Water and Sanitation President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club in person and on Zoom, and then led the Pledge of Allegiance. Dick Hoback provided the prayer.
President Brian shared:
Our Thought of the moment comes from cartoonist Bill Waterson who quipped – “We are so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.”
Today Our speaker will be Mary Nenninger, Rotary Assistant Governor who will talk to us about Traveling in Covid Times.
Judy Budi announced this is scholarship season with an April 14 deadline for students to apply. CHS students can see Samantha Stingley for an application and it is also available on our website.
Mike Wier announced there are still FREE tickets available for the May 3 Dayton Dragon’s baseball game. We want to fill all 60 slots, and he suggested inviting a prospective Rotarian.
Sofie Ameloot is collecting hygiene products for Artemis again. Please watch for details in an email soon.
Boyd Preston announced we will be having our next 50th anniversary service project on Tuesday, March 22 from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM at Grant Park (the McEwen Rd entrance). We have a max of 10 spots available.The club’s approved project includes establishing a 4+ acre pollinator meadow within Grant Park. We will be planting wildflowers and landscaping to help grow/ nurture our local Monarch butterfly and bee populations. Following our successful gathering of pollinator habitat seeds last Fall, we are ready to start spreading these and Park District supplied seeds in meadows at Grant Park. We will meet at the Kennard Nature Nook to mix the seeds with sand (to aid in disbursement) and then spread them in the meadow north of the Nook. Once the ADA pathway construction is completed (Fall or next Spring), we will then do the same in the meadow within the pathway. Dress for the weather and outdoor work. Gloves are optional if you want to bring a pair.
Ginger Clark shared this week’s 50th anniversary tidbit on our theme of Water and Sanitation.
This week we focused on our club’s history to provide clean water to thousands of individuals through donations to Design Outreach’s Life Pump program. Ginger gave thanks to Ron Hollenbeck who provided information for the slides.
Ron then shared that in 2014-15 Greg Bixler from Design Outreach attended our meeting and our club then voted to support a pump. We provided $9,000 to buy one pump and then participated in a matching funds program where we raised an additional $9,000 so with the match, two more pumps were installed. We then supported one more pump.
Depth of most pumps is 60-100 ft, but the Design Outreach pump one can reach 150-300 feet and is the only hand pump that can reach that far. We have provided funds for the following pumps:
One pump was installed near a school, so the kids were able to be in school during the day instead of walking hours to get water.
A reliable source of clean water has been provided to thousands of people thanks to the generosity of our club. And it is a reliable pump - the pump installed 8.5 years ago in Malawi has run non-stop with no breakdowns that whole time. Reliability and depth is what’s special about the LifePump.
Our guest today is Lauren Kuhn, daughter of Matt Kuhn who recently sat for the bar and will soon start a job at a law firm in California. Best of luck to Lauren!
This quarter we are collecting Recovery Bucks to help relief efforts in Kentucky where they had all of that devastation from tornadoes.
Our Sergeant of Arms today was Boyd Preston
Please mail your donations to:
Centerville Rotary Club | PO Box 41431 | Centerville | OH | 45441-0431
Recovery Bucks were given today for:
- Boyd Preston and his son saw a Blue Jackets game which was very exciting to see in person.
- Mike Wier was happy to be back from several weeks of cruises and to see everyone in person. Reminded all to sign up for Dragon’s game so he doesn’t have to twist arms next week.
- Matt Kuhn was happy to have his daughter here.
- Gerry Eastabrooks was happy to be back in person and to see everyone.
- Ron Hollenbeck was happy to see everyone.
- Carol Kennard gave thanks to Ron Hollenbeck for his leadership with the water pump projects.
- Jim Harris was happy to see more people here today.
- Lee Hieronymus was happy to be here and sit next to the treasurer.
- Harvey Smith was happy and gave a check to Treasurer, Gerry.
- Tom Broadwell was happy to be back from 2 weeks in Palm Springs, CA.
- Chuck King was happy.
- Dick Hoback was happy to be back from Florida and a cruise.
- Dale Berry was happy.
- Sofie Ameloot was happy and loved Mike’s persistence to get people to sign up for the Dragon’s game.
- Ginger Clark was happy noting March is the best month of the year as her Irish dancer daughter will be dancing all over the city all month.
- Jeff Senney was depressed to be back from Maui, but got to also visit his daughter in Cleveland, and tomorrow will visit his son and new bride.
- Uriah Anderson announced on Friday he’s also going to a hockey game to watch the Blue Jackets get their pants beat off by the Minnesota Wild.
- Arnie Biondo gave for being gone for awhile, noting he was glad to be back as the 85 degree days were getting old. He also announced Saturday will be one year since he retired.
- Mary Nenninger was happy to be here.
- Judy Budi announced she bowled 208 on Sunday. And wished Lauren Kuhn good luck.
- Larry Marchand was happy to be here.
- Brian Hayes celebrated 22 years of working, 26 years of marriage, and 6 years as a Rotarian.
Arnie also gave thanks to all who got sponsors so far for Golf and Pancakes, and encouraged everyone to keep making calls.
Our speaker today was an independent travel consultant from Franklin-Carlisle Rotary club and our Assistant Governor, Mary Nenninger
Mary said she works for the Travel Authority in Springboro who just decided to not reopen the store front. She will work from home forever! Mary shared a video that showed the hoops to jump through to travel during COVID. Although there are not as many tourists, there are 7 things to think about before traveling.
- Research the country’s restrictions before booking. US embassy website is a good source. Vaccine and masking requirements could change before you actually travel.
- Watch COVID data (Google the country and COVID) High rates could mean the country will change restrictions. May also want to change your plans to not go into a high COVID area.
- Make flexible travel plans and only book refundable plans travel, hotel, etc.
- Read airline detail. Most basic airline tickets not refundable so check details carefully and understand the credit policies. Delta just extended to 2023. Credit is with airline where you cancel.
- Decide whether to dine inside or outside. Or get food at a supermarket and travel with collapsible bowls.
- Have a back up plan in case you test positive. Currently you need a negative test within one day of flying back to the US. Plan a backup for child care/pet care, take laptop with you in case you end up staying longer. Bring 2 extra weeks of medications just in case.
- Pack extra patience. Things WILL go wrong. Everywhere is short staffed. Remind yourself it’s amazing to be traveling.
Most international airports have rapid COVID testing sites where you can get results within an hour. Hotels in Europe can also assist in finding testing sites.
If one member of family tests positive, most airlines will allow rebook. Mary recommends purchasing travel protection for independent health insurance while traveling. Watch the fine print.
Have to really check the last minute COVID info on the country you’re traveling to. Everything had to be on your phone, but carry paper copy of your COVID vaccination card, too.
Airline tickets may change several times before you actually fly due to staffing shortages. If the change is more than 4 hours from what you originally booked, you can go back to airline to find a better flight (if available) .
Mike’Wier noted his cruise ship capacity was only 60% and they had tables spread out and some closed for seating to keep everyone safe.
Next week our speaker will be Michael Norton-Smith who will share with us about Centerville’s Development.
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