The guests at today's meeting included: Dottie Overly, wife of Don Overly; Doug Bockrath, a former member who became a new member again at the start of this meeting; Irene Dalichau, the guest of Shelley Fisher. Irene is a mental toughness coach. Her son owns the Lavender Home Care Solution. Irene, originally from Egypt, and her husband Wolfgang, originally from Germany, spend their winters in Australia, where their oldest son lives; Our guest speaker Maggie Summers, the executive director of Womanline of Dayton, originally from Scotland; Raul Parra, most recently from Dallas, Tx., a repeat guest; and two other guests of Don Overly: Mike Hayde, who invited members to attend an art show and sale of his watercolor and oil paintings at Town & Country Shopping Center (in the Breeze Way) at Applewood Cottage Gallery from 4 to 8 p.m. Nov. 10, with the proceeds to go to Hospice of Dayton. He has returned to painting in his retirement and was written up in The Centerville Dispatch newspaper in an article on the front page along with the article about the Centerville Rotary's purchase of 419 new winter coats to go to needy kids in the area; Don's other guest was Jack Durnbaugh, a Centerville High School principal in the school's East Unit; our exchange student from India, Saloni Bagwani brought along a friend, an exchange student from Cabo, Mexico, Maria Arechiga, sponsored by the Dayton Rotary, but attending Centerville High School; and Jeff Senney's guest, Kelly Conger. She said she graduated from CHS and is married and has two children, and works for Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor in an office at Austin Landing. Kelly can be seen sitting behind the two gentlemen you see pictured below: Jack Durnbaugh (L) and Mike Hayde, the artist (R). Mike said he was president of the Centerville Rotary in 1978 and was Rotarian of the Year in 1979, "but they didn't vote on it then," he said. He said he has a daughter who is president-elect of the Cincinnati West Rotary Club.

He proclaimed the wonderful fellowship in our club. Thanks, Mike. 

 Pictured below is Irene Dalichau, who said when her husband Wolfgang was an NCR executive, and when they were in Ethiopia, he was in the Rotary Club there, but women were not allowed to join or go to the meetings. The women met in a group known as the Inner Wheel, which is shown on the club pin.

 

Below you see Maria Arechiga from Cabo, Mexico, and Raul Parra, recently from Dallas, Tx.

 

Of course everyone knows our exchange student Saloni Bagwani, who is pictured here with

club members Ram Nunna (L) and Vas Appalaneni (R)

 

And here, below, making the picture all the merrier, is our own Pat Beckel with our speaker

Maggie Summers.

 

The Centerville Rotary Club met at noon at the Clubhouse at Yankee Trace Golf Course. President Ron Hollenbeck led the Pledge of Allegiance, Ray Merz gave the prayer, and Peachy Metzner led the singing of God Bless America.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

 

President Ron Hollenbeck said he sent out e-mail to everyone with info on voting for the Rotarian of the Year. He also has paper ballots to turn in if needed. Feedback is needed by Nov. 17.

 

Ron said he was pleased to see the article on our Operation Warm Coats donation in The Centerville Dispatch newspaper that usually is distributed around the Centerville area on Wednesdays. It was front page news this week. 

 

Numerous bottles of syrup were left over from the Pancake Breakfast and Carol Kennard suggested we all take one home, but then at the end of the meeting our speaker suggested we donate them to The House of Bread and that she would willingly take them all there. No sticky fingers here. Deed done.

 

Ray Merz recognized all the dictionary and thesaurus deliverers to the area schools, and said he would give a dollar to the Happy Bucks this day for each. They are: Kim Paras-Senft and Chuck King; Don Stewart and Ray Merz; Boyd Preston and Dave Trout; Don Gerhard and Brandon Gross; Harvey Smith and Peachy; Lee Hieronymus and Ram Nunna; Gerry Eastabrooks and John Beals, with Ron Hollenbeck at Miami Valley School, and Judy Budi at Spring Valley.

 

Chuck King had distributed some of the thank you letters from the students to the tables and said, "it was a very good experience. I was surprised how excited kids were to get the books."

 

Ann Blackburn said those going to the club socials recently said they would like to see them on a variety of days and not just Tuesdays, and that they would like to see them maybe monthly. Rebecca Quinones has offered to host one at her house Nov. 17, Ann said.

 

Ron pointed out an athletic shot putter in our midst...and then...

 

 Doug Bockrath (see above) was inducted as a new member of the club with the help of PDG Harvey Smith.

 

Doug said he is the third generation to follow his grandfather and father in the Bockrath Rug and Flooring business. It is in Washington Twp. He said he first was a member of our club when he was 29 and now he is 49. Doug and his wife Erin currently live in Centerville with their three daughters, Reed, Kate and Perri. What started as a family business, has grown over 80 years, with Doug now owning the business. With his daughters, 20, 18 and 17, he said he believes he has more time to help out and volunteer a lot more. Right away, some suggested he might want to host a social, with all his business space on Far Hills Ave., between Whipp and Rahn Roads.

 

It was noted with just seven weeks until Christmas, the club will get the names of 20 kids to purchase gifts for in the Adopt A Family program through the Centerville High School.

 

Boyd Preston noted at a previous meeting that Friday, Nov. 18, will be our next service day at the House of Bread. Volunteers are needed from 9 to 2 p.m. to help with making and serving a warm meal to those in need.

 

Jim Hester spoke about the youth exchange at a previous meeting, noting that three families are needed to host each exchange student. Our exchange student Saloni Bagwani needs a host parent from December 2016 thru February 2017 and a host parent from March 2017 thru May 2017. One host family has dropped out and Saloni will next be with host Ram Nunna.

You can contact Jim Hester at jhester@lcnb.com or 740-505-8547

 or Kim Senft-Paras at kparas@wcpl.lib.oh.us or 937-610-4420

 or Rebecca Quinones at moverebecca@gmail.com or 850-374-2943

Sgt-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks for A Day of Caring, 365. 

Erich (seen above) had to cut the Happy Bucks short to allow time for our speaker to make her presentation. Members who couldn't contribute this week can do double next week, he said.

The giving started with Erich giving Happy Bucks in honor of the Chicago Cubs win over the Cleveland Indians, noting that his son-in-law is a great Chicago Cubs fan. He also said he was happy about Patrick Beckel's Happy Hour every Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., at the Beckel Nationwide Insurance Agency.

Harvey Smith gave a Happy Buck for Doug Bockrath coming back into the club.

Carol Kennard had a Happy/Sad Buck for getting to visit her daughter (happy part) and for the sadness of her daughter having to put her cat to sleep.

Shelley Fisher gave Happy Bucks for her friend Irene coming to visit Rotary and for the pet therapy program in which she visits St. Leonard and takes her therapy dog to visit the folks, including Jeff Senney's father, Walter, who has been delighted in getting to feed the dog a milk bone or two.

Shelley's friend Irene also gave a Happy Buck, just for being here at the club. 

Jim Hester gave $22 for his son being 22 and for Frank Perez bringing Maggie to speak at the club. Maggie said she knew a lot of people in the area, as she once ran Antonio's restaurant and served the annual spaghetti dinner, at one time our club's fund-raiser.

Rebecca Quinones said her daughter in the Interact Club at CHS has been invited to Bowling Green to speak about Rotaract.

Arnie Biondo gave for Saloni and her friend Maria being at the club meeting. 

Mike Weir gave because he said it was good to see Mike Hayde at the club meeting.

 Speaker of the Day: Maggie Summers, executive director of Womanline of Dayton

Maggie Summers can be seen here speaking with member Mike Weir after her presentation

Frank Perez introduced Maggie Summers, noting that she is originally from Scotland, and is the executive director of Womanline, started in 1971. The group offers counseling for domestic abuse and helps women and children recognize and deal with domestic abuse situations, hoping to be able to prevent sexual abuse before it happens.

Maggie said the amount of child abuse today is astounding. "There is a ripple effect when a child is abused," she said. "We train victims and survivors. She said every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted. One in six women and one in thirty-three men experience sexual violence in a lifetime, she said. Ninety-seven percent of the perpetrators never spend a day in jail, she said. She said one in six boys and one in four girls experience sexual abuse before age 18. Molesters sometimes molest both boys and girls, she said. Some 90 percent know their abusers, she said.

About 40 percent of the sexual abuse is by an older child or teenager. Some 30 percent are abused by a family member.

The lifetime loss of income for a survivor is calculated at $241,600, she said. There is a $127 billion annual cost of sexual crime in the justice system. Her passion is prevention, she said.

The adult program is to be pro-active and to protect your child. The I Can Tell program teaches that it is okay to tell. Children in grades kindergarten to fifth grade are taught that it is appropriate to talk about their feelings. They try to empower them to be able to speak up about child abuse, which can lead to eating disorders, and drug or alcohol use to self medicate. They have Darkness to Light training, to teach kids not to keep secrets. It's a two-hour long program. The adults use the words often left unspoken in polite conversation, such as penis and vagina, she said.

Most acts of abuse are in isolated situations, where someone is grabbed. She said 15 or 16-year-old teens who want to spend a lot of time with young kids rather than their peers, can give an indication that they might be abusers.

Adults are taught how to respond to a child telling of abuse, telling them "you did the right thing. You told me. You came to me." They should know that you are calmly telling them you are going to fix it and that they need to tell you about it, rather than you just getting angry.

"I kept a secret for a long time," she said. "I'm a survivor. "I had the right help. I learned it wasn't my fault. I have a passion for prevention. If you can save a child's life, you have done an amazing thing."

"This is real. This goes on," Maggie said. But know, "I can be present and stop it. Have an open dialogue."

The meeting ended with the group standing and repeating The Four-Way Test, which Lee Hieronymus said would be hard put to explain to kids in this election year.