And Carol Kennard and Harvey Smith come in as Boyd Preston extends a hand, or maybe not, as they are behind him...
Past President Ron Hollenbeck gets the royal treatment.
...While inside the club President Peachy Metzner speaks with our guest speaker and Chuck King.
Jim Harris makes his arrival and stops to chat a bit.
Always dapper Brian Hayes, who is standing in for Erich Eggers as Sgt.-at-Arms this week, has his glasses on to make sure when reading the roster of guests he gets all the names right.
Rebecca Quinones tries to avoid the camera, as last week she was in many of the pictures as a greeter, but the group waited until she got back in the picture.
And here's a good picture of both Sally and Sofie Ameloot, one of our newer members.
And Dan Sortman has been making the meetings more regularly of late.
This dapper gentleman is a visiting Oakwood Rotarian. They have breakfast meetings there, he said. Note his comment in the Happy Bucks section. Russell Maas is his name.
Jeff Senney ran into this young lady at the local Panera. Christelle Chongwain comes from Cameroon. She's a student at Sinclair College and hopes to go on with her studies at UD in a medical program.
Inside the room meanwhile the chatting goes on as the club members gather.
Lee Hieronymus and his growing beard have contacted with our guest from Oakwood.
Jen Gibbs heads up this table.
While Frank Perez has come in and now Peachy Metzner is out and about talking to Sally and crew.
And now they've stopped to really greet.
And inside Harvey Smith and Jim Harris chat a while.
And this man has just stolen a kiss from Sally, his wife. John Beals is the name. Centerville City Council is his game, and he helps out RYLA lads and lassies.
Dan Johnson makes his arrival just before noon. Let the meeting begin.
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 keep Jack Workman, who passed away Feb. 17, and his family, in our prayers, and that we keep Bev Callander and her husband John in our prayers. Bev's cancer surgery was successful, but there were other complications and she is now in Hospice. John said she enjoyed seeing the card signed by club members. Harvey said the lost and the families of the tragedy at the high school in Florida, in which 17 died and many more were shot by a former student, need to be remembered; and Brian Hayes led God Bless America, sung by club members.
The guests at this week's meeting included:
Our speaker, Butch Elfers, of Matthew 25: Ministries; Visiting Oakwood Rotarian Russell Maas; and Christelle Chongwain, of Cameroon, a student at Sinclair College, and guest of Jeff Senney.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our president Peachy Metzner is seen here during the singing of God Bless America.
Sofe Ameloot mentioned the previous week that club members need to bring full-size bottles of shampoo for the District Conference. Our club's contribution is 325 bottles, so each member should bring 5 bottles in the next few weeks, she said. They could also donate and she would buy the shampoo, she said. And indeed, she said she had received $110 thus far for the purchases.
Peachy mentioned that the visitation and the funeral service for our wonderful club member Jack Workman will take place at Normandy Church on Monday. The visitation will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30, with the funeral thereafter at the church, and burial in David's Cemetery, straight up Far Hills at David Road in Kettering...on your left. Pastor Jim Riggs will be officiating. Jack served as the head of the ushers and ushered there for many years. He also traveled to Nigeria to help with polio vaccinations, and served in many other ways, as a local veterinarian and humanitarian. He will be sorely missed by all.
Peachy said the club's board has decided that at the passing of a club Rotarian, the club will send flowers for the funeral, unless the family designates otherwise, as in Jack's case they asked that donations be made to the American Cancer Society in Jack's deceased wife's honor. There will be a $50 cap on the donations/flowers.
At a previous meeting Boyd Preston said he got an e-mail from the district governor, stating that at the upcoming president-elect meeting, which Boyd will be attending, they will be collecting picture books for children to send to a club in Nepal. (Originally he said Mongolia..)
Boyd's message to all via e-mail earlier, said: I will be attending All-Ohio PETs training in Columbus on March 9-10. The District Governor-Elects will be holding a service project among attendees by collecting children’s picture books that will be shipped to Rotary District 3450 – Mongolia. These books will then be translated from English to Mongolian by local high school students. They will make sticker tapes that are placed in the books with the Mongolian translation. A portion of the books collected will be translated into Braille in the same way. The translated books will then be distributed to school children in rural Mongolia by both Ohio and Mongolian Rotarians. They are looking for any children’s picture books but will gladly accept all books that would be appropriate for school aged children, kindergarten – high school.
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 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
He also reminded people to get any new ideas for projects to members of the grant-writing committee just formed in the club.
Peachy said March 15 is the date Rotary will host the 4-Way Test Speech Contest entrants. There are currently five from Centerville High School and one or two from Alter High School, he said.
Anyone with ideas for projects that would need grants to help complete, should let Boyd Preston, Chuck King, Joyce Young, or Frank Perez know.
The Rotary Leadership training is coming up for parts one and three. It will be held at the Greene County Career Center. The club will pay for a member's training.
The District Conference April 27/28 will be held in Springfield and the shampoo donations are for the hygiene kits, some of which will be brought back to the club for distribution to charity.
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. Our contribution will be the shampoos.
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.
Brian handled the Happy Bucks and Boyd Preston collected the money in the absence of Erich Eggers and Gerry Eastabrooks
..And here's Brian Hayes raising the funds for Brigid's Path this week.
Brad Huffman gave $5 for his son's birthday.
Boyd Preston gave $5 for Jack's memory and for Bev and John Callander and Jack's family.
John Beals gave in honor of the U.S. Hockey team's Gold medal. Team Canada usually takes that podium spot, so great goings.
Frank Perez noted that our club service days are coming up.
Wayne Davis gave noting that he missed three meetings and was glad to be back.
Dan Johnson gave for Jack Workman, and John and Bev Callander, and Brigid's Path.
Rebecca Quinones gave for Brigid's Path and Brian Bergmann gave for the U.S. women's hockey team win.
Deb Dulaney gave for missing a couple of weeks, stating, "It's good to be back."
Jeff Senney gave for being in the Caymen Islands and watching the Superbowl, and stating that he won $440 in the Superbowl, and then everyone said he ought to give more for that. He also gave for his guest, seen in the picture below:
Jim Harris gave for John, Beverly, and Jack, and Dick Hoback gave $10, and John Callander gave thanking everyone for signing Bev's card, which he said she enjoyed.
Irene Ullmer gave, and Kitty gave for John, Bev, and Jack, and Carol Kennard gave for John, Bev and Jack, and guest Russell Maas gave for our club serving pie, which they never have at the Oakwood Rotary's breakfast meetings. We had a choice of pumpkin, cherry, and pecan.
Lee gave $10 for Jack Workman, noting that Jack was a charter member of the club, and talking about all he did for Rotary, as president of the club and member for 40 some years. He went on many trips and was one of the outstanding founders of this club, Lee said.
Dan Sortman gave for the outstanding Buckeyes.
Matt Kuhn gave for seeing his son in Colorado.
Ron Hollenbeck gave for John, Bev and Jack and getting to see a Flyers game...with his brother...etc.
Dale Berry gave for Dr. Workman's memory.
Arnie Biondo gave for a good friend in the Miamisburg Rotary Club ...
Jen Gibbs gave for something everyone laughed about.
Chuck King gave for attending a meeting of a Rotary club in Wilmington, N. Carolina..saying something about missing one held in the brewery.
Our guest speaker Butch Elfers gave for letting him speak to the club.
Ron Hollenbeck gave for John, Bev, and Jack, noting that in 1973 his dad would only let Jack be his veterenarian. Jack came to geld the horse and his dad's job was holding the head of the stallion, and Jack asked if he would like to change places with him. This brought a big laugh from all, and showed the breath of Jack's humor. Jack was a fisherman too, and loved the outdoors.
Brian Hayes also gave $5 for John, Deb, and Jack.
And now a few words from Saloni, our Indian exchange students from last year. She e-mailed a request to find out how things were going over there in India now that she's back in school there:
I am doing great. The year by now has been amazing. I became the college topper for mathematics in the university exam. Lately I have been winning a lot of debates. It is fun. I really miss Rotary meetings as those were fun as I got to learn. I hope the new exchange student enjoys a lot as the exchange was my life in a year. The girl you mentioned (her friend at CHS) is Anna, though unfortunately I am unable to contact her due to lack of information. I will send my picture in indian neighbourhood. I always tell Nagpur Rotary about Centerville Rotary like how good everyone was and the work they did for the community. That's good to know that the young force is joining the Rotary. I remember Brad and look at the picture with him in that blazer. I wish even other rebounds become future Rotarians. I badly want to visit the states soon. I really wish someone from Centerville would visit me . I will be so honored to host them. I really miss my counselor and my friends. I saw the poster of pancake day and it had my picture which made me feel very special. Please, if you have Ram's uncle's e-mail address, send it to me.
THIS WEEK'S SPEAKER: Butch Elfers, speaking about Matthew 25: Ministries
Below you see Butch Elfers discussing the disaster relief program of Matthew 25: Ministries
Club Vice President Chuck King introduced our speaker. He said Butch is a CPA/CFP, with more than 20 years experience in the financial planning industry.
He said Butch has served on the Board of Directors of Matthew 25: Ministries and supported the ministry through networking and sponsorship activities, and more recently he worked with the M25M Disaster Relief Team in Texas, and traveled to Haiti to serve with a medical mission team.
Chuck said Butch recently made a career change to join the Matthew 25: Ministries team as the Director of Corporate Involvement. He came to our club to provide more information on the group's programs and projects, including updates on their disaster relief activities.
Butch said he joined the Matthew 25: Ministries in December, so he is new to the group as far as explaining all of its past.
He said it is the 61st largest charity in America and is located in Cincinnati.
He said the group's mission is to fulfill Matthew 25:34-40, by providing nutritional food to the hungry, clean water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, affordable shelter to the homeless, medical care to the ill, and humanitarian supplies to those in need. It is also dedicated to spreading the word to the public on the conditions and needs of "the least of these," and providing resources for action.
He said they work both locally, across the U.S., and internationally.
Butch then went on to talk about how the ministry started, with the founder working with five suit cases, and now the group has 40-foot containers that they truck to disaster areas.
He went through a list of the group's history, as shown below.
Butch said the group accepts monetary contributions and product donation of misprinted, slightly damaged, over-stocked or gently used supplies from corporations, hospitals, and individuals nationwide.
He said they add to the donations by manufacturing, assembling, and blending products in-house, including school notebooks, pencils, rice-soy meals, and latex paint.
The group has a 168,000 square foot facility in Cincinnati, that needs expanding for extra storage, he said. That expansion is scheduled to begin about August of this year, he said. They want to add 40,000 additional square feet.
They partner with other organizations to distribute the goods, he said. Their partners include hospitals, clinics, orphanages and feeding centers and schools in developing nations and in the United States.
Butch said that since 1991 the organization has grown from the small suitcase ministry to an international relief organization distributing more than 15 million pounds of products each year in the U.S. and to more than 60 countries worldwide.
It is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit faith-based ministry which helps those in need regardless of religious tradition or political persuasion, he said. It is located at 11060 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati.
The organization relies on volunteers to keep costs down, and has more than 70,000 volunteers that do just that, Butch said. They range from Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops to corporations of all sizes, and individuals. It has received the Best Charities in America Award numerous times, he said. "Greater than 99 percent is given to programs we support," he said.
They sent 70 trucks with supplies to the Hurricane Harvey disaster area, including washers and driers, and handed out product to people in need. In Rockport, Tx., they had no clean water and people were having to bathe at water stations in the Walmart parking lot, he said.
After spending several weeks in Texas, they turned their mission to Florida, where Hurricane Irma had done its damage. Then came Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, where some people still are without electricity, he said.
There were also the California wildfires, with 7,000 structures destroyed. Over 3,000 volunteers showed up to help at the center, following Harvey, he said.
Butch said he went on a medical mission trip to Haiti, where he came to realize "how good we've got it here," with clean water and food. He said one half of the country has no access to clean water.
(Note: Many of you may have noted that Cape Town in South Africa is facing a three-year drought, and the possibility of no water for millions of people. That was reported in the news lately.)
To conclude, Butch mentioned ways people can help their group through donations of money and being part of a volunteer group, having your corporation donate products or services, etc. They have a list of products needed on their Web site, he said. They include such things as product donation, clothing, hygiene articles, non-perishable food, school supplies, pill bottles, cleaning supplies, corporate financial donations, payroll deduction plans, groups setting up disaster relief funds, etc.
Also, just spreading the word about their organization will help, he said. They are on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, he said. They're at www.m25m.org
And a few pictures from the end of the meeting.
Harvey Smith and John Callander have a chat in hopes for the best for John's wife Bev.
The meeting was closed with the reciting of the Rotary Four-Way Test.
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