NOTE:
The club meets at the Hyatt in person the 1st & 3rd Thursdays 12 noon
and virtually on Zoom at noon on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays.
Contact rotaryofnorristown@gmail.com for Zoom connect info or leave a message at
(484) 994-2349
There is a Garden Workday at the Community Butterfly Garden on Sat April 30th at 9:30am
At Padden Park in Jeffersonville. See Mary.
Ideas for Vocational Day Meeting
We are looking for a volunteer to host our annual Vocational Day Meeting
(in -person or virtual) If you would like to participate in this, please contact Scott.
Hold the Date - Thursday May 12, 2022
ROTARY CLUB OF NORRISTOWN
100th Anniversary Celebration
(to be held in the pavilion at THE ELMWOOD PARK ZOO)
The Club will be subsidizing part of the Cost of the evening. Our keynote speaker is Stan Huskey, a noted Norristown historian, and we will be honoring past presidents!
Looking for Cooks
The Hollinger family (4) could use a break from cooking meals while Jim rehabs at home! They like everything but do need gluten free! Let me know if you can help 610-513-2431. Judy Bucko
Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser
It was decided in light of the 100th Anniversary celebration in May, the Pancake Breakfast will be held in the Fall this year.
We were delighted to have Angela McFarland and her son and one of the most friendly baristas you would ever meet, Jake, join us and tell us all about the Coffee Closet. The Coffee Closet is a small coffee cafe located in his father's store, Vinyl Closet Records located in Jeffersonville. Jake was born with Autism and severe ADHD and he spent the last 21 years of his life beating the odds proving that someone born with his issues can not only lead a pretty functional life but grow to be one of the most enterprising young men. In fact, he is registering his own non-profit company Jake's Baristas currently. Among his other interests, Jake researched the finer points of making the best cup of coffee and the Closet was born.
The Coffee Closet is available for fundraising events and have partnered with Norristown Chapter of the National Best Buddies Organization, The Jake Moletzsky Run2Remember Foundation, Finding Shelter, Norristown Dreamers Gangster Vegan Feed The Block, Expressive Paths, Laurel House, Variety Club, Norristown Vet Center, American Diabetes Association, Eli and Ella Prayer Warriors, The Barista Jake Scholarship at NAHS, Feeding the homeless of Norristown, First Responders & Einstein Hospital Toy Drive, Cribs for Kids, The Gaffney/Norton Family, Eagles Autism Challenge, Variety Club, Eli and Ellas Prayer Warriors, and Multiple Scholarships raising and have raised over $20,000 in various doantions to help their partners. Stop by Vinyl Closet Records, peruse the records, and try Jake's blends, a true treat for the coffee connoisseur.
Many want to help, but they hear about all those donation scams going around so they are afraid to engage.
Some have made arrangements with Ukraine Airbnbs. You don't actually visit, all fees go directly to help the effort, who are waiving fees but even that bears some risk.
If you feel you would like to reach out and help those poor people you see in the media daily, you can trust the Rotary organization to help those who need it most. If you would like to donate, you can scan the QR code or click the link below with your phone and it will take you directly to the Rotary donation page. While this is a general fun, temporarily ALL funds are direct the Ukraine Rotary organizations. And, thank you for your kindness.
Aaron Muderick, the founder of Norristown-based toy manufacturer Crazy Aaron’s, has been elected executive chairman of the board for The Toy Association. The nonprofit trade association represents all businesses that design, produce, license, and deliver toys and youth entertainment products. Since 2021, Muderick served as vice chairman of the association. He is the founder of Crazy Aaron’s and the inventor of Thinking Putty — a toy and stress reliever that is sold in more than 50 countries around the world. “My story is a journey from the ground up. I started as a software engineer with an idea of how the putty we all played with as kids could be better. Crazy Aaron’s has grown since 1998 to be a mid-size company with over 100 employees,” he said in an emailed response to questions.
Before he could develop the final product, Muderick said he needed to teach himself chemistry — borrowing textbooks from friends. Within a month of coming up with the idea, he was making thinking putty, and about three months later he was pitching it to coworkers and “selling it in bags under my desk,” he told MediaNews Group in October 2021. He said he’s excited to use his experience in the industry in his new role. “The toy industry is fast-moving and innovative. Any wacky idea can become the next hot toy,” he said. “I hope to continue the positive culture that nurtures inventors and works to create a marketplace where those great ideas can be shown and sold to smiling children worldwide.” In his role as executive chairman of The Toy Association, Muderick will lead the association’s executive committee and board of directors to determine the priorities for the Toy Association in several areas. “We host Toy Fair, which brings toy manufacturers together with toy buyers. We also work to promote safe toys and safe, healthy play,” he said in the response. “We do this through consumer education as well as coordinating with federal and state governments to ensure that toys available for sale meet strict safety standards.” Muderick said he is interested in the “voices and opinions” of all the association’s member companies — “whether it is a giant like LEGO, or a lone inventor with an idea.” As he starts his new role, Muderick said there are some issues facing member companies. “The pandemic has created a great demand for toys and healthy play these past few years,” he said in the response. “At the same time, the toy industry has not been able to meet face-to-face. We have hands-on products which are hard to demonstrate via Zoom.” The Toy Association’s annual event, Toy Fair, was canceled due to the omicron wave. As a result, Muderick said the association will be working to reconnect the toy industry. Muderick said immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was what he called a “tremendous groundswell of support for the children of Ukraine who are experiencing untold trauma and suffering.” He said there have been immediate cash contributions to aid organizations totaling “tens of millions of dollars” from member companies through the association. Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of The Toy Association said Muderick is an “inspired” choice to lead The Toy Association’s governance. “Aaron has truly done it all, from advocating for the needs of the specialty toy retail sector to testifying before the U.S. Senate on the safety risks of illicit counterfeit toys being sold in online marketplaces,” Pasierb said in a statement. “In a time of unprecedented disruption in global supply chains and swiftly evolving consumer behavior, Aaron’s commitment to serving others and driving solutions is certain to be a great benefit.” Muderick, a resident of Narberth, moved the production of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty to its location at 700 E. Main St. in Norristown in March 2018, after outgrowing its Phoenixville location. Muderick said he looked at several other areas, but ultimately chose to purchase the Norristown building, which dates back to 1898 when it was a knitting mill. In addition to the production operation, the site also houses the company’s retail store, which also opened in 2018. Muderick recently retired from Narberth Borough Council after serving for 12 years — spending six years as vice-president and the remaining six as council president. He has also been a volunteer firefighter with the Narberth Fire Co, for nearly 15 years. “I love the hands-on work, the endless learning of new skills and the positive community impact the fire service offers,” he said.
Rotary has officially added a new cause (editorial)
- Mark Call
Rotary has adopted a new cause to add to the seven existing focused Rotary causes (including Ending Polio) making a total of eight.
The new cause is "Protecting the Environment". Rotarians demonstrate passion and dedicate resources and assets to these causes which represent how the rest of the World views Rotary. Until now and for the past 117 years, Rotary has focused those precious causes on problems where they can leverage Rotary resources and see nearly immediate effects take place as a result of their involvement.
The current causes are:
"Promoting Peace"
"Fighting Disease"
"Providing Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene"
"Saving Mothers and Children"
"Supporting Education"
"Growing Local Economy"
"Ending Polio"
and now "Protecting the Environment"
Many member requests over the last two years and public pressure aimed at the organization has urged the Rotary Board to add Rotary's resources at "Protecting the Environment" as an official cause for which Rotary will now bear responsibility. Some small environmental projects are inexpensive and easy and many clubs are already executing environmental projects as part of improving their community.
Now with eight official causes on the stack, Rotary must insure the original causes aren't over shadowed by the Climate Change behemoth and lose focus of the things for which Rotary is known and already does well. And, as always, Rotary needs to be very careful so as not to be seen acting in any political direction, when dealing with initiatives labeled Climate Change.
Chart Your Course and Set Your Sails for the District Conference scheduled April 22-24, 2022 at the Hershey Lodge. You can register on our website at Rotaryathershey2022.org. Catch the discount before the end of the year!
Is some of your expected gmail missing from the Inbox?
Aside from regular spam filtering, sometimes Google also takes a guess at your incoming gmail and pre-categorizes it in order to cut down on spam. The Tabs 'Social' and 'Promotions' capture some of your email instead. Well, Google doesn't always get it right.
Fortunately, even though that is the default setting, you can change the setting and control your pre-categorization completely and get all your mail back in the old inbox. YOU can select select the problem email in 'Promotions' and drag it to the inbox, OR.... A more reliable way is to control your own categories or simply have none at all. If you uncheck the 'Social" and 'Promotions' categories in settings, your future email will not appear in those virtual folders but rather in your old inbox as expected.
Here's what you do to fix it. Go to your inbox settings link. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/inbox Uncheck the boxes 'Social' and 'Promotions', AND CLICK SAVE From now on it will appear in the old inbox as expected.
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