Rotary's Theme for 2015-16
The GREETERS:
02/25/16 Jeff Senney and Matt Kuhn
03/01/16 Mitch Biederman and Jim Hester
03/08/16 Bridget Herzog and Don Overly
03/15/16 Shelley Fisher and Phil Raynes
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
02/18/16
President Brad Thorp opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Sivaji Subramaniam gave the prayer, and Brad led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included:
Our speaker for the day, David Seyer, executive director of A Special Wish Foundation Inc.,Dayton Chapter; Mato Palovic, our exchange student from Slovakia; Chuck King, a guest of member Ed Flohre and retired U.S. Air Force aircraft mechanic, who works at DLM in the wine tasting area; Brian Hayes, guest of member Bob Fry and a future member; Dottie Overly, wife and guest of member Donald Overly; Jim Perry, a member of the Lebanon Rotary and friend of Harvey Smith.
Our Greeters at the next meeting will be Jeff Senney and Matt Kuhn
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Shelley Fisher was given our club's third Service Above Self Award for her outstanding service to the club, especially in the area of fund-raising. She has been working with a therapy dog at a local nursing home, so she missed a number of recent meetings at which the award was to be presented. She thanked the club for giving her such an honor. We thank her for her continuing hard work, especially when it comes time for our major fund-raiser, the annual Pancake Breakfast. She and Peachy went out of their way to canvas local businesses for sponsorships of the fund-raiser this year.
President Brad then called member John Beals to the podium to talk about R.Y.L.A. John said he has been working with the 60-member Interact Club at Centerville High School, to select candidates for this year's R.Y.L. A. program in late April at Camp Kern. The six students selected already show great leadership, he said. The 2016 delegates from the Centerville High School Interact Club are:
Claire Anderson, a junior. She is a member of the French Club and a Lunch Buddy for an elementary school student at Weller. Her goal is to become an oncologist.
Rhea Dhingra, a junior. She is a member of the Model UN team and a member of HOSA-Future Health Professionals. She started a knitting club at the high school, which now has a membership of 25. The members are collectively making an afghan for a resident at St. Vincent de Paul.
Zachary Holbrook, a junior. He is junior captain of the tennis team and enjoys math and science. His career goal is to become a chemical engineer.
Aneesh Kathulu, a sophomore. He is secretary of the Interact Club. His Science Olympiad team placed first in this year's competition. He is a biology tutor to fellow students, and a doubles tennis player. His career goal is to become a doctor.
Martin Palovic, a senior and an exchange student from Slovakia, who just won a gold medal in free style at a local swim meet. He has been on the local speech and debate team and has spoken to the Centerville Rotary Club about his native land.
Anand Shah, a junior, has been a member of Interact for three years and especially enjoys the book drives. Anand is vice president of Interact and has been captain of the Speech and Debate Public Forum team. His career goal is to become a doctor like his father.
President Brad passed out flyers showing our club's organizational chart, noting that there are still many open slots awaiting the help of club members. The New Generations program needs a co-chair to help with the Interact Club, Youth Exchange, 4-Way Speech Test, etc. John Beals has been heading up R.Y.L.A., and Kim Senft-Paras has dealt with the Education and Scholarship programs as Club Foundation Director, but could use help with the New Generations program, he said. Boyd Preston, director of the Community Service programs, just had a triple by-pass and heart valve replacement, so members are needed to help out with the many areas he has been involved in, such as the House of Bread, Dictionaries, Adopt-a-Family, Operation Warm and Service Day. Boyd will be vice president for the next club year and Ron Hollenbeck, who has headed up Operation Warm, will be president for the 2016-17 club year. Bill Abrams has been absent because of a medical situation, and may need more help with the Rotary International Foundation, Brad said.
Carol Kennard, our Club Affairs Director and the glue that holds everything together, may seem inexhaustible, but no doubt has her limits and could use help with many of the tasks she undertakes to keep the club going. With 60-plus members, Brad said more participation can make things easier for those who have been giving their all. Opportunities abound for our new members to get involved and help with our projects, Brad said. Older members who already know a lot of the ins and outs of the club, should also try to shoulder and share some of the chores that make a club successful and fun, he said.
Ron Hollenbeck again placed sign-up sheets for the March 19 service day for the club, noting there are numerous options for that day. He also brought samples of the yellow Rotary T-shirts that club members will wear that day, so members could check what size they need. The sizes run from small, medium, large, xlarge, xxlarge, to xxxlarge.
The $10 fee for the shirt will be put on your next pay invoice.
You can bring a family member to help on that day. The House of Bread, Hannah's Treasure Chest, Project Read, St. Vincent de Paul, and the Kennard Nature Nook,are among the options.
Happy Bucks:
Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks for St. Vincent de Paul.
Many members gave Happy Bucks to see member Boyd Preston back so soon from his triple by-pass and valve replacement heart surgery.
He brought cupcakes for all the birthday people and gave one to everyone at the meeting. His wife Deborah helped put out the cupcakes. They were delicious and we thank them. Boyd said he appreciated all the cards and letters from club members while he was in the hospital and recovering, and he gave $62, "a dollar for every member of our club."
Our returning miracle man is in the middle of the picture below, with Peachy Metzner to his left and our gold medal winner Mato on his right. Mato has his hair bleached blonde after the gold medal win to join his swim mates in their desire to celebrate by all bleaching their hair blonde. Some said he looks like someone from American Idol, while others said he looks like a Super Hero. He said he doesn't plan on keeping the look for long.
Here's another look at our new American Idol....Mato.....with camera's own red eye special effects
SPEAKER: David Seyer, Executive Director of A Special Wish Foundation, Dayton Chapter
David Seyer has been with A Special Wish Foundation for the past five years.
David said the organization was established in 1983 and has its office at Dayton Children's Hospital.
Bill and Faye Elam of Bill's Donut Shop helped the program get started, working with the then-director Dave Lantz to help a young boy named Brian, who battled Leukemia. A story was carried about the young boy in the Dayton Journal Herald, and Faye and Bill Elam called and helped pay for a week in Disney World, which at that time only cost about $1,500, he said. That would now probably only pay for half a day, he said.
David said A Special Wish has granted 1,600 wishes in the past 32 years to children and adolescents up to age 20 who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness by a physician. A Special Wish has its office at Children's Medical Center.
Some 60 percent of the wishes are to go to Disney World, while about 40 percent are to meet a celebrity or sports figure, or for a party with family and friends. The party is often so they can be around friends they would otherwise not be able to be with because of a quarantine to keep them from germs, David said.
"We're the Happy in a big mess that the family is facing," he said.
David said A Special Wish sends the entire family to participate in the child's wish, so they can all be together and reconnect as a family in a fun adventure.
The wish is designed with the hope that the child will live through the threatening disease, but if it doesn't, then the family will have photos and memories of their trip and good time together, he said.
The program gets no government funding and is financed entirely through donations and fund-raising events, he said. "We have never turned down a wish in 32 years," he said, though the wish has to be the child's and not the parent's wish. Parents who asked to go to Napa Valley, were turned down for their wish, as it was not the child's wish. The wish to travel must be for somewhere in the continental U.S., he said.
David said a typical wish costs about $4,500 and they grant about 55 to 60 wishes a year. They are one of the largest special wish organizations in the country, he said.
The upcoming fund-raising event is a Superhero Donut Run, that started as just a run four years ago on the first Saturday in November. The second year the temperature was 20 degrees and snowy, so they decided to change the time of year to hold the event. A year ago Lisa Tucker, daughter of Bill and Faye Elam, and co-owner of the donut shop with her brother Jim, suggested they do a donut run, a 5K or 10K run in which they can eat Bill's Donuts at the end, he said. They expected 300 people and had 650 turn out, he said.
This year they will meet at Centerville High School and run in that neighborhood on April 16, he said. About 1,000 runners are expected, he said. Registration on the Web is at SuperheroDonutRun.org, he said. The Elam family has supported A Special Wish since its beginning, collecting donations from the many customers who deposit donations in a small collection box in the shop.
One of the most unusual wish requests was from a 17-year-old Kettering boy who wanted to meet an Oscar winner in Special Effects, David said. They found 9 special effects Oscar Award winners to meet with him in California, he said. "Somebody in Dayton always knows somebody," he said.
One family asked to go to Napa Valley, but they were turned down for that wish as it obviously was not the child's wish, but the parents', he said.
A child who wanted to play golf in Augusta posed a bigger problem, since they had to find a member of the club there to play with him, but that too was accomplished.
A.J. Hawk helped give a child the Ultimate Packer weekend, he said.
If needed, a nurse will be paid to go along with the child on their trip, he said.
This year's upcoming fund-raising event is the 2nd Annual Superhero Donut Run presented by Bill's Donut Shop in Centerville on April 16. You can register on the Web site of A Special Wish, at www.superherodonutrun.org/run, or at aspecialwish.org/run. Also, see below for added info.
7:30 AM Check in & day-of registration
9:00 AM Kids Fun Run
9:15 AM 10K begins
9:30 AM 5K Walk/Run begins
The Fun Run is $15, 5K is $30 and the 10K is $40. *Pre-reigstration pricing and t-shirt guarantee until 4/5/16.
Bring out the entire family for a fun morning and help Wish Kids escape from their treatment for a while and just be a kid. Strollers OK, but please, no doggies.
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- For every $50 raised, you will get an entry to win the Grand Prize! (a $500 value)
- In addition, for every $250 you raise you will get a $5 gift certificate.
- Top Individual Fundraisers will receive special recognition at the Superhero Donut Run.
- Top Team Fundraisers will receive special recognition at the Superhero Donut Run.
