Centerville eBulletin 10 01 2020 (Oct 03, 2020)

President Frank Perez opened the meeting and welcomed Rotarians in the room and on Zoom. He welcomed visitor and speaker, Frank Scott, back to our Club.

Mike Wier led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and Ray Merz said a prayer.

President Frank Perez provided these announcements:

Thank you all for an excellent Project Warm campaign. COVID made this a very challenging year but we kept a very aggressive goal. Even though many of our members were not available for meetings or to participate in this year’s effort, we finished last week less than $1200 short of our target. And after this week's email went out, we received some more pledges and now are only $700 behind target. There is still time if you would like to donate to Project Warm.

We need builders! Tuesday October 6 at 2 pm, we need 3 – 4 people to assemble shelves at the Park District headquarters. We will use those shelves for our pancake breakfast supplies. Sofie mentioned she and Ron are set to volunteer and we could use 2 more people to help. The work is at the Park Headquarters in the Activity Center Park, 221 N. Main Street. Sofie also mentioned there will be more volunteer opportunities available soon at Schoolhouse Park.

Everyone should have received an email from Mark Balsan announcing the new credit card payment option for paying quarterly Rotary dues/meals. Contact Mark if you have any questions. There is the ability to set up recurring payments and you may still pay by check if you prefer.

This quarter, our Happy Dollars are for the Kaplani School in the Himalayas, which is a school that was very special to deceased Rotarian Robin Parker. Harvey Smith gave some background on Robin:

He was born in India as his parents were missionaries there. When he was a teenager, the family moved to the US where he completed his schooling. Robin joined Centerville Rotary in 1975 and was a very active member. Robin owned a plastic molding company in Franklin which he ran until he retired and turned it over to his children. Robin was a world traveler and spent a lot of time in India, helping this school get started. He was a generous contributor to the school. “Robin was a very kind, generous person, and we enjoyed having him in the club.,” said Harvey.

Frank noted many of the Paul Harris Fellow matching points came from Robin. The Kaplani School has 90 students in grades 6-10. The building was named after Robin’s daughter Heidi, who passed away at age 9. When Robin passed, Centerville Rotary sent a donation to the school in his memory, and decided to dedicate this quarter’s happy dollars to the school.

Our Happy Dollars for this quarter are going to the Kaplani School – please be generous with your Happy Dollars for this good cause. You can send your check to the club mailbox: Centerville Rotary Club, PO Box 41431, Centerville, OH 45458

Boyd Preston served as Sergeant-at-Arms to collect Happy Dollars

Boyd congratulated the club for generous giving that raised enough to provide 450 winter coats for kids! And then Boyd donated Happy Dollars because the Cleveland Browns won again on Sunday.
Ann Blackburn is happy to see everyone again!
Frank Scott thanked the club for having him back.
Joyce Young is delighted to see Frank Scott and reminded the club that we will be starting our Rotary Foundation drive this month.
Elda Gotos-Gay is happy to see Ann Blackburn and Gerry Eastabrooks back at the meeting.
Ron Hollenbeck announced he gave Gerry an additional donation for Operation Warm.
Jim Stuart is happy to be back & see everyone again. During the quarantine, he built a house in Springboro and is happy to see October as that is his favorite month.
Gerry Eastabrooks is happy to be back to club meetings.
Kisha Taylor is happy to be back.
Brad Thorp is happy to announce his son Wyatt is now working in his office, with the plan for him to take it over when Brad wants to retire.
Carol Kennard is happy to see Ann, Jim, and Gerry back at the meetings.
Mike Wier shared that Robin Parker wanted to fly things so he bought a contraption with fan and parachute that he could fly, but he never let Mike fly.
Ray Merz is happy as last Friday they closed on their old house. The buyers realtor sent the check twice, but of course, Ray sent it back.
Dale Berry is just happy.
Sofie Ameloot announced her daughter Delphine is playing tennis at CHS, and is enjoying a successful 11 match winning streak.
Mark Febus said it is good to see everyone.
Harvey Smith donated in memory of Robin Parker.
Lee Hieronymus shared that Robin was so generous to Rotary Foundation. Lee believes he has given the most from this club (he kept it quiet) - $100,000 or more estimated.
Chuck King recognize Mark & Gerry for working to get the credit card payment option available to members.
Dick Hoback donated in honor of Robin, saying he was a great guy who invited the whole club to house for a picnic once. He is also glad to see Frank Scott.
John Callander thanked everyone for all of the great bday cards.
Frank Perez is happy the Cleveland Browns won this week, and kept his donation amount low as with so many wins coming this year, he doesn’t want to break the bank.
Katie Neubert - Thanks to Mark Balsan, she already paid her dues online. She shared a story about meeting a child at an event this summer, wearing a coat even when it was hot outside. She learned he wouldn’t take it off because “that’s his Rotary coat he got last year.”
Terry Hanauer is happy the kids are back in school full time again.
Rebecca Quinones is still in New Mexico since school has been virtual, but will be traveling back to Centerville this weekend and is happy to be back to see everyone soon.
Judy Budi shared Arnie Biondo’s Happy Dollars in hopes that the Cubs and the Reds win today. Judy enjoys the Chat on Zoom and is happy to see Rotarians who are back at the club meetings. She gave in honor of Robin for his contributions to our club

Katie Neubert sent this via Zoom chat:

John Lyman from the Dayton Rotary sent general invite to Centerville club to join them on Zoom at their mtg this coming Monday at 11:30 am. He shared that :

"Carolyn Jones is an Alaska Rotarian, and will Zoom from Anchorage. She is a past District Governor, and was the first female to serve as a Trustee on the Board of Directors of The Rotary Foundation (and I wouldn't be surprised if she as well was the first person of color in this capacity). She has been to Russia 35 times in the service of Rotary!"

Ask Chuck, Frank or Carol for the Zoom link.

Our speaker this week is Frank Scott, District 6670 chair of the Rotary Foundation

Frank noted he started this role in 2016 and still enjoys serving in this capacity. He shared the Visioning Statement and Rotary action plan with the club:

He shared the latest statistics on Rotary around the world:

Frank shared information about the Rotary areas of focus and shared how Rotary has reached out to help during the coronavirus pandemic. Rotary is adding the Environment as an additional area of focus this year.

Frank noted this is the first hybrid meeting he's attended since COVID. He said there are still 25% of the clubs not meeting. Frank thanked the Centerville Club for our generous support of Rotary International:

Frank shared our club's 5 year giving history. Per capita, Rotary International asks $100 per person, and our club always surpasses that.

Centerville Club goals from Rotary International this year - net 1 or 2 members, annual fund $100 per capita, $1,500 for polio (If each club donated that amount, it would be the 50 million needed to match the Gates Foundation pledge).

What can we do? October 24 is World Polio Day - so we could include educational promotions that day. History of Polio - first outbreak was in VT (took 11 years to figure out it was a contagious virus!) The iron lung invented in 1929 was actually a respirator. In 1994, the US was declared polio free so we now have a generation that never experienced polio.

Frank encouraged the Club to continue the outstanding support of Rotary programs and thanked us very much.

Frank then shared the schedule for grants this year: