President-elect Ron said the club has cards to hand out to let people know about our Rotary Club and that anyone with questions about joining can contact members of the membership committee to get more information.

 

Member Shelley Fisher reminded members of the deadline for getting sponsor forms in for the Oct. 24 Pancake Breakfast so the names get in the newspaper insert and on the placemats, etc. That deadline was today, Oct. 1, but extended to Monday, Oct. 5.

 

John Callander agreed to pick up the grills for the Pancake Breakfast, but needs help to do so, as he cannot handle the heavy grills by himself. 

 

Carol Kennard reminded everyone of the Oct. 15 meeting at Oak Grove, and the need to note whether you will be there and/or will also have a guest, so the correct number of meals can be ordered. If you need something other than the standard DLM box lunch, let Carol know by the next meeting. 

 

Peachy mentioned a number of the upcoming events dealing with mental health awareness, which were listed in last week's bulletin...i.e., the Oct. 3 5K Walk with registration at 8:30 a.m. at Wegerzyn Metro Park, 1301 Siebenthaler Ave., with the walk to begin at 10 a.m., and the Oct. 6 National Day of Prayer event at  6 p.m. at Christ the King Lutheran Church, 50 Nutt Road.

 

Kim Senft-Paras noted that the Centerville Library will have a program geared to the business community Oct. 7 at noon on Winning or Losing in Business Today. It is part of the Brown Bag Business Lunch & Learn program, and is for aspiring entrepreneurs dreaming of starting their own business and current business owners, operators and managers who want a realistic assessment of their current business situation. Everyone is welcome. Bring your own lunch. Beverages and desserts will be provided.  It's the first Wednesday every month at noon. And it's free.

 

Boyd Preston headed up a group of members going to the building behind Cline Elementary School after the meeting to put labels on the dictionaries and thesauri to be donated to the area elementary school children in grades three and five. He also passed around sign-up sheets for those wishing to help present the books in the schools in the coming weeks. 

 

Boyd had a jar of pennies that he passed around, asking people to guess how many pennies were in the jar. Turns out there were 324, the number of coats the club will be donating through our Operation Warm Coats. The group had set 300 coats as the end goal and ended up going over the goal by 24 coats, each costing $20. This was 28 more than last year, he said. The club has donated 948 new winter coats for children in the last four years.

 

 

Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers, back from his trip to Germany and a visit to the Munich Oktoberfest, started the collection of money for the Centerville High School Spirit Chain with a donation of $40. The club gathered almost $500 and had budgeted up to $500 to match whatever was collected, so almost $1,000 will go to the Centerville High School's chosen charity to help in the education of Guatemalan children who do not have the books and materials needed to get an education. 

 

Jeff Senney said the House of Bread will be holding a fund-raiser Oct. 22 at 5 p.m.at Cox Arboretum. For $25 you get a bowl that comes with soup. 

 

Reminder: There will be another Bob Evans Community Fund-raiser for the club on Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Pancake Breakfast Committee will meet at 12 noon there that day. 

       

 

 

John Beals introduced our speaker, who is a Dayton Rotarian and lives about two minutes from Yankee Trace.

John said Erik was selected in 2000 as one of the Dayton Business Journal's 40 Under 40 professionals, recognizing the Miami Valley's future leaders. In 1999 he was a member of a professional exchange team through Rotary International's Group Study Exchange Program to Sweden. Erik said this really led him to becoming a Rotarian. He manages Montgomery County's business retention and expansion initiatives and is responsible for overseeing a countywide two million dollar tax-based sharing program called Economic Development/Government Equity (ED/GE) designed to promote growth in Montgomery County.

 Erik is the past president of the 1-70/75 Development Association, a 300 member regional economic development association comprised of eight counties. He is the former treasurer to the American Society for Public Administrators Miami Valley Section and former Ohio Planning Conference Co-Chair for the regional planning and zoning workshop.

 

Erik explained the county's first countywide business retention and expansion initiative known as BusinessFirst! 
For a Greater Dayton Region. It has expanded outside of Montgomery County with more than 32 jurisdictions in a six county region. It now has more than 100 regional resource partners serving businesses. More than 6,500 companies have been visited by the resource partners. Our Washington Twp. libraries are a resource partner and have helped businesses find the resources they need, he said. 

 Erik described BusinessFirst! as a customer-focused programs that gives business owners a single point of contact for a wide range of business services. Business owners and CEOs are interviewed to find out what resources they need that are tailored to their specific needs. 

BusinessFirst! also has added community business walks and roundtable events, Erik said.

Erik also noted that as part of the Right Tree, Right Place program, DP&L is partnering with Operation 1000 Cherry Tree Project to offer utility-friendly trees to neighborhoods or groups of small businesses. It will raffle 100 ornamental cherry trees to beautify the area and publicize the need to plant smart to avoid power outages. 

This is part of the Operation 1000 Cherry Tree Project campaign that aims to repay the kindness shown following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The campaign seeks to plant 1,000 cherry trees in and around Dayton as a symbol of Japan's gratitude. Erik said thus far 560 trees have been planted in the area. The Centerville Library has a row of the trees planted with the help of the Centerville Rotary Club. Applicants for the trees must be DP&L customers and own their own property. You need to apply by Oct. 9. Winners will be announced Oct. 13. The trees must be planted in publicly visible areas and comply with community restrictions. Trees may be requested for common areas. You can enter online or mail to Community Relations, 1065 Woodman Drive, Dayton, Ohio, 45432. Find more information on line at www.dpandl.com/righttree and click on Tree Friendly Neighborhood.