Rotary Club of Port Jefferson (Sep 20, 2022)

Yvette renewed her invitation to you to participate in Hope Children's Fund's 18th Annual KENYA/USA Bi-Continental 5K Run/Walk that will take place on Sunday, October 16th. This event, now named The Larry Hohler Memorial, will be an occasion to compete against Kenyans who will be running/walking simultaneously on the other side of the world in Meru, Kenya. Here, it will begin at 10 AM at the Port Jeff Station end of the Port Jefferson Station-Setauket Greenway Trail. (Enter the parking lot at the Hallock Ave. traffic light- between Enterprise Car Rental and the 7-11 on Rte.112.) Registration for the competition will begin between 9:00- 9:30 AM at the western end of the parking lot and the trail's beginning. There is a suggested donation of $30.* Runners/walkers who can secure more than $100 in pledges can participate for free.

All finishers will receive medals. *All proceeds go to support the Jerusha Mwiraria Hope Children's Home in Meru, an orphanage co-founded by Larry Hohler. ***For those who cannot participate on 10/16, there will be a VIRTUAL RUN/WALK any time up to October 23, 2022. For more information or to receive pledge sheets, contact Kevin Mann at kevinmannmail@gmail.com, Ed Hyshiver at edhysh@optonline.net, or Yvette Hohler at hohlerlj@aol.com . ***To learn about Hope Childrens Fund, go to hopechildrensfund.org

Today's Super Sergeant, Debbie, helped by her lovely assistant Sharon, began collecting $$$ by stumping our members with questions about food insecurity (What 5 basic foods increased prices? What is impacting the situation?) Who knew that there is a looming beer shortage? Debbie next asked questions about what libraries are "celebrating" (Banned Books Week), and finished with queries about flower/plant care (as reviewed in the September issue of Rotarian). Even more $$$ was collected via Happy Dollars offerings. Among reasons for these: Erika got to spend quality time with her son; Kim and her partner celebrated their anniversary; John also celebrated an anniversary (33rd?); Lee Silberman's stepdaughter got married; members were delighted to see Jim Rhatigan and Bill Curry again; welcoming the Jaeger family; celebrating Bill Jaeger's 55 years in Rotary; Chip Jaeger celebrated both his wife's and daughter's birthdays, while a sister fondly recalled visits to Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck and Habitat builds; and Bill Curry recalled that his Rotary membership was sponsored by Bill Jaeger.

Sal re-introduced our speaker, Lee Silberman. Lee began by dispelling 3 of the most popular myths about Habitat: 1) that Jimmy Carter founded this organization; 2) that it costs nothing to build a Habitat house; 3) that Habitat gives houses away. He noted that Habitat gives a hand up, not a hand out. LI's Habitat expects to build 9 houses this year. Since 1988, over 200 families achieved their dreams of affordable homeownership on LI. 40-80% of our Habitat homeowners are in the low to mid income area bracket. In lieu of down- payments, the families perform 300 hours of "sweat equity"- working on the building of their own and other Habitat family homes. Habitat receives government grants that enable the organization to build affordable homes, usually on donated land. Homeowners pay 2% on a 30 year mortgage. The typical appraised value of a Habitat house is currently $400,000. Homeowners typically pay $150,000, while Habitat takes out a 2nd mortgage on each house. Applicants for a Habitat house go through rigorous screening by a service committee, insuring that prospective homeowners have the ability to pay their mortgage, are not too much in debt, are currently living in substandard housing and paying too much for the privilege, and have the ability and willingness to work with Habitat within Habitat's rules. Habitat believes that home ownership allows families to stand on their own, to actually save more, invest in education, have more financial stability, and live in healthier environments- a foundation for an improved, successful future. Lee next spoke about the ReStore in Ronkonkoma. Donors of new or gently-used furniture, kitchen cabinets, appliances, unused building materials, decorating materials, books, clothing, and home improvement products help take care of the overhead for Habitat through resales, and, at the same time, clear clutter, and keep these materials out of landfills. The ReStore will pick up these items from donors for free (or donors may drop them off), giving the items the possibility of a useful second life. Habitat, through its ReStore, has become a county-wide recycle/repurpose organization. In answer to our questions: there are volunteer opportunities at the ReStore (with a minimum of 4 hours per day); regular volunteers and crew leaders are always welcome and needed at builds; places for individual "walk-ons" can be found on the Habitat website; the work schedule runs Tuesday-Saturday, 8:45AM-3PM all year round; a "build group" runs from 10-15 people per day; 18 is the minimum age for a volunteer without supervision; 16 is the minimum age allowed for volunteers with adult supervision; volunteers must be 18 or over to use power tools; at the ReStore, 16 year olds can work without supervision; Habitat partners with Boy & Girl Scouts, Big Brothers and Sisters, and similar youth organizations; absolutely no building experience is needed (and is often preferred); and Habitat does pay professionals to tape and spackle (around $1,500) and clean up "mistakes".

Next, Sal invited Jim Rhatigan, Al, and Dennis to share their memories of Bill Jaeger and his long, loyal history with Rotary. When Bill was President of our club, there were 74 members! He played an important part in the history and building of Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck, and he enjoyed offering his talents and services to Habitat builds. Bill was fondly remembered as a club stalwart who kept the Rotary flame going. Marilyn Jaeger thanked us for today's remembrance of Bill and revealed that her first date with him was attending a Rotary meeting. Kim presented to Lee Silberman a plaque celebrating Bill's history with Rotary and Habitat.

Next came the presentation of a $500 check, our donation to Habitat (due to the lack of a magic marker, the check appears blank- but there was a real check, too!)

Afterwards:

Sal picked the blue raffle ticket that won him the chance to pick a card from the deck and hope for the Ace of Spades to win the pot. He picked the Jack of Spades; so the pot continues to grow. Next meeting, will you win it? Ya gotta be in it to win it!

Good job and thank you, Sal!

REMEMBER: OUR NEXT MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29th AT SAVINO'S- THE PAST PRESIDENTS DINNER!

HERE'S TO A HAPPY, HEALTHY WEEK!

CHEERS!

Remember: If a member would like to send out an email to the membership, use the following email address: pjrotaryclubmembers@googlegroups.com.

Bob Huttemeyer is still seeking volunteers willing to host an evening meeting (5:30 PM-7 PM) at a member's home or place of business. Contact Bob if you'd like to host an upcoming Rotary evening social gathering.

Rebecca invites us to get acquainted with HOMETOWNHOPEPORTJEFFERSON.ORG. Hometown Hope provides resources and support in times of need to all residents of the Village by promoting a movement of spreading kindness. It "strives to uplift through wellness, resilience, and compassionate understanding in our community." Among the services/goods it will provide: meal boxes; home deliveries; and the like for those suffering illness, loss, etc., as well as help for healthcare practitioners during the pandemic. You can also sponsor a family.

Want to volunteer? Contact hometownhopepj@gmail.com .

***If you have ideas or items to be discussed at our next meeting, let Michael B. know. And if you'd like to join one of the club's special committees, let him know this, as well. The more, the merrier!***