The Kutztown Rotary Club thanked the 2023 Taste of Kutztown volunteers during a dinner at the Market Cafe in Topton on August 16th. Club President and TOK Coordinator Kurt Rohrbach gave an overview of the event including a description of the many organizations in our area that benefit from the events' proceeds. TOK is the club's biggest fundraiser of the year, raising the bulk of the funds that are donated from the club to Kutztown and Topton organizations such as community libraries, fire companies, food banks, and others as well as funds used for scholarships to both Kutztown and Brandywine high school seniors. The event requires a large amount of volunteer hours and could not happen without community volunteers. Volunteers are provided with a free glass and bracelet so they can enjoy the event following their participation. If you are interested in volunteering for next year's event on June 8, 2023, please contact us on our website or send an email to the TOK volunteer coordinator. Visit the Taste of Kutztown website to learn more about the event.
On August 2nd, new member Ralph Capristo gave his classification speech and then discussed financial literacy with the group. In addition, he sponsored a guest speaker from the Junior Achievement of Southeastern PA organization, located in Philadelphia and covering Berks county. Communications and Development Director, Joy Isabel, provided an overview of the amazing programs the organization has developed in local high schools to help young people understand finance basics and succeed in life. Information on the organization can be found here:
Member Marie DePhillips sponsored the meeting on August 23rd. Marie invited her husband, Bruce Siekmann, to give a talk and slide show on his recent trip to Turkey. We were treated to a wonderful presentation and learned a bit about a fascinating culture.
We are still looking for volunteers for our 3rd annual Ghost tour event October 20 and 21, 2023. We are looking tour guides and storytellers for both nights. Tour guides (2 per group) will escort a group of 12 patrons through the route, which is approximately 1.3 miles long, with one of the 2 guides having small speaking parts. The story tellers will be stationed along the route to tell a scripted story to each group when they progress to that spot. The event runs 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm both nights - story tellers will need to be at the station the whole night and the tour guides will escort a tour lasting around 1.5 hours.
On November 29th, 2023, the club held our holiday service event where we filled 12 holiday boxes for Friend, Inc to distribute to families in need this holiday season. Each member brought in a component for the boxes, which were decorated and filled at the meeting. We had a lot of fun sorting the food and adding it to the boxes. Please visit our website to learn how you can join in the fun!.
Along with serving the community, members of the Kutztown Rotary Club like to be social. We do social hour meetings throughout the year, we have movie club meetings at area venues (which are turning into Friday night social meetings, LOL), and enjoy activities with other clubs.
This month, we visited the Kutztown Beneficial Association for the music benefit and took home 3 of the raffle basket prizes (see picture below) and played pool at New Jerusalem (see picture below) and at Kurt's house.
Member spotlight this month is Ralph Capristo. Below is a bio provided by Ralph.
I was born and raised in Bear Creek, Pennsylvania which is in Luzerne County. I went to school at Bear Creek Elementary, Plains Junior High School and Coughlin High School. As a boy, I was fortunate to grow up in a very close family and a family business surrounded by not only my parents and brother but also my grandparents and an uncle.
After graduating high school, I attended Penn State University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. After graduating in 2006 I began my career in banking, managing retail bank branches at M&T Bank. In 2010, I graduated from Misericordia University with an MBA. Within a few months of earning my MBA, I moved to Las Vegas and pursued a career in Commercial Banking at US Bank and Corporate Banking at Umpqua Bank. The experience of moving across the country and working in wholesale banking was incredible. In addition to being a banker, I became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ in 2016.
In 2019, my wife and I decided to move back to Pennsylvania as I had an opportunity to become self-employed and partner full time with my brother, Anthony and childhood best friend, David in our financial planning firm. Our firm was founded in 2005 by David but was rebranded in 2017 as Forthright Wealth Planning. I joined full time in April of 2019. Our firm specializes in providing comprehensive financial planning services to families and businesses. We manage a national client base of more than 1,000 families.
In my free time I enjoy being with my family, working out, playing golf, watching the New York Yankees and traveling. In addition to being a member of the Kutztown Rotary, I was also a member of the Henderson Rotary when I lived in Nevada. I’ve also spent some time volunteering with Junior Achievement, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Penn State Vegas Alumni Association. Currently, I also sit on the Misericordia University Business Department Advisory Council and was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Northeast Berks Chamber of Commerce.
Throughout my life I’ve been fortunate to make many friends and meet my wife, Allison. Allison and I have two young children Ralphie (3) and Caroline (1). They are without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. We moved to Kutztown in 2022.
Club Information
Welcome to Kutztown Rotary
Service Above Self
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM
Kutztown Tavern-Club Room
272 West Main Street
Kutztown, PA 19530 United States of America
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