05/28/15 John Beals and Gary Kuntz
06/04/15 Don Overly and John Laufersweiler
06/11/15 Arnie Biondo and Ed Flohre
06/18/15 Matthew Kuhn and Butch Spencer
06/25/15 Ray Merz and Brad Thorp
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
05/21/15
Club President Vas Appalaneni opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Merz gave the prayer, and Peachy Metzner led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included: Lauren Kuhn, the daughter of Matt Kuhn; Heidi Azaloff, of Pi Beta Phi; and our speaker Laura Mlavlosky, executive director of Project READ, the latter two, guests of member Joyce Young.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Club president Vas Appalaneni noted that he received a thank you card from Amy Leffel of Design Outreach for the club's sponsorship of two water pumps that are going to be installed in Mali, Africa, by the end of the year. The note said the clean water will mean life-saving changes to the people in the village where the pumps are installed.
President Vas said he has only received four ballots thus far for the voting on Rotarian of the Year. He would like to see nominations sent in by this coming week's meeting. He said he would be sending out e-mails and you can respond to them with your information if you wish. The criteria for selection was on the form he distributed at our last meeting.
Club member Pat Beckel is standing in for Erich Eggers as Sgt-at-Arms for this week and next. Rotarians from our club played on five teams at the Hithergreen Golf Outing, which Beckel said was outstanding. Greg Horn also praised the outing, which Beckel said provided food, and then more food, along with exceptional gifts, etc.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Pat Beckel collected Happy Bucks to help support the VA Gardens project.
Ed Flohre said he got to go back to his alma mater, Alter High School, to present one of our club's Rotary scholarships. Ray Merz presented seven scholarships to Centerville High School students from the club. He spent two weeks in the Netherlands and Belgium and was there for VE Day celebrations.
Kim Senft-Paras thanked the city manager for the city's making a safe egress behind the Woodbourne Library that will be called Bob Corbin Drive, in honor of our late Rotary Club member Bob Corbin, who served in the Ohio House of Representatives. She said the added sidewalks opened the library to the neighborhood for a safe access also.
SPEAKER: Laura Mlavlosky, executive director of Project READ, a coalition of more than 100 literacy organizations, schools and businesses working together to build skilled workers, strong families and healthy communities through lifelong literacy. The program's Helpline helps match hundreds of adults each year with free learning opportunities. It also trains hundreds of volunteers each year to serve as literacy tutors for adults and youth. Since 1990, it has been located at Sinclair Community College. It relies on grants and individual gifts for financial support.
Laura was born and reared in Cincinnati. She is a UD graduate and the executive director for Project READ, said Ron Hollenbeck, who introduced her to the club. She started her career at Project READ by signing up for one year of service through AmeriCorps VISTA. When the year of service ended, her project did not so she was hired as Project READ's Volunteer Coordinator, a position she held until 2005, he said. A mother of two, Laura juggled motherhood and a new role with Project READ as Development Specialist from 2006 through 2013. Since Jan. 2004, she has served as the executive director.
- Laura handed out a quiz paper for all to fill out, asking questions about what we know about the literacy of the American public. She said the Grismer Tire Co. will be collecting children's books through June 15th to help out Project READ. Project Read is trying to collect 1,500 children's books to put in Good-to-Go backpacks for Dayton school children. The backpacks are filled on Friday afternoons so the children have food over the weekend, and the books would be added to them on a Friday. They hope to add a book to each backpack, and since there are 1,500 kids taking part in the program, they set 1,500 books as a goal.
- Laura said a family-owned store, Look At A Book, in the Antique Village store behind Sam's in Washington Twp., has given 125,000 books for free and are donating a portion of their sales to help Project READ. The Look At A Book store sells three books for $10 and has used and new books for sale, she said. You can donate books there too.
- Project READ is also involved in a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, which is building bookcases for children's books for kids moving in.
- Project Read needs tutors and volunteers.
Laura said that in Montgomery County, according to the latest national survey, only 34 percent of adults read at the basic or below basic levels...considered the sixth grade level.
The National Institute for Literacy says that 61 percent of inner city households have no books or reading materials of any kind.
The reading skills of the child's mother is the number one determinant of a child's reading level, according to numerous surveys, she said.
Low literacy rates correlate closely with negative outcomes in the following areas: health, voter participation, and imprisonment, and a child's third grade reading level is a predictor of eighth grade reading level, high school graduation, and college attendance, Laura said.
In 2014 The Project READ Helpline individually matched 1,603 adult learners with local classes. The classes are free and include GED, reading, English language, and family literacy classes.
The Adult Literacy Services Program managed 116 volunteers and served 105 adult learners in 2014.
The Youth Literacy Services Program managed 463 volunteers who tutored 613 children during the 2013-14 school year.
Project READ's Paid Volunteer Program , which has long-term tutors and classroom aides for local literacy programs, had three tutors instructing 186 adults and 101 children.
The Book Distribution Project gave nearly 19,000 books donated by book distributors, publishers, through sponsored book purchases and volunteer-led book drives.
Heidi Azaloff, a member of Pi Beta Phi, which in 2005, began a partnership with a reading awareness program called Read Across America, was also present at the meeting. The woman's service club has partnered with Project READ to collect books for the children.
According to Wikipedia:
Commenced by the National Education Association in early March, 1998, Read Across America was created to stimulate reading motivation and awareness. It has been shown through extensive research that children who are more motivated to read in turn do better in school. A celebration of reading is head annually on March 2 in honor of the birthday of well-known and beloved children's book author, Dr. Seuss. Pi Beta Phi chapters across the country hold special literacy events and gatherings at their respective campuses that support and celebrate their partnership with Read Across America. Pi Beta Phi is also actively involved in and supports many other literacy programs such as First Book, Speed Read, Champions Are Readers, and Arrow In The Arctic, to name a few. Several philanthropic events and book drives are held at Pi Beta Phi chapters at colleges across the country to help promote literacy and get kids excited about reading.
Project READ can be reached at 937-461-7323 or www.project-read.org.
The Centerville Rotary is participating in Project READ with a grant donation.
Note: Apologies to Mike Wier.....for spelling his name Weir in the past bulletin. Got to keep Fred and him straight.
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