I hope Bethlehem Rotarians have been able to take a break this weekend from your hectic daily schedules and spend some time with family and friends. But, take some time to acknowledge, remember, and honor the men and women who died while serving in our military. Please note that a national moment of remembrance officially takes place at 3PM local time on Memorial Day.

 

Last week I had the pleasure of inducting two new members. Major Scott Peabody of The Salvation Army Bethlehem Corps continues the long tradition of representing his organization in our club and brings his past Rotary experiences from Massachusetts to Bethlehem. Scott has been on-board since the end of last year and will be assisting us in an upcoming project debuting this summer.

 

Robin Burk recently returned home to the Lehigh Valley and found our club a natural fit for providing community service. Currently teaching Management Degree programs at the University of Arkansas, Robin has had a fascinating career in various occupations, and is a published author, consultant, and public speaker. We will have to wait until their classification talks to learn more about Robin and Scott. A warm Bethlehem Rotary welcome to our two newest members.

 

Carol Ritter, Board member from the Bethlehem Food Co-Op , spoke to our club about the latest news concerning the organization. The Big news is the plan to have a physical store in the north downtown area in a planned mixed use building at 250 E. Broad St. The full service grocery store will be open to the public and will feature many locally sourced and organic products. As a community owned enterprise, the decisions concerning its operations are made by its members-who now number more than 900 people and growing. Their goal is to stimulate the local economy by supporting area farmers and producers and give local residents a healthy shopping experience vs. the convenience store low nutrition diet. I know many people are excited about having this located within walking distance of our downtown. To learn more about the Co-Op and also the opportunities for your business to join, please visit www.bethlehemfood.coop to find out what's cooking at this exciting, growing group.

 

On June 4th, Deb Walter plans to deliver birdhouse kits to seniors that our club members have ordered.  We're up to 20 birdhouses thus far.  If you'd like to see that number grow even more, please reach out to her as soon as possible.

 

On Monday June 7 there are two Rotary meetings on Zoom you can participate in:

 

This week, thanks to Zoom we have a special speaker joining our meeting. Major League Baseball pitching legend Danny Jackson will be speaking to us from Kansas City. Over his 15 year career he played in three World Series with three different teams (including the 1993 Phillies) and, to this day, pitched the only immaculate inning in a series play. While he will talk about his amazing career in MLB, Danny has been involved with different business opportunities that have led to him being involved in a local program that helps students prepare and find a path to college. As a father of four he knows the importance of inspiring a child to excel in school and have the tools to succeed in life. Please invite a friend interested in baseball or learning more about Rotary to hear Danny's message, Zoom is allowing us to bring us speakers we might not hear otherwise!