President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Ron Bowersocks provided the prayer.
Announcements:
- Today’s quote; “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” By Maya Angelou
- Thanks to our greeters today Sherre Wright and Ron Hollenbeck.
- Welcome to our guests: Joanna Garcia, visiting from the Beavercreek club, and Katie O’Donoghue Ly and Jerica Herman, guests of our speaker.
- Next Board meeting is July 31, 5:30 pm at Woodbourne Library.
- Reminder of the August 5 District 6670 Dayton Dragons game. The ticket deadline is tomorrow and costs is $14 ($7 goes to End Polio Now).
- Happy Birthday to Erich Eggers.
- Crissy Allums noted we did 12 service projects last year and have 7 lined up already through December that include:
- Wall that Heals - July 27-30 still looking for volunteers
- Dayton Diaper Depot - asking that we do another diaper drive
- Crayons to Classroom - stuff the bus event
- Operation Warm - Ginger Clark will organize again this year. We donated 444 coats last year, at a cost of $21 each. This year the cost is $25 per coat and our goal is to donate 450 coats.
Crissy appreciates all the help from everyone in the club. Check her email for more details.
- Jim Stuart filling in for Kelly McDonald reminded all to sign up for the Club event at Matt Kuhn’s house to thank our sponsors. It is August 18, 6-8 pm. Please RSVP by Friday August 4th . Please email your RSVP to centervillerotary.reception@gmail.com and indicate number of attendees (and if you need vegetarian / nonmeat option).
- Brian Hayes thanked everyone for remembering to sign in today.
Happy Bucks this quarter are going toward Hannah’s Treasure Chest for Operation Warm, providing winter coats to children in need.
Jim Stuart was our Sergeant at Arms and started by donating $10 from Kelly McDonald who had to leave early.
Happy Bucks were given generously for:
- Ron Hollenbeck for Operation Warm.
- Harvey Smith for Operation Warm.
- Elda Gotos Gay for Operation Warm.
- Crissy Allums for Operation Warm.
- Ger Eastabrooks was happy.
- Arnie Biondo announced our exchange student from Chile will arrived mid-August, and he wants people at the airport to greet her.
- Lee Hieronymus for Operation Warm.
- Carol Kennard for a great visit to Colonial Williamsburg where the heat index was 108 degrees and she wan happy to not be wearing a colonial dress.
- Ron Bowersocks was happy his AC works fine.
- Doc Hoback for Operation Warm and generously gave for 4 coats
- Chuck King for Operation Warm.
- Katie O’Donoghue Ly was happy to be here.
- Mike Wier noted inflation sucks (referring to the increased coat price), but gave anyway.
- Adam Manning gave for 2 coats, and noted his girlfriend’s nieces & nephews came over for the weekend and did so many chores, including washing his car for free! He didn’t know he was missing free labor from children!
- Dale Berry for Operation Warm.
- Bob Sachs for Operation Warm.
- Dan Johnson is leaving for Olympic and North Cascades National Parks this weekend.
- Erich Eggers played golf at the Optimist Club Outing and had a blast.
- Rand Oliver for Operation Warm.
- Ray Merz missed 3 weeks, one due to the bad air quality, but then he & Sue celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary in Alaska with son Andy as their chaperone.
- Don Stewart noted the club sponsored the golf team in the Optimist Club outing and they had great time.
- Sivaji Subramaniam was happy.
- Brian Hayes announced his oldest son proposed to his girlfriend!
Our speaker today was Cindy Comperchio, Development Manager for Bellrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center.
Cindy noted our club’s efforts to give to others and was happy to see that’s a focus of our group. The Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center is a grassroots organization serving Bellbrook-Sugarcreek and and western Greene County.
Their mission is to help people lift themselves up out of poverty. They help bridge the gap from needs to goals. Clients are called neighbors and they provide assistance with:
- Food
- Emergency clothing
- Emergency household goods
- Classes/programs - support groups, computer classes - students get to keep laptop at end of class (partner with Sinclair)
- Financial literacy course - partner with a bank & church
They are conducting a School Supply Drive in partnership with Chick-fil-a, accepting donations through Friday, Aug 4.
Cindy said SNAP benefits can’t be used to purchase school supplies and those benefits were reduced earlier this year. They want to help neighbors to give kids the tools they need to succeed in school.
The organization is a small nonprofit that serves about 50 families/week through their food pantry. They have developed partnerships with Hannah’s Treasure Chest and other organizations in this area.
Katie O’Donoghue Ly came from the Dayton Food Bank, which is not currently a partner agency, but they are looking into a partnership to help fill the gap.
Katie said most of the food they donate comes from in-kind donations and a small scale food rescue plan with Kroger and Panera Bread. So far in 2023 they have given out over 35,000 pounds of food and supplies, thanks to donations and partnerships.
The organization serves western & central Greene County, including Jamestown, Xenia, Fairborn, Spring Valley, and Belbrook-Sugarcreek.
Cindy said they are establishing an advisory committee, called the Advancement Committee which will meet every other month. She is looking for people to serve on the committee. Fundraising, marketing, business development backgrounds would be helpful. She wants to make sure to have a representative from a current or past family member they are serving, to be sure their voice is included.
For more information, contact Cindy at
cindy@bscsc.org or (937) 848-3810 or visit https://www.bscsc.org/
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