President Sofie Ameloot welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Ray Mertz provided the prayer.
Our inspirational quote from Don Overly "Be thankful for what you have - You'll end up having more." Oprah Winfrey
Thank you to our greeter today Socks Bowersocks
Induction of Ernie Haven: Adam Manning is his sponsor and Boyd Preston is his mentor.
From our new member, Ernie Haven:
I have lived in Bellbrook for the last 25 years. My business offices are primarily in Centerville, Waynesville, and Bellbrook. The print component of my business which is to publish family friendly magazines. Currently have 14 publications in print from Tipp City, in Troy, Minster Ohio and all the way to the three that I mentioned and West Chester. This is my first opportunity to be involved in the Centerville community. I have two kids. My wife and I will be married 35 years. My son works in Cincinnati. My daughter works at the Dayton VA. They are both in their mid 20s. I am a Deputy Mayor in Bellbrook. Outside of that I am excited to get involved in the City of Centerville and thanks for accepting.
- Recap of action taken this week and at the board meeting
- Survey last week. Overall the review of our club is very good. Kelly will explain the results next week. We do want to hear more specific suggestions from you. Unfortunately, only one person signed up for our service project at Hannah’s Treasure Chest. So, we cancelled the event.
- Zoom membership meeting with the District went well. Sofie was happy that 4 people from Centerville were on the call, Frank, Kelly, Kristin and Sofie. They had some good ideas, and we will try and work some in the future.
- Dictionaries and Thesauri - We had a very big group of people to come and help to put the bookplates in. We were done in one hour. Now they need to be distributed to the schools. We need more Rotarians to distribute them. We need eight more volunteers.
- Great turn out for tree planting last Friday. Dave Trout said we had a phenomenal turn out. 9 kids from Environmental club and 2 from Interact – 8 trees planted. There was some adult supervision by Dave Trout, his daughter and husband, Gina, Ron, Bill, and Sofie. Dave brought his son and daughter in-law.
- On Saturday Centerville and Oakwood Rotary Clubs co-sponsored a social/cultural event for our Inbound exchange students at Carillon Park Museum. We had 4 students; One from Peru, Mexico Hungary and our Enzyme from Thailand. It was fun seeing all the new exhibits at Carillon and to show the kids the Wright Brothers bike shop and plane. I think they were impressed by it all.
Other business:
- Regarding our exchange student, Enzyme. Amy Hary will host her through the holidays Jan 6th. We need help on this matter. Please help.
- Jim Harris has had a heart procedure and will start 6 to 12 weeks of Rehab Cardio the first of December. Hopes to regain more stamina. Please send him some well wishes!
- We received a very well-meaning thank you note from Artemis for our donation and volunteering.
- From the Board meeting:
- for the Rotary Gala on April 25, 2025 we decided to donate at the Bronze Level- $500.00 like last year.
- MLK sponsorship approved as in the past for $250.00 (5 tickets).
- Uriah Anderson– requested $500 – the Washington Township is getting a new mobility vehicle with a ramp. They needed help in covering 20% not covered by grants.
- Education Foundation: Brad Thorp voted in as Chair.
- Membership Committee changed hands from Arnie Biondo to Kristin Hutton. She is working on ideas to engage new members.
Committee Chairs:
- Adopt A family Drop Off Your Gifts: Due 3-6 pm on Dec 5th or Dec 9th from 7 -10 am, you need to spend $75.00. Lisa and Gina are shopping together at Kohls.
- Rotary Foundation month 9 people have signed.
- We have our Christmas party on Dec 12th. RSVP no later than Dec 4th. Please don’t forget to respond to Crissy! Remember it will have live music.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat Beckel - announced this weekend is the Centerville’s Uptown Holiday Walk with a Christmas Tree lighting, events from 2-5 pm including Santa Claus and carriage rides. Beckel Humidor will be running husband daycare - drop them off for football, free food, free drinks for anybody that comes in during Uptown Holiday Walk. Beckel Humidor will also be starting Mentorship Mondays.
- Ray Mertz – oldest son and wife are coming this weekend from Columbus to help celebrate his birthday.
- Gina Smith – just happy.
- Sofie Ameloot – happy to see Jim Harris today who had a successful procedure and happy for our speaker Mryia to be here today.
- Jim Harris – happy to be here today. If you want to know about Congestive Heart Failure, give him a call.
- Lee Hieronymus – Ohio Corn and Wheat (OCW) hosted the U.S. Grains Council and a trade team from the Philippines at the Leis family farm in Farmersville, Ohio as part of the Philippines Delegation Export Exchange. They looked at our corn crop, meet with farmers, and saw our supply chain here in Ohio.
- Jeff Senney – went to Washington DC last weekend to visit his son and his family.
- Uriah Anderson – leaving early today because Friday night is opening night for Woodland Lights. Our 20,000 people will attend the event for the next month or so.
- Boyd Preston – welcomed Ernie to the Club.
- Adam Manning – for Ernie.
- Socks Bowersocks – for Ernie and he is happy.
- Ron Hollenbaugh – welcome Ernie and finally got his roof repaired.
- Harvey Smith – welcome Ernie.
- Pat Turnbull – lots going on for the City’s Uptown Holiday Weekend (Woodland Lights at Washington Township, Uptown Holiday Concert at Town Hall, Uptown Holiday Walk.)The highlight of the weekend is the Mayor's Tree Lighting on Sunday at Benham's Grove. The ceremony features performances from performing arts groups from around the City and more as the City officially kicks off the holiday season.
- Elda Gotos Gay – just happy and her family from St. Louis are coming next Friday.
- Dale Berry – for all going on this weekend in our community. The Centerville Elks (football team) have made the state semifinals.
- Raj – I missed some meetings so I’m paying some monies. Went to Mexico and we have been brainwashed about Mexico because it is a beautiful place, great people and good food. I had so much fun.
Our Speaker today was Mryia Williams with Solar United Neighbors.
Myria Williams is the Is the Ohio Program Associate at Solar United Neighbors,
She is a dedicated advocate for solar energy adoption and sustainable transportation solutions. She leads solar co-ops in Central Ohio, Cincinnati, and Dayton
and played a pivotal role in enacting Net Metering in Columbus. With a 13.4 kW rooftop solar array and two electric vehicles, she not only promotes renewable energy but lives it. In her spare time, she serves as the Executive Director of Drive Electric Columbus, furthering her commitment to advancing environmentally friendly transportation options.
Solar United Neighbors is a national non-profit, vendor neutral, solar organizers, educators, communicators, and policy and technology nerds. They are neighbors dedicated to building an energy system that works.
They help people to go solar. Solar United Neighbors began in 2007 when Anya Schoolman’s son Walter and his friend Diego saw An Inconvenient Truth. They decided they wanted to install solar panels on their homes. When Anya looked into going solar, though, she discovered it was complicated and expensive.
But Walter and Diego would not be talked out of it. Anya wondered if some sort of bulk purchase might make solar affordable. So Diego and Walter knocked on doors throughout their neighborhood. In just two weeks, they signed up 50 neighbors who also wanted to go solar.
That first group — the Mt. Pleasant Solar Cooperative — helped 45 neighbors go solar. They also passed legislation to improve local solar policies, fought for their rights as energy producers, and shared their success with friends and neighbors. Soon after, other neighbors from across the region started organizing solar co-ops and fighting for better solar policies together.
Solar United Neighbors grew out of this movement. Since 2007, they’ve expanded across the country, doing on-the-ground projects and helping communities everywhere take control of their energy.
Their growth has been organic. They’ve gone through a number of name changes as they’ve evolved from a small neighborhood project to a national organization helping people fight for their energy rights across the country. But, throughout it all, they’ve remained committed to the idea that people should have a say in their energy system and, if they invest in it, they should benefit from it.
Nationally they worked in 12 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They have helped several thousands families across the country to go solar. Here in Ohio, they introduced their program in 2015 and since then have helped 750 households to go solar. They also helped small businesses and non-profit as well.
Mission - They’re a community of people building a new energy system with rooftop solar at the cornerstone. They help people go solar, join together, and fight for their energy rights.
Impact
Building a new energy system is an audacious goal, but the passion and commitment of our members have convinced us that it’s possible.
President Ameloot thanked Myria for the great information and wished all a very happy Thanksgiving with family and friends. There is no meeting next week while we all enjoy quality family time!
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