Rotary Roundup

Meets Noon Mondays at the Hilton
www.hbgrotary.org
Executive Director: Linda Freedenberg
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Telephone: 717-234-1208
Fax: 717-234-3234

Speaker:  Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, Superintendent of Harrisburg School District

TOPIC: "MY HOPE, MY VISION, MY CHALLENGES: The New Superintendent Shares".

Greeter:  Harry Derrick
Invocation: Carolyn Dumaresq
Club Singing: Tom Peluso
Publications: Steve Baloga

Corporate Member

     BIRTHDAYS
Sara Kehler   OCT 8
Tom Bream   OCT 9
Mike Love  OCT 9
Watson Fisher  OCT 9
Susan Anthony  OCT 13
UPCOMING PROGRAMS  

10/10   NO MEETING

10/17  Manuela Mot, Peace Scholar

10/24  Liz Weber, CMC Weber Business Services
“SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE AROUND HERE”

10/31 Dr. Joe Robinson from the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Institute and Carlos Lopez, Assistant Superintendent of the Harrisburg School District

For complete programming go to our website: www.hbgrotary.org
and click on calendar.
For meeting cancelations:
Check your e-mail or call the
Rotary office at 234-1208.

PROGRAM: Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, a native of Fort Myers, Florida is the first female Superintendent of the Harrisburg School District. She is the daughter of Mr. Harrison and Dr. Ann Knight. Dr. Knight and her three siblings were raised in a home where education was valued and academic excellence was expected as the norm. After graduation from high school, Dr. Knight-Burney attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree. She later attended Nova University where she earned a Master’s of Science degree. She subsequently earned a doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University.

Prior to her arrival in Harrisburg, Dr. Knight-Burney served in a variety of teaching positions as well as district and school level administrative positions in Lee County, Florida. Dr. Knight-Burney received the prestigious award of “Golden Apple Teacher” in Lee County, Florida.

Dr. Knight-Burney has served students as a classroom teacher, as well as an Elementary, Middle and High School Principal in Massachusetts. She was a Supervisory Instructor for Harvard University and Adjunct Instructor for Lesley and Framingham State Universities.

In 2006, Dr. Knight-Burney joined the Harrisburg School District as the Assistant Superintendent for the Division of Student, Family & Community Support Services. Known for her personable style and commitment to the students and community, Dr. Knight-Burney has crafted a vision for the Harrisburg School District for the 21st century focused on providing the tools, resources and skills required for the students of Harrisburg to be able to compete productively and successfully in the global economy.

Dr. Knight-Burney is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and is a national member of the Program, Planning and Development Committee. Along with her husband, Kelly and 10-year old daughter, Maryah, Dr. Knight-Burney attends the Harrisburg Church of Christ where she teaches Bible classes to kindergarten through high school students every Sunday morning.

The Harrisburg School District and the community are proud to have Dr. Sybil-Knight Burney as the Superintendent. We look forward to great academic success and enhance educational experiences for our students under her leadership.

NEWS AND NOTES: 
•Congratulations to Ryan Riley on his recent marriage to Kim.

• Thanks to the Dixon University Center for hosting the Happy Hour on Monday, September 26th. The $220 proceeds will be split between the Harrisburg Rotary Foundation and the Dixon University Center student scholarship program.

• 52% have paid the $100 HRF contribution.  27% have paid the Support for the Troops contribution. Please send in your payments today!

• Pancake Breakfast will be on October 15th at John Harris High School. Please make every effort to sell tickets so that we have a record turnout!  Say yes when asked to work that day and say yes to donating an auction item and/or placemat ad or sponsorship.  See Linda for additional information.

• Youth Exchange Committee: Thanks to the following Rotarians for contributing event tickets to our Youth Exchange Student, Anti, and his host family.

• HersheyPark Tickets - Jack Huskin, Andy Rebuck and Robin Scaer (Hershey/ Hbg Regional Visitors Bureau)
• Harrisburg Senators Tickets - Tom Peluso (Metro Bank)

If you have event tickets to donate to Anti and his host family, please let Linda or us know.  Thank you.
Dave Bedard & Steve Feinour - Youth Exchange Committee Co-Chairs

• DISTRICT NEWS:
The September Governors Newsletter is available at:
http://www.rotary7390.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=xH1dOgxq_v8%3d&tabid=113! Enjoy!

The Annual Foundation Dinner will be held Thursday, November 3 at the Masonic Village (Brossman Ballroom) in Elizabethtown. Join us for a reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. with dinner to promptly follow at 7:00 p.m. Cost: $40 per person (includes 2 drink tickets  Deadline to RSVP: October 26. There will be no assigned seating this year! Feel free to mingle and meet someone new! However, if your Club would like to reserve a table of 8, please contact Melissa in the District office at 854-7842 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
There is so much FUN planned for the evening:
·         MC & Comedian Earl David Reed
·         A Celebration of YOUR Club’s Foundation Heroes
·         Highlights from a Mission trip to Brazil
·         A time to celebrate New Generations
·         Entertainment by local Elizabethtown musicians
Register early! You don’t want to miss this celebration of OUR ROTARY FOUNDATION! A registration form is on the District website:www.rotary7390.org

LAST ROTARY MEETING:  9/19/11
Minutes by Karen Paris
12:12 PM was our call-to-order today.  John Cavanaugh’s invocation was based on the Old Testament of the Bible (Isaiah) and spoke to the intent of RI.  Marion Alexander led us in one verse of “America the Beautiful”, and President Bob thanked Norma Swain for her beautiful skills on the piano that she shares with us.
Staying on-task, Bob brought up Chris Dellinger to introduce visiting Rotarians and Guests.  We had two visiting Rotarians (from Newfoundland and Matamoras) and three Rotarians, Ginny Roth, Una Martone, and Tom Bream brought guests.  
President Bob asked the “Red Badges” (? Of Courage) to stand up and be recognized; he thanked them for joining the Club.
Jessica Ritchie gave her “Mini Class talk”.  She’s married, works in Alumni Relations at Harrisburg Academy, and has “almost” two boys.  (She’ll be on maternity leave from Rotary soon.)   Prior to her work at the Academy, she worked at Lebanon Valley College in both Admissions and Development.  She grew up in Upper Dauphin County.  In her spare time (less to be had in the foreseeable future) she loves to travel with her husband.  She joined Rotary to “get to know people” and the leaders in the community.  She was very clear that she LOVES working on the YCDT Committee.  And, if you don’t see her in the near future, be patient; she’ll be back in January!
Bob announced that today is Good News Reporting Day and that all monies raised will go to Lend a Hand, a great charity.  Our esteemed member of the Club, Mr. Rebuck, announced that there are several events coming up where you can meet and greet fellow Rotarians.  The first will be next week on September 26.  There’s no regular meeting that day but you’ll get a makeup by gong to the Dixon University Center between 5:30 PM and 7:00 PM for Happy Hour.  Peggy Grove announced that she has raffle tickets for an IPad.  Proceeds will go to the Pancake Breakfast; tickets are 3x$5, 6x$10, or $20 for someone’s arm’s length!  One of the most popular pieces of good news was anniversaries.  What started out as simple good news about a 24th anniversary quickly became a contest – other anniversary numbers were 35, 44, 50, 55, and then Hal Hurwitz decided to win the contest by calling everyone else “wimps” and noting he has 61 years of marriage under his belt!  Will you get us advance copies of your upcoming best-seller, “How to Make It Last” at a discount, Hal?  Other pieces of good news were up/coming grandchildren, Best Place to Work news (Brown Schultz, Holy Spirit), top 400 hospital status from JCAHO for Holy Spirit, new houses, empty nest happiness, pregnancy (with a confirmation that the speaker is indeed the father),  a successful trip to Haiti to do 50 medical procedures, a thanks for the Homeless Project, a big brother outing, foster children, and a clean floor due to a potential flood that didn’t happen (but since there was nothing on the floor how could they not wash it after 15 years???).
Ms. Poetry (aka Robin Scaer) was asked to do a reading that she entitled, “How Do I Love Thee, RPB” (Rotary Pancake Breakfast).   She loves thee for the 400 students it helps, for the opportunity to serve, for the opportunity to get placemat sponsors, for the opportunity to flip the cakes, the opportunities to eat great home-cooked food, the opportunities for fellowship, the opportunities to get and bid on silent auction items, and many more “let me count the ways”.  Robin closed with a plea for Rotarians to fill the many roles the poem presented as opportunities for community service; she closed with the fact that the students in Harrisburg are counting on us, and we are counting on you.
Connie Siegel, just back from elder-hostel, noted that placemat sponsors are a slight bit behind but that he is tackling people on the way out at the badge boards to fill up the placemat with sponsors.
Jeff Haas had pictures on the tables of items you can buy with the Rotary Club’s logo on them to build team spirit and publicize Rotary.  See Jeff if you’d like to order something on the list.  Or, call Jeff  and he’ll email you the items to choose from.
Bob thanked Chris and John Cavanaugh for support through their United Way designated contribution.
Ginny Roth introduced our speaker today.  Anyone who watches the show “Extreme Home Makeover” may be familiar with the fact that the show was recently staged in Central PA.  The Keefer family home was “made over” to help accommodate the needs of Brian Keefer, a student who was seriously injured in a gymnastics accident.  He is now a paraplegic, unable to navigate his family’s existing home because of this.  Ginny Roth introduced us to Mrs. Keefer who noted the house now has open access, a treadmill in the basement, her son can pass through all of the doorways inside and outside the house, and that this renovation has let both Brian and parents achieve functional independence.  She was very grateful to everyone who helped, including her neighbors who were “invaded” by the thousands of volunteers who descended on her neighborhood.  As an unintended benefit, she noted that the neighbors know each other much better now.  She said it was stressful but actually took on a bit of party atmosphere to go along with the dust.  She still has to be careful when she goes to the grocery store as people all want to meet her and recount the story.  They also still get drive-by spectators to whom the family waves. She concluded with the fact that her family was privileged to meet so many people with such generous hearts and that the Makeover team made a tremendous difference in their lives. 
Next up was the building firm headed by Jeff and Beth Musser.  Mr. Musser said that his company employs seven people only and he was quite surprised when the TV show decided to interview him.  He was even more surprised when his company was chosen to coordinate the makeover.  He belongs to the Builder’s Association and the people from the Show said his company’s local focus would make it a good fit.
He said he’s used to putting timelines together and coordinating building projects, but his job description for this project included a whole lot more: organizing a pep-rally, recruiting volunteers, coordinating their efforts, meal catering 24/7 for 350 people, fundraising efforts, public relations efforts and organizing a final rap-up party!  Everything was scheduled down to the minute.  This project would normally be a 3-4 month planning effort (he had two weeks) and much more time actually carrying out the work.
Noting that he’s into numbers, he cited the following statistics. All of the labor and the materials were donated.  He dealt with 250 local companies, 16 leaders from 12 local companies (some of whom are his competitors) 1000 professionals, and between 3,000 – 4,000 volunteers.  His recruitment strategy was a bit strange but it worked – he told people it was terrible work with great rewards.  Everyone signed on.  In terms of reality TV, he asked us to trust him that the filming was not what one would think.  Although he didn’t say so, it sounded to this minute-taker like the word “reality” in front of the word “TV” could be an oxymoron.  His group’s job was done in 5 days flat.  Filming took “a long time.”  He refused to acknowledge any lack of sleep, citing this as the most frequent question he gets. 
He spoke about why he took this project on.  Being really busy, it was hard to put all his existing clients on hold, but having met Brian, he concluded that the young man is an amazing guy and he felt the work would be really meaningful.  He felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference.  And, at the end of his life what really counts is how one has impacted other people’s lives. (Seriously, did anyone ask him to join Rotary – he’d make a great one).  He had three goals for this project: 1) to demolish and rebuild; 2) to develop a theme – “Hands build homes, hearts change lives”; and 3) to raise money to buy things and allow the family to pay off their mortgage and fund Brian’s continued medical expense.
At the end of his inspiring message, he gave away a shirt and a hat from the project; Dr. Connor and Jeff Miller were the winners.  Then, President Bob, noting that his son is a paraplegic, thanked the Mussers heartily for their spirit of community caring.
President Bob ended with a note that there is no meeting at 12 Noon next week; HOWEVER, Happy Hour will be held at Dixon University Center starting at 5:30 PM that same day (September 26).  Makeups available!! See you there!

OFFICERS:

DIRECTORS:

Robert S. Saline              
Una Martone
Karen F. Snider
John P. Judson, M.D.
Carolyn Dumaresq, Ed.D.
William B. Boles
Richard Utley                

President
President-Elect
Vice President
Immediate Past President
Secretary
Treasurer
Sergeant-at-Arms

Sandra Beck
Caryn J. Carr
David E. Freet
Kent E. Frese
Lisa Lewis
Thomas A. Peluso
Andrew R. Rebuck
Robin Scaer