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Our 100th Anniversary Year!
Stories
Club Meetings in this era of Pandemic
We had another meeting using Zoom video conferencing. The attendance was really good again!
This is a nice way to "get together", even when we can't be together!
 
Just a few Pro Tips on using Zoom:
  • When you are not speaking, please put your microphone on "mute". Simply click the microphone icon on the control panel. If your microphone is on, your video (or name if the camera is off) will take over the meeting and show full screen to the participants. When you want to speak, click on the microphone icon and you're on the air.
  • If you don't want to send video (someone else comes in the room or you need to leave your device) you can stop the video by clicking on the camera icon on the control panel and still see and hear what is happening.
  • If you do send your camera feed (video) look at your background (or use backgrounds available on Zoom - explore the control panel) and pay attention to how your face is displayed on the screen. It's not great to see up the nostrils, just the top half of your face or the top of your head. 
Hang in there, we'll get better at this as we go. Thanks!
 
 
 
 
Invocation 
Ron Bailey gave the invocation with a supplication to God to help us through this current pandemic
Announcements
President Brad gave the following information:
 
  • The Gettysburg Times had a nice picture and article about the grant of $5,000 that our club recently made to the Seminary Ridge Museum to provide virtual history lessons. 
  • There will be a Zoom Board meeting of our club's officer's and directors on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 7:30 am, which can be accessed here https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83086439902
Mike Hanson announced that we have exceeded our club Foundation goal of $9,000 for the current Rotary year.
 
Ralph Serpe announced that the Adams County Community Foundation is giving grants for COVID-19, relief recovery with some seed money from the Robert Hoffman fund. They will be giving away $80,000 this week and will be considering requests for additional grants in June and July. This additional funding will total $150,000.
 
Brad Lancaster told us about some volunteering opportunities (virtual and actual) that are being offered to Rotary members. Find that information here theglobalimpactgroup.org/
Elizabeth Heidecker - Outbound Exchange Student
Elizabeth Heidecker (pictured above, from her trip to Alsace, France) has returned a bit early from her Rotary exchange in Brussels, Belgium.
She joined us in our Zoom meeting and told us about her experiences while she studied there. She also told us a bit about the various governments and languages found there. She also spoke of her various host families and how they were supportive of her while she stayed there.
She also said how she learned to use the public transportation and how she matured greatly while she was there. 
Elizabeth thanked the club for sending her on this life-changing journey. We will have her present a full program sometime in July or August.
Scholarship announcement
Ashley Andyshak-Hayes, joined us to announce that the Scholarship Committee had awarded a scholarship to Elizabeth Heidecker last year, but since she was chosen to spend a year abroad, after her graduation from high school, they were now awarding her the scholarship this year. The amount will be determined by the committee based on the number of recipients chosen this year.
Elizabeth told us that she plans to attend Elon University, in North Carolina, if they are open for classes in the fall. If not, she may attend HACC for a semester or more.
Dr. Alison Feeney - PA Breweries
Pictured above, top center, is Dr. Alison Feeney, Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences at Shippensburg University, and a slide from her interesting and informative presentation about beer; especially the breweries of Pennsylvania.
 
Eric Gladhill introduced our guest, with a story about receiving her book, For the Love of Beer, and having it autographed when he met her at a happy hour meeting of the Harrisburg Keystone Rotary Club. Alison told us how she loves to talk about craft beer in PA, and she related the fact that, as of March, 2020, there were 380 breweries in PA!
She gave a brief history on beer, saying that it really was the start of civilization; before there were wheels, for example, there was beer. Then in the 10th or 11th century, the monks started realizing the application of science to the brewing process. In 1516 the Germans created a purity law which stated that beer can only have three ingredients: water, barley and hops. The importance of yeast was not known at the time and was naturally-occurring in the beers being brewed.
When the New World was being colonized, the colonists knew how important beer was. It was pure and not contaminated like many of the water sources in Europe, so they brought many barrels along with them on the ships coming over. When they arrived, they usually built shelter, churches and breweries; in that order. 
Alison assisted one of her students with a project which traced existing properties in western Franklin County back to the original land patents, they found Last Wills of Testament that transferred the two main items of value to the heirs; land and brewing equipment. The settlers didn't have much money, so these appear to be the only things of value that were worth mentioning. The land normally went to the sons and the brewing equipment went to women in the family.
Many of the early settlers were brewing ales, which is more adapted to warmer temperatures, but when more Germans moved into PA, around 1840, they brought their method of brewing lager, which requires cooler temperatures for fermenting.
In 1865 lagers out-produced ales for the first time in PA. From 1965-1920 PA dominated the brewing industry, out-numbering NYC. 
Then came the age of mass-produced beers. In 1878 Anheuser Busch was shipping beer globally. Then in 1979 the beginnings of craft beer can be traced to the act that was passed under Jimmy Carter to allow home brewing. As people started brewing good beers at home, they started their own breweries and the golden age of beer was started.
Around the year 2014-2016 the craft brewing was seeing a great surge in PA, and the state was declared number one in the USA for sales of craft beer in 2016.
Alison pointed out the many areas of the state that are nearby, such as, Hanover and York, where the breweries are plentiful, but she also said that the city of Phoenixville is the most densely populated area per capita, of breweries.
She ended her presentation by pointing out that cider is another brewed beverage and that Adams County has some of the best ciders in the world (according to some cider experts in England).
 
Editor's note: This is truly the best time to live for a beer aficionado! We can find almost any style of beer made anywhere in the world, and they are all being made right here in Pennsylvania! Plus there are so many good varieties of India Pale Ales being developed every day!
 
Read more...
Speakers
May 11, 2020
Breweries of Pennsylvania
May 18, 2020
Zeigler Brothers Exotic Animal Feeds
May 25, 2020
Memorial Day
Jun 08, 2020
Adams County government update
Jun 22, 2020
Classification Talk
View entire list
Russell Hampton
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The Rotary Club of Gettysburg meets Mondays at 12 noon at the Gettysburg Hotel - One Lincoln Square, Gettysburg PA 17325
We also meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays at 4:30 pm at Battlefield Brew Works - 248 Hunterstown Road, Gettysburg PA 17325