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Scott Wehler (pictured above), was introduced by Mike Hanson, although he needed no introduction to most of us. Scott is a past president, past foundation chair, and chair of various other committees over the years. He kind of fell into the position of Club Historian because he had gathered together some of the documents of our club when he was president in 2008-2009. He is the one who keeps our directory up-to-date, ever since the days when it was printed, hole-punched and put into a small three-ring binder! Scott told us about our chartering meeting and banquet that was held at the Eagle Hotel, at the corner of Chambersburg Street and N. Washington Street (where the 7-11 store is currently located), on November 15, 1920. 170 people attended that meeting with about 125 Rotarians, who came from as far away as Baltimore. He also showed us pictures of the various places that we met over the years, starting with the Eagle Hotel, then the Huffman Hotel and then the YWCA building that was located in the southeast quadrant of Lincoln Square. These meetings were always held on a Monday evening with dinner being served. In 1983 a decision was made to move the meeting to a lunch time, to be held at the Holiday Inn, on Baltimore Street, at Steinwehr Avenue. Ron Hankey spoke up and said that there was a lot of controversy over this move of venue and mostly because of the different time of day. In 1945, when the club celebrated the 25th anniversary, the mayor of Baltimore was in attendance at a banquet held here. The scholarship fund that we still maintain and use was started by Charles Eicholtz, owner of Eicholtz Office Machines, and club president 1939-1940. When he died in 1956, his estate established the fund. It has been used in various ways over the years and it is now at $100,000. One of the major donations that was made by our club was a van with a lift for transporting people in wheelchairs. It was made possible by then-Rotarian Don Warner, who owned the Chevrolet dealership at the time. In 1985, Rotarian Jack Phillips helped to get the Adams County Foundation (now Adams County Community Foundation) started with some donations by the Rotary Club of Gettysburg and the Littlestown Rotary Club. Jack had some experience with a community foundation in Williamsport, PA, so he was able to lend his knowledge to the effort. Our club started Interact at Gettysburg High School in 1988 and it flourished for many years, but has faded away in the past 5-10 years. We gave toward the Library building project when it moved to it's current location and several Rotarians served on the fund-raising committee for that project. Scott gave us a nice pictorial history of the various service projects that we've been involved in, over the years: - Helped with the drive-thru flu shots, with a donation and helping to direct traffic at the site
- Bell ringing for the Salvation Army; which continues to this past holiday season.
- Donating to the Byrnes Health Education Center, to bring their program to Gettysburg schools.
- Packing meals for those who need them for Ruth's Harvest (still happening; next one is February 15, 2021)
- Donated to the Gettysburg Hospital to help build a hospice room.
- Dictionaries to third-graders. This has been happening for many years and continues.
- Clean-up day at Camp Happy Valley. We helped the Girl Scout camp with upkeep on their property.
- Route 30 trash pick up. This is done just west of the Borough of Gettysburg on a two-mile stretch that goes past Route 15.
- Sponsor the local Little League team and AYSO team.
Scott also mentioned the various programs that we've supported over the years: - Selecting an honoree to receive the Eisenhower Humanitarian Award. This was brought to us by a former member of the Palm Desert Club in California, where it was started. Ken Farabaugh was instrumental in started it at our club.
- Youth Exchange - Ken and Connie Farabaugh managed this program for 27 years, which was the benchmark for Rotary Youth Exchange for the District and beyond. President Ken spoke up and expressed his gratitude for being involved in this program. It gave him and Connie the opportunity to work with teens while they had no children of their own.
- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) - We've sent youth to this program held each year at Messiah College, where students who have finished their Junior Year in High School attend this leadership training.
- Group Study Exchange. A group of young professionals from various parts of the world toured Gettysburg for a day as part of their exchange in our district.
- Various District Grants
- Medical Mission to Honduras - This was led by Dr. Bradley Hoch between 1991 and 2011.
- Various Global Grants, which had PDG John Kramb helping with polio vaccinations and providing sanitary toilets at a school and Scott Wheler went to Ghana to help provide sanitation facilities.
Some of the various fund-raising project that were done over the years, include: Pasta Dinners, Lobster dinners, Swedish Pancake Breakfast, The Capital Steps show at the Majestic Theater, Country and Western bands at the Majestic, Bicycle Race, Oktoberfest, and Dodgeball Tournament. He gave us the history on the formation of our two satellite clubs; the Happy Hour club which was meeting at Battlefield Brew Works on Wednesday evenings and the New Oxford Club, which became part of our club and was meeting at Rosie's Restaurant, New Oxford on Tuesday morning. We were able to help a lot of people in need, due to the pandemic and resulting economic crisis by donating $50,000 to the South Central Community Action Program (SCAAP). This will help with housing payments for those people who have lost their jobs. Scott was called upon to help put together some history of the club in preparation for our 100 year celebration. He did a very nice booklet, showcasing many of the items that were presented today. You can find more information in that booklet. They were made available to each member. If you would like one, please contact Scott to see if they are available. He also did several professional-grade press releases that were published by The Gettysburg Times, and finally, Scott did a great job of giving us a lot of information in an interesting format. |
