06/21/2018  Ray Merz and John Beals..meeting is at Benham's Grove

06/28/2018 Ann Blackburn and Mark Febus
07/05/2018--No Meeting.....Keep celebrating the 4th

07/12/2018 Doug Bockrath and Arnie Biondo

 

Our official greeters today were Ray Merz and John Beals. Ray arrived first before the big, big rain.
Our 

 

Early arrivals were Lee Hieronymus, with a recent haircut and beard grown for Miamisburg's 

Bicentennial, celebrated all this week with a wet, wet, free concert with Ricky Skaggs

Wednesday night.

 

Lee had on a special Miamisburg Bicentennial shirt.

 

Our President-Elect Boyd Preston arrived all smiles.

 

He brought along his wife Debbie, and she doesn't know what a long year this might be, what

with all Boyd's commitments. But she's a real worker too. 
Chuck King brought his wife Elaine, but a picture of her is missing here.

 

Ray Merz and our past-president Ron Hollenbeck seem to be talking serious business.

 

 

Ever the Patriot, Don Gerhardt had more light shine on him than most under the dark tent.

 

And Carl Gill, soon to be a member of the club, is back. He was approved by the board 

Monday and is to be sworn in at our July 12 meeting.

 

Jim Briggs has a real Charlie Brown endearing smile in this picture. Makes you wonder

what he's up to.

 

To look at Jenn Gibbs you'd never know it was pouring rain outside.

 

Ann Blackburn always tries to duck out of the picture. But she sure is no shy one otherwise,

bringing more and more members into the club. We all appreciate that.

 

And you'd think the sun was shining as you look at this picture, but Joyce has just come

in out of the pouring rain...She brought her own ramp to ramp things up a bit.

 

And if the sun wasn't golden this day, we had our own Brian Hayes to brighten the day. 

 

And here's Greg Horn back from babysitting the grandkids last week, and 
Bob Fry and Tom Broadwell.

 

A candid shot as the box lunches from Dorothy Lane Market are about to be devoured.

 

And Doug Bockrath looks like he's been to the barber lately. Must be the hot weather.

The three day heat wave with above 90 degree weather. We needed today's rain for

the crops, Lee Hieronymus said. Doug was kind enough to mention that Emma Bucher

came in first in the mile run at the National Track meet in N. Carolina in recent weeks.

Remember, she and Doug's daughter Perri both were second in their state runs.

 

Here's John Callander with our official greeter John Beals in the blue shirt. John has on

a special Wright Plane shirt with his picture in the plane.

 

 

And here are our two official greeters together.

 

 

Rebecca Quinones is always in a good mood and ready to take on many service projects.

 

Kim Senft-Paras and Ray Merz seem ready to enjoy a good lunch.'

 

Carl Gill, Brad Thorp,and Carol Kennard under the Big Top, with Jen Gibbs at right.

President Peachy Metzner presided over the opening of the meeting, which was a transition meeting with some new officers, starting with our president-elect Boyd Preston becoming the new president. A very active president-elect, one only has to wonder how he can add to his duties, but the man seems to know how to do it all, including taking all the kidding he gets for not being short-winded.

 

Peachy thanked the new board for their hard work and help while he was mending his health. He said the board was fantastic and that they would be presented with their awards in July.

He asked the club to recognize Kim Senft-Paras for her eight years on the board, exemplifying the Rotary motto of Service Above Self, and said he appreciated the good the club has done with her help. The club has done much good, with the New Generations and scholarship program, and projects with the water pumps and more than 400 coats for kids in a year's time.

Though we lost three members recently, due to deaths, we have gained members and grown stronger, he said.

Peachy then asked John Beals to come and present Boyd with the official presidential pin and administer the oath of office for the 2018-2019 Rotary year.

 

Here we see John Beals installing our new president, Boyd Preston.

 

Our newly elected President Boyd Preston then took to the podium and said he felt the best advice he had was "don't screw it up." The club was built by the past but continues to grow, he said. He wants it to be recognized as the best club in the district.

While we are a growing club, there are a few areas that we may need to concentrate on, he said. We need to get more young members and also become a more diverse club. About five years ago we had 52 to 53 members. Now we have 69, and with Carl Gill joining July 12, we will be back up to 70 members. He said every member of the club should be scouting their neighborhoods and friendships and businesses to find people they can recruit to help serve the community via our club.

 

The second area involves the youth of the community. Kim and Rebecca Quinones and Mark Febus have helped get the Interact Club up and running, he said. Once meetings were poorly attended, but now it's often standing room only. He said he hopes the club makes our incoming student from Peru feel welcome and want to take away a good feeling not only of Rotary but of his whole experience here. Club member Jen Gibbs is hosting the first months of his stay and has made contact with him.

President Preston said he also hopes we increase our presence on social media so the word gets out about all the good things our club has been doing, and that people continue to understand why this is a great club. He hopes we will also interact with the Interact club even more than in the past.

This is a club with a lot of great experience, but we need to help keep our new young members and get them involved with the projects and fellowship of the club, Boyd said.

He said Rotary International has 1.2 million members, but that was true 15 years ago, so it is not growing like our club. There are 135,000 clubs, he said.

Our new International Rotary President Barry Rassin, from East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, chose as the motto during his presidency: Be the Inspiration, Boyd said.

 

We all need to be a positive change, Boyd said. We need to find out where the opportunities are and address them. We need to go find the big project that makes a difference, like the water pump project Ron Hollenbeck has been so diligently working on, hoping to get other clubs involved and more pumps financed. His trip to Haiti recently had helped cement some relationships there that are needed for a global grant. He also got Operation Warm started here, providing 300 to 400 coats with donations from club members.

It needs to be made known on social media how our projects have an effect on others, a pump in Haiti supplying 100 to 300 people every day with clean and safe water. 

 

"I am truly honored and humbled in taking this position," President Boyd said. He knows "you have high expectations of what you expect from your president." He said he was looking forward to working with the board and getting feedback "from every one of you."

He asked that we recognize Ron for contributing and serving five months when Peachy was ill, when Ron had the opportunity to be assistant District Governor. What Ron did was Service Above Self, he said.

Earlier he had announced the new slate of board members and directors:

 

The new board members:

Boyd Preston: President

Mark Metzner: Past President

Chuck King: President-Elect

Frank Perez: Vice President

Gerry Eastabrooks: Treasurer

Mark Balsan: Secretary

Erich Eggers: Sergeant-at-Arms

 

Directors:

Ann Blackburn: Membership

Joyce Young: Rotary Foundation

Judy Budi: Club Foundation

Ron Hollenbeck: International Service

Mark Febus: New Generations

Brian Hayes: Community Services

Brad Huffman: Club Affairs

 

Mark Balsan, Brad Huffman, and Mark Febus were absent from the meeting, and Mark Metzner was  not in the picture. John Beals is shown to the right of the picture. He issued the oath of office.

 

 

 

Our incoming president then presented our out-going president with a plaque for outstanding leadership as president of the Centerville Rotary from 2016-2017, the only Rotary club in Centerville. Peachy can be seen with his plaque in the pictures after the rain pictures below.

 

 

And then Peachy had the last word:

"Every one of you make this club what it is," he said. 
"I hope you all realize what you give. I feel a great part of the club and I feel you are a member of this club. I am retired and can't do what I did. I have family and Rotary. It's a very fulfilling life. Thank you for participating and your support."
 

 

 

And

 

Reminder Note...the July 5 meeting has been cancelled....though you can "make it up" by riding on the fire truck driven by Lee Hieronymus in the Americana Parade on July 4. You're to meet at the city building around 9:30 a.m. if you want to ride...Water will be provided for squirt guns. If you have a Super Soaker, bring it along, Peachy said.

 

PB&J and applesauce are still needed for the House of Bread and kids lunches during the summer, Peachy said. Drop off can be here at a future meeting or at Pat Beckel's insurance office on Franklin St.

Peachy said he would be sending out information from Eric Marcus, our past district governor about a Rotary day at the Dayton Dragons, Sat. Aug.18, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, and for that you get a Dayton Dragon's hat and $5 goes back to the Rotary Foundation. The deadline for getting tickets is Aug. 10.

 

 

Our Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers and our club treasurer Gerry Eastabrooks did not collect Happy Bucks at this meeting.