Our meeting began with Chuck Anderson leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Chuck also read our invocation. Mark Parker reported 46 members in attendance, with a large number of prospective members in attendance. Bill McGrath brought Peg Eastland, Ed Nemanic brought Carrie Coleman, Chuck Anderson brought Chris Buesler, Dan Carr brought Jim Fair, and James Boggs brought Nancy Kukovich and Frank Moleto. All six are prospective members, so all have received “the paperwork” and we will hopefully be seeing them back soon. Finally Chuck Strobel brought his wife Lynn, and apparently she’s the one who gives HIM the paperwork.
Chuck announced that the President’s Dinner will be on June 24, the last Tuesday of the Rotary year, at WCCC. Also, the District conference is fast approaching on May 2-3 at the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack, and Resort. Make sure you make reservations if you plan on staying at the resort.
Dennis Cremonese announced that they are still looking for a few host families for the Argentineans coming in from April 19 – 26. They won’t be around very much since they have busy schedules, and need a place to stay. Contact Dennis as soon as possible if you’re interested.
Mark Barnhart talked more about the Greensburg, Kansas trip. Several people have stepped forward to help pay for meals. The Greensburg Fire Dept, Sony Corp, Bob Bloom, Jeff Malloy, Mark Barnhart, Bill McGrath, Karl Eisaman, and our club have helped to sponsor the meals. Thanks to one and all for their contributions.
Kevin Metsger is reminding everyone that the health screenings will be on April 5th ad April 12th. He has handouts available for anyone who wants to place them at their place of business or in public places to help spread the word.
Jack Waite announced that April 1 will be the club’s Scouting for Food drive. Jack will have a vehicle available in front of the Sheraton to deliver the food. The local food banks truly are in need, so any help would be appreciated.
Bill McGrath had our word of the week, and surprisingly it was not a medical term. The word uxorious (not luxurious) means to be affectionately submissive to one’s wife. This seemed to be a popular term for several members of the club.
James Boggs gave our monthly club birthdays and anniversaries, and everyone sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.
Our speaker was John Fontana, the director of long term care for Lifetime Financial Growth LLC in Pittsburgh. John talked to us about the importance of having a plan to live the way that we want to. Long term care is a problem in our country because people are living longer, and our lifestyle can be affected by living longer. John explained that long-term care isn’t a question for just ourselves, but for our friends and family who will be charged with taking care of us. Caregiving can shorten lives, ruin financial plans, and tear families apart.
John emphasized the importance of having a plan in place. Long term care insurance is available, and is a good way to plan for this kind of a problem. John also emphasized to make sure that you work with a professional when purchasing this insurance, and to always have a good plan in place. Thank you John for your informative talk.
Our meeting ended in the usual way with the Four Way Test. Next week’s speaker will be from the Student Economic Enterprise, a program designed to encourage entrepreneurship in youth.

Rotary FLASH of 03-18-2008
Carl Rossman began our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Our invocation was given by Chuck Strobel. Mark Parker reported 41 out of 96 members in attendance this week. We had one guest today; Dawn Roberts brought Mike Corcovan with her.
Jim Steeley brought our students from Hempfield this week. Melissa Henry, Angela Kresic, and Laura Henry joined us for lunch and told us a bit about their activities and future plans.

MEMBERSIP PROPOSAL
The Board of Directors has approved the following for publication.
Jennifer “Jeny” Shurtleff, Captain/Pastor of The Salvation Army in Greensburg. Jeny has attended the required 2 meetings. She has never been a Rotarian. Bob Bloom proposes her for membership. Any objections must be in writing and submitted to the Secretary within 7 days.
Carl announced that we’ve received a gift for our Kenneth Rutter scholarship fund from Helen Williams.
Bill McGrath reminded everyone that the golf outing will be on Monday, June 9. Come and golf if you can make it. If you don’t golf, then come for dinner. Contact Bill for details about the event. Bill also mentioned that Bill Kern printed up formal invites for prospective members. They will be giving these to prospective members and will be leaving them out at the blood screenings for anyone to take. Hopefully this will lead to new membership. And finally, Bill announced that we are looking for program chairs for the upcoming weeks. Program chair people are responsible for finding quality speakers for the 4-5 Tuesdays in their month. Anyone who has an interest in helping find speakers should let Bill know.
Rick Nedley reminded everyone about the Good Friday breakfast at the Four Points Friday morning. Anyone interested in attending should contact Rick.
Jack Waite let everyone know that the 20th Scouting for Food drive is approaching, and the Rotary club will be collecting on Tuesday, April 1. Jack has flyers available with more information. Bring your food to the meeting, and Jack will have a vehicle to hold it all. The local food banks rely on this drive to keep the unfortunate in our community fed, so please help if you can.
Carl gave us our word of the week. Detritus means fragments left from disintegration, or just debris in general.
James Boggs, our program chair for the month, introduced Judith O’Toole, the director and CEO of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Judy gave us a small history of the museum and a peek at what the future will hold for it. The museum opened in 1959 to the public thanks to a large initial endowment. Paul Chew was the first director/curator of the museum, and the grand opening was a fantastic presentation of 200 works of art entitled “250 years of collecting in PA.” They expanded in 1968 to add the West Wing. Later, the Westmoreland Society was founded to help fund future art purchases. In 1993, Paul retired leaving Judy to step in as the new director/CEO. In 1994 after a community survey, it was determined that the public still wasn’t very aware of the goings-on at the museum, so in 1995 they hired a marketing director. New renovations were necessary as well, so after raising the funds to do so, they reopened in 1999. Since then, they have worked hard to enhance educational opportunities at the museum. They have also worked hard to increase earned income by 25% over the last 5 years.
The future strategic plan for the museum has three points to it. The first is capacity; the museum needs a bigger lecture room and classroom, as well as another gallery. The second is endowment; while Judy is proud to not be relying on endowments as heavily as many of the surrounding museums, she recognizes the need for security and the need for an increase in the operating budget to hire more staff. And lastly, the museum’s destination is to become THE destination for American art. In closing, Judy thanked us for the $2000 grant that we provided toward their program called “Imagine American Art.” Thank you Judy for speaking with us.
Our meeting ended with the Four Way Test.

Rotary FLASH of 03-04-2008
Our meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America led by Carl Rossman. Our invocation was given to us by Bill McGrath. Mark Parker gave us our Sergeant at Arms report. We had 46 members out of 96 in attendance. We had a large number of guests with us. Bill McGrath brought Bob Baum, a prospective member. Bob Bloom brought Captain Jenny Shurtleff, also a potential member. Carl Rossman brought Dave Cassale, Jack Waite brought Mark Barbie, and Leia Shilobod brought Joe Papp. And finally, returning with our driver of the week, Dawn Roberts brought Mike Corcovan. Thanks to everyone who brought guests – hopefully they all enjoyed our fellowship.
We also had three students brought from Greensburg Central Catholic by Al Lazar. Rachel Pierce, Emily Myers, and Natalie Sinwell joined us and told us about their activities and future plans.
We received several thank you notes from some of the organizations who received grants from our Madeline Nichols Fund. We received thank yous from the American Red Cross, Excela Health, and we received several letters from different people at Seton Hill University. Each expressed their thanks for our support of their programs to benefit the community.
Carl Rossman announced that the monthly board meeting would be this Thursday night at UPG in the Hempfield room.
Stacy Clemmer is looking for a student driver for next week. We will be hosting four students from Greensburg Salem, and we need someone able to bring them to our meeting and take them back to school.
Bill McGrath reminded everyone that the golf outing will be on June 9th, which is a Monday. He wanted to thank anyone who had sent letters to potential sponsors. If anyone would like a letter template to send to prospective hole sponsors, please let Bill know. They are looking for golfers as well, and applications are available.
Rick Nedley announced a dinner being hosted by the Christian Businessmen’s Connection in cooperation with the Greensburg Kiwanis on Thursday, March 20. The Keynote speaker will be Lt. Col. (Ret.) Brian Birdwell, a severely burned 9/11 Pentagon survivor. The dinner is $27 a person at the Four Points Sheraton. Lt. Col. Birdwell will also be speaking at the 36th Annual Prayer Breakfast on Friday, March 21. Anyone interested in attending either event should contact the Greensburg YMCA or the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce.
Rod Booker wanted to remind everyone to spread the word about our scholarships. Please encourage more students to apply, and if anyone wants to put a poster in a public place, let Rod know and he will get you a poster.
Dennis Cremonese is still looking for host families from April 19 – 26 for our guests from Argentina. It should be an exciting experience for both the host family as well as for our visitors, so let Dennis know if you are interested, or if you know anyone who may be interested.
Mark Barnhart announced that the Taylor and Levi will be visiting from May 29 through June 14. They will have a packed schedule, including hopefully visits to Washington DC, New York City, and Williamsburg. Anyone with time to spend with our friends from Greensburg, Kansas, should contact Mark and let him know that you are interested in helping out. Also, they are still looking for another adult to join the cleanup effort. Anyone able to make it should let Mark know.
Carl Rossman gave us the word of the week, and Patty Lonsbary stole his thunder. When Carl announced the word, “weal,” Patty quickly looked up the definition on her mobile device. Patty was correct in that weal means a sound, healthy, or prosperous state of wellbeing. Be careful Patty…you may get assigned the word of the week if you aren’t careful.
Our speaker was introduced by James Boggs. Rachel Lord, the executive director of CASA in Westmoreland County, joined us to talk more about what they’ve been doing for the last year. The last time she spoke to us about a year ago, she had only been on the job for about a week. Now after a year, she was able to give us more information about the service that they’ve been doing in our county. The state of Pennsylvania has 18 programs in existence now. CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, is a national organization that recruits and trains community volunteers to help be the voice of abused and neglected children involved in court cases. Rachel explained that even though case workers and guardian attorneys will work with children, their workload and situation does not permit them to spend time with the children and work with anyone involved in the situation. CASA workers will write a court report making recommendations based on the child’s best interest, and will be permitted to testify and be cross examined.
CASA of Westmoreland County swore in 9 community volunteers in October, including our own Bob Ottaviani. These 9 volunteers are taking care of 14 children (each worker gets a single case, but some cases involve more than one child.) They are hoping to have another 23 volunteers in the upcoming months. All volunteers receive 30 hours of training and need to learn how the family court system works.
Following Rachel’s talk, Ed Nemanic presented her with our final award from the Madeline Nichol’s grant. CASA of Westmoreland was awarded $300 for their training efforts of the community volunteers in their program. Thank you for sharing your stories with us Rachel, and we wish you another year forthcoming even better than the last.
Our meeting ended in the usual way with the Four Way Test. Have a good week everyone.

Rotary FLASH of 02-26-2008
Our meeting began in the usual way with Carl Rossman leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Our invocation was given by Bob Ottaviani. Bill McGrath gave our Sergeant of Arms report. We had 49 members in attendance. We had several guests. Mark Barnhart brought his brother David from Florida; Dave Delisi brought Michelle Pennish from his office; Bill McGrath brought Bob Swetz, an associate of his; and Dawn Roberts brought Mandissa Brown who, contrary to popular belief, did not drive her from Trinidad.
The Hempfield Rotary Club sent us a program book from their murder mystery dinner, and thanked all those who attended and helped them publicize their event. Apparently it went very well and everyone had a good time.
Leia Shilobod announced that there will be an art auction at the Palace Theater on May 1 at 7:00 PM to benefit students at Heights. If anyone is looking for more information, please contact Leia.
Katy Doran announced that they are looking for another adult to join the students on their trip to Greensburg, Kansas from April 5th through April 12th. Katy is certain that it will be an amazing experience for anyone who can go. Contact her if you are interested.
Mark Barnhart passed around Taylor’s birthday card for the club to sign. Also, Mark announced for Rod Booker that posters have been made to post in area schools for our scholarships. Anyone who would like to post these posters in their offices should contact Rod to get one.
Tony Marciano announced that Chef Dato was on the Food Network on Sunday. He made burgers in a competition, and Tony said that despite not winning, his burgers were excellent. Congratulations to Chef Dato for his television experience.
Dennis Cremonese reminded everyone that from April 19 through 26, five people are coming from Argentina. They are looking for people to host these individuals during their stay. They are also looking for some things to do when they are here on Thursday, so anyone with any ideas regarding this should let Dennis know.
Kevin Metsger announced that on April 5th and the 12th, our annual health screenings will be going on. This event not only helps the community, but it boosts our scholarship fund as well. Kevin also announced that a Connellsville Rotarian named Melvin Keller had passed away not too long ago. Melvin had 62 years of perfect Rotary attendance, which is just astounding.
Carl Rossman announced that he got an email that the GSC outbound next year is to France. He should have more information about this soon, but it will likely be sometime around September or October. Anyone interested should contact Carl for more information.
Our presentation this week was from Ed Nemanic, who presented local community organizations the Madeline Nichols grants in memory of Mr. Harry Miller and his sister Madeline Nichols. The following awards were made:
$1000 was given to American Red Cross for disaster care and people displaced in the community. The award was presented to Justin Meyer.
$2200 was given to Westmoreland County Camp Cadet for their state police camp for kids. Trooper Jeanne Martin accepted the award.
$2500 was given to the Sisters of Charity to assist the poor with food and clothing. Kary Coleman was on hand to accept the award.
$1000 was given to the Westmoreland Hospital Auxiliary for their pre-teen program for boys. Nancy Anderson received the award.
$2200 was given to Saint Vincent College to promote science education for grade schools in the county. Br. Norman was on hand to accept the award.
$1000 was given to the Boy Scouts of America for their scout outreach program. Tim Dingman, a fellow Rotarian, accepted this award.
$2500 was given to Seton Hill University for their new Seton Hill Performing Arts Center that will be in downtown Greensburg. Doug McEndoe was on hand to accept the award.
$1000 was given to Greensburg Salem for their alumni fitness center. On hand was Tom Sphon, on behalf of Ed Hutchinson, to accept the award.
$2000 was given to the Summer Sounds Concert in the Park for their summer concert series. On hand was our very own Gene James to accept the award.
$500 was given to the Greensburg Rotary to help with our Greensburg, Kansas renovation project. 49 members of the club were on hand to accept the award.
$600 was given to the Westmoreland Symphony in support of their youth symphony. This award was accepted by Morrie Brand.
$2400 was given to the Westmoreland County Historical Society to support their Kids at Hannastown program. Lou DeRose was on hand to accept the award.
And if anyone has been doing the math and are wondering what happened to the last $300, it will be presented next week. So stay tuned.
Congratulations to all of the groups who received funding, and thank you for your contributions to the community. Ed wanted to specially thank Chuck Anderson and Chris DeDiana for helping him evaluate almost $50,000 in requests. Now the club has awarded nearly $95,000 to organizations in the Greensburg area since the trust fund’s inception in 1998. Thank you very much Mr. Miller.
After the award presentation, we had our word of the week. Hypocorism means the use of pet names or nicknames.
Next up was Tim Henry giving us his mini-autobiography. Tim Henry grew up here and attended Greensburg Salem. There he played football as a defensive back and wrestled. He then attended St. Francis and majored in economics and finance. He was then hired by American Express, which has since become Ameriprise Financial, in Altoona. He and his wife moved back to Greensburg since then, which is where he currently resides. He has two girls; Preston is 4 and Ella is 20 months old. He has always been around service organizations since his father and grandfather were big contributors to the local Lions Club. He is very glad to be a member of our Rotary club. Thank you Tim for telling us more about yourself.
Our final presentation of the meeting was Chris Rizk giving us the birthdays and club anniversaries. Chris livened things up by telling us what the most popular song was on the day each Rotarian was born. Thank you Chris for your presentation.
Carl ended the meeting in the usual way with the Four Way Test. Have a good week everyone.

Rotary FLASH of 02-19-2008
Our meeting began with Carl Rossman ringing the bell and leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America. Bill Thorne gave us our invocation. Mark Parker reported 49 Rotarians out of our 96 members in attendance. We had no guests or visiting Rotarians in attendance.
Mark announced that Dawn Roberts will be having a second surgery to her ankle, and a card went around to be signed.
It was announced that our very own Chef Dato would be on the Food Network on Sunday the 24th at 9:00 PM. Make sure you tune in.
John Kline brought us students from Hempfield Area High School. Matt Balko, Tyler Ballew, and Katie McDonald joined us for lunch.
Patty Lonsbary presented the club with five new flags from her travels. She traveled from Quebec to Texas. She brought us flags from the St. Nicholas, Quebec; Livingston, TX; Far, TX; McAllen, TX; and another place that I missed. (I figure four out of five isn’t too bad.)
Ed Nemanic announced that next week will be the presentation of the Madeline Nichols’ grants to different community organizations. $19,200 will be given to local groups, so try to make it if you can.
Bill Thorne announced that the golf committee is continuing their preparations for the June event. They are hoping that everyone will be able to participate in some way, whether it’s as a player, a spotter, a coordinator, or a sponsor. Please get in touch with the golf committee to find out how you can help.
Anne Pegler announced that the club is looking for host families for the visiting tradespeople from Argentina. They are coming April 20-26, and they have a very full schedule. Please contact Anne if you’re interested in hosting a family.
Carl gave us our word of the week. The word esopian means “using or having allegorical meaning to censorship.” Esopian codes can seem harmless and have an underlying meaning to those in the know.
Our speaker was Chris Scherer, the sheriff of Westmoreland County. Chris spoke to us about the goings on in the sheriff’s office, since their role is very different depending on what state they are in. The sheriff’s office seems to handle a lot of the enforcement of legalities in the county. They are charged with security in the courtrooms (not necessarily the courthouse itself). They will serve civil and litigation papers as well as warrants. Another responsibility is to transport people from the state penitentiaries to the courtroom. They also enforce restraining orders, issue protection permits to permit a concealed weapon, and issue the “most unpleasant” sheriff sale of foreclosed homes.
Chris gave us a lot of information about what the sheriff’s office did, and then he paid an enormous compliment to the club. He thanked us for our attention and for our contributions to the community. Thank you Chris for your kind words, as well as your informational talk.
Our meeting ended in the usual way with the Four Way Test.