President Arnie Biondo welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer and then the club sang God Bless America, led by Dick Hoback, Lee Hieronymus, and Jeff Senney.
President Biondo shared these announcements:
- The Rotary theme this month is Basic Education & Literacy
- Today’s quote: ”Remember that no matter how cool you think you may be, you're not cool enough to look down on anyone ... ever.” By PAUL WALKER
- Guests today included Brad Thorp’s son, Wyatt who is looking at joining the club and Sofie Ameloot’s neighbor, Amy Hary, whose father was a Rotarian and she’s thinking about joining the club, too.
- Thanks to the social committee for a successful first social in a long time. President Biondo asked our newest members what they thought: Ashlee Walton was surprised at the great turnout and Dan Wilson said everyone was great and so very welcoming.
- September 28 is Quiz for a Cause at Lock 27 Brewing. They will put us on social media, and we’ll have trivia, 50/50, and other fun activities to support Operation Warm. There are some opportunities for volunteers to help run the event. It is an 80s theme and a good way to promote the Rotary Club of Centerville. Come early and have dinner or you might find yourself standing!
- Rotary Board approved membership for Ashlee Walton and Dan Wilson, who will be formally inducted into the club soon.
- Phil Raynes resigned from the club as he has too many conflicts.
- Lauren Gay expressed an Interest in joining and we received a message on Facebook from someone interested in joining.
Sofie Ameloot announced our September 22 meeting will be at the Kennard Nature Nook at Grant Park-McEwen Road entrance. We will have the ribbon cutting, ground breaking, and check presentation to the Park District for our 50th Anniversary project. Let Sofie know which DLM sandwich you prefer - turkey, ham or roast beef.
Adam Manning announced the next Pancake Committee meeting is September 15 at Yankee Trace. 11 am. Come one, come all and join in the fun!
Happy Bucks this quarter go to support Operation Warm, providing new winter coats to children.
Chuck King was our Sergeant at Arms this week
Happy Bucks were given generously for:
- Jim Harris was happy.
- Jim Stuart welcomed new members.
- Frank Perez gave an explanation of an earlier comment about Sivaji taking wine home from the social. He asked everyone to think about the Killer Whale show where they always have a splash section. Well, when he’s drinking wine, you’re in the splash zone - Sivaji and Boyd found out the hard way! Sorry!
- Adam Manning was happy to have Vicki here to speak, especially since she jumped in at last minute when her co-worker got sick.
- Dan Johnson was sorry to miss the social.
- Brian Hayes announced his book came out last week and you can find it on Amazon. Title is “Understanding God’s Timing.”
- Sofie Ameloot was happy Amy was joining the meeting today.
- Lee Hieronymus was pleased when Rotary sings.
- Kim Senft-Paras for visitors and new members.
- Dale Berry for Operation Warm.
- Dick Hoback for a coat.
- Ginger Clark missed a few meetings as she has been starting a new Park District Foundation. They appreciate the support of the community through the tax levies, but that only goes so far. See her for more details.
- Ron Hollenbeck welcomed Ashlee and Dan and noted Frank’s brother spilled wine, too. (That’s why table cloths are red…) While at Grant Park yesterday to inventory Pancake supplies, he ended up helping four members of the Noon Optimist Club load up flags.
- Mike Wier gave for Ron’s service above self.
- Jeff Senney for new members, and noted he is happy being part of the CWPD to continue to grow and improve the park system.
- Brad Thorp was glad to have his son here and noted next Thursday is CW History’s Sense of Taste, 5-8pm at Benham’s Grove. There are just a few tickets left so go online to purchase. It’s a really nice event with 16 restaurants serving. Tickets are $35.
- Ger Eastabrooks was happy.
- Elda Gotos Gay was happy.
- Arnie Biondo for guests and noted he got a new water heater today so he can start showering again.
- Dan Wilson gave thanks for the nice evening at the Social. It was a fun time!
- Don Overly for new members.
- Carol Kennard for new members and encouraged all to visit Springfield this weekend for the Fair at New Boston for a trip back to 1790-1810 with great food, artisans, and re-enactments.
- Harvey Smith said he had to ride home from the Social in same car with Boyd and Sivaji - Elda and Harvey were both drunk by the time they got home ;-)
- Chuck King gave thanks for new and potential members!
Our speaker today was Vicki Varvel, VP of Operations for Pink Ribbon Girls.
Adam Manning introduced our speaker Vicki Varvel from Pink Ribbon Girls. She is Vice President of Operations where they help with providing meals, housecleaning, rides to appointments, and peer support. She has an undergrad degrees from Cedarville University, Masters from the University of Dayton, and lives in Tipp City.
Vicki said her co-worker came down with COVID, and she was happy to step in at the last minute.
Pink Ribbon Girls was formed in 2005 originally as a peer support group for young survivors. In 2012 the current CEO, Heather Salazar, took over. As a 31-year old with four small children, Heather met a 23-year old single mom who had stage-4 breast cancer. Heather provided assistance to her and her 8-month old daughter, Lexi, but the mom passed away. Heather and her husband decided to adopt Lexi. A year and a half later, Heather discovered a small hard, lump in her breast when she was in the shower and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Without Lexi’s mom’s diagnosis, Heather admits she never would have given herself an exam.
Her story was shared in People magazine:
HERE and also on
The Today Show (have tissues handy…)
Pink Ribbon Girls provides:
- 3 meals/week for everyone in the family
- Rides to treatment - sometimes 6 weeks in a row, every day; they hire specific drivers who have been vetted or use Uber Health (especially where they have expanded in the Bay Area and St Louis)
- Provide housecleaning kits - before covid sent people into homes, but now send kits that include a lightweight 8-pound vacuum specifically designed for PRG - when it’s hard to lift arms after surgery. The kit includes non-toxic cleaning products which is so important when the immune system is compromised after treatment.
- Peer Support
They are there to help take care of family while someone is going through gynecological cancer treatments. Since 2012 they have provided:
685,000 healthy meals
43,300 rides
10,500 housecleaning support
4,000 peer support - their most underutilized and most important service
They will serve anyone and 41% of their clients fall below poverty level. Many of their clients are also food insecure or ride Insecure.
Meals increased by 31% in 2021. They were seeing later stage diagnosis because people weren’t going to the doctor during pandemic. One good outcome of the pandemic was they now provide peer support in 8 different countries thanks to Zoom.
Every 35 minutes, someone is diagnosed with gynecological cancer in the US.
Their goal: No one travels this road alone.
They currently use Freshly for meals - people can choose the meals themselves.
Their CEO met a venture capitalist at the airport who was developing artificial technology to read mammograms more efficiently. Through that interaction, they expanded to St. Louis and Bay Area where this work is starting.
They go to hospitals, share what they can do, ask for monetary support, and develop partnerships with hospitals. Their corporate office is in Dayton. Donations are earmarked for the place where you give.
Next week’s speaker is our District Governor Frank Scott.
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