On June 10, 2023, the Kutztown Rotary Club put on another fabulously successful Taste of Kutztown event at the Kutztown Community Park. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather for the approximately 1300 participants to enjoy the plethora of vendors. With 30 wineries or distilleries, 4 breweries, 20 food vendors, and 26 craft vendors, there was something for everyone to enjoy. This event is our biggest fundraiser of the year and with the proceeds we support a vast number of organizations in the immediate Kutztown and Topton communities and beyond.
Participants were encouraged to stop by the Rotary tent to donate needed supplies for homeless shelters. Their donation got them into a drawing for 2024 Taste of Kutztown tickets.
We are very grateful for the help of all Kutztown Rotary members and volunteers who work as a team to make the event possible. Thank you for putting service above self! Visit our website if you would like to learn more about joining our team! https://kutztownrotary.com/
Members Bob, Florita, and Marie joined out exchanged student Maria as she graduated from Brandywine Heights Area High School on Wednesday May 31. It was a pleasure to have Maria with us this past year and we wish her the best of luck as she travels back to Brazil.
Thank you to Camp Edmar for hosting our 2023-2024 Officer Installation event on June 21, 2023. The food was superb and we are truly grateful for the hospitality.
We were honored to host 2022-2023 District Govenor Len Geisler and his wife Kirsten for the celebration. Len installed Kurt Rohrbach as the 2023-2024 Kutztown Rotary Club president and Amy Sheller presented 2022-2023 president, Ellen Overcast, with her past-president pin. Both Ellen and Kurt addressed the club members with reflections from the past year (Ellen) and prospects for the upcoming one (Kurt).
In addition, both the club and foundation board members took their oath to fulfil their duties for the upcoming year. Officers and board members are listed below.
Following the ceremony and dinner, new president Kurt Rohrbach and his wife Pauline welcomed the members in their home for drinks and socializing.
2023-2024 Club board President – Kurt Rohrbach President Elect – Marie Defilipps Secretary – Melissa Kirk Treasurer – Joni McPike Past President – Ellen Overcast Sgt.-at-Arms – Alex Meynardi
Directors – Soni Diaz, Meredith Drumheller, Jim Springer, Chris Volk
2023-2024 Foundation board
President – Tom Kulp Secretary – Melissa Kirk Treasurer – Joni McPike
Directors – Mike Colins, Holly Diefenderfer, Nancy Hildenbrand, Florita Hobaugh Club President – Kurt Rohrbach
Members of the Kutztown Rotary Club participated in the District-wide Rotary Day of Service: A focus on the environment. The original date of the event, April 29, had to be rescheduled due to rain. A painting team met on the morning of Saturday May 20 to whitewash the fence the club built the year before for the bee pollinator garden at the corner of Constitution Blvd and Greenwich St. Contact us at https://kutztownrotary.com/ to see how you can help out in the community.
Kutztown Rotary Club members traveled to Atlantic City for the weekend of May 5-7 to attend the 2023 District 7430 Conference. District Govenor Len Geiseler put on a great weekend with Friday night Keynote speaker Rotary International Director Drew Kessler, Saturday plenary sessions and Four-Way Speech contest finals, and Saturday night Keynote speaker Miriam Horrocks-Isenberg at the "glamour and glitz" dinner. The Saturday afternoon guided walks were lovely with some members attending the mural tour and others venturing to the Absecon Lighthouse. Join us at next year's District Conference nearby at Wind Creek in Bethlehem on the weekend of April 26 to 28, 2024.
Members of the Kutztown Rotary Club celebrated a Student of the Month ceremony on May 7th, 2023. One student from each of Kutztown Area High School and Brandywine Heights Area High School is selected by school administrators each month throughout the school year for this award based collectively on academic achievement, school participation, and community contributions. Honored for May was Kayley Derr for Kutztown and for Brandywine Heights the April and May students were honored because the school was on Spring Break during the April celebration. The Brandywine students were Joseph Crist and Samuel Berryman.
The May student of the month from the Kutztown Area High School is Kayley Derr. Kayley has been very active in her school government as a class officer from 9th to 12th grades and student council, where she is currently vice president. She has also participated in science Olympiad throughout high school, including as team manager/assistant coach. Kayley has also been active in chorus since 6th grade as well as in choir since 7th grade - she has been section leader for both for the past 2 years.
The first April/May student of the month from Brandywine Heights Area High School was Joseph Crist. Joseph has been very active in volunteering through school, church and the community. In Key club he has participated in such activities as blood drives, senior lunch-ins, and school events such as Halloween-town and family events. His church and community activities include food drives, shoe drives with KU, soup kitchen in Reading, YG mission trips, Sunday School teacher, youth baseball camps, and 5th grade camp counselor.
The second April/May student of the month from Brandywine Heights Area High School was Samuel Berryman. Throughout the last 2 years, Samuel has competed in and won a number of masonry competitions including District 4, PA State, and National Masonry Competitions as well as The Junior Bricklayer 500. His community service activities include Restoring Hope project and Volunteered Mailbox.
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, and enjoy social activities with other clubs.
In May we went to Ozgood's for movie club and to Cadillac Pub in Fleetwood for a social meeting (see picture collage below).
In June we went to Ozgood's again and Setter Ridge (see picture below) for movie nights. In addition, we had some members attending the District Changeover dinner and some attending a dragon boat race festival, a fundraiser for cancer support in the Lehigh Valley. Check out the picture collages below.
Member Spotlight for this Month is Marie DeFilipps. Below is a short biography written by Marie.
Born in Binghamton New York, and raised in the suburb of Chenango Bridge, I grew up the baby girl of 2 much older brothers. My mother was one of 12, so we enjoyed the company of many cousins and family get-togethers either locally or throughout the eastern part of the country.
Art has been a love of mine since childhood and I especially loved learning to draw horses in elementary school from the “How to Draw” books from the library. Music was always heard in the house from my brothers early 60’s LP’s and 45’s, my baton routines, to my dads’ love of country and big band favorites. Pursuing art teaching as a career became my goal as a high school student majoring in all of the art classes that I could take, and after earning recognition as a high school senior in the musical Godspell, music seemed like it would also play a big role.
I attended the local community college majoring in music, and SUNY Binghamton majoring in Fine Art. Fast forward to Kutztown PA, after meeting “a guy in a band” in my hometown, and relocating here, I attended Lincoln Technical Institute, for drafting and worked for a local Architect while meeting my new “guy in a band” love-husband Bruce. While working and starting a family I began taking classes and I earned my BFA from KU, and returned there for my Art Ed Certificate, and eventually my M. Ed in Art Education.
Two years as a long term sub for high school art brought me to 22 years of teaching elementary art, building a home, raising two boys, and singing in several local rock bands and duos. My passion for horses has led me to volunteer at a horse barn where I tend to 22 horses every Saturday, learn about horses, and work a quarter horse named Rambo.
My involvement with Rotary began with participating in an art exhibit at an event in Kutztown, and helping to plan for another one. I have been a Rotarian for 15 years, President, Youth Exchange Officer for 11 years and I am President-Elect for the 2023-24 year.
Since retiring from teaching I have been working part time, playing guitar and singing solo gigs, babysitting my granddaughter Gwenolyn from time to time and traveling with my husband and friends.
Rotary has been a wonderful place to broaden my perspectives, help the local and world communities, and form bonds with people that might not have crossed my path. I look forward to many more years to come!
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
.png)
