President Frank Perez welcomed everyone in person and on Zoom to the meeting of the Centerville Rotary Club. Frank led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance and Harvey Smith gave a prayer.
Sofie Ameloot provided these updates:
- Dictionaries and thesauri have arrived. We are scheduled to label them on Tuesday, Nov. 10 starting at 9 am. Sofie needs a few more volunteers. Please let her know if you can help.
- Adopt a Family - we have chosen to provide for 20 kids and we need two more volunteers to purchase a $50 gift card for WalMart, Target or Kohls for the student. Please get your gift card to Sofie before the November 23 deadline to turn them in to the schools.
Joyce Young had this announcement:
- November is Rotary Foundation month. Joyce distributed letters to each member noting how much is needed to reach the next level of Paul Harris Fellow. The club will match your donation dollar for dollar so she encourages all to give this November. She mentioned you can direct your entire donation to Polio Plus if you desire.
Joyce Young and Harvey Smith invited Boyd Preston to the front of the room to recognize him for his generosity to achieve a Paul Harris Fellow +7. Thank you for your support of Rotary, Boyd!
President Frank noted we will skip Happy Dollars this week so the meeting can focus on planning for our 50th Anniversary. Frank introduced Carol Kennard, co-chair of the 50th Anniversary planning committee.
Carol reminded everyone how we celebrated our 40th Anniversary:
- Cocktail reception & dinner recognizing past presidents, PHF, PHSociety, Club history, and keynote speaker (polio survivor Bob Hadley)
- $23,000 donation to Polio Plus
- 80-page book on the club’s history
- Started DDN insert w/paid ads
- Budget $15,800
Our Rotary Board budgeted $25,000 for 50th Anniversary which we hope to supplement with fundraising efforts.
Carol introduced the planning committee:
Carol Kennard - Co-chair
Sofie Ameloot - Co-chair
Judy Budi
Lee Hieronymus
Dick Hoback
Chuck King
Adam Manning
Don Overly
Frank Perez
Boyd Preston
Rebecca Quiñones
Kim Senft-Paras
Harvey Smith
The 50th Anniversary planning committee feels an impactful celebration would include focus on our local community to raise awareness of the important role we play in Centerville and Washington Township. Or it could be in the form of a party or something else. Today's meeting was focused on getting input from the club to help shape our celebration. Carol provided questions for small group discussion and then each group reported back out to the large group.
Here is a summary of the discussion by members on Zoom and in person:
Goal of Anniversary should be to raise awareness in the community of Rotary and our work.
Caution for us to remain aware of needs in the Community as we plan and we come out of the pandemic
Could start in 2021 but target 2022 for the more community focused larger events- more planning time and past Covid.
Want a long lasting Impact project- we get publicity, raise awareness, generate excitement, potentially get new members. We talked about a local charity need vs a public entity need and the group wants this to be visible and exist after the event and not support a program- discussed Hannah's as an example- don't just want to support an existing project. Plus how would we pick just one charity and if we pick 10 then we lose the impact.
Budget and finances: Concern about how much members will be expected to give so support the celebration. Question how the club is paying for this? Discussed not wanting to dilute the business and other financial support for pancake and the golf outing. We need to utilize those two events to raise awareness of the 50 years.
Internal- like the monthly history moments, goal for members under "50", Interact joint project?
Externally- raise awareness, connect with the community, connect with other service clubs, other rotary clubs, other non-profits. Community celebration and fun event- not big on formal dinner. Like a large service project.
Media connected to the things we are doing and not just about the club
Opportunity to re-energize the club after COVID
- Get us back on track with our fundraisers & charity work locally
- Re-energize awareness of club throughout community
Think big- especially for celebration event- a 1X event for current members
- Include community and business leaders and young leaders in local high schools (e.g. freshmen & sophomores) and Interact students- encourage them to bring guests (potential members)
- Esp. include business leaders who have been long time supporters of our efforts
40th anniversary book – don’t do again- do something digital that can be used to support club’s plans during next several years
Yes, to doing a big project to support community for foreseeable future
- Ensure strong Rotary/ Rotary Club recognition
- Ensure very visible to residents & visitors to Centerville & Washington Township
Potential projects:
- Entrance to Centerville (Alex-Bell & 48). Consider including Park District, Schools, Library, Centerville & Township in details / signage
- Centerville Schools- involve Interact & students
- Develop a “Rotary Park or section of park” with Park District
- Monarch Garden idea (could combine with a school project
Do all events in 2022- big celebration event close to actual date (6/13/22)
- Use 2021 as a planning year
- Set quarterly themes for activities- e.g. club history, recruitment of new members, service, celebration
Definitely include in plans a drive to raise funds for Rotary Foundation- set aggressive goal
- Not labor intensive – include donations from club mbrs & club itself
- Consider dedicating a fundraiser that year to RF (e.g. golf outing)
Consider asking permission to put up flags throughout community celebrating our anniversary.
Carol thanked everyone for the great conversation and ideas. The committee will review all input and start to solidify the plans!
Frank said for everyone to have a great week, be safe and stay healthy until next week!
