Story by Kurt Rohrbach, Past President and Current TOK Coordinator
Kutztown Kitchen is one of the Kutztown Rotary Club's favorite service events. It is a community meal served on the 4th Sunday of every month from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Kutztown. It is open to anybody who wishes to attend. It began as a church outreach program; but, after 10 years was becoming difficult to sustain with the same small group of people bearing the expense and preparation duties every month.
In a 2022 community survey, Kutztown Kitchen was identified as something highly valued by many people in the community. The idea of folks from many walks of life sharing fellowship and a monthly meal appealed to many. Participants find that shared experiences such as this help to bind the community together forming bonds that might otherwise not occur.
The Kutztown Rotary Club stepped in around that time, taking responsibility for the popular meal in the months of January and March. The Rotary Club averages more than one service project per month and there are definitely worse places to be than a nice warm kitchen and dining room in January and March, so Kutztown Kitchen has become one of our favorites. We standardized the menu to a ham dinner in January and Irish Stew in March, selections that we have found tend to draw an above average crowd.
The Rotary Club’s example also established a new model to make Kutztown Kitchen sustainable. We demonstrated the power of having a community organization take responsibility for specific months, year after year. That led to other community groups stepping up to volunteer for a month. No longer does the hard work and expense fall on only a small few.
This January and March we served over 150 new friends. We cheered on an Eagles playoff victory, played a little foosball, and shared a meal. That’s what you call a win-win.
On February 19, 2025, an evening of dinner and entertainment was held at Lyons Fire Company to celebrate farmers at the Kutztown Rotary Club’s Annual Farmers Night. Berks County farmers’ hard work and commitment to a dignified vocational service has spurred this event to bridge centuries.
Vocational service is part of Rotary International’s five avenues of service; Farmers’ Night recognizes the value of a very useful occupation. Former club president, Kurt Rohrbach, stated in his opening invocation, “May they feel our thanks, not just in these words, but in every bite of food nurtured by their hands.”
Approximately 175 people attended the dinner, including farmers of northern Berks Co., Kutztown and Fleetwood Rotarians, local Grange members, FFA members, sponsors and others. A buffet dinner, cake, special recognitions and a milk-drinking contest were part of the fun.
Senator Judith Schwank shared a legislative update as the featured speaker. “I don’t know what is going to happen on the federal level. All I can tell you is Pennsylvania is already dispersing funds to farmers,” Schwank said. With one-third of the state budget coming from federal resources, she also shared concerns amid changes taking place in Washington. “We might have to make some hard choices as we go forward,” said Schwank.
The Biehl family from Corner View Farm of Kutztown was recognized as Kutztown Rotary’s Farm Family of the Year. “We’ve been milking cows for 115 years on our farm. It’s a passion. It’s a lot of hard work but many of you know that,” fourth-generation farmer Brad Biehl said. His father, Dalton Biehl, shared sentimentally, “I saw my son and my grandsons working the fields, so it’s a privilege to see five generations on the farm. Next year we’ll have the honor to celebrate 100 years of century farming.”
Future Farmers of America (FFA) clubs from Kutztown, Oley and Brandywine school districts were represented. Each group presented a Student of the Month, with those selected students giving short speeches to the attendees. Brandywine’s FFA student, Brinley Hess, addressed the crowd twice, as the student-of-the-month, and again as Berks Co. Alternate Dairy Princess. Lyndsey Smith of Kutztown, and Baily Hornig of Oley Valley were also recognized.
According to dairy farmer Jim Younker of Kirbyville Holsteins, “We come when we can. It’s a nice social gathering. I enjoy seeing the youth be recognized in the FFA program.” As he greeted his neighbors, Younker said it’s nice to see the other farmers. “We usually see them out and about, but we don’t see them cleaned up usually,” he added.
Success.
Kutztown Rotary Club thanks our sponsors: Fleetwood Bank, Albright’s Mill, A.D. Moyer Lumber, Edward J. Hildenbrand Funeral Home Inc., First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, Tompkins Community Bank, Blue Marsh Insurance, F.M. Brown’s Sons, Fulton Bank, Antler Ridge Winery, Danenhower Apiaries LLC, Oley Valley Feed Inc., Lil’ Shopper’s Shoppe, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Pennsylvania State Council of Farm Organizations, Setter Ridge Vineyards, Weaver’s Ace Hardware, and Way-Har Farms.
We have had some wonderful speakers in the first quarter of 2025. Kudos to the club members who invited them - we really appreciated it. Here is a short synopsis of the wonderful recent visitors for our club.
On January 29, we had a visit from Roy Leidy from Semper Fi & America's Fund. Roy is in charge of Semper Fi Fest which supports an organization called Semper Fi & America’s Fund. The goal of the organization is to get US armed service members and veterans together to support combat wounded, critically ill and other injured service members and veterans along with their family members. We also heard about their biggest fundraiser of the year - a pig roast at the Schnecksville Fire Company held this year on August 16, 2025.
Two past district governors visited in February to teach us about important Rotary fundamentals. On February 5, Cindy Hornamen spoke on the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation helps transform monetary gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. Through it, Rotary members can advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. Learn more here. On February 26, Herb Klotz spoke to us about the Rotary Action Plan, a strategic road map which will help members better connect with each other, grow as an organization, and more effectively share our stories of how we are making a difference in communities.
On March 12 we heard from Liesel Gross, the CEO of Lehigh County Authority, a Public, Non-Profit Water and Wastewater Utility, committed to providing unparalleled service to residents and businesses in all our service areas.
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
Senator Judith Schwank shared a legislative update as the featured speaker. “I don’t know what is going to happen on the federal level. All I can tell you is Pennsylvania is already dispersing funds to farmers,” Schwank said. With one-third of the state budget coming from federal resources, she also shared concerns amid changes taking place in Washington. “We might have to make some hard choices as we go forward,” said Schwank.
.png)
