Meeting Summaries - Meetings 2019-2020

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June 25, 2020  ZOOM Speaker Jonathon Snipes, Exec. Director, Snipes Farm and Education Center, spoke on "Farming Through a Pandemic". The good news, he said, is that the farm has focused on emergency food growing and has been able to produced twice as much as last year. This is very important to all of the organizations that distribute food to the many needy people and families who are food insecure in the Lower Bucks County, Philadelphia and Trenton areas. They also have many programs addressing the special needs people have at this time, including a recipe book about farm camping at home so that kids can watch and help parents prepare interesting meals at home.The Community Suppported Agriculture (CSA) program also is going well, as they have been able to supply a large variety of garden vegetables to the participants.

June 11, 2020 Valley Day School Copes with Pandemic

The club's own Rotarian, Dr. Ron Hall, Exec. Dir. of the Valley Day School, spoke about how the school and the students successfully coped with the pandemic and honored the graduating seniors.  

May 28, 2020 First Club ZOOM Speaker

Speaker Clark Shuster, Exc. Dir.or the Morrisville Senior Servicecenter, was first ever ZOOM speaker for the club. He gave the background of the center and what it took to overcome the physical problems of the service center building that almost caused the center to have to close.   

April 11, 2020   Easter Egg Hunt tradition preserved!

Instead of hundreds of Morrisville children gathering candy-filled Easter Eggs in Williamson Park, the eggs found them! The 70+ year tradition of the Morrisville Easter Egg Hunt was preserved with many thanks to Rotarian Mike Yager, his wife Michelle and many others behind the scenes. Mike and Michelle carefully handed out from their home and delivered carefully packaged and sanitized Easter Egg "kits" for several hundred children in Morrisville. In addition they provided the Interfaith Food Alliance with the "kits" for their clients which were handed out at the Morrisville United Methodist Church, along with groceries and gift cards to help the families at this most difficult time.

February 27, 2020    Rotary’s Scout Leaders Appreciation Dinner   Yardley Country Club

February 27, 2020 The Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club hosted its annual Scout Leaders Recognition Banquet at the Yardley Country Club. President Denny Lanctot thanked the leaders “for their outstanding service and lasting contributions to the Development of Character, Citizenship and Personal Fitness of Children and Youth in the Morrisville and Yardley Area”. A certificate of appreciation was presented to William Maywood, Scout Director for the Tamanend District. Lisa Pellegrino, representing the Oakville Girl Scout Unit, was thanked for her unit’s service.  Gus Cales gave an inspired talk about the Marine Corps’ Eagle Scout recognition program and Cheryl Hallowell explained the Wood Badge organization and its work to train adult scouting leaders throughout the world. Rotarian Tom Miller was pleased to note that his two sons are Eagle Scouts.

Left to right: Ed Becker - Explorer Crew 210 leader, Lisa Pellegrino - Girl Scout Oakville Service Unit leader, Mark Pellegrino – Chartered Organization Representative (COR) Troop 230, John McIntire - Asst Scoutmaster Troop 46, Jodi Becker – member Explorer Crew 210, Bill Burgess - COR Troop & Pack 3, Cheryl Hallowell – representative of Wood Badge, a worldwide advanced training program for adult scout leaders, William Maywood – Exec of the Tamanend District, Lew Mohr – long time area Scout leader, Cheryl Hamm – Sea Scout leader Ship 2012, Gus Cales – Marine Corp League Eagle Scout representative, Dave Burkhardt – Scoutmaster Troop 46, Erica Schabert – Sea Scout Ship 2012

Waiting  (guests Wanda Long, Vivian Magnani, and Dave Harris with Linda Yonkin and Claude Magnani)                                                                                                    

 Ted Fletcher and Dave Sample waiting while Denny prepares for the meeting.  

Welcome by President Denny Lanctot

 Guests

Tom Miller remarks 

 Gus Cales remarks          

Certificate of appreciation 

Time to eat!   

  Miller lite?

February 24, 2020 Rotary Table at Pennsbury's Career Fair

Denny, Linda and Hal had a great time introducing parents and students to the Rotary Exchange Program, the 4Way Test Speech Contest and other Rotary activities.

February 13, 2020

Mawa Lewis (center), a Morrisville HS senior, spoke to the Rotarians and their guests at the first meeting of February at the Yardley Country Club. Mawa is President of her senior class and a National Honor Society member, among other accomplishments. She was accompanied by Morrisville Superintendent of Schools, Jason Harris (right). Mawa said that she wants every graduating senior in Morrisville to receive a $500 scholarship that is to be applied to advanced education,through either college or the trades. This will be an incentive, she believes, for those who don't believe that they can go further in their education. Her goal is to raise $25,000 by May 1 of this year. Her plan is to ask individuals an businesses to contribute. She plans to work through the Morrisville Opportunity and Education Foundation (MOEF), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Those wanting help Mawa and support this project can donate at morrisville-opp-ed-squarespace.org. Advise them by email at MOEF@mv.org that your donation is for the Mawa Lewis scholarship project. President Denny Lanctot (left) presented Mawa and Jason the Morrisville Robert Morris mugs in appreciation of the presentation. 

Also at the meeting, James Wass (right) was presented to the club as a Paul Harris Fellow, compliments of Rotarian Tom Miller (left), who is part of the club's Rotary Foundation Committee. James is married to Tom's granddaughter, Brett, and she and Tom's wife, Karleen were present.to see James honored,

January 9,2020

The Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary Club was happy to be back at the Yardley Country Club for its meeting of January 9, 2020. President Denny Lanctot thanked speakers Mark and Mimi Worthington of Upper Makefield for their presentation.

Mark and Mimi explained how a Peace Corps friend who found himself in Guatemala invited them to visit and how that led to the formation of a non-profit to support indigenous people in and around San Marcos La Laguna, which is a small village of approximately 2200 inhabitants, the majority of whom are indigenous Mayans. It sits next to Lake Atitlan at an elevation of 5200 feet and connects to other lakeside communities by boat or a single narrow road through the mountains. Indigenous families live on less than $2 per day and the malnutrition rate for children is up to 80% with corn tortillas being the main diet.

The “Konojel” non-profit organization was founded in 2011 to provide a nutritious meal each day for at-risk residents. It has evolved to become the Konojel Community Center to offer a wider range of programs and opportunities for the Mayan community including educational enrichment for children, cooperatives for women, a computer center, a restaurant to help with fundraising and other community services.

The program is currently housed in a school in the town but has outgrown its space. To provide expanded services and living space for volunteers and outdoor space for activities, a 2-story, 6000 sq. ft. building is under construction on a site that had been covered with rocks from a landslide. The cement block construction, using local hired help, is very labor-intensive and supplies have to be carried ¾ mile on a trail from the road. $150,000 is needed to finish the project. In addition, kitchen equipment, furniture, a storage tank for water, a back-up electric generator and a water purification system are needed. Also, the laptop computers, which were bought used, are out-of-date and need to be replaced.

For more information and to make a donation go to konoljel.org.

December 14, 2019

Club members provided the food and drinks concession at Morrisville's Winterfest. Thanks to Mike Yager and his crew.

December 12, 2019

On Thursday, December 12th the Morrisville-Yardley Rotary Club meeting was held at the Valley Day School in Morrisville. Guest Speaker was Scott McCrea, Rotarian from the Township of Springfield Rotary Club and Board Member of the Valley Day School. He painted a picture of his journey growing up in a small town in Michigan, to graduation from Michigan University, to large equipment sales, to his migration to Bucks County and a career change that led to the discovery of the Valley Day School.

A proud husband and father of a son with special needs, he shared about the challenges of finding an academic program that was an appropriate fit. His research, along with a leap of faith, led him to Bucks County and through networking, he became acquainted with retired Executive Director of the Valley Day School, Geoffrey Axe. He learned about the school’s mission and, intrigued, spent considerable time visiting the school. One of the things that impressed him was the school’s “Community Meeting” protocol and how each day the students receive support from staff whenever they become overwhelmed. (More about Valley Day School at valleyday.org)

McCrea (left) shared about his passion for giving back to the community and as a financial advisor, his pleasure in being able to support clients in achieving their goals (EdwardJones 215-836-1431). His career shift provides him the time to be a blessing to others and spend time with his family.

He was given a Robert Morris mug as a token of appreciation for his talk by Rotarian Hal Long.

December 7 & 14, 2019

Supporting the Salvation Army, volunteers from the club "rang the bells" in front of Penny's at the Oxford Valley Mall to raise needed funds.

November 14. 2019

Scott Mitchel, Morrisville Borough Manager, spoke to the Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotary at the Garden of Eatin. He noted that he is a member of the Langhorne Rotary, previously was Manager of the Morrisville Senior Center and before that, Langhorne Borough Manger. He likes challenges and was able to lead the Senior Center back to viability when it was the verge of closing due to problems with the center’s facilities. As to economic development of the borough, he noted that developers and business people look for efficient borough administration and strict code enforcement to help maintain a stable business environment and protect property values. Since his appointment as Borough Manager two years ago, he has been able to develop more efficient operations and provide needed training of the staff. Code enforcement focused on absentee landlords is resulting in better maintenance and improved appearance of properties and the elimination of blighted areas. His efforts to secure grants is helping fund capital improvement projects and aging infrastructure, including road improvements. Rotary President Denny Lanctot (left) presented him with a Robert Morris mug as a token of appreciation for his talk.

October 10, 2019

At the Yardley Country Club, Joe McGrath (right), discussed with Rotary and guests his proposal to transform Williamson Park in Morrisville to a mixed-use town center. The $100 million dollar redevelopment plan has been in the news recently and has received generally favorable interest. Joe talked about how he had worked his way into the development business and has become a passionate advocate of community-oriented civic planning. He cited his development of the retail and restaurant center, Goodnoe's Corner, in Newtown in the early 2000's. As a token of appreciation for his presentation, President Denny presented him with a Robert Morris mug.

September 26, 2019

Herb Klotz, District 7430 Governor, visited the club at the Yardley Country Club and discussed the District Goals and Strategic Plan for the current Rotary year, July 2019 through June 2020. Emphasis is on membership (net increase 100) and Rotary Foundation Giving (increase in Rotary Direct giving of 100 and Paul Harris Fellow increase by 25). Herb emphasized that there are excellent District persons who can assist local clubs in meeting their goals. Assistant Governor, John Ortolf (right) accompanied Herb. President Denny presented Herb with a Robert Morris mug as a token of appreciation for his talk,

September 12. 2019

Peter Toft and Connie Berndt of Nottingham Insurance on Yardley spoke to the club at the September 12 meeting at the Yardley Country Club. Peter, a partner in Nottingham, gave a history of the firm which goes back over 100 years. Nottingham is an independent agency with two offices, Yardley and Hamilton Square, NJ, and about 40 employees. They represent some 15 different companies, giving them the ability to recommend the best choices for a given customer. Connie Berndt is Director of Sales. They talked about their proprietary process, Diamond Shield Risk Management Solutions, that starts with a compressive assessment of an organization to identify unique needs and then recommend precise strategies to protect the organization's assets. President Denny Lanctot presented them with Robert Morris mugs in appreciation of their talk. 

August 22, 2019

At the August 22 meeting at the Yardley Country Club,Dr. Claude Lessard, of the Lessard Chiropractic Center in Lower Makefield, spoke about enhancing one's life. through personal care. He listed six points important points: Proper Excercise, Good Posture, Nutrition, Sleep, Positive Mental Atitude and A Balanced Spine. He encouraged a regular chiropractic check-up to keep the body in tune and not wait until problems develop. President Denny Lanctot Presented Dr. Lessard a Robert Morris mug in appreciation of his talk to the club. 

August 8, 2019

At the August 8 meeting at the Yardley Country Club, Arden Rossi was inducted as a new member, joining her husband, Tim, who was inducted at the previous meeting. Speaker for the evening was John Stranford, owner of the Morrisville and Newtown Minuteman Press businesses, who shared his business insights.

President Denny, Arden, Juan (Membership Chair)    John Stranford, speaker

August 6, 2019

Morrisville Night Out - Another very successful evening in Williamson Park promoting community togetherness and safety and security awareness. Many thanks to Chairperson Danielle Larison and to Jen Holthenricks and Mike Yager, all Morrisville-Yardley Area Rotarians, for this important community service project.

July 25, 2019

Jessica Milton and Tim Rossi welcomed as new members!

At the July 25 meeting at the Yardley Country Club, Jessica Milton and Tim Rossi were inducted as new members. Jessical is Principal at the Valley Day School and Tim is a financial manager for Merrill Lynch. Tim's wife, Arden, also has joined and will be inducted in August. (Tim and Arden trade off babysitting with their young children and this was Arden's turn with the kids!) The inductions were concucted by Membership Chair, Juan Proano. Assistant Governor, John Ortolf, was present and introduced the new Assistant Governor, Gail Lienberg, who is Past President of Doylestown Rotary.

John Ortolf, Tim Rossi, Jessica Milton, President Denny Lanctot, Juan Proano, Gail Lineberg