The Kutztown Rotary Club distributed checks for a total of $21,000 to representatives of 15 local non-profit organizations at its annual Foundation Dinner at the Kutztown Tavern on Nov. 15.
Also at the dinner recipients of the Paul Harris Award were recognized. Named after the founder of Rotary, the award traditionally recognizes an individual who has contributed a $1,000 or more to The Rotary International Foundation. Individual Rotary clubs may also from time to time honor individuals as Paul Harris Fellows for their outstanding service to the Rotary Club. The Kutztown Rotary Club honored Marie DeFilipps, Jean Boyer, Keith Synder and Daniel Breidegam (not in attendance).
Among donations at the dinner was a $2,500 shelter box, which is a fairly frequent focus of Kutztown Rotary donations. A shelter box contains everything a family will need to survive in relative comfort after a natural or man-made disaster. It includes a family-sized tent, food, cooking utensils, toiletry supplies and other items designed to sustain the group for a month.
Donations of $1,500 each were made to Kutztown Strong and the Brandywine Heights Community Task Force. Both organizations were founded in reaction to the tragic upsurge of deaths related to opioids in the immediate area during the last few years. Their efforts focus on education efforts and events to occupy young people’s time and interest in the dangerous period between the end of the school day and the time that the parents come home from work.
Kutztown Rotary presented $1,000 each to Kutztown, Lyons and Topton fire companies. The Kutztown fire chief commented that the money would contribute to an on-going upgrade of facilities, while Topton will use theirs to put a dent in the debt for a new fire truck.
Also, $3,000 each was given to the Kutztown and Brandywine Community Libraries, while the Allentown Rescue Mission received $1,000. Additionally, Rotarians get together periodically to provide and serve a covered dish dinner to the men of the shelter.
The Kutztown Community Choir received $500 in support of their upcoming holiday concert Dec. 10 at Trinity Lutheran Church and other concerts during the year.
Friend, Inc. received $1,000, while $500 was donated to the American Red Cross of Berks County with $500 going to the Topton Senior Citizens group. Another $1,000 went to the Burn Prevention Foundation. Also, $1,000 was donated to the Kutztown Historical Society.
The money for the donations was accumulated over the past year through member donations, dues, the Kutztown Rotary Foundation and fund raising events such as the annual Taste of Kutztown wine, beer and food festival and the Donald L. Boyer Golf Tournament, all of which helps local rotarians live by the organization’s motto, “Service above self.” Kutztown Rotarians have been supporting such organizations since the chapter’s founding in 1926 with fund raising, personal donations as well as sweat equity.
Each year, Rotarians from chapters all over the Reading and Kutztown area join church groups, college and high school students and other philanthropic organizations to contribute their labor to the IHeartHarvest project, better known as the Potato Project. In addition to work Rotary, with donations from local members and matching funds from the Rotary Foundation, have donated large harvesting equipment, such as a used corn combine, a tractor, potato harvester, silo and other equipment necessary to make the project go. This year, the project is on track to top a million pounds of potatoes, as well as sweet corn, carrots and green beans to area food banks.
Rotary International has joined the Gates Foundation as a major donor of both money and volunteer effort to a campaign to eliminate polio worldwide. This year, only two countries in the world have reported cases of the formerly dreaded disease. Thanks to Rotary, Gates and others it is on the way into the history books just like smallpox.
Another Rotary International project to which Kutztown has contributed financial and volunteer support is constructing dams that will trap monsoon rains in India long enough that the water can soak into the ground and raise the water table, which allows irrigation wells to operate year-round. Large, arid areas of India can now raise three food crops a year instead of one, giving an enormous boost to the area economy and food supply.
