Feeding Veterans

Below is a letter from VFW Post 6393, thanking us for meals being provided by generous members of our Club.

Reading about the challenges some of the recipient veterans aare confronting lettt's us know we are truly "serving" those in need.

Other monies have since bee received and thees monetary collections to provide holiday meals for needy veterans and their families will continue through the end of the year … and beyond!

 

Lynn Kelleher – 100 Women Who Care in Bucks County

A week ago Wednesday, the Club was happy to welcome Lynn Kelleher, a founder and active mamber of 100 Women Who Care in Bucks County.

Each member of 100 Women Who Care must commit to donating $100 per meeting ($400 per year). They must commit to a one year membership and are considered an active member until you notify us otherwise.  The donations will be given to charitable, non-profit organizations serving the Bucks County area.  No national charities will be considered.  The purpose is for the contribution to stay 100% in the community.

Any member who is present at the meeting can nominate a charity for consideration.  The names are put into a hat, and three are randomly pulled to present their case at the next quarterly meeting.

Each charitable, non-profit organization that is under consideration will be given five minutes to make a presentation at the meeting. Either the nominating member or a representative from the charity can present.  The group will vote by ballot and majority rules.  Although the charity you voted  for may not win, you are still obligated to donate to the winning charity.  Those charities who did not win can be re-nominated at subsequent meetings.

For tax purposes, all checks will be made out to the chosen organization.  An email will go out to those members who are not in attendance so they can mail in their checks. The charitable, non-profit organization must agree to NOT use the donors' names for future solicitations or give the information out to the public.  If the charitable, non-profit organization does not adhere to this condition, they will be removed from any future consideration.

When asked about her self, a realtor with Fox Roach, told us, "Ihelp people in central Bucks County buy or sell what is usually their largest single asset – their home. I am part marketing guru, negotiator, psychologist, stager, comedian, cajoler, advocate and general hand holder, and am a bit of a bear when it comes to protecting my clients best interests. I am also a snazzy dresser and have what some would say is an excessive fondness for costume jewelry and shoes. I've been helping people buy and sell homes for a long time – not only am I very good at it, I have a good time doing it, and so do my clients. I'm a straight talker who takes my position as advisor very seriously. If you’re looking for someone who will tell you what you want to hear, keep looking -I’m probably not your gal…. "

Lynn then joined in a dicussion of recruitment for non-profits, which describes both 100 Women an dour Rotary Club and offered to assist us in the future is asked.

President Bob Morris thanked her for her presentaiton and gracious offer to help our Club.

 

The Club Donates a Refrigerator to former U.S. Army Lieutenant Ann Martin

Thanks to the generosity of former Club member Stan Cohen, who is relocating to Kissimmee, Florida, and current Club member Irv Perlstein we were able to purchase a refrigerator at a significantly discounted price which was then donated to United States Army Lieutenant Ann Martin, the first female African American Veteran honored by the Lower Makefield Board of Supervisor’s 14th Annual Veterans Commemorative Ceremony held on November 7th at the Township’s Vietnam Memorial Wall.

Ann’s family lived under Nazi occupation and amid the evacuation of over 7,200 Jews to Sweden.

Ann was born on July 1957 in Cape Town, South Africa.  In 1963, when she was age 6, the family moved to Denmark, the grandparent’s home, thereafter to England, then Frankfurt, Germany, and at 8 years old to San Juan Puerto Rico where Ann became a naturalized United States citizen. Ann’s life and values were shaped, in part, by her grandparents and the Danish resistance.

In 1969, Ann’s family moved to Ewing, New Jersey.  She graduated Pennsbury High School 1976, and Temple University with a BSN in 1982.

October 1985, seeking a military career Ann enlisted, and attended Army Officer Training at Ft Sam Houston, Texas.  In 1986, Lt. Martin deployed to Berlin, Germany and the 7th Medical Command, 279th Station Hospital. 

On April 5th, 1986, the 279th received victims of the La Belle Disco bombing:  3 were killed and 299 wounded, 79 who were American. 

Tensions between the US and Libya heightened after the June 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the March 1986 U.S. Naval engagements in the Gulf of Sidra the international waters off the coast of Libya.  Libyan leader Gaddafi responded by calling for Arab assaults on American interest worldwide.

In 2001 a German court convicted a former Libyan diplomat and three accomplices on murder charges.  Prosecutors presented radio messages between Tripoli and the East Berlin Libyan embassy.  The messages were intercepted April 1986 by a National Security Agency listening station in West Berlin. 

During these events, due to her language abilities and international experience, Lt. Martin was recruited by the NSA.  Over a 1-year period, Lt. Martin passed through Check Point Charlie as a counterintelligence operative. 

She wore her Army uniform and traveled under the guise of being a disgruntled nurse seeking work, and possible patronage in the east.  Her guise worked, nothing had to be construed. 

Lt. Martin was in pain and disgruntled over a bad hip being ignored by Army medical.  She asked for and gained employment as a nurse at the East Berlin Medic Hospital.  By consorting with staff, locals, Russian Officers, and bureaucrats, she obtained names, identified key individuals, and gathered information on missing people.  Her information was critical to our listening stations, defense, and diplomatic operations.

Lt. Martin fooled the Stasi and conducted her missions while facing imminent danger.  The Stasi, the feared and hated secret police of the communist East German Republic, is charged with 1,393 killings. 

The Checkpoint Charlie Museum list 245 killed during crossing attempts.

June 1987 Lt Martin attended President Ronald Regan’s Berlin Wall Speech when he declared: “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.”

While little was made of the event at the, two years later the words became immortalized when the Berlin wall was torn down. 

Lt. Martins service as an operative ended when East Berlin operatives requested that on her next reporting day, she avoids Check Point Charlie and crosses instead at a certain Café hiding a secret passageway between the divided city.

After Germany, Lt. Martin deployed to Walter Reed Army Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland.

June 1991, Ft Dix, New Jersey, after 5 years of military service, Lt Martin was medically discharged from the United States Army.

Ann currently lives in Lower Makefield.  She is the proud mother of 2 daughters Liddy and Marlena, and proud grandmother of 3 Kevin, Allen, and Harris.

Delivering the refirgerator on November 24th, 2020

(l to r)  Irv Perlstein, vilunteers Bobby Burns and his son Max who made teh delivery, and Stan Cohen

 

 

Jack Massam – Our December 2020 Student-of-the-Month

The Club has awarded Jack Massam as its 2020 Student-of-the-Month for December 2020.

After receiving his certificate of recognition and $100 scholarship check

Dick Newbert making the presentation to Jack

Jack thanked the Club “so much for the scholarship.”

He then continued; “I am so grateful for the extra opportunity this opens up for me and I am honored to be chosen.  I promise to put it to good use in my education fund. In school, I enjoy English, Science, Spanish, and Health. I work hard in these subjects, and try to be the best student I can be. Before quarantine, I played clarinet in many bands and the orchestra, and was involved in groups such as No Place for Hate, Chess club, and the Stock club. 

I enjoy helping out in the community. I am a volunteer for my local Langhorne library, and was involved in Tri M international music honors society, which focused on community service. I have also volunteered to help work at the Newtown Vet Pet Fair for the past 2 years. In addition, I am also an active member of No Place for Hate (a group that fights bias and bullying) and have volunteered for numerous fundraising and awareness events, such as Jeans for Teens and Black History Month.

In my free time, I enjoy playing lacrosse for Lower Bucks Lacrosse, mountain biking, and snowboarding.”

Jack is joined by his dad, Dan, mom, Angie and twin brothers Sam and Mark

Bridget Dykty Recognized as the Club’s November 2020 Student-of-the-Month

The Club was delighted to recognize Bridget Dykty as its November 2020 Maple Point Middle School Student-of-the-Month with both a Certificate of Recognition and a scholarship check for $100.

Club Scholarship Chair presents Bridget with her certificate

In her own words, Bridget told us about herself, her school and out-of-school activities and longer-term academic and career goals.

“My name is Bridget Dykty, and I am an eighth grader from Maple Point Middle School.  I enjoy almost every aspect of school, but the subjects that I like most are English and Social Studies.  I like English because I get to read different stories and write about different topics; additionally, I like social studies because learning about the past and what has happened around the world is really interesting to me.

Some of the activities that I participate in are the morning announcements for school, student council, and the school musicals.  The morning announcements are filmed and put together in a short video that describes what will happen during the week.  This is my first year in student council, and so far, I really like it.  This year there have not been many activities to participate in for service, but the Thanksgiving food drive is coming up and that should be fun and meaningful.  A final activity that I love to do is to perform in school musicals.  I have been in three so far, Mary Poppins Jr., Alice in Wonderland Jr., and The Little Mermaid Jr..  Although this year the musical will probably be different than the other times I’ve done it, I still hope there will be one. 

A few service based activities that I do in my free time are to go and help at the ERA food pantry, and I also do service projects at my church, St. Andrew.  Before COVID-19, my family and I were able to do more with others.  Having my neighbor, Nancy Shanberg, run the food pantry, we are able to ask her how we can help.  Also, bi-weekly we met at my church youth group to do service projects.  One week we made blankets for Project Linus, and another week we made lunches for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.  These projects were fun and fulfilling to do. 

Finally, some of my future goals are to work as some kind of therapist.  I am thinking about becoming a pediatric occupational therapist or a speech therapist.  Both of these careers help people to go about their lives more easily, and that is what I want to do, help people.  I also would like to go to a college where there are minors in art and music, so that I can keep doing other things that I like. 

I would like to finish by thanking the Maple Point Guidance Department for recommending me for this award and the Rotary Club of Shady Brook for making it possible.”

Bridget was able to share the moment with her proud mom, Elizabeth

Collections to Provide Holiday Meals for Needy Veterans

While the COVID-19 pandemic has made in-person soliciting donaitons to provide holiday meals for needy veterans both impractical and unadvisable, the Club continues its commitment to this important cause.

Irv Perlstein has been placing colleciton jars in a number of local retail establishments

Amato’s – Levittown

Brothers –  Langhorne

Check Cashing (Five Corners) – Levittown

Giuseppe's – Richboro

Great Clips – Newtown

Langhorne Café – Langhorne

Marco’s Pizza – Newtown

Shady Brook Farm – Lower Makefield

Styer’s Market – Langhorne

Club members are also circulating via email and in-person flyers (which can be downloaded at Holiday Meals for Needy Veterans Flyer (Version 05) – 2020-11-01)

Please Help Us Provide Holiday Meals for Needy Veterans

For the past five years, prior to Thanksgiving and the subsequent holiday season, the Rotary Club of Shady Brook in Langhorne has solicited funds outside three super markets, with 100% of the monies raised then used to purchase grocery gift cards to provide holiday meals for local veterans in need.

With the help of hundreds of generous McCaffrey’s, Shop-Rite and Colonial Farms shoppers, we have raised more than $7,500 and provided meals for more than 125 families.

This year, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has made such in-person collection initiatives neither practicable nor advisable.  With more veterans and their family members having lost jobs, the need is even greater.  Our membership is doubly committed to assisting these men and women who unselfishly volunteered and served our country.

If you would like to help our Rotary Club to continue supporting needy veterans and their families, please donate to:

The Rotary Club of Shady Brook – Meals for Veterans.

Your Generous Donation in Any Amount Will Make a Huge Difference for a Local Veteran and His or Her Family!!!

A donation of $50.00 will provide a complete holiday meal for a family of four.

Even donations as small as $5.00 can add up to help us to provide grocery gift certificates with which a veteran can purchase a holiday meal for their family.

Checks can be mailed to:   Rotary Club of Shady Brook, P.O. Box 688, Langhorne, PA 19047.

Thank you for your support, and we wish you a Happy Holiday Season!

September Student-of-the Month – Nuna Barton

For the second time in a week, the Club had the opportunity to recognize a Maple Point Middle School Student-of-the-Month, Nuna Banton.

Program Chair Lou Hatfield presented Nna with a Certificate of Recognition and a check fo $100.

Asked to tell us about herself, Nuna said, "When I grow up I want to do a lot of things, so I haven’t really figured out what I want to go to college for, but I do know that I want to attend a good collage and go for four years-or however long I have to go for to pursue my dreams. 

Because a whole pandemic is going on, I have decided to attended online school for the year, or whenever the illness dies down. So I can’t do any school activities, but I am in an AVID class which helps you become an organized, and mature student.  It also helps prepare you for college and to have an experience of how it may be like!

An interest I have outside of school is writing. Everyday, I always have amazing ideas for stories and just begin to write them down, for when I have time to make it onto a story and make it more interesting.

Some of my passions are dancing, writing, and  painting and drawling (even though I’m not the best at it, I still try). In the future I want to become an entrepreneur really bad.  My perfect environment for my business is for my work place to be very diverse with many races, genders, religious ect. And for everyone to be treated fairly, and to also have the same chance for many opportunities! I feel like it should be like that everywhere though.”

Nuna Banton shown with her mom, Tina and Alex

Nanu is outgoing and and speaks with ease.  She have an incredible bright future!