The Lebanon Rotary club met over Zoom on 1/7/21: the meeting was called to order by President Oda at 12:02.

We skipped the 4-Way Test, song, and Pledge of Allegiance, and went right to Happy Dollars.

Chris Hubbard, Mike Geygan, Rich Oeder, Rob Bedinghaus, Gary Kuntz, Linds McLaughlin, John Zimkus, and Maggie Hess all had things to contribute.

John Zimkus answered a question from Nelda Lane about the museum’s upcoming aviation exhibit, and then spoke briefly about the groundbreaking on Beedle’s Station.

Chad announced the results from the two recent electronic elections. The winners were: Vice-President – Dylan Posa, Treasurer – Jim Mulvaney, Secretary – Adam Kwiecinski

There were two at-large director positions open, with five candidates. Winners were: Stephen Johns and Rob Bedinghaus.

42 people voted in the election, and all candidates will assume their positions on July 1, 2021.

Chad then introduced today’s speaker, Ron Hollenbeck talking about the Malawi Life Pump Project.

Ron is a Rotarian living in Centerville, and has been in that club for about 10 years.

Ron spoke about the scope of a Global Grant to improve water quality in Malawi, using Life Pumps. There is a $310,000 budget, of which our club has already given $1,000. He described that the budget will be made up of Club Pledges, plus district 6670 and 6690 and RI Matches, led by Rotarian Dr. Beatrice Chisenga, a Malawi resident.

The project is anticipated to take 12 months; and Ron is waiting on Rotary International approval.

Ron talked more about Life Pumps; they bring water from depths of five hundred feet, and are hand-cranked; the Malawi Ministry of Water have now mandated the Life Pump must be used if appropriate. Ron talked more about the benefits and advantages of the Life Pump, and then showed a short video about Life Pumps; he noted that the one in the video has been working steadily for 8 years with no repairs.

Ron then showed photos of a trip to Haiti, describing the building of a Life Pump. He also showed a slide describing how a club can help with this project. He then finished his presentation and answered questions; Jim Perry asked how do they insure that the water is kept sanitary? Answer – this is just a reliable source of clean water, not a storage device.

Jim Perry asked how do they ensure pumps are operating? Answer – Rotarians are engaged, but the pump itself will send information through satellite and will trigger an alert to Design Outreach (the company that maintains the software).

With no more questions, President Oda reminded members that there is a Board meeting next Wednesday at 8AM, and January 21st is the next club meeting; today’s meeting was then adjourned at 12:46PM.