February 25, 2021: 18 Rotarians joined us via zoom, to hear John Taylor of Rotary’s International Services.  He was introduced by host, Konrad Kempfe. Mr. Taylor joined the Peace Corps and went to El Salvador in 1977 and that is where he made a lifelong connection to the people and the country. In the early 1980’s he joined Rotary, a past president of two clubs and a Paul Harris Fellow. He is now retired, and living in West Virginia, where he focuses on projects in El Salvador. He is currently in the Rotary Club of Shepherdstown and he has become the District 7360 International Chair and is working to build enthusiasm for international projects around the globe. Mr. Taylor provided a slide show of the beauty of the countryside and life in El Salvador and discussed the water situation there and how difficult it is for the people; walking great distances to obtain buckets of clean water for not only drinking but bathing too and then having to repeat this process every three days. This is so hard on the people and takes away from family time and the children’s learning. He shared how the Rotary club in El Salvador is strong and is able to support the water projects that are underway there.  Working along with the group ASAPROSAR. They still have a lot to do and are in the process of raising another $30,000 in funds to complete the project that had a total price tag of $90,000.  Mr. Taylor welcomes referrals to assist with this effort.  He will be traveling back to El Salvador in the near future, even though the country is basically shutdown due to COVID and they haven’t started vaccinating people there but he stated that he will be separated and practicing all measures that we currently are taking.  Very interesting presentation and makes you think about how very lucky we are to have what we have in this country.

Announcements: 1) Bacon Cheeseburger Night, tonight, at the VFW to benefit Rotary Field form 5-7pm 2) Mallet Madness committee meeting tonight.

Sergeant at Arms:  Dave Lawer filled in for Marv Rudnitsky and provided a bit of humor. He collected happy fines from Carol (speaker and sunny day), Dottie (Covid shot and scholarships), Tom (Rotary’s birthday and Covid shot), Art (Don Summer’s help), Konrad (Speaker), Dave (35th year of scholarships), Jodi (son). Sorry if I missed any!

Future Programs:
March 11 – Dan Mahoney, host. Dr. Larry Gessner, ER Physician at Evangelical Community Hospital
March 18 – Malcolm Derk, host. Dr. Jonathan Green, President of Susquehanna University
March 25 – Gerald Stauffer, host. Mike Molesevich, Environmental Consultant
April 1 – TBD