in 29 counties in Pennsylvania. With that many customers relying on PPL’s services, reliability is especially important to ensure customer satisfaction. Current strategies in place to help prevent outages include:
Tree trimming
Investing in electric grids
Adding new lines to relocate power
Investing in ‘smart-grid’ technology to automatically reroute power
As a result of these efforts, significant outages have declined approximately 30% since 2007.
PPL also prides itself in being a good corporate citizen supporting many local nonprofits in our community. Their philanthropic priorities include:
Community revitalization
Education, particularly early childhood education and STEM
Workforce development
In addition, PPL employees can be found volunteering out in the community and generously support United Way. This past year, over $1.0 million was raised through the employee United Way Campaign, which was matched by PPL Corporation. Carol graciously answered questions and concerns from Club members and promised to look into some of the issues mentioned.
Announcements and Presentations (Addendum to December 7 e-Bulletin):
Gerry Long took an opportunity to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the infamous surprise bombing by of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7, 1941.
December Birthday wishes were bestowed on the following Club members
David Shaffer (Dec 4)
Pete Mikolay (Dec 6)
Bill Fitzpatrick (Dec 9)
Paul Ricciardi (Dec 13)
Lisa Jordan (Dec 15)
Mike McGovern (Dec 17)
Chad Paul (Dec 19)
Steve Dolak (Dec 29)
Announcements and Presentations
A Celebration of Life service for Bob Cohen will be held on March 25th at 11 am at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley located Center Street in Bethlehem.
Two shadow students shared their educational experiences at BAVTS, as well as their career aspirations after graduation. Dawson Silfies and Amr Asran are both in the automotive technology tract at BAVTS. Dawson and Amr were accompanied by their teacher Mr. Jeffrey Cantrel.
Ron Bauer announced that our Cub’s annual Salvation Army bell-ringing at Christkindlmarkt raised $1,050, thanks to the following Rotarians who braved the bitter cold on Saturday, December 10. Ron even had to turn some volunteers away because all the time slots were filled. Way to go Bethlehem Rotarians!
Maria Nathans
Chad & Lynn Paul
Deb Geiger
Jack Worsley
Gerry Foran
Paul Ricciardi
Ron Bauer
Bernadette Holland
Thea Phalon
George & Cindy Kurtz
Tracy Bozik thanked Rotarians who have already distributed dictionaries to third graders in the various elementary schools in the BASD. She still needs a few volunteers. Please email (tbozik@moravianacademy.org) or call (610-704-4932) Tracy to find out if you can fill one of the remaining openings.
Sylvia Doyle reported that we exceeded our goal of raising $540 to ensure that the winter coats we are purchasing through Operation Warmth will be distributed to the Bethlehem Boys & Girls Club. Not counting donations received on December 14, our generous Rotarians donated over $600!
Ginny Sandoval, Membership Chair, Allentown West Rotary, is organizing an International Women’s Day at Cedar Crest College on Wednesday, March 8 in an effort to recruit more women to Rotary. The event will start with round table discussions form 3:00-5:00, followed by a celebration of women with networking, drinks, and snacks, and entertainment from 5:00-7:00. Our District Governor, Linda Young, has been invited to join the effort, and Ginny has extended the invitation to area Clubs. Despite it being geared toward women Rotarians, men are invited to attend as well!
Our last meeting of the calendar year on December 21st will be dedicated to the annual election of our 2017-2018 Rotary Board members. Nominating Chair, Ham Malek, will preside over the elections. We have also designated this meeting to honor the memory of Rotarians we lost this year – Bill Votral, Gordy Mowrer and Bob Cohen -- and have invited their wives to join us as we pay tribute to their service to Rotary. We will also be bringing Bob and Madeline Brown back for an appropriate ‘good-bye’ after retiring from Rotary this past year.
Don’t forget to show our support of Morning Star’s Holiday Breakfast meeting on 12/22 at Moravian Village. Although, it will not replace our Wednesday, 12/21 noon meeting, you can use it as a make-up during the busy holidays. Schedule: 7:10 – 7:30 meet and greet; 7:30 Breakfast and festivities. Cost is $10 per person, plus you can sponsor a member for the Liberty HS Chorus, who will be providing the entertainment. If you are planning to attend, please see Jill Long.
Other Upcoming Events/Activities:
Service Project to fight hunger – Saturday, March 11. We will be joining our sister Area 2 Rotary Clubs – Morning Star, Nazareth, Easton, and Saucon Valley. We will be packaging food through Outreach Hunger for local good pantries in our respective communities at Moravian College. Catherine Trawinski and Diane Donaher will be coordinating these efforts for our Club. We will need many volunteers from our Club.
March 11th is also the date our District 7430 has selected to celebrate the RI Foundation’s 100th Anniversary. The celebration will be in the form of a Gala which will be held at Pine Crest Country Club in North Penn. It is close enough for many of us to attend, so please save the date on your calendar.
Our District is planning a fun, yet impactful, service opportunity. On March 26-April 2, 2017, your fellow District 7430 Rotarians will be leaving for a 7 day round trip cruise, leaving from Miami and sailing to the Dominican Republic on the Fathom Adonia, an elegant, yet relaxed, 710 passenger ship. Rotarians will have a chance to serve and participate in Impact such as teaching English, helping with tree planting and reforestation, making water filters for home use, pouring concrete floors, aiding a women’s chocolate cooperative as well as a paper recycling and craft entrepreneurship. When not serving, you can relax at beautiful Amber Cove, a $90 million dollar facility, and enjoy the beach, hiking, touring, zip lining, deep sea fishing, snorkeling, and more! Cost is $299 pp for an inside or outside cabin*, $599 pp for a room with balcony, $999 pp for a suite! Airfare and onshore leisure activities not included.
Mark your calendars for Monday, May 15 (rain date is May 22) for our annual Rotary Golf Tournament at the Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course. A golf committee meeting is scheduled on December 21 at 11:15.
In January, visitors to Rotary.org will discover a new, contemporary site that tells Rotary’s story in a fresh and exciting way. Rotary staff offer a look at the site’s features: a modern design, increased use of imagery and graphics, and better organization to help readers – especially newcomers – find out who we are and what we’re doing.
