Frank Perez welcomed everyone to his first meeting as President of the Centerville Rotary Club. The club met for our 9th Zoom meeting, as this is the 16th week since we met in person.
Dale Berry led the Pledge of Allegiance, Dick Hoback recited the 4-Way Test, and Harvey Smith led us in a prayer.
President Frank provided these updates:
- Kitty Ullmer is out of the hospital and now staying at her brother’s house. She is determined to get better so is focusing on resting and letting the medications do their work. She is very appreciative of all of the phone calls, cards, and notes received from her Rotary family. If you would like to reach out, Kitty’s brother’s address is 7204 Tarryton, Dayton 45459. Her cell number is in Clubrunner if you would like to give her a call (937-902-4862)
- Arnie Biondo sent this message: “Thank you to those who have sent me speaker suggestions for the new Rotary year. And we sure could use some more recommendations from the club. Just email Arnie with your ideas and a contact person. He’ll do the rest!”
Sofie Ameloot noted we have collected a nice stack of donations plus $450 in donations for St Vincent de Paul. She will gladly take any more you have through Monday. Project Warm Happy Bucks kicks off this quarter. Sofie provided an update on last year’s project:
- $10,000 raised to purchase 534 coats ($2,500 was a district grant which we also received this year.)
President Frank noted last quarter was our best collection for Happy Bucks ever and encouraged the club to continue the generous giving.
To keep connected as a club, please send a short note of any news about yourself or family to Carol Kennard at cgkennard@woh.rr.com so she can post it in our Centerville Rotary Club eBulletin. Text photos to 937-581-6744.
Our Happy Dollars for this quarter are going to Project Warm – please be generous with your Happy Dollars for this good cause. You can send your check to the club mailbox: Centerville Rotary Club, PO Box 41431, Centerville, OH 45458
Brian asked for Happy Bucks and many Rotarians gave generously.
- Peachy Metzner ($20) was celebrating two of his five grandchildren who have birthdays this weekend.
- Ron Hollenbeck ($100) gave for Project Warm.
- Elda Gotos Gay ($20) to announce her youngest granddaughter’s heart surgery went well.
- Dale Berry ($20) for a Project Warm coat.
- Sofie Ameloot ($20) for a Project Warm coat and for a great vacation in North Carolina that included a COVID compliant family activity of picking blueberries. She also thanked Rotarians for donations to her Tour de Gem fundraiser and noted she has met her goal of $500.
- Jim Harris ($20) for a Project Warm coat and to give thanks that Kitty is doing better.
- Harvey Smith ($20) for a Project Warm coat.
- Mike Weir ($20) for the wonders of technology that allowed Carol Kennard to join the club meeting while on the road to visit her granddaughter.
- Chuck King ($20) for a Project Warm coat and in hopes that Carol was not driving (she then showed her husband behind the wheel!)
- Frank Perez ($20) for the new Rotary year and for Kitty being out of the hospital.
- Dick Hoback ($20) for vacationing out of town at Norris Lake.
Today’s speaker is Arch Grieve from the Four Cities Young Leader Academy.
Brian Hayes introduced our speaker, Arch Grieve from the Four Cities Young Leader Academy which is a Bosnia-Herzegovina-Dayton student exchange program. Arch is also a Mediation Specialist and Chair of the Sister City program.
Arch provided some basic facts about the Bosnia and Herzegovina area:
Arch noted there is a political gridlock since there are three presidents for the area.The Sister City with Dayton was formed after the Dayton Peace Accord and the goal is to support connections and ethnic dialogue.
The first student exchange took place in 2016 with a large delegation from Dayton traveling to Bosnia. The program costs were covered by a grant from the US Department of State. Arch described how beautiful the country is and how they enjoyed the good food and fun activities.
The Four Cities Young Leader Academy has three parts:
- Orientation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Travel to the US for activities & sightseeing
- Back to Bosnia-Herzegovina to follow up on their projects
They focus on fostering relationships, focus on democratic principles, and develop leadership skills to make changes in their home communities.
Students stay with host families in the U.S. who provide lodging, food, and transportation to activities around the Dayton area. Families are given a $500 stipend to help with costs. The program includes:
- Introduction of the ideals of our political system
- Challenges to democracy
- Tools for effecting change
- Exhibition Night: showing what they want to do back home; kids do presentations TedTalk-like and present projects they will work on.
Aside from the challenges COVID-19 poses for the project, they also struggle with youth apathy (feel their vote doesn’t count), brain drain, corruption challenges, and other countries wanting to have a say in what they do.
Arch noted they are always looking for families to host students and hope to be ready to start a new group in March 2021. Students are ages 15-17, generally in 10th or 11th grade.
He said there is a South Slavic group in Dayton that is a good source for learning more about the Bosnia-Herzegovina country.
Arch shared a short video, which we had trouble seeing, but here is a link to it:
President Frank closed the meeting by asking everyone to be safe, be healthy and have a great week!
