President King thanked our greeters.
He called Harvey Smith and Boyd Preston up front. PDG Harvey Smith presented Past President Boyd with his Paul Harris-plus six pin, which has a real ruby in it.
Ron Hollenbeck was asked to give an update on our hopes of a Global grant for our Haiti water
pump project. Ron said because of all the turmoil in Haiti, it is unlikely that we will get the grant, that would have allowed for 10 pumps, but that we have enough pledges from other clubs in our district to put in three Life-Pumps is they all honor their pledges.
The riots in the streets of Haiti and protests have stymied any further progress at this time, he said.
Arnie was able to report that sponsorships for the Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser is up to more than $25,000. A great effort by all.
Arnie said the $1,000 we gave for the pop-up dog parks was a huge success, as instead of just three such pop-ups, there were six. We got a lot of support out of that.
Don Overly was welcomed back after being away while his wife Dottie was failing. We will miss her dearly. If you never heard her beautiful singing voice, you missed a lot. She said she majored in music, and you sure could tell by her singing of God Bless America.
The club finished putting the labels on the dictionaries last week and members have begun distributing them to the schools. John Beals said he had been to Incarnation School.
Joyce Young will be our speaker next week, as it World Polio Day.
The next Board meeting will be Oct. 21 at the Centerville-Washington Park District headquarters at 5:30 p.m. New members are invited to attend the meeting.
It was mentioned at the last meeting that we had $9,700 for Operation Warm, our project to
provide new warm winter coats for those in need.
Here's another picture of Boyd and Harvey.
On Nov. 7 from 5:30 to 8:45 P.m. there will be a workshop in the Community Room at Middletown High School on various topics dealing with membership recruitment.There's a dinner and program.
President Chuck King sent out e-mails on how to register for this and the Rotary Leadership Institute.
On Nov. 9, a Saturday, there will be a Rotary Leadership Institute with training sessions 1,2, and 3.
President King said it is a good way to meet members from other clubs. The fee for this is $50, but the club will reimburse you for that.
President King said he got an e-mail before the meeting from the Washington-Centerville Library that on Nov.3 they are holding a Race to the Holidays walk-run, and that they had donated two free tickets, which were up for grabs for anyone wishing to participate.
President King said the Dayton Business Journal had listed honorees among the non-profits and that Grace Works of Lutheran Services, of which Judy Budi is the CEO, was the standout, with awards to be made on Nov. 7.
Happy Bucks were collected this week by Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers, with Terry Hanauer collecting the funds.
The Happy Bucks go for the Dayton Food Bank this quarter. Next quarter it's for the Alzheimer's Association of the Miami Valley.
The Happy Bucks this day also included an auction. Sofie Ameloot,, ever the go-getter,
brought in a box from the Day Spa, which included hair sprays and hand lotion and a $50 gift certificate, making the value on the box $100.
Erich said the club was just $190 away from reaching a goal of $10,000 for Operation Warm.
He asked who would give face value for the box. Here's where Terry Hanauer comes in again.
Erich said he would give $90 if someone would give the $100 to make the $10,000 goal. Terry said he would give the $100, so the goal was met.
Then the Happy Bucks began to flow, and when it got to Joyce Young, she said that since she had been absent for so many weeks, she wanted to pay $100 for five coats for Operation Warm, as she is happy to be back. How's that for exceeding every goal. Thanks Terry, Erich and Joyce and all the others who so generously gave during the months.
Jeff Senney said that he had to pay for his birthday as it had falsely been listed as being in November, while it is in October. He also said that this was his birthday and that he and his wife celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on Putin Bay, and that his son proposed to his girlfriend.
How much happier can you get?
Many gave for our guests and Don and Dottie Overly. And Doc Hoback said he was glad Terry offered the $100, as he was about to make the offer.
Then someone mentioned that Don Overly was surely "the man" as he and Dottie were married for 64 years, and kept up to date on everything.
And I heard Bockrath say $20 and Susan said she was Happy to be back and someone gave $50 for Operation Warm, and Happy Birthday was sung for the birthday boys.
Speaker of the Week: Taryn Filer, Washington-Centerville Public Library
reference librarian, talking about the Dayton Pizza Wars...
Vice President Brian Hayes presented our speaker Taryn Filer, reference librarian from the
Washington-Centerville Public Library.
He said she received her BA in psychology from Wright State and as a reference librarian, also leads uncorked book discussions and deals with helping people find their roots.
The pizza wars in Dayton started in the 1960s, Taryn said. Ron's Pizza in Miamisburg, Marion's, and Cassano's were the first pizza warriors, and they are still around to feed the pizza crowds today.
In fact, Taryn said Marion's is ranked in the top 100 pizza restaurants, selling 1.3 million pizzas and making 25 million dollars a year.
Taryn said the word pizza actually can be dated to 997 A.D. Flat flour cake was eaten at different early times and was found in Pompei in the 1800s and in 1922 and various other times in Italy with tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil, etc.
She said Vic Cassano chose to cut the pizza into small squares, as if people wanted to taste the pizza, and didn't like it, there were lots of squares for tasting, rather than use a pie shape.
She said Ron's Pizza started in Miamisburg as a Cassano's franchise, from 1960 to 1964.
Ron Holp, the owner, decided to start a competing chain to Cassano's in 1964, which started the so-called pizza wars, as he was accused of using Cassano's crust as his base. He said he had his own dough recipe, though the sheriff came and talked to Ron and he was sued. The bakery still used the same dough recipe, she said.
Vic Cassano Sr. opened Dayton's oldest pizza parlor on June 4, 1953, Taryn said. Vic & Moms was opened in a 15-foot room in the back of his parent's place, she said.
She said Vic Cassano was only two years old when his mother died. He was put in an orphanage, she said.
In 1986 the Cassano company was sold to Greyhound, which opened 33 new restaurants. They went to Columbus, but they all closed by 1989. There was an imbezzlement by a Randy Lesher, who wrote at $90,000 check to himself in May of 1959, and he spent three years in prison for that, she said.
Vic Cassano Jr. saw the company get a 28 percent increase in July, 2003 and in 2004 established the Cassano Call Center. By 2016, Cassanos had 32 locations and $100 million annual revenue, she said.
She said Marion Glass had dropped out of high school when a junior and worked in a sandwich shop and then had a cigarette and candy vending machine business. He offered vending machines to Cassano, she said, but then started his own pizza shop, hiring someone to design an authentic Italian outdoor cafe. She said he had Mehaffie's Pie develop the crust. The Kenley Players frequented the shop over the years and pictures of the stars line the walls of the shop. She said Phyllis McGuire loved the way the pizzas were made and had 36 large half-baked pizzas shipped to her home in Las Vegas. Marions has kept in the news by offering price cut backs on various anniversary years for one day...such as for $2.50 in 1985, for 20 years back.
The dough Holp's wife Abbie made was so close to the Cassano’s variety that Vic Cassano Sr. sued Hop claiming he was taking Cassano’s dough and using it in the Ron’s restaurant. In court, Holp won the case, but the judge ordered him to continue to operate his Cassano’s franchise for another year before he could sell it.
Following the trial, Glass went into business for himself and started Marion’s Piazza on Patterson Road in Dayton. Holp said Glass wanted him to sell his dough for Marion’s crust.
At his peak, Holp ran five pizza shops in the southern Dayton area.
At the end of the meeting, Don Gerhardt led the club in singing The Pancake Breakfast
Song...to the tune of Take me out to the ball game...
and here are more of the singers...
and here are more...
and here is the song itself, written by Don Gerhardt...
The Rotary meeting was adjourned with the reciting of the Four-Way Test