ROTARY USE "ZOOM" TO
RECONNECT WITH YE ALUMNI .... by Lori Ruhlman
Rotarians recently enjoyed an in-person meeting while making use of a great lesson learned in the pandemic: with Zoom, speakers can be from anywhere! Exchange student Lucas Grob (2007-2008, from Switzerland) joined the meeting from his home in Zurich. Grob thanked the Rotary Club, the Skaneateles community, and his host families for the year that changed his life. He lived with the Loreys, Frackenpohls and Trapanis. Host brother Tyler Lorey is now a Rotarian, and helped set up the on-line reunion. “Lucas is the brother I never had, and one of the dearest friends I’ve ever had.” Lorey said Grob was “the number one influencer for me to become a Rotary Youth Exchange student to Chile.” (Tyler was a junior the year the Grob was here). In the years since his stay here, Grob has received his master’s degree and PhD in food processing engineering. He impressed Rotarians with descriptions of his research, which began in chocolate and is now focused on developing alternative proteins. His work takes him all over the world to “learn from other cultures.” To progress as a person, a country and a world, it is important to NOT be stuck in a box, he said. His first powerful lesson in getting out of his “box,” he said, came during his year in Skaneateles as a 16-year-old boy. Welcoming exchange students from other countries and sending local students all over the world is one of the Skaneateles Rotary Club’s on-going contributions to the community. It is one of the many “worthy causes” the club supports year after year. These projects, causes, events and organizations are funded by proceeds from our annual Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast, which has been canceled once again. To learn more about the club CLICK HERE, or to contribute to a quiet fundraiser we are doing in lieu of the breakfast this year click on DONATE above.