Last Thursday, the Emmaus Rotary Club held its 4th International Women's Day Celebration and bestowed its 2021 award to Linda Magyer of the Saucon Valley Club. Past award winners from our club--Deb Geiger and Jill Long--were presented with Paul Harris Fellow recognition during the meeting. Congratulations Deb and Jill for being great Rotarians and thank you to our members who attended the event to support them. I believe it was 3:30 am Geiger time when they logged on to the meeting!
Our meeting last week featured Saucon Valley Rotarian George Morrison giving a talk about another organization he is involved with--the Folds of Honor Foundation (FOH). A rather new organization, FOH was started in 2007 by Lt. Colonel Dan Rooney as a way to pay tribute to fallen and disabled service members and their families by filling a need in providing scholarships to those families. There are two types provided: 1. Higher Education (2 or 4 year) 2. Children's Fund: Opportunities for kids K-12 such as private school, tutoring, etc.
Folds of Honor is comprised of 30 regional chapters. George is a member of the Eastern PA-NJ branch. Folds of Honor relies on funding from corporations, foundations, and civic groups. They also have very successful program of fund raising via golf tournaments at the local and national level. FOH has provided over 29,000 scholarships since 2007. The local chapter raised $215,000 in the pandemic year 2020! Keep in mind over 90% of each dollar raised goes directly to the scholarship program and they earn 4 out of 4 star rating from Charity Navigator.
Folds of Honor Eastern PA-NJ has provided 92 scholarships totaling $480,000 since 2018, an incredible accomplishment. To find out more about this very worthy group they have a very informative website at foldsofhonor.org. The Center Valley based local chapter has a very active schedule planned for 2021. Contact local President Beth Simmons at bsimmons@foldsofhonor.org and she can provide you a public calendar of local golf tournaments, wine tasting parties and more that they will be hosting.
Keep in mind that the Rotary Tri-District Conference is April 30, May 1-2. Click THIS LINK to register. You can also go to our ClubRunner home page to register. And I still need ideas for a Service Project we will do on Saturday May 1st in unison with 5000+ Pennsylvania Rotarians as we show everyone we are People of Action! Thank you to the members who have offered ideas and to the rest-send me your project idea by 3/25/21.
Maria Dietrich, Co-Chair of our new Liberty High School Interact Club invites us to mark our calendars for Monday April 26 2:30pm for the official Charter Celebration event. Stay tuned for more details!
Be sure to attend this weeks meeting to hear from our BAVTS March Artisan of the Month. It is always an inspiring message these students bring to our club.
Our Wednesday noon meeting's speaker is none other than Past President Gerry Foran and member of The Ancient Order of Hibernians, providing a program about St. Patrick's Day (it is March 17 after all) with story, song, and laughter! Be sure to wear your green outfit and bring along a green beverage of choice.
