Newark Interact came to our club and ran the meeting this past Thursday.
Today’s meeting is led by the Newark High School Interact Club: Andrea (our 2023/2024 outbound student), Sara , Jordan , Mikayla , Cynthia , Brooklyn , Margherita , Olivia , Alexa , Sophia.
Jordan gave us words of inspiration inspired from Santa:
Be Jolly, Travel the World, Give you best Gifts, Keep a sense of Wonder, Be generous to others, Take time to listen and Jingle all the way.
Guests: Malwina Plichta, Exchange Student, Christine Hassler, Tanya Hassler. On ZOOM: Krystayna Baj, Gorkow Wielkopolski Rotary and Monika Plichta, Malwina’s mom
Wellness Report – No updates
Announcements:
- Jan Hence - need 2 people to work the Chicken and Biscuit Dinner (Slots are all filled now!)
- Holly Kreuser - Dec. 22 is ugly sweater contest - bring on your uglies!
- Linda Werts - need volunteers for the Salute to Newark Hospital. Michele McManus is in particular need: her team is handling all 5 patient floor. Also, still need a lead for the nutrition group.
- Mitch Ruffalo - Night to Shine - a prom night for special needs youth. Please consider donating or volunteering in some way
- Marc Kreuser -
- Interact presented a check to Tanya Hassler in the amount of $210.00 for Blessings in a Backpack.
- The Christmas Carol performance was amazing. We raised $741.00 for Rotary.
Happy Moments:
- Interact led a Christmas Spirit game. A fun time was had by all. Jeff Patchen, Kevin Mooney, Karen Quartaro and Dave Hannan were the winners.
Queen of Hearts
Sue Colacino did not draw the Queen — the pot is continuing to grow
Program: Holly Kreuser introduced Malwina, our inbound exchange student from Poland.
Christmas in Poland — traditions from her homeland
Before Christmas - they have Christmas Markets. They are set up with booths selling almost anything you can imagine. There are also contests creating scenes from the nativity.
December 6 - gifts are placed under their pillows or in your boots - similar to our Christmas Stockings.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Celebration - in Poland gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve. The tree is usually set up on Christmas Eve. They have their Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve - they set an empty place for any unexpected guest. They eat no meat or serve alcohol at this meal.
There are 12 Christmas Eve Dishes — the dishes may vary a little from family to family.
Pasterka - a midnight mass, a candlelight worship celebration. Sometimes they also wear traditional costumes
They celebrate December 24 - 26. They can add meat to their meals after the 24th.
Reminder: Next Meeting:
December 22, 2022 - Club Annual Meeting and Ugly Sweater Contest