Wow! What a Rotary filled week of events. Starting with the much anticipated Liberty High School Interact Charter Celebration last Monday and culminating with the Tri-District Conference 2021 that ended today, this week has truly been a People of Action series of events.
The LHS Interact Club Charter Celebration via Zoom was the official launch of the the new organization, even though despite the pandemic, it has been a very active group the past Rotary year. It is very inspiring to hear the students-our future leaders-talk about their goals and projects. Keep in mind they have already completed a very successful Toys for Tots collection and are involved with the Guatemala Clean Water Project, too. Kudos to our Interact Committee for making this happen and look for future appearances of the Interact members at our meetings.
The Tri-District Conference 2021 was an excellent way to increase your Rotary knowledge, connect with fellow Rotarians, learn about many Rotary projects worldwide, have some "fun" time, and hear three excellent speakers. There was also Camp Neidig and the Four-Way Speech contest. Our club congratulates District Governor Janet Kolepp for leading a very successful conference including the Day of Service project that showed Pennsylvania Rotary cares.
Our Day of Service project was the continuing maintenance and upgrade of our Rotary Centennial Park on Sand Island. With 15 Rotarians, 2 future Rotarians, and 8 Camp Neidig students we began the day with DG Janet stopping by to cheer us on. We were fortunate to have DG Janet and our own DGND Diane Donaher be a part of the day.
Diane and Janet showing us their Rotarian at Work tee shirts
A group of happy and proud Rotarians & Camp Neidig HS Students
Trees trimmed, weeds removed, butterfly attracting plants planted, then an huge load of bark mulch was spread throughout the planted areas. The mulch spread is so important as we have tamed the trees and shrubs to allow more sunlight in the garden-BUT- that encourages weed growth. I cannot express my gratitude to everyone that helped, but to all that moved and raked the mulch-extra thanks because that is more than a one person job and my body is not aching like it usually is! One member cut back the growth across the street and made parking around the Ice House more accessible and to the D&L canal towpath.
Camp Neidig HS Students helping spruce up the park
President Pete - proud of our club's great turnout on a beautiful Saturday.
The end result is OUR park looking better than ever which will allow us to concentrate on new possibilities for Park improvements. We are looking for ideas, feel free to email yours. Riverbank tree trimming would open up better viewing of the Lehigh River, maybe better access for fishing are two of the ideas given. What is yours? Our new Rotary safety vests let citizens know Rotarians were "At Work/Having Fun". And after the crew left I saw various parents walking around enjoying the sculptures and plants with their kids. THANK YOU Bethlehem Rotary!
Click HERE to see more photos on the website
Something to keep in mind: With the closing remarks at the end of the conference by the 3 District Governors, DG John Anthony from District 7390 reminded us all with a powerful statement that "Rotary is the vehicle you can bring your God given gifts to the World!".
Last week we introduced April's BAVTS Artisan of the Month Keily Gaetan from the Health Careers program at BAVTS and a senior at Liberty H.S. Keily talked about her path to the Health Careers field, is the SkillsUSA treasurer, a food associate delivering meals to patients at LVHN, and will enter the Nursing Program at Cedar Crest College in the Fall-we wish her continued success. And Chaplain Heidi Tierny, Network Director of Pastoral Care at St. Luke's University H.N. talked about the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic brought to pastoral support of patients and families. She explained how technology helped them continue support their efforts, while trying to spend more time talking with the families. As you know, it has been a very challenging time but they have adapted to provide the best support possible.
This week we welcome Mary Anne Rishebarger, Past President of the Baltimore Rotary Sunset Club and a Past District Governor for District 7620, to tell us about the Monarch Sister Schools Program to involve students in a real environmental problem: the ongoing destruction of Monarch butterflies' habitat in the U.S. and Canada and what is being done to improve the situation through education and action. Learn about their highly evolved migration pattern of any butterfly or moth and perhaps any insect. Plan to join us about this very interesting species, especially now as we have planted butterfly friendly plants at the Park.
