9/11/14 Sally Beals and Gerry Eastabrooks
9/18/14 Mark Balsan and Pat Beckel
9/25/14 Erich Eggers and Shelley Fisher
10/2/14 Ed Flohre and Cynthia Fraley
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
9/04/14
President Vas Appalaneni opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace with the Pledge of Allegiance. Member Ray Werz gave the prayer and Peachy Metzner led the singing of God Bless America, with resounding success.
The guests at the meeting included Rotarian Ned Dull and his daughter Cindy, and Rotarian Greg Anderson, the guest of member Shelley Fisher. Also, our speaker for the day, Greg Darling, executive director of The Castle, was accompanied by Beth Williams, a member of The Castle, and Beverly Henning, who came in support of Greg Darling and to tell her story of her son John.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Member Boyd Preston helped pass out the tickets for the Pancake Breakfast Oct. 25. Each member received $150 worth of tickets to be sold for $6 apiece. Some have paid quarterly for the tickets and others will need to pay the $150 as they sell their tickets. Each member receives 25 tickets. More are available.
Member Shelley Fisher, also on the Pancake Breakfast committee, said she e-mailed members about sponsorship costs and said the Dayton Daily News will have an 8-page ad supplement similar to our 40th anniversary supplement, but with more pictures and ads than words, that should go out the Thursday before the Pancake Breakfast.
She has offered a Pancake Challenge somewhat like the ALS ice bucket challenge, to club members. She said she and Centerville City Manager Greg Horn, and Washington Township Trustee Dale Berry, will allow pancake mixture to be poured on their heads if the club can get 100 percent participation in submitting sponsorships for the Pancake Breakfast. Sponsorships start at $35 and can be as high as $500. The $500 sponsorship includes a nice ad in the newspaper supplement as well as ads as explained in Shelley's e-mail message to us all. (Website, tables, placemats)
Shelley said she already has a donation from Skyline Financial Group, and Vas said he has submitted a donation, so there's two donations already in hand.
Member Judy Budi passed around sign-up sheets for the members to indicate where and when they would like to volunteer on Pancake Day. Those who do not pick a job will be assigned one, she said.
Member Bill Abrams said he already has raffle tickets for the upcoming NFL Superbowl in February, on Feb. 1, which will be held in Glendale, Ariz. This year's raffle will have three prizes: 1st prize: Two tickets to the game, a four-night stay in Glendale and $1,000 in cash. 2nd prize: $1,000. 3rd prize: $500.
Cost of tickets: 5 tickets for $20 or $5 a ticket. See Bill. Proceeds benefit the Rotary charity.
Member Harvey Smith said that the Paul Harris Society now has two more of our club members who have agreed to donate $1,000 on a yearly basis to the Paul Harris Foundation, Peachy Metzner and Brad Thorp, and that Bob Frye and Ram Nunna have been given contracts to become members of the Society.
Member Ann Blackburn stood in for Erich Eggers as Sgt.-at-Arms.
She received an Ann Blackburn-style welcome, with much clapping.
Brad Thorp used his Happy Buck time to note that as a member of the Centerville-Washington Township Historical Society, he has tickets to sell to A Sense of Taste to be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 11. Only 250 people can be accommodated and the tickets are $25 per person. The event will be held at
Benham's Grove. About 200 tickets have been sold already, and tickets must be purchased in advance, so act now or possibly be left out. Participating restaurants include Meadowlark, Archers, LaRosas, Station House, Bellbrook Chocolates, Melting Pot, Earth Fare, City BBQ, Bill's Donuts, Esther Price Candies, Graeter's, Diversity Council...
Brad said he'd like to get a four-some to play in the Kalaman Golf Outing Sept. 8. It's $125, which includes the pig roast in the early evening. The Pig Roast by itself costs $35.
A number of people gave $20 for Operation Warm to buy coats for kids, and others contributed money for that and other happy occasions.
Sivaji Subramaniam missed meetings to visit his family in recent weeks and was delighted to report that his son's daughter Jasmine, 6, had grown her beautiful dark hair extra long so she could have it cut off to donate to Locks of Love, which makes the 10-inch locks into wigs for kids who lose their hair due to cancer and other diseases.
Above: Jasmine Subramaniam shows off her Locks of Love. A generous donation from a 6-year-old. We also like her Hello Kitty shirt. All awesome!
Sivaji said he forgot to mention an honor he had to by-pass because of visiting with his family. Maybe he will share that with the club at our next meeting.
SPEAKER: Greg Darling, executive director of The Castle, along with Beth Williams, a member of The Castle, and Beverly Henning, a supporter of The Castle.
Club member Peachy Metzner introduced our main guest speaker Greg Darling, who thanked the club and the community for helping support The Castle, which helps the mentally disabled have a place to meet and interact with others in a safe, caring environment with peer support. He thanked the club for helping purchase anatomical diagrams for use by the group, and for building steps and a railing to make the upper garden area a safer environment.
Darling said the group of people who use The Castle includes teachers, nurses, veterans, police officers and others who have had something happen to change their lives.
Beth Williams, said The Castle "is my second home." She said mental illness had made her feel very out of place, but at The Castle they "feel like one huge happy family." If she has a problem, she has someone to go to and talk about it, she said. It has helped her self esteem and in the three years she has been coming to The Castle she has made friends and curbed her anxiety. "I now have awesome reasons to get out of bed," she said. She gave an awesome presentation to the group.
Greg Darling said on Oct. 7, The Castle will hold a faith-based event to create awareness of mental illness and give people hope and empowerment. Four years ago the event was created with the help of some local churches and this year they hope to get more of the community involved, with the Kiwanis Club and more churches. Recovery from mental illness takes a holistic approach, he said. Amy Simpson, a nationally known author, whose mother had mental illness, will be coming to the event, he said.
Beverly Henning, of Christ United Methodist Church told the story of her son John's faith journey, which she calls The Eclipse of the Son.
Her son John is her youngest son. He was the most difficult and participated in risky behaviors, such as skate boarding, riding dirt bikes, etc. He drifted away from the church and such activities, she said. Like Tom Sawyer, he was just drifting along, she said.
She said he kept from her for 10 years that he had noticed cancerous tumors bulging from his leg. In junior high he had chewed tobacco, he told her. At age 22 he suffered from depression because of this. She moved him home and a Kettering Medical Center evaluation diagnosed him as being bi-polar. As he got older he drank too much and could not hold down a job. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 30s. At one point he spent 59 days in jail, during which he didn't get his meds and attempted suicide, she said. She was appointed his representative. He went into an apartment and since he could not work, he spent his time watching tel-evangelists on TV. He grew to believe in the words they spoke, she said. He quit smoking and gave up his dark past. He still suffers from paranoia and panic attacks, but he now has hope, she said. "Every day I rejoice in God's grace," she said.
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