Greeter Brad Huffman welcomes one of our two guest speakers, Willie Cox, executive director of the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association.
And Club Vice President Chuck King is seen here with our main speaker of the day, Cathy Gough. She is the Special Events and Development Coordinator for MVDSA.
Here we see our greeter Mark Gerken welcoming Jim Harris officially. With hands in his pockets, no less.
Don Gerhardt makes friends with the higher ups, past president Ron Hollenbeck, and our current president Peachy Metzner.
But then, Don being Don, he takes center stage.
And President Peachy talks with our guest Willie Cox, as Cathy Gough comes in behind them.
Butch Spencer also makes his arrival.
Jim Briggs and Boyd Preston had a long talk in the hall before heading into the meeting. Such are friendships made.
Mark Gerken gives our president a good handshake.
And Ron has come in without his sunglasses on this day. He looks like he is counting the days until Spring.
Now Brad Thorp arrives with his hands in his pockets. Maybe the fact that the flu has been rampant this year is keeping more hands in the pockets these days. Look at greeter Brad in this picture too.
Mark keeps his hands behind him as Carol Kennard arrives. Brad's not reaching out either.
This flu thing must be catching.
A view inside the Shirley Heintz room before the meeting begins.
Chuck, Boyd and Peachy.
Tom Broadwell and Dottie Overly.
Ron, Jim and Butch.
Polio-survivor, one of two in the club, Irene Ullmer, heading towards 95 this year. And they said she'd never walk again when she was nine years old...She had a heart attack at age 82, but grew up on a farm in Michigan as one of 17 kids, and knows what it's like to carry on.
Ram Nunna, our new Paul Harris-plus four recipient. First they said three and later four, when someone was paying three Happy Bucks for Ram. That confused everyone. Was it three or four?
And Erich Eggers, our Sgt.-at-Arms, arrives and gives a somber look at Brad.
But then Brian Hayes is never without his smile, though the camera catches him before he can finish it.
Another look inside the club as it begins to fill up.
State Rep. Niraj Antani stops by to gather some signatures.
Doug Bockrath is the one standing, and Dan Sortman is the one reaching. Sally Beals is on left, just in the picture a bit.
And here is another guest, Linda Stagles, guest of Chuck King.
Another look at the roster of members who will help run the club in the coming year.
The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace at noon. Club President Peachy Metzner led the Pledge of Allegiance; Harvey Smith gave the prayer, asking that we include Bev Callandar and Jack Workman (at Southview) in our prayers; and Brad Thorp led another great rendition of God Bless America, sung by club members.
GUESTS at this week's meeting included:
Our speaker Cathy Gough, with her co-worker Willie Cox, from the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association; State Rep. Niraj Antani, who did not stay; Linda Stagles, guest of Chuck King; and Dottie Overly, who is considered family. All are pictured elsewhere in this Bulletin.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President Peachy Metzner conducted the meeting.
He is seen here with Vice President Chuck King.
Peachy reminded everyone that the next board meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 19, at Park District Headquarters, 221 N. Main Street, across from Benham's Grove area.
Frank Perez said last week that Project Read needs help on Feb. 7, a Wednesday, and Feb. 8, to move and help shelve books on four book cases donated by the Dayton library.
Rebecca Quinones said at last week's meeting that the Interact Club at Centerville High School will be helping out at the House of Bread Sunday, Feb. 4. Any Rotarians who would like to help out should let her know.
Anyone with ideas for projects that would need grants to help complete, should let Boyd Preston, Chuck King, Joyce Young, or Frank Perez know, as they will be attending the Rotary District Grant training event Feb. 6 at Normandy Church. There is a free dinner at 5:30 p.m. The meeting runs from 6:15-8:15 p.m.
Sofie Ameloot thanked those who brought toiletries for Artemis in the past weeks.
It was noted that the CHS Interact Club is holding a fund-raiser at 1051 Miamisburg-Centerville Road on Monday Feb. 5. That's Chipotle. Time is 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Be sure to tell the cashier you are supporting the cause to make sure that 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the CHS lnteract Club. If you picked up one of their fliers, bring it along.
A past note:
The District Conference will be held April 27-28 at the Hollenbeck Baylay Center in Springfield. Instead of last year's basket presentations from each club, they want to do a district project and put together hygiene kits. Each club, if they choose to participate has to choose a certain item to provide. He said Joslyn Smith of the Fairborn Club is the chairperson for assembling the kits. Each club can then choose a charity to distribute the kits to. Peachy said last week that he thought Hannah's Treasure Chest might be an apt choice for our club. Club member Sofie Ameloot also noted that Artemis is in need of soaps, body lotions, shampoos and other toiletries for the women who have been victims of domestic violence. Such items may be brought to the club, if you have any you've collected and have not used at home.
Below you see the two people who collected our Happy Bucks this week: Erich Eggers and his son-in law, our club secretary Mark Balsan.
HAPPY BUCKS: The Happy Bucks go to help Brigid's Path this quarter. The organization works with babies born addicted, and their mothers. They took in their first baby recently.
President Peachy began the Happy Bucks with a donation for Brigid's Path. Brad Huffman gave his Happy Bucks for being happy to be here. Mark Gerken gave for his 94-year-old grandmother who could walk today and couldn't the day before, he said.
Mark Balsan gave for passing his certification in home remodeling, a business he is in with his father-in-law...And Erich Eggers later let us know that his award-winning remodeling business won four more recent awards.
Ron gave and then Jen gave, stating it was for Arnie (Biondo) being persistent, And then everyone wanted to know what that was about, but she said she'd let Arnie say when it was his turn, and then everyone was even more persistent, so Arnie got up and said Jen and her husband had agreed to be a host for one of the three Rotaty Youth exchange students coming. And he gave three dollars, noting there are only two spots left for hosting.
PDG Harvey Smith gave for the upcoming Groundhog Day, hoping for an early spring prediction from the Groundhog on Feb. 2.
Jeff Senney gave for an upcoming 10-day trip to Cayman Island and for his dad making a visit with him to DLM and a wine tasting or something similar.
Carol gave for noting that our own Shelley Fisher is doing much better and hopes to be back in March. And she noted something else about a possible exchange student...?
She also said The Clark County Park District had been recognized by the state association for its Mad River Gorge cleanup and work, and though they didn't win the state award, they were happy to be nominated. After Carol's retirement from the Centerville-Washington Park District, she was hired by the Clark County Park District as an interim director to help them with a levy and other park district tasks. Good job, as always, Carol.
Don Overly, a BIG UD fan, gave his HAPPY BUCKS to note that our recent guest from DLM, who will be replacing DLM's Ed Flohre, played basketball with his son, and would be a good one to pick if our club ever got up a basketball team.
Tom Broadwell noted that he and his wife will be off to Palm Springs for a vacation in the sun.
Jim Briggs gave $3 for Ram's third Paul Harris Fellow donation, but then someone yelled "four," and whether it was to make Jim pay more, or really was four...was left unclear, but it appears "four" may be right. Then it was announced that the Interact Club will be holding a fund-raiser at Chipolte from 5 to 9 p.m. Feb.5, as mentioned above.
Fifty percent of the bill will go back to their club.
Dan Sortman said he is happy to be here.
Sofie Ameloot said her friend Amy Hary plans to join the club, and thanked everyone for donations to Artemis.
Irene Ullmer gave her Happy Buck, and when urged to say why she is Happy, she looked at Mark Balsan with his cup waiting for the dollar, and said, "Because of you." Everyone got a big laugh out of that and then....
Lee Hieronymus gave his Happy Buck, saying: "Mark is such a wonderful fellow." Embarrassment knows no end in this club...All in fun, mind you.
Brian Hayes then gave $3, noting that his daughter placed first in her category of a school competition she was in...
Brian Bergmann gave $2, one for a test that was not negative, and one for Brigid's Path.
Kitty Ullmer gave for those who are sick and in our prayers, and Erich Eggers gave $20 for the Contractor of the Year Award in four areas.
This Week's SPEAKERS: Cathy Gough and Willie Cox of the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association
Here is Cathy again, with Vice President Chuck King, who makes the introductions of our speakers:
Chuck said Cathy is the Special Events and Development Coordinator for the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association, and that she is a graduate of The Ohio State University.
He said she has always been around individuals with Down syndrome. Growing up, her Aunt Nora from her father's side of the family was raised in Dayton and was a beloved member of their family. She passed away at age 48 and left a large hole in their family. Nora was one of twelve children.
Fast forward several years later, when she got a call from her twin sister to announce the birth of her nephew Connor. There was an unsteady shake to her voice when she told Cathy, "I think he has Down syndrome." To which Cathy answered, "Well, that's amazing."
Chuck said Cathy found a mix of her fund-raising passion and her love for the cause when she came to the MVDSA.
Willie spoke first, giving some background on the MVDSA. He said the organization is about 40 years old. Those with Down syndrome are living longer now and many are leading more normal lives, with jobs and other community involvement. He said our State Rep. Niraj Antani, who came to our meeting, has backed an anti-discrimination bill so that those with Down syndrome can get transplants and other needs, formerly denied them. "We really appreciate his leadership," he said. "Over the last 30 to 40 years, life expectancy has doubled."
Peachy said his brother had Down syndrome, but they lived in the country, and until they went to school, he never noticed that his brother was different from him, as they both rode horses and played together. "It was the way we were raised," he said.
Willie said MVDSA has an opportunity award scholarship award program of $500. People can volunteer and attend workshops to earn points. Mike, a runner, who loved running and often ran off, got a scholarship award that helped put in fences to keep him on the family property.
Willie said Joe, who has Down syndrome, is a 32-year-old adult who works for Kroger and learned how to use the internet language, and earned an Ipad. The MVDSA awards about 70 scholarships each year, Cathy said.
Cathy said she was home with her kids for 12 years, a stay-at-home mom. She volunteered as much as she could, she said, and found herself in the fund-raising role. She said she had an aunt who was from old North Dayton, one of 12 kids in a Catholic community. There was no way she was going to be put into an institution by her grandmother or her dad, she said. She was raised around Aunt Nora and went to all the athletic events, etc.
Cathy said some of her uncles were somewhat squirrely and her Aunt Nora was strong, as many Down syndrome people tend to be. "They would bet that my aunt could wrestle their friends to the ground. She had no disability to them," she said. At age 48 they lost Nora. If someone had a boyfriend and brought them home they had to understand Nora, who would sit by them and hold their hand at the Christmas dinner because they were her boyfriend.
The MVDSA began in 1977 with the need to have some sort of family support group, she said. They held a youth tournament and potluck and things just grew and grew. The organization has several coalitions and now covers an 11 county region. Montgomery and Greene counties were originally the main ones involved, but now they are moving more into the northern region and cover everything from Auglaize, Darke, Mercer, Shelby, etc. See map below:
The Hippa Law does not allow hospitals to tell the group who has Down syndrome when born, but they are reaching into hospitals to try to get the word out that their group is here to help and support them with resources, Cathy said.
"We love our homies with extra chromis," she said.
Babies typically receive 23 chromosomes from their mother and 23 from their father, but a baby with Down syndrome will have three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of two. The is why Down syndrome is also called Trisomy 21, she said.
Cathy said Down syndrome occurs in one out of every 691 births in the U.S. and affects people of all races and economic conditions. That's about 6,000 babies a year, and amounts to about 350,000 people in the U.S. living with Down syndrome.
Cathy showed a picture of a young girl named Joy, with Down syndrome. She learned sign language and assumed everyone could sign, Cathy said. Cathy had to admit she couldn't sign when she met the little girl, who now models for Tommy Hilfliger clothing, she said. She has special eyeglasses from Nova Vision Care, made for those who have smaller noses and no bridge to hold up the glasses, Cathy said.
Down syndrome is named for John Langdon Down, she said.
Those with Down syndrome are of all different personalities, she said. Some are in wheelchairs, some are athletes, some are self advocates.
There are different types of Down syndrome, she said, mosaic, which is only partial, and regular, which is a full third copy 21st chromosome.
March 21 is World Down syndrome Day, she said. It will be celebrated by those with Down syndrome at the Boonshoft Museum. Families and caregivers can come along and its open to them to see laser shows, etc.
Also there is an annual Euchre Tournament that brings in a lot of money to the organization. This year's tournament is Saturday, April 28. In 2017, the group raised $25,000 to help support programs and services. Players, sponsors and donors helped them raise that sum. You can contact the office at 937-222-0744 for further information and/or to donate. Monetary donations may be made online at http://www.mvdsa.org/euchre.
The group also has a moms/dads night out event, an MVDSA/Dads golf outing; a family picnic at Young's Jersey Dairy; a Buddy Walk at Fifth Third Field; Buddy Up Tennis; Dance Programs, etc.
You can help by donating or volunteering at one of these events.
Last year's Buddy Walk had 100 teams and raised more than $100,000, she said.
Cathy said that the organization will be moving from the Job Center on Edwin C. Moses Blvd. to a site on Dixie Drive.
The meeting was closed with the reciting of the Rotary Four-Way Test.
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