Rotary Club of Reading, Pennsylvania

Rotary International Club #88

Reading Rotary Club
Activities of the Reading Rotary Club
Community Service
Sponsor A Student-of-the-Month
Paul Harris Fellows
Rotary Park
Hiking Trails on Mt. Penn
Camp Neidig
Past Presidents
Nearby Clubs for Makeups
History of Reading Rotary Club
The Beginning
Our First Rotarians
Our Club Presidents
Paul Harris Fellows
Joseph A. Abey
District Governors
William W. Keck
Hen Johnston
• Rotary International
• Motto of Rotary
• Object of Rotary
• Mission Statement
• Rotary Web Pages
• Welcome to Reading, Visit some local links

Meetings: Each Thursday at 12:05 PM at the Reading YMCA at 6th & Washington Streets, Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading Rotary Club

Reading, Pennsylvania, USA

610-779-4729

The Reading Rotary Club was founded December 1, 1913 as the 88th Rotary Club

District 7430 - Area 4

For more information contact Neil C. Hill at 610-779-4464.

Meetings: Each Thursday at 12:05 PM at the Reading YMCA at 6th & Washington Streets, Reading, Pennsylvania

• Activities of the Reading Rotary Club
• Community Service

• Sponsor A Student-of-the-Month

• Rotary Park

• Hiking Trails on Mt. Penn

• Camp Neidig
• Past Presidents
• Nearby Clubs for Makeups

Activities of Reading Rotary Club

1913 - The Rotary Club of Reading was chartered on December 1, 1913. William Keck, Club President, convened the first meeting at the Mineral Springs Hotel.

1920's - This period of time saw a Reading Baseball Committee promote better baseball in Reading and we also had a Dancing Club. Programs included "Boyhood Recollections of the Civil War". Rev. C. E. Roth spoke on the soothing qualities of tobacco. We were also visited by the Governor of Pennsylvania, Gifford Pinchot.

1930's - Lowell Thomas was the speaker at the January 1934 meeting. We also heard from columnist Drew Pearson, the Superintendent of the Pennsylvania State Police and cartoonist Ed Carter. We were also treated to two piano programs and a United Airlines program. Flash Gordon creator, Alex Raymond and1939 National Open Golf Champion Byron Nelson were club guests as well.

1940's - In November 1945 the club saw an actual demonstration of television at its weekly meeting and in September 1949 Phillip Lovejoy, President of Rotary International was the speaker. Other programs included the Penn State Glee Club, the National Commander of the American Legion, Lil' Abner creator Al Capp, Postmaster General James A. Farley, James Cash Penney, Gracie Fields -"world's greatest comic", the manager of the Reading "Brooks" baseball team as well as the chaplain at Sing Sing Prison - who spoke on "Famous Criminals I Have Known."

1950's - The September 1953 Fortieth Anniversary Celebration was held with 378 people in attendance. During this period the activities of the Reading Rotary Club were directed into two main channels, education and better international understanding. As a prelude to its efforts in the international field, a group of 16 persons from the Reading area, Rotarians and their wives, traveled as a body in the year 1953 to Reading, England, to be guests there of that city during Coronation Week. In the spring of 1957 the Reading Club sponsored a dinner meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland. During the International Convention there, attended by about 35 Rotarians from the Berks County area and in the same year it instituted Rotary meetings on the Holland-America liner "Statendam" on her maiden voyage eastward from New York, through the presentation of a lectern and a gavel. This was followed by a "goodwill" letter to every Rotary club in the Netherlands. Speakers included Theodore Roosevelt III, Tris Speaker and an Air Force General.

1960's - "THE GOLDEN AGE OF READING ROTARY"
The December 1963 Golden Anniversary Banquet was held with Charles W. Pettengill, Rotary President Elect as speaker and James F. Conway, Rotary International Second Vice President in attendance along with 350 guests, including numerous former District Governors. Joe Abey later became Rotary International President and Reading's Mayor was our own Gene Shirk. This was the Age of Aquarius, Bobby Vinton, The Twist, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Skateboards and GI Joe Dolls dotted the scene. Pampers covered our babies and our youth wore bell-bottoms and bouffant hair was all the rage. JFK gave us all hope for "A New Frontier" which was tragically shot down on that fateful day in Dallas. Star Trek was born, but Viet Nam nearly tore two countries apart. In 1969 we fulfilled President Kennedy's dream when we walked on the moon.

1970's - The Me Decade featured platform shoes, mood rings and Happy Face buttons. We read and watched The Godfather, Jaws and Roots. TV brought us All in the Family and we cheered as a washed up Philly fighter named Balboa destroyed Apollo Creed. CB radios boomed and gas lines formed on even or odd numbered days. Reading saw the birth of BCTV. Our programs featured the British Consul General and we had programs on the charter study commission.

1980's - The 1980's saw Reading Rotary hosting exchange students and sending others abroad. We supported a Reading High school student at the Presidential Workshop in Washington, D.C. The eighties were a time for optimism. The hostages were released and the economy blossomed. We played with Rubik's Cubes and got a tan in a booth. Smurfs, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Nintendo all made it to lists for Santa. Break Dancing made a huge breakthrough. CNN was born and the Iron Curtain began to tear.

1990's - We enjoyed programs on pretzel making and chocolates. We visited MetEd and the Reading Phillies. This time saw the Big Phillies in the World Series, Desert Storm and the fall of THE WALL. Barney bopped onto the scene and we listened to Rush. Team Penske dominated the Indy 500. The Reading Phillies won the title also. Reading Rotary stopped its nomadic existence and settled on the YMCA as a permanent home. Music returned to the club. We presented 40 Paul Harris Fellowships and Rotary Park was completed.

Community Service

Besides supporting many local charities, the Rotary Club of Reading gets involved. Here are some recent projects:

• Helped manufacture wooden toys at Christmas at Wood Is Wonderful for distribution to needy children.
• Painted several rooms at the YMCA for Transitional Housing for needy families.
• Staffed two mall spots supporting the Christmas Kettle Program, which raised approximately $1500.
• Fed a breakfast meal at the Reading Emergency Shelter for approximately 70 homeless people.
• Shared the New Generations program with four other Rotary Clubs at Albright College for 7 - 8 graders in the area schools.

Other projects include:

• Joe Abey Scholarship at Albright College.
• Reading High School Scholarships to three deserving youth each year.
• Camp Neidig scholarships for four deserving youth each year.
• RACC summer program for four youth.
• Group Study Exchange teams overseas project for visiting youth.

Rotary Park

In 1980 the Board of Directors of Reading Rotary developed a plan to create a multipurpose athletic field located on Reading's "Sherman Tract" on the eastern slope of Mt. Penn. At other times it was know as "Camp Howard," and "Cucklers Roost."

In the late 70's, Chris Bemis, a Boy Scout working on his Eagle Scout project, studied the area and devised a plan to create a functional multi-purpose park. This study was adopted as a basic ingredient in the master plan now before us.

Today Rotary Park is a multi-purpose athletic field and park for the enjoyment of youth and adults of Reading and environs.

Hiking Trails On Mt. Penn

A color map of the Hiking Trails on Mt. Penn is available for download. [Warning: this will take about 10 minutes to download with a 56k modem.] It can also be purchased from the:

Hawk Mountain Council

Boy Scouts of America

5027 Pottsville Pike (Rt. 61)

Reading, PA

Sponsor A Student-of-the-Month

We are asking club members to consider sponsoring a Student of the Month. We have 9 such students selected each year and award each of them a check for $50 and a framed certificate. Make checks out to Reading Rotary Foundation and submit to John Mattes, foundation treasurer.

2002-3 Students of the Month

Andres Arango, Reading High School
Matthew Bailey, Reading High School
Molly Kohrman, Reading High School
Vanessa Manon, Reading High School
Rachel Pereira, Reading High School
Timothy Swavely, Reading High School
Kathleen Urich, Reading High School
Christopher Young, Reading High School

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Paul Harris Fellows

Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, was born in Racine, Wisconsin, USA on April 19, 1868, but moved at the age of 3 to Wallingford, Vermont, to be raised by his grandparents. In the forward to his autobiography, Road to Rotary, he credits the friendliness and tolerance he found in Vermont as his inspiration for the creation of Rotary.

Remaining true to his five-year plan, he settled in Chicago in 1896, and it was there on the evening of February 23, 1905, that he met with three friends to discuss his idea for a businessmen's club. This is commonly regarded as the first Rotary club meeting. Over the next five years, the movement spread as Rotary clubs were formed in other U.S. cities. When the National Association of Rotary Clubs held its first convention in 1910, Paul was elected president. After his term, and as the organization's only president-emeritus, Paul continued to travel extensively, promoting the spread of Rotary both in the USA and abroad. A prolific writer, Paul wrote several books about the early days of the organization and the role he was privileged to play in it. He died in Chicago on January 27, 1947.

Undoubtedly the most important step to promote voluntary giving to The Rotary Foundation occurred in 1957, when the idea of Paul Harris Fellow recognition was first proposed. Although the concept of making $1,000 gifts to the Foundation was slow in developing, by the early 1970s it began to gain popularity. The distinctive Paul Harris Fellow medallion, lapel pin and attractive certificate have become highly respected symbols of a substantial financial commitment to The Rotary Foundation by Rotarians and friends around the world.

Camp Neidig

The present Rotary District Camp Neidig, a program for high school juniors which provides an intensive week of leadership training, had its origins in 1950 with what was then known as Tomorrow's Leaders Camp held at Camp Delmont, a YMCA day camp near Green Lane, Pennsylvania. In 1958 the location was changed to Camp Hill Top, a Philadelphia YMCA camp near Downingtown, and in 1960 the location was again changed to Camp Conrad Weiser near Reading, the present location. In the 1961-1962 Rotary year our club sent information about the Camp to 135 districts in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda encouraging those districts to begin similar camps. In 1961 the Camp was held at Indian Springs Day Camp in Chester County.

The Tomorrow's Leaders Camp was first called Camp Neidig, its present name, in 1963. The name was given in recognition of the effort District Governor Joseph S. Neidig (1950-51) gave to the successful conduct of this program which began during his term as Governor.

The Reading Club has participated in this major effort to provide leadership training for young future leaders since 1951.

Reading Club Past Presidents

Nearby Clubs for Makeups

Club	Day	Time	Place	Contact
Shillington	Mon	1800	Deluxe Rest., 2295 Lancaster Pike, Reading	610-775-4345
Boyertown	Mon	1815	Schaeffer's Restaurant, S. Reading Avenue, Boyertown	610-369-1266
Shoemakersville	Mon	1815	Kathryn's Katering, Redner's Quick Stop, Routes 222 and 73, Blandon	610-926-5830
Upper Perkiomen	Mon	1830	Globe Restaurant, East Greenville	215-536-9550
Northampton	Tue	700	Northampton Community Ctr., 16th & Laubach, Northampton	610-262-4724
Blue Bell	Tue	715	Cedarbrook Country Club, Penlyn Pike, Blue Bell	215-628-8670
Northeast Reading	Tue	715	Garden Family Rest., Route 61, Reading	610-929-5411
Allentown Liberty Bell	Tue	730	Hamilton Family Rest., 2027 Hamilton St. Allentown	610-434-9333
Nazareth	Tue	730	Moravian Hall Square, Nazareth	610-759-6376
Conrad Weiser	Tue	1215	Ozgoods Restaurant, Rt. 422, Robesonia	610-589-4542
Springfield Township-Flourtown	Tue	1215	Sandy Run Country Club, East Valley Green Road, Oreland	215-885-3940
Warminster	Tue	1215	Giuseppe's Pizza, Tudor Square on Street Road, Warminster	215-444-9000
North Penn (Lansdale-North Wales)	Tue	1730	Wm. Penn Inn, Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pk., Gwynedd	215-855-6893
Quakertown	Tue	1800	Meyers Restaurant Rte. 309, Quakertown	215-536-8672
Muhlenberg (Reading)	Tue	1815	River Edge Restaurant, 2017 Bernville Road, Reading	610-916-1916
Central Perkiomen, Schwenksville	Tue	1830	Woodside Inn, Schwenksville Road, Schwenksville	610-489-3345
Harleysville	Wed	700	Mainland Country Club, Clemens & Mainland Roads	215-542-4900
Mt. Penn	Wed	730	Dutch Colony Inn, 4635 Perkiomen Ave (Rt. 422), Exeter	610-779-8833 or 779-0536
Allentown West-Western Lehigh County	Wed	730	Luther Crest Home, 800 Hausman Road, Allentown	610-395-2832
Fleetwood	Wed	730	Kathryn's Katering, Redner's Quick Stop, Routes 222 and 73, Blandon	610-944-9454
Hatboro	Wed	730	Old Mill Inn, York Road, Hatboro	215-675-2439
Warrington	Wed	730	Warrington Motor Lodge, Rt. 611 & Street Road, Warrington	215-343-7290
Spring-Ford Area (Royersford)	Wed	1210	Spring-Ford Country Club, Country Club Road, Royersford	610-933-9011
Ambler	Wed	1215	William Penn Inn, Rt. 202 & Sumneytown Rd., Gwynedd Valley	215-643-6335 x113
Bethlehem	Wed	1215	Bethlehem Club, 524 N. New St., Bethlehem	610-691-8787
Newtown	Wed	1230	Goodnoe's Rest., Main Street, Newtown	215-860-8550
Collegeville	Wed	1815	Moorehead's, Trappe	610-489-9557
Doylestown	Wed	1815	Doylestown Country Club	215-489-0489
Churchville	Wed	1830	Lamberti's Restaurant, Street Rd & Bustleton Pike, Feasterville	215-750-1994
Huntingdon Valley-Southampton	Wed	1830	Vereinigung Erzgebirge, Davisville Road, Warminster	215-947-1184
Kutztown	Wed	1830	Moselem Springs Inn, Rts. 222 & 662, Fleetwood	610-944-8213
Pottstown	Wed	1830	Sunnybrook, Pottstown	610-970-0662
Washington Crossing	Wed	1830	Yardley Inn, Afton & Delaware Road, Yardley
Bethlehem Morning Star	Thu	730	Kirkland Villiage, 1 Kirkland Village Center, Bethlehem	610-882-2466
Emmaus	Thu	730	Brookside Country Club, 901 Willow Lane, Macungie	610-965-9635
Horsham	Thu	730	Otto's Brauhaus, Rt. 611, Horsham	215-674-1738
Hamburg	Thu	1200	Hamburg Boro Hall, 3rd St., Hamburg	610-488-7968
West Reading-Wyomissing	Thu	1200	The Inn At Reading, 1040 Park Road, Wyomissing	610-376-7351
Reading	Thu	1205	YMCA, 631 Washington St. at Reed Street, Reading	610-779-4729
Easton	Thu	1215	Pomfret Club, 33 S. 4th St., Easton	610-253-9677
Norristown	Thu	1215	Westover Country Club, S. Schuylkill Ave., Norrstown	610-277-2504
Willow Grove	Thu	1215	Huntingdon Valley Country Club, Huntingdon Valley	215-957-6450
Souderton--Telford	Thu	1800	Indian Valley Country Club, Bergey Road, Telford	215-723-8134
Morrisville	Thu	1815	Michael's Restaurant, Morrisville	215-736-3781
Slatington	Thu	1815	Terrace Restaurant, Slatington	610-767-3581
Birdsboro	Thu	1830	Reading Country Club, 5311 Perkiomen Ave (Rt. 422), Reading	610-582-8464
Perkasie	Thu	1830	Sellersville Moose Club, Park Avenue, Sellersville
Allentown	Fri	1200	Clarion Hotel, 9th & Hamilton Sts., Allentown	610-967-3380

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Rotary Club International

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service; encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

There are approximately 1.2 million Rotarians, members of more than 29,000 Rotary clubs in 161 countries.

Rotary's first emblem was a simple wagon wheel (in motion with dust) representing civilization and movement. It was designed in 1905 by Montague Bear, a member of the Chicago club, who was an engraver, and many Rotary clubs of the time adopted the wheel in one form or another.

In 1922, authority was given to create and preserve an official emblem, and the following year the present gear wheel with 24 cogs and six spokes was adopted. A keyway was added to signify that the wheel was a "worker and not an idler." At the RI Convention in 1929, royal blue and gold were chosen as the official colors.

Rotary International is one of the world's largest service organizations, with some 29,500 clubs in more than 160 countries. Annually, Rotary clubs worldwide invite a limited number of men and women to become members.

These prospective members represent various businesses and professional activities in their communities. As a progressive-minded business or professional person, you will see that belonging to a Rotary club, where outstanding representatives of the different vocations in your community come together, has its benefits.

To be invited, you must be:

• A leading representative of your business or professional activity
• Willing to help and participate in projects that enhance your community
• Willing to work on projects that help people in developing countries and promote international understanding and goodwill:

Rotary clubs provide:

• Friendships with other managerial and professional leaders in your community
• Prestige of membership in a worldwide organization
• Ongoing practical education
• A networking of people who can help you become more successful
• Promotion of higher ethical standards in your business or profession
• Projects to enhance your community
• Help for communities in countries around the world

Motto: Service Above Self

The Object of Rotary

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

• First: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
  
• Second: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
  
• Third: The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his personal, business, and community life;
  
• Fourth: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men and women united in the ideal of service.

Mission Statement

The mission of Rotary International is to assist and guide Rotarians and Rotary Clubs to accomplish the Object of Rotary; to ensure Rotary's continuing relevance; and to help build a better world, emphasizing service activities by individuals and groups that enhance the quality of life and human dignity, encourage high ethical standards, and creating greater understanding among all people to advance the search for peace in the world.

Links to Rotary International Web Pages

• Rotary District 7430
• Rotary Club Meetings
• Rotary International
• Rotary International President
• Rotary News Basket
• Rotary First 100 Clubs
• Rotary Intenational History

Welcome to Reading

Visit some local links

• Berk County Chamber of Commerce
• Berks County Attractions
• Pennsylvania
• Reading and Berks County
• Reading - Berks Historic Society
• Reading Company History
• Reading Railroad Museum