Stories

There is a Rotary Club in Branford Connecticut that saw a problem in their community – not at all unlike what is going on here.  This is the story of how they met the challenge with a most unusual combination of fund raising, and community support. This week's speaker is a member of their club – and the story of how every Club can make a difference in their community.

So far Braffle has raised more than $73,000 to help Branford restaurants and struggling local families by Rotary building a partnership with Branford Counseling & Community Services and local restaurants.

• First 15 minutes or so, time to socialize
• The program includes the following:  John Marble, our Sergeant of Arms will be our MC; we will give out Paul Harris pins and awards for those who attend that have earned them; we will celebrate the July, August and September birthdays of our members who are in attendance; Richard Lyons will speak briefly about Kacie's Cause; an open mic for those who wish to share any experiences.

Joyce Tannian is the Founder of Water is Life Kenya, (WILK) a DE non-profit organization. While working as a volunteer in Kenya in 2006, Joyce saw the glaring need for clean, accessible, and dependable water in rural communities in southern Kenya, and took action. Today, Water is Life Kenya’s 23 major water projects provide clean water to more than 55,000 people, transforming their lives.

An innovator and creator, Joyce and her team went on to develop WILK’s Livestock as a Business program, which increases incomes by training farmers in improved livestock keeping. Higher incomes, plus effective local water management committees trained by WILK, ensure a consistent clean water supply,

Water is Life Kenya then started the Fair Trade Certified beaded handicrafts business, bringing additional income to dozens of families. Profits help fund WILK’s clean water projects.

To learn how Joyce got started, watch her Tedx talk “Singing Water out of the Ground in Kenya.”

The SBA has released a new application form for forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. The instructions provide some clarity regarding the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 that was signed by the president on June 5th 2020. The most significant changes were the extension of the eight week covered period to twenty four weeks and the reduction of the payroll requirement from 75% to 60%. Borrowers can choose whether to use the eight week or twenty four week periods.

The interpretation by some that the 60% payroll requirement was a "cliff" is not correct. This means failure to have 60% of your loan amount in eligible payroll costs will not cause the borrower to lose all forgiveness. Forgiveness will be prorated so that payroll will make up 60% of the forgiven amount.

One of the key takeaways from the updated instructions is the individual limitation for payroll costs ($100,000 annualized) increased substantially with the longer covered period ($15,385 for the 8 week covered period and $46,154 for the 24 week covered period). The limitation for owners (owner-employees, self-employed individuals, or general partners) using a 24 week covered period is capped at $20,833 or the 2.5 month equivalent of their applicable compensation in 2019. For borrowers using an 8-week covered period the cap is $15,385 or the eight week equivalent from 2019. The owner payroll limitation prevents the borrower from increasing the owners pay in 2020, however there are no similar rules related to family members or other related parties.

The forgiveness amount can be reduced by a Salary/Hourly Wage Reduction or by a Full Time Equivalency (FTE) Reduction Calculation.

• The Salary/Hourly Wage reduction only applies if an employee's salary or rate was reduced. It does not apply if an employee's total pay reduced because of reduced hours.
• The FTE reduction still applies, however it includes some notable exceptions. There is still an exception if the FTEs reduced but were later restored by the date the forgiveness application is submitted. There is now an additional exception if the borrower was unable to operate at the same level of business activity due to compliance with requirements of certain government agencies for social distancing and other safety requirements related to COVID-19. This new exception provides much needed relief for businesses that have had to close or alter their business to comply with government mandates.

There is an EZ application form for borrowers who have no employees or did not reduce their FTE count or meet one of the exceptions to the FTE rules. It is essentially the same application without the FTE forms.

Applications will be submitted through your lender many of whom are expected to create online portals. At this point, most lenders are not ready to accept applications for forgiveness. Documentation will need to be submitted to the lender with the application including payroll reports, payroll tax forms, lease agreements, cancelled checks and invoices for payment of utilities, health insurance and retirement benefits. Additional documentation is required to be maintained by the borrower, including documentation of Wage/Salary information and documents supporting FTE exceptions.

With the changes, most businesses should have no issue attaining full forgiveness. If restrictions can be lifted in the near term, we hope that these funds will allow small businesses to recover quickly.

Again, thanks to Fenstermacher and Co. for the information in this article. 

Matt Fetick, a lifelong resident of Chester County, is the mayor of the Borough of Kennett Square and will discuss hte future outlook for the borough with us. Matt is in his 3rd term as Mayor of Kennett Square, and takes great pride in being able to serve his neighbors and support his town.

Matt kicked off his professional career as a paramedic and then served as a police officer for nearly 10 years. Following his career as a first responder, Matt launched his real estate business in 2005. Today that business includes real estate sales in Chester County, Real Estate brokerages in Delaware, Maryland and London England with over 650 agents and nearly $2.4b in annual sales. In addition, Matt owns supporting businesses including a mortgage company, title insurance agency, short and long term rentals, and his newly launched property and casualty insurance agency. Matt continues to serve several non-profits.

Nancy has been a Longwood Rotary member since June 2019, but a community member since 1993. 

The census experiences a low response rate in the Kennett Square area. Since Joy Dvornicich feels the Census is a good way to bring in much needed funds to help Pennsylvania sustain and build healthy and successful communities she left the VA recently to work on the 2020 Census. Joy will speak about how we can work together to inform the public and encourage a complete response to the 2020 census. There are $675 billion dollars which will be distributed to the states in the next ten years based on these numbers.

Joy has worked for the federal government for over 20 years. She is a U.S. Navy veteran, worked for the CDC for 5 years as a microbiologist in the Pennsylvania state bioterrorism laboratory, and worked 10 years for the Veterans Administration as an emergency manager. She earned her MPH from West Chester University and is earning her Ph.D. in Public Administration/Public Policy with a concentration in Emergency Management now.

According to a joint discovery by the CDC and Kaiser Permenente in the mid 1990’s, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are one of the greatest threats to public health we face today.

Exposure to childhood traumas dramatically increases the risk for 7 out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States. This is because the brain and body experience traumatic events in way that prevents the formation of coherent memories. This prevents the victim’s ability to recount, reflect and make meaning of their experience. Traumatic events often leave victims isolated in confusion because they cannot recount the event without reliving it, which is a symptom of PTSD. Victims of trauma require non-conventional interventions for healing.

Art in general, but theater, the dramatic enactment of traumatic stories in particular, is a powerful medium for victims of trauma in their pursuit of peace, understanding and wholeness. 

Brenda's Troutman's interest in gardening began at a young age when she started helping her dad in the vegetable garden. As time went on the garden became hers since none of her five siblings had any interest in it. She expanded the garden to about ½ acre, feeding her family of nine plus producing enough extra food for a roadside vegetable stand.

Through the years her interest expanded to include sustainable living practices, creating a balance ecosystem in her backyard, and the use of native plants and providing for pollinators. Concerned with what was happening with bees she announced to her husband that she wanted to get into beekeeping six years ago. As hobbyist beekeepers Brenda and her husband have maintained an average of ten hives since.

In 2015 Brenda was excepted into the Penn State Master Gardener Program for Delaware County. Through Master Gardeners she Chairs the Adult Community Center in Folsom, writes articles for the Master Gardener newsletter, participates in hands on gardening workshops, gives talks on beekeeping, the use of native plants in the landscape, and developing and certifying gardens as pollinator friendly.

• 27.5% of Chester County children reside in families earning less than the Federal maximum income defining poverty -  $25,750 for a family of four. A high percentage of these residents are non-Cuban Hispanic. 
• Non Cuban American Hispanics are also one of the most educationally vulnerable minority groups in the U.S. with 44% of their children starting kindergarten somewhat behind their peers; by age 13 they are at least one year below expected grade level performance; and more than 40% drop out before completing high school. 

• Support literacy by promoting the fundamentals of reading and writing.
• Train parents as the first teachers of their children.
• Equip parents with the tools and resources to support learning from birth.
• Support, prepare and encourage children to succeed academically, socially and emotionally.
• Support adults in their educational goals to open new life opportunities, e.g. adult literacy, language learning, and GED attainment.

• Maternal and Child Health Consortium's Kindergarten Transition program. This program familiarizes children who have not attended preschool with the basic school day structure and new experiences, such as riding a bus, so they are able to focus and learn when school starts. They recommend we invest $3,000 into the program. 
• The second program they feel we should invest in is expanding the Maternal and Child Health Consortium's program teaching parents how to parent and teach their own kids. This would require $10,000, so they see this as a District Grant opportunity.