The Rotary Club of
Kutztown
 
Chartered 1926
Happy Valentine's Day from Kutztown Rotary!
February 28, 2023
Kutztown Rotary Club’s 86th Annual Farmers’ Night
 
Farmers' Night was brought back to an indoor event this year and was held Thursday, February 9, 2023, at the Lyons Fire Company. Elected officials Senator Judith Schwank, Representative Jamie Barton, and District Magistrate Gail Greth were in attendance along with Secretary Russell Redding and Communications Director Jay Losiewicz from the Pa Department of Agriculture. Musical entertainment was provided by Mike and Linda Hertzog. 
The event was attended by farmers in the area, members of the Kutztown and Fleetwood Rotary Clubs, members of area Grange organizations and Future Farmers of America students from Kutztown and Oley High Schools.
The purpose of the event was to show gratitude and support for the farming community. We began the event many years ago by thanking those in monoculture, dairy, beef, pork, and poultry. Now our thanks extends to farmers in viticulture, apiaries, organic, and specialty produce. Kutztown Rotarians say thank you to our farmers for making our lives better through quality food, economics and open space.
Visit our website or come to a meeting to get more information on joining us to help in your community.
Stories
Visit from OmniTech Automation
Fred D. Hafer joined us on February 1 to talk about Omnitech Automation, located right here in Kutztown. The company is a turnkey solutions provider with in-house engineering, fabrication, and controls. For over 55 years, they have been developing custom automated equipment for companies including Lutron, Stanley, East Penn Manufacturing (Deka Battery), and Johnson and Johnson. Fred gave a very interesting talk about some of the fun projects they have developed there.
New member classification
Thank you to new members Soni Diaz, Alex Meynardi, and Holly Diefenderfer for giving their classification speeches at the Club meeting on Wednesday, February 15. It is always fun to learn about our newest members. We are hoping to hear from more of them over the next few months as well as hearing repeat classification speeches from our more seasoned members.
Students of the Month for February 2023
Each month the Kutztown Rotary Club recognizes one outstanding student each from Kutztown Area High School and Brandywine Heights High School. These students are selected by their school administrators and are often picked for significant improvement or overcoming challenges, accomplishments in academics, school participation, and community contributions. These students never fail to impress Rotarians with their positive impact on our community. 
 
This month was a special celebration in which the FFA students were honored at the Annual Farmers' Night event. 
 
This month, the student from Brandywine Heights Area High School was David Griffing and from Kutztown Area High School was Landon Kunkel. Also pictured is Lilly Hetrick from Oley Valley High School, honored by the Fleetwood Rotary Club. Congratulations to you all! Please look for an upcoming article in the BerksMont News.
 
 
 
 
When Not at Work - Members at Play
Along with serving the community, members of the Kutztown Rotary Club like to be social. We do a social hour meeting every third Wednesday of the month, we have movie club meetings at area venues, and enjoy many other social activities.
 
With the February weather, Farmers' Night activities and Valentines Day this month, Kutztown Rotary members were not very active in social meet-ups.  One outing some of us did do was to support another community organization by attending Friend Fest (pictured below). We had a lovely time in support of a good cause.
 
Social hour will be back in March and we already have one movie club night scheduled. Come join our meetings to find out how we do good and have fun!
Member spotlight - Peter Overcast
Member Spotlight for this Month is Peter Overcast. Below is a short biography written by Peter. 
 
Hello!  I’m Peter Overcast & I’ve been a Kutztown Rotary member for about 2 years.  I joined Rotary after helping with many service projects and figured it would be better to join this caring organization. I retired from Air Products and continued to work with the spin off company Versum Materials working in engineering on sustaining and new development of products used in the Semiconductor industry. I am working part time at a startup engineering firm Firefly Technologies. I also work with my wife Ellen at Main Street Getaways, a travel agency in Kutztown doing whatever she needs.
 
As co-founder with my wife Ellen, we put together a team of like-minded people to form KASPER Paranormal Group. Since 2010 we have been investigating reported paranormal activity in residential, business, and historical sites. We hold private and public investigations. We have also been part of the Rotary Ghost Tour for the last 2 years.
 
I belong to the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary based in Reading. I am the Flotilla’s FSO-MT (Member Training Officer) I am also a PV (Program Visitor) which entails visiting various participating facilities like Marine Dealerships, Cabela’s, sporting stores, where we maintain brochures racks for safety on the waterways and navigation rules for the state. As part of Homeland Security and our Flotilla’s Boat Crew, we perform safety patrols on Blue Marsh Lake, Delaware River, and Lake Nockamixon during the summer months.
 
I am married to Ellen Overcast, President of this Rotary Club. We have 2 grown children and 7 grandchildren. Never a dull moment. Born in Brooklyn, NY, grew up on Long Island.  Played Bass guitar with many bands across the Island. Worked with my uncle (a commercial clammer) on the Great South Bay. Got involved with electronics and worked with Pre PC (dumb terminals) that connected to a mainframe. (NCR, Tandy Corp, Westinghouse). Married my lovely wife, had our first child, then moved to Pa. Worked for Hope Industries in Willow Grove (a film development equipment company. They had purchased the Engineering firm I was working for on Long Island which developed the One Hour Photo. We lived in various towns and had our second child. We ended up in in Kutztown. We loved the town and decided that this is where we will raise our children and get involved in the community.
 
Rotary is one of those organizations that I believe makes a difference to others and the community. I wanted to be part of that.
 
 
Upcoming Events
Club Meeting - Student of the Month
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 01, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Movie Group at Tom's House
Tom's House
Mar 03, 2023
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
 
TOK Meeting
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 06, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Bob Hobaugh - Das Awkscht Fescht
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 08, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
4-Way Test
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 15, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Dragon Boat Festival for Cancer Support
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 22, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Kutztown Kitchen volunteer opportunity
Trinity Lutheran Church
Mar 26, 2023
 
TOK Meeting
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 27, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Amy Iceland talk and Melissa/Meghan Italy talk
Kutztown Tavern
Mar 29, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
Club Meeting - Student of the Month
Kutztown Tavern
Apr 05, 2023
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
 
View entire list
Member Corner:
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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
6 PM to Order Dinner 7 PM Meeting Start Time
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Club Events
Taste of Kutztown June 10, 2023
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