President Frank Perez opened the virtual meeting of the Centerville Rotary Club and welcomed everyone on Zoom. Frank led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and PDG Harvey Smith led us in prayer today.
President Frank Perez announced the District Conference will be April 23 & 24. Registration for this virtual event will open soon. It should be a lot of fun with music, trivia and BYOB on Friday night. Saturday, Kim Forrester (who we sponsored to attend the London School of Economics) will be one of the speakers talking about the impact Rotary has had on her life. There is no cost to attend. Just sign up on My Rotary.
Brad Huffman shared the golf committee meets again this afternoon. There is a month left for planning and we still need teams to sign up. Brad created a document for Rotarians to form your foursomes - link
HERE to the spreadsheet. It also includes a link to pay for your ticket.
Our Happy Bucks recipient St. Paul, United Methodist Church Food Bank. You can send your check to the club mailbox: Centerville Rotary Club, PO Box 41431, Centerville, OH 45431-0431
Boyd Preston was our Sergeant at Arms today.
Chuck King gave $20 noting he ran into Raj Grandhi at the Lexis dealer, and then saw Anne Blackburn. He stopped to say hello and invited both to come back to the meetings.
Ron Hollenbeck gave $10 to congratulate the Golf and 50th Anniversary Committees for the great work and he is happy his NCAA bracket is still intact.
Elda Gotos-Gay gave $20 saying she had great time in St Louis with her son and granddaughter.
Pat Beckel gave $30 noting he is super happy Rebecca is working with him. He has two sponsorships for golf, but claimed Rebecca hasn’t sent them in yet. Pat announced a grand opening next Thursday, 2 pm at Beckel Humidor and Aficionado, located at 33 W Franklin.
Rebecca Quiñones gave $15 noting Pat keeps her too busy and won’t give her time for personal business at work, also she is leaving for New Mexico next week for a visit with her husband, Carlos.
Uriah Anderson gave $10 announcing he passed his Certified Parks & Recreation Professional exam.
Brian Hayes made a remark about being certified to cut grass which Carol Kennard refuted noting the profession is a lot more than playing outside, the exam is a difficult one, and the certification requires continued education.
Carol Kennard then gave $20 to congratulate Uriah and shared her excitement to be visiting her 16 month old granddaughter this weekend in Pittsburgh. (She hasn’t seen her in 7 months!)
Jim Harris gave $10 as he received a happy text from his granddaughter who got her first covid shot this morning.
Sofie Ameloot gave $10 to announce her oldest daughter will graduate May 1 from Ohio University and plans to be a history teacher.
Harvey Smith gave $20 because its spring.
Frank Perez gave $20 for his birthday today, noting he turned 21, 30 years ago.
Our speakers today were Joyce Kasprzak , Executive Director of Children’s Historical Publishing and Kim Villalva, author of Empowered Women, Ohio Women in the Military.
Frank Perez introduced our speakers and noted the purpose of Children’s Historical Publishing is to create books and then donate them to children. They have donated a little over 600,000 books to date.
Joyce mentioned the organization is 20 years old, and to date, they have written 32 books with the goal to educate, inspire, and entertain. The books are on local topics, and local history, and are intended to add to the teacher’s curriculum. Joyce then shared information about several of their titles.
- Credit Talks - teaches about how to use credit safely.
- My Dream Home - teaches what must be done to prepare for success that allows you to purchase a home.
- The Curve Ball - highlighting the Negro league baseball team and how they overcame obstacles.
- Money Talks - geared to 3rd graders, teaches how money passes through many hands and helps them understand the value of money.
- Haki Finds Common Ground - shares historical law information and shows how compromise works.
- History of the UAW - life of unions, good for the economy and the people.
- Story of Paul Lawrence Dunbar - lived on 3rd street right here in Dayton.
- Home for the Heroes - Dayton VA is the 3rd oldest VA in the US. Lincoln signed the document to incorporate this as a soldier’s home.
- Several books on aviation - Women in Aviation; Adventures in Aerospace; The Tuskegee Airmen and more. Encourage kids to visit local places & get sticker.
- For the Love of Dance - celebrating the Dayton Ballet 75th anniversary, and telling the story of how the company was started by two jewish women who were not really welcomed. It is the 2nd oldest ballet in the country.
- Great Women of Dayton - highlight women who are on Wall of Fame.
- Water, Water Everywhere - tells the story of the 1913 Flood
- Dayton inventor and Inventions - highlights the people, places & things invented here.
Kim then shared she wrote a book on Ohio Women in the Military. She reminded us of the historic moment at this year’s Super Bowl - the B-2 Bomber flyover was led by a woman pilot (first female B-2 pilot), and she came from Dayton. Kim started thinking about how women got to this point and decided to write the book on the subject in a way to help teach critical thinking skills to middle and high school students.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Kim shared these stories of achievements:
1775-1783 During the Revolutionary War, women started off as Camp Followers. Deborah Sampson decided she wanted to serve so she dressed as a man and became the first woman to serve in the US Military. Kim said we don’t know the exact number of women who posed as men. Some were found as they came out for their pension, but many went quietly back to their lives after the war.
1861-1865 During the American Civil War, more women served as nurses and also posed as men. The book talks about the role of women in society at that time and the barriers they faced. It was illegal for them to serve in the military, but some pushed through those barriers. Some women posing as men were spies - Frank Thompson (Sarah Emma Edmonds) was the most famous. The book explores how their series of actions cemented their place in history.
Transformational Milestones are inserted between the war chapters, telling other stories such as the WWI “Hello Girls” who were telephone operators on the front lines.
WWII saw several gains for the military, including Charity Adams Earley from Dayton, who was the first African American women officer. When asked what she thought of becoming a Major, she said, “I just wanted to do my job.”
Kim also interviewed some of today’s military women to explore where we are right now and the unique challenges they still face today.
Kim then shared the story of Sarah Emma Edmonds. During the Civil War, she wanted to serve, so she disguised herself as a man. When walking through with a medic, she saw a soldier who had a major wound in his neck. Sarah knew the soldier on the ground was also a woman in disguise. She and her brother were orphaned so she wanted to serve with him. He died a few hours earlier in battle. The woman asked Sarah to keep her secret so she could finish her life and be recognized as a soldier. We will never know her true identity.
Joyce said they get all of their funding through grants, donations, and lots of personal volunteerism. She said to let them know if there’s a school we would like them to donate to. They are just starting to work with Centerville City Schools.
Frank Perez thanked Joyce and Kim for the interesting presentation and for the important work they do. He then led the club in reciting the 4-Way Test.
Our speaker next week will be Libby Nicholson with Dayton Children’s CARE House.
