It was a great week to be a Rotarian, and we had another full house for our lunch meeting on Wednesday! At our meeting, it was a great opportunity to celebrate, one last time, with the sponsors, participating restaurants and beneficiaries of Tastes and Tunes. For those of you who were not able to attend the meeting, our final financial results were revealed:
- Amount to Benefit The Bethlehem Rotary Foundation - $30,681
- Amount to Benefit The Foundation of the BASD - $10,187
- TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED - $40,868
Julie Bailey from the Foundation for the Bethlehem Area School District and Dr. Jack Silva, Assistant Superintendent for the Bethlehem Area School District, were both on hand to remind us how this money can help promote the musical program by providing instruments to students who could not otherwise afford them. They were also thankful for the partnership that was developed with our club and the exposure that they received through the production of this event.
Mark Reed, Bob Smith, Julie Bailey, Deb Walter, Jack Silva, Kerry Wrobel, John Callahan
Of the $30,681 that was raised for the Bethlehem Rotary Foundation, more than $11,000 was added to the spending policy proceeds of our Foundation which provided nearly $20,000 of funding for local charities this year!!!! In addition, more the $7,000 was contributed to the principal balance of the Foundation and nearly $12,000 was held in reserve for legacy projects of our club.
I want to thank you all for your support as we tried this new approach to allocating the T&T proceeds. I think we provided a meaningful impact to our designated beneficiary AND we provided much more support to our local charities through our Foundation AND we were able to grow our Foundation for the future! This was simply outstanding!!
At our meeting, we also heard from Gary Warren, owner and head brewer at Lehigh Valley Kombucha. Gary’s discussion about how he got started in his business and the unique product that he produces was interesting enough… but the ensuing Q&A was fascinating! Gary’s responses were entertaining, enthusiastic and extremely informative. He also brought samples of his probiotic teas for us to taste…. and given the long line at the table waiting for a taste of his tea…. I think we were all intrigued by Gary’s presentation!! Thank you to our Program Committee who continues to provide us with such great speakers!
Gary Warren extols the virtues of Kombucha!
I also wanted to thank those of you who were able to help Ron Bauer with the bell-ringing at Christkindlmarkt. If you have never done this before (which until Saturday, I had not), I would strongly encourage it. It is heart-warming to see the number of people who reach into their wallets and pockets to offer support… always followed by them saying “Merry Christmas” or “Thank you for what you are doing”….. it simply makes you feel great!
Ringing for a good cause
Please join us for our meeting this week where we will hear Justin Porembo’s classification talk. Justin, get ready to shed that red ribbon!!
Some reminders:
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