Mark Parker, or our third string leader as he calls it, began our meeting by ringing the bell and leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Our invocation was given by a mysterious invocator, who ended up being Tim Henry.

Sergeant at Arms Report

Bill Thorne gave our Sergeant at Arms report. We had 53 of our 97 members in attendance. We had Jeff Ward, a guest of Chuck Anderson (who was not in attendance), and Tom Jachimowitz brought his roommate Patty. Laura DeMichaels brought Martie Stamslaur, Sherry Bolha, and her husband Bryan DeMichael. Last but not least, though almost forgotten, Ben Policastro brought Duane Sompel as his guest.

Visiting Students

We had visiting students from Hempfield this week. Miranda McCoy, Sarah Helble, and Jenna Talamo joined us for lunch. Thanks to Dan Carr for getting them here and back to school safely.

Alex, a senior at Greensburg Salem, along with another student joined Carl Rossman to see the World Affairs Council. It talked about foreign policy with the upcoming administration, and the council has been going on for 30 years. Alex joined us for lunch and wanted to thank the club for its assistance in sending him to the council, as he learned a lot about foreign policy.

Rotary Foundation Moment

Dennis Cremonese gave us our two Rotary Foundation Moments since he was not here last week. In 1917 the Rotary Foundation was established as endowment by RI President Arch Klumph. The first Foundation contribution that was received was $25.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri. It was not until 1930, though, that the first grant was awarded. This grant was $500.00 given to the International Society for Crippled Children. In 1947 RI founder Paul Harris dies and in his memory, Rotarians worldwide give the Foundation more than one million dollars. This was also the year that the first Foundation program was launched. This program was the beginning of the Ambassadorial Scholarship program and 18 graduate students received international scholarships.

Word of the Week

Mark Parker gave us our Word of the Week. A josser is someone who was not born into circus life, or alternatively an outsider.

Announcements

We voted for our future board members, and thanks were given to Gene James and Carl Rossman who helped count the votes. See the end of the Flash for the results.

John Kline announced for Ron Barner that we are still aiding Operation Santa Claus and the Red Kettle Campaign. He wanted to thank everyone for their enthusiastic response for each of these events. For those who still might be interested in helping, your help is still welcome. Operation Santa Claus will be on Monday December 8 and the Red Kettle Campaign will be on Friday December 12. We are looking for someone to help out from 8-9 PM.

Ed Meadows announced that the Greensburg Turkey Trot will be on Thanksgiving morning, and he’d like to see some more Rotarians take part in the event. Stop down and join Ed in the race, or alternatively you can join Ed Nemanic as a bystander.

The Christmas parade is this Saturday in downtown Greensburg, and last year’s spelling bee champs will be in the parade in a limo. Rotarians will be marching in the parade alongside them. If you want to march with the club, please ask Mary Clymer or Chuck Anderson – I can’t quite recall who announced this, but I’m sure they have the details as well.

Speaker

Our speaker chairperson, Michele Bononi, introduced our speakers, Laura and Bryan DeMichaels who work with the Salvation Army. Of course Laura is a member of our club, but her husband is a member of the Kiwani’s club, which we learned today means “Rotarian in training.” Laura began her talk by having us all stand up and sing Jingle Bells in honor of the Salvation Army’s primary effort. The Salvation Army is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Its mission is “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in His name without discrimination.” William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London England in 1865. They came to the United States in 1881, and they came to our local town of Greensburg in 1962.

Some of the services they provide to our community include worship services, youth programs, utility assistance, a food pantry, and the Free Bread Program, a program in which they feed bread donated by local bakeries to those in need on Friday mornings. They also actively sponsor the Christmas Cheer program, which includes Operation Santa Claus and Treasures for Children. Project Bundle Up, which is done in conjunction with WTAE, helps poor families by giving vouchers to individuals who need to purchase warm clothing for the winter. They also sponsor a Community Thanksgiving Dinner, which will be next Monday on the 24th. They will feed anyone who comes for a meal that evening.

Finally, the most well-known program offered by the Salvation Army is their Red Kettle Campaign. They have expanded this program beyond the traditional red kettles and now have an online red kettle, table top kettles for smaller businesses to help, the kettle club program, and finally their business partner program which allows businesses to contribute. $36,000 was raised last year, and they are looking for $50,000 for next year.

Laura and Bryan will be at the Campaign Kick-Off Celebration on Saturday, November 22 at 10:30 AM at the Courthouse Plaza. They will have the world’s largest kettle there, and Rod Booker’s WCCC Chorus will be there.

If you’re looking for some ways that you can help they are always looking for volunteers, partners for the red kettle campaign, donations of food and financial support, and aid for the Christmas Cheer Distribution or Thanksgiving Dinner.

Laura then sang a beautiful song to us that captured the message that the Salvation Army shares. Thank you Laura for sharing your talents with us and for sharing the Salvation Army’s message with us.

Conclusion