President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.
Quote of the day: "It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult.” By Queen Elizabeth II
President Manning’s announcements
- Flags are at half staff due to the attacks on Israel. The Queen’s quote is very appropriate today.
- Thanks to Pat Beckel and Rand Oliver for being greeters today
- Next week’s greeters are Mark Balsan & Kisha Taylor.
- The Dictionary/Thesaurus labeling party has been moved to next week as the books haven’t been delivered yet.
- Generous club members donated $423 for Spirit Chain last week plus the Board approved another $500.
Ginger Clark reported after generous donations from Rotarians, we were able to purchase 600 winter coats for Operation Warm. She gave a special thanks to Kelly McDonald for putting the bill on his credit card so it could be processed right away.
Brian Hayes noted he is preparing the quarterly billing for 2024. If you would like your pancake ticket obligation spread out over 4 quarters, let him know.
Kelly McDonald gave thanks to the Rotarians who worked at Threads of Miami Valley this week doing landscaping work.
President Manning continued announcements:
- Pancake Committee met today; please sign up to work.
- Next Board meeting is Monday, 5:30 pm at Woodbourne Library
- Welcome to today’s guests: Russell Maas from the Oakwood Club; and Jeff Senney’s guest Teresa Innocent, who works at Haven Behavioral Hospital and is a former member of the Darke County Rotary.
Rotary Foundation
Uriah Anderson gave a presentation on the Rotary Foundation, announcing November is Foundation month.
The mission of Rotary Foundation: The Rotary Foundation helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.
It is a public charity that was started in 1917 by Arch Klumpf.
- 91% of the funds are used for goodwill, 9% for operating costs.
- $110 million in grants were awarded in 2021-22.
When Rotarians donate, the Foundation invests for 3 years, and then 1/2 comes back to the district to be distributed as District grants.
There are many ways to donate to the Foundation including:
- Paul Harris Fellow: $1,000 donated by individual; receive multiple PHF each time you reach an additional $1,000 in donations.
- Major Donor $10,000 cumulative
- Arch Klumpf Society $250,000 cumulative
The Centerville Rotary Club members are very generous with donations to the Rotary Foundation. Our club has:
5 Bequests
9 PHF
33 Multiple PHF
12 Paul Harris Society
7 Major donors
Watch for a letter in early November, explaining the club has a matching points program which match dollar for dollar with your cash donations to achieve the next level of PHF.
Kristin Hutton announced Rotary Volunteer t-shirts are available to order. Check the email for details. You’ll be able to pick up the Thursday before Pancake Day or at Pancake Day. Saturday is the last day to place an order.
Sofie Ameloot noted the list of Pancake Day sponsors is on the tables today - please check for accuracy, and it’s not too late to add more to the list!
Happy Bucks this quarter are going toward the Maui Fire/Disaster Relief fund. Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with help from Brian Hayes.
Pat Beckel advocated for our good parks in Centerville-Washington Township and encouraged all to get a sign to show your support for the November levy, get out to enjoy the parks, and do your part to keep our parks great, which makes our community great.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat Beckel encouraged all to honor those that serve by attending the annual event at the Miamisburg Moose Lodge which last year raised $35,000 in 5 hours. This year funds raised will go to Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals.
- Dave Trout was happy to be back.
- Ger Eastabrooks was happy.
- Mark Balsan was happy.
- Jim Harris was happy.
- Frank Perez was happy to be back.
- Chuck King was happy to have everyone back.
- Brian Hayes was happy his 22 year old was just hired at Reynolds and Reynolds.
- Erich Eggers was happy for Brian.
- Bill Menker missed a couple of weeks - celebrated his 30th wedding anniversary and then contracted COVID!
- Kristin Hutton was happy.
- Kelly McDonald had a kukui nut necklace in honor of Hawaii and gave thanks for donations from the club to help the devastated areas. RI theme pins are now available for the 2023-24 year.
- Lee Hieronymus had no report!
- Rand Oliver paid the phone fine, and gave for Maui.
- Adam Manning gave for Maui and everyone here today.
- Wayne Davis gave for the great job by president Adam, for friends and our allies in Israel.
- Lisa Goris-May for Maui.
- Andi Share for no more war.
- Bob Daley said he neglected to mention last week that Jackie D’Aurora is his niece.
- Dale Berry for Israel
- Ray Merz missed several meetings as he had a hospital visit followed by a hard fall in the garage looking for applesauce boxes, but all is ok now.
- Russell Maas for Maui.
- Sofie Ameloot for Maui, Jeff’s guest, and a big thanks to Ann Blackburn for the $780 donation for coats.
- Ron Hollenbeck for Maui and pancake committee’s hard work.
- Kristin Hutton was happy.
- Elda Gotos Gay for peace.
- Socks Bowersocks said we are approaching Pancake Day and nearly 1/3 of the membership hasn’t signed up yet. Please sign up to work now!
- Boyd Preston for Maui and apology dollars to Wayne as when he was introduced to Boyd’s family, Boyd neglected to pay Wayne compliments on the City’s accomplishments.
- Uriah Anderson for Maui, everything from his brother-in-law’s childhood is gone, and gave thanks to Yes For Parks for providing info on the upcoming levy.
- Gina Smith for Maui.
- Carol Kennard for Kristen Marks being here today and all the love of parks evident in this group.
- Kristen Marks thanked Wayne and the City for planting a new red horse chestnut tree at Iron Horse Park today.
- Ginger Clark was happy.
- Jeff Senney just got back from visiting several National Parks, is celebrating his birthday, and is happy to be back in town.
- Teresa Innocent was happy to be here and is looking forward to joining the club.
Our speakers today were Kristen Marks, Executive Director of the Centerville-Washington Park District and Carol Kennard with the Yes for Parks committee.
Kristen shared some highlights of what is happening in the parks this fall. They focus on Placemaking Parks & Programs, providing a unique sense of place for residents in 51 parks.
The community interest survey in 2022 and focus groups help guide their strategic path. Results were very good:
87% used parks in the past year
88% very satisfied or satisfied with overall value received
93% good or very good opinion of CWPD
Compared to the national average for quality of parks and quality of programs, CWPD far exceeds the national average.
2023 major projects
- Bill Yeck new wayfinding, trails re-routed, and better signage
- Grant Park McEwen entrance redevelopment is wrapping up
- Rotary memorial plaza
- Project far exceeded expectations, and they are excited to have Rotary involved.
- Paved path - Rainbow adaptive fun run held there for first time; people with different abilities now have access to nature
- Interpretive signage installed a few weeks ago, observing wildlife, interpreting wildlife, and what you can do in your back yard to attract wildlife.
- Iron Horse Park perimeter path (paths are the #2 requested improvements)
- Bill Yeck Park/Smith entrance shelter with funding assistance by the Bill and Dorothy Yeck Nature Fund.
- They also have a repair/replacement schedule for everything
Kristen noted CWPD is grateful for community partnerships - by putting strengths together, there is a greater community impact.
CWPD offers 700 programs/year, with over 20,000 participants in the various offerings. They have a quarterly newsletter or you can sign up for monthly e-newsletter. For more information, visit www.cwpd.org
Carol Kennard, retired director of CWPD shared information on the park levy on the ballot this November. She noted that this park district is one of the best in the state, and has received many state and national awards. The Park District success is a result of the support from this community and the hard work of the staff.
Carol emphasized that this levy would go into effect PRIOR to the property re-evaluations. Levies are based on property values in the year in which they are voted in, so this 2023 levy would replace the levy based on property values in 2004, when it was first voted in.
Carol said to visit the website www.yesforcwparks.com to request a yard sign, volunteer to help share information or donate to help cover costs of campaign education as no tax dollars can be used.
Rand Oliver shared how impressed he was with the CWPD staff when working to set up and take down the Wall that Heals. He said it is important to support the park levy, so the Park District is able to attract and retain quality staff.
Next week our program will be John Carroll, giving an update on Centerville City Schools.
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