President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.
President Brian had several presentations today:
Kevin Schweiger from Luke 5 Ministries came forward and gave a quick overview of their program that offers nature hikes to people with physical challenges. They have led over 250 hikes in 7 states at several national parks so far. Brian presented a check for $2,412 to Luke 5 Ministries, our collected Happy Bucks.
Pastor Ben Webster from St Paul’s United Methodist Church then took the floor to tell us about their food program. They serve meals to the needy on Tuesdays and Saturdays. During the pandemic, they transitioned to take out meals. Now they offer a hybrid. 120 meals were served last Saturday. They also have clothes and food pantries. Brian presented Pastor Webster with a check for $2,455 to the food program, our collected Happy Bucks.
PDG Harvey Smith then presented Wayne Davis with his first Paul Harris Fellow. Thank you, Wayne for your generosity!
Announcements from Chairpeople/ Directors:
Arnie Biondo gave thanks for helping with speakers, and said we are booked through the end of the year.
Ginger Clark announced for Operation Warm $223 was collected last week, and our goal for this year is 530 coats ($10,600) to beat last year’s 528 coats.
Our Happy Bucks this quarter are for Operations Warm.
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms today.
Pat welcomed our guests:
Kevin Schwieger from Luke 5 Ministries
Ben Webster from St. Paul United Methodist Church
Georgia Mergler, from Washington-Centerville Public Library, guest of Carol Kennard
- Pat recognized Erich Eggers for his return to the club today. We missed you! He announced the Americana Festival is the largest single day event in Ohio and thanked all who showed up. Pat commented the food today was outstanding!Pat also mentioned he missed last week for a family vacation and he had some publicity for the Heart of Centerville.
- Erich Eggers gave for missing over a year of meetings, said he missed us, and thanked Jeff Senney for his referral, noting Jeff is the top networking individual in the club.
- Lee Hieronymus mentioned we got so much money in Happy Bucks last week since he “fleeced the flock.” The Rotary entry in the Americana Parade got the most cheers and excitement from the crowd and was criticized the most by the officials. Lee’s weaving driving is necessary so he’s not on the clutch the whole time. This year some of the crowd squirted them back including a police officer!
- Harvey Smith gave in honor of Wayne Davis’ Paul Harris Fellow.
- Jeff Senney gave for his grandkids coming down to enjoy the Americana Festival.
- Chuck King gave for our guests.
- Mike Wier gave for a coat, saying it’s warm outside and he wants to make it warm all winter.
- Jim Harris gave for Operation Warm.
- Dick Hoback, Dale Berry, Don Overly, and Brad Thorp were all happy but the author couldn’t keep up with what they were happy about!
- Carol Kennard thanked Arnie for spraying her at the Americana parade while trying to get photos of the Rotary fire truck, and noted she witnessed the parade official on his radio after they passed, warning the next parade official to watch out for the Rotary truck!
- Arnie Biondo gave for a coat and said the fire truck was the most fun he’s ever had with this Rotary club.
- Dianne Farrell, our speaker, gave thanks for inviting her to our meeting.
- Carol Sue Galloway announced on August 22, she will have the Grand Opening of Vienna Springs and is excited to soon have an office that’s not in her car!
- Wayne Davis gave for several good things: Americana Festival was back and fantastic; Adam Manning stepped up to help find a great hire when Yankee Trace was short on staff in the kitchen; Mike Wier reached out with an idea for a potential event at Stubbs Park in 2022 combining music and community; Waynes’s son Alex is working on a PhD and got an assistant professorship at Findlay College; and finally, he is happy they just got a new dog named Moe.
- Mike Wier then mentioned he’ll be asking for Rotary volunteer help for the new event next year.
- Adam Manning gave thanks to Wayne for his kind comments.
- Ron Hollenbeck was glad to see Erich back, and gave congrats to Wayne.
- Uriah Anderson was happy to judge the cannon ball competition at the RecPlex pool and just celebrated his wedding anniversary.
- Judy Budi gave an apology donation as she needs to leave early, and is happy about how great it is to live and work in this community!
- Erich Eggers gave another $5 for having to leave early today.
- Brian Hayes was also happy to be here.
- Elda Gotos-Gay on zoom was happy to have been with her granddaughters.
Our speaker today was Diane Farrell, Director of Internal Relations at the Dayton Metro Library.
Arnie Biondo introduced our speaker, Diane Farrell, Dayton Metro Library
Director of Internal Relations, also on the senior leadership team where she is working on a strategic plan focused on community wide outcomes and more. She has lots of volunteer roles, including Leadership Dayton and serving on the Anti-drug Task Force, and she is a member of the Dayton Rotary Club.
Diane Farrell explained the difference between the Washington-Centerville Public Library in our community and the Dayton Metro Library, which are two separate library systems in Montgomery County. Diane said you only pay library taxes for the library in your community. She noted the WCPL will have a renewal levy on the ballot this November, and since it won’t cost any additional money to taxpayers, she encouraged all to support the fall levy. She thanked Georgia Mergler for all she does in the community. Diane noted she has kids/grandkids in Centerville Schools and loves this community.
Diane shared that there are four separate library systems in Montgomery County including Washington-Centerville Public Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, Germantown Public Library, and the Dayton Metro Library. DML has 18 locations throughout Montgomery County.
Diane shared the formula for state funding for libraries. There is a Public Library fund that is shared by over 200 library systems around state. It comes from the general fund of the state. $353 million is split between all Ohio libraries. $29 million goes to Montgomery County libraries. 51% of the DPL operating budget comes from the state, while 33% is from property taxes, with fees, grants, donations and other income making up the rest. She said our property taxes only support the library system in the community where we live, so we do not pay any taxes to support the Dayton Public Library.
Montgomery County residents supported a Dayton Public Library levy by 62% in 2012, a bond issue for capital improvements to DPL facilities that generated $187 million. The main library was renovated & expanded, they consolidated operations, and the16 remaining branches were renovated.
Remaining projects include:
- West Branch to open this October
- Burkhardt Branch to open spring 2022 and includes a “Soaring Beyond” theme for children’s area to tie in with WPAFB
- Northmont Branch had to be redesigned due to high cost and availability of steel. It’s out for bid now and will be located on St Rt 40, east of Hoke Road.
- Huber Heights branch will be a new building in the Cornerstone Crossing development with a grand opening in 2023
DPL COVID response included:
Partnership with children’s hunger alliance - more than 232,600 meals distributed March-December, 2020, plus delivered fresh produce. They logged over 2,000 hours of volunteer service. 15,000 meals were distributed last month.
Take and Make kits - meaningful enrichment STEM activities to do at home. When first started, they distributed 2500 kits in less than a week so expanded the offerings and extended the program through rest of the year.
Outdoor learning spaces - created pop up programs outdoors at all 18 locations for safety. Many adult book clubs have moved outdoors, too.
Summer Reading Club theme this year is to teach the value of volunteering and helping others. Kids check off tasks and earn prizes. Research shows children loose 2.3 months of education if they don’t read at least 15 hours over the summer. DPL serves 14,000 children in a typical summer through this program.
Coming up in August is a nationally touring exhibit called, “Undesign the Redline” exhibit with an anti racism focus. It will be at the main library from August 6 - September 25. They will provide guided tours or can visit on your own, will have special presentations, and host groups. It will help us understand the history of 1930-40’s redlining and the impact that history has on today’s poverty. Diane encouraged everyone to think of ways to engage with this exhibit. They also received funding for virtual tours, so if you are not able to attend in person, you can online.
DPL offers Career Adventures Day in the fall giving 900 7th & 8th graders an opportunity for hands on interaction with in-demand careers.
For more information, contact Diane at DFarrell@DaytonMetroLibrary.org.
President Brian thanked Diane for sharing this great information with us and led the group in reciting of the Rotary 4-Way Test.
Next week our speaker will be Carolyn Rice, Montgomery County Commissioner, giving us an update on Montgomery County.