Selinsgrove Area Rotary Club
Rotary Newsletter
Rotary Opens Opportunities
Vol. 93, No. 25 – President – Dan Mahoney – Editor – Carol Handlan
Next Meeting – January 28 – Holly Morrison, President/CEO of CSCF. Marty Blessing, host.
January 21, 2021: 21 Rotarians and 1 guest joined us via ZOOM, to hear Janel Ashburn, of Ashburn’s Animals speak on running the nonprofit rescue and impact of COVID on their operations. Janel was introduced by host, Kristine Horton. Janel was an ICU nurse at Geisinger Medical Center but felt burned out and decided to open Ashburn Animal Rescue. However, she still does practice and is a substitute nurse at Selinsgrove Area High School. Janel’s husband is a Doctor at Geisinger. She established the nonprofit in 2010 and it is an animal assisted therapy center and rescue. She works in partnership with the SPCA, USDA, Law Enforcement and the PA Game Commission. Wild animals are prohibited from ownership but because they are a licensed facility they can own them but are subject to inspections. They have roughly 200 animals with 20-30 reptiles that are maintained in a heated and enclosed structure; sometimes even in her basement, when necessary. As a 501 (c) (3), they rely heavily on donations and and volunteers (which she is so thankful for) and do maintain a rainy day fund for when animals show up unexpectedly. They normally hold a number of popup fundraisers throughout the year but due to the pandemic they have not been able to do so but the animals still keep coming. Fortunately, they do raise funds online and highlight different animals and you can actually sponsor an animal. Janel shared that they do get called for abuse cases, any time of day or night. She also added that in addition to financial donations, they accept donations of towels, blankets, pumpkins at Halloween and Christmas trees too. She invited us to stop out and check out their facilities that are located at 291 Scrubby Hill Road in Kratzerville (thought its listed as Selinsgrove). For more information you can find them on Facebook or at www.ashburnanimals.org.
Announcements: 1) President Dan shared that we have been notified by Rotary International because of the pandemic, they are reducing our dues by 50%. Dan also shared that he received notification that one of our club members has reached Paul Harris status and he will share with us in the next few weeks who that member is. Finally, he shared information on an upcoming raffle for a 75 inch TV. 2) Marv Rudnitsky introduced Asli Lawrence the latest Young American from Selinsgrove Area High School. Asli shared her experiences abroad and how visiting Japan in 2019 changed her life and she is determined to travel back there. She is extremely talented musically and very active in school groups. She plans to attend Luther College in Iowa, to study collaborative piano and minor in Asian studies. Asli also shared how lucky we are all to have a resource like Susquehanna University here; where she has been taking private voice, piano and flute lessons there for years.
Sergeant at Arms: Marv Rudnitsky provided a bit of humor. He also noted that Wes Knapp was celebrating a birthday. He collected happy fines from Carol (speaker, Asli, scheduled vaccine); Pat (Art, Asli, vaccine); Tom (Art); Kelly (speaker, vaccine, seeing everyone); Dan (GF?)
Future Programs:
Feb. 4 – Marv Rudnitsky, host. TBD
Jan. 28 – Holly Morrison, President/CEO of CSCF. Marty Blessing, host.
Feb. 11 – Don Summers, host. TBD
Feb 18 – Club Assembly, President Dan Mahoney, Presiding
Birthdays:
January: 5 – Michael Damiano, 17 – Wesley Knapp, 24 – Mike Flock
February: 3 – Toby Skinner, 5 – Carol Handlan, 22 – Fred Keller
Quotation: “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” — Eleanor Roosevelt