President Frank Perez opened the meeting and welcomed Rotarians in the room and on Zoom.
Deb Dulaney led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and Dick Hoback gave a prayer.
Sofie Ameloot announced that thanks to the generosity of our club, we made our happy bucks goal for Operation Warm this year - $7,000 in donations plus $2,500 in District grants.
Our next project is the annual Adopt a Family gift-giving program. This year it has been simplified - $50 gift cards are to be purchased for specified stores. Please let Sofie know if you can help. She must notify the schools on the number of students we will adopt no later than October 23.
President Frank Perez offered his thanks for the club’s generosity with support for Operation Warm. This has been a challenging year for many, yet we still made the goal set before COVID-19 hit. Frank gave a shout out to the work crew who assembled new shelves at the Park District headquarters for our Pancake Day supplies. Sofie Ameloot, Don Overly, Lee Hieronymus, John Callander, & Ron Hollenbeck were on the work crew. A special thanks to Ron and John for their time, expertise and blood!
Boyd Preston was our Sergeant-at-Arms today.
This quarter, our Happy Dollars are for the Kaplani School in the Himalayas, which is a school that was very special to deceased member Robin Parker.
Boyd noted Sofie Ameloot, as a new American citizen got to vote for first time! And then he gave happy bucks because the Cleveland Browns won again. Now they have better record than his beloved New England Patriots!
Sofie Ameloot is happy to have voted and that her family is taking off for a visit to Holland, Michigan before in-class school starts again.
Elda Gotos-Gay is happy for Sofie, and for making our Operation Warm goal.
Mike Wier is happy he received his absentee ballot, which he will fill out and send in.
Harvey Smith announced his granddaughter in FL is engaged and she wants Harvey to do the ceremony. However, he said he didn’t feel comfortable traveling yet, so she moved the wedding here!
Deb Dulaney is just happy.
Joyce Young is happy, and noted she already voted.
Gerry Eastabrooks is happy she has family coming to visit from Chicago.
Kisha Taylor is happy to be here again this week.
Lee Hieronymus is happy we have great weather for bailing hay. (Anyone want to help?)
Carol Kennard is happy she was able to fill out her absentee ballot from the comfort of her home and deliver it to the Board of Elections downtown.
Dick Hoback is happy to have received his absentee ballot.
Chuck King is happy for the great weather.
Adam Manning is just happy.
Dale Berry is just happy.
Jeff Senney is happy to be celebrating his birthday this weekend and because his visit to the license bureau to get new tags took only 3 minutes.
Frank Perez is happy for his Cleveland Browns.
Terry Hanauer is happy for the beautiful trees. (He is still in MI)
Jim Harris is happy.
Brad Huffman is happy for the good weather, for Sofie being able to vote, and for Adam being back at the meeting.
Our speaker today was Shirelle Stroud, Founder of Young Ladies Aspiring Greatness
President Frank Perez introduced Shirelle Stroud, who’s program Young Ladies Aspiring Greatness empowers girls and encourages them to achieve.
Shirelle noted the girls are mentored through community service, outreach, guest speakers, enrichment & educational outings, and by writing and producing their own TV show and contributing articles to the Dayton weekly news.
Through this program, girls learn leadership skills, critical thinking, social skills, planning, budgeting, and self-advocacy to help them get ahead in life. They come from many different backgrounds and which allows them to learn together. She has been inspired when watching an introverted girl find her voice.
The girls spend their Saturday mornings and school breaks on projects and self-development. In 2019, they were invited to participate in an MSNBC town hall meeting, participated in a 7-day mission trip to Chicago, and received many awards, and grants including one to support the COVID Stay Safe America campaign (billboards & PSA’s.)
Board member Alison Brown shared her thoughts on the program. She is mostly impressed to see the transition in the girls, and to see those students go on to college. They participate in community service every month. She noted when it becomes a part of who you are, you go on to be involved in community service the rest of your life. They recognize the need to give back to the community.
Most exciting for her is watching young women find their own voice, and being ok with their opinion. It may not be the same as another’s opinion, but they become comfortable sharing their own voice. The world is a better place when we can share differing opinions and respect each other.
The program is funded through community gifts and is a non-profit organization. Fourteen girls just graduated from the program and there are 20 girls participating this year. The size is kept small on purpose for more focused work.
Right now the program is just for girls but they are involved in some programs that include boys
For more information or to send a donation, the contact information is:
Young Ladies Aspiring Greatness
937-701-3092
Other News:
Jeff Senney was playing in a golf outing at Walnut Grove last week. They had a picture of Bob Corbin (former Rotarian) hung on one of the lockers still. The man was a legend.
Everyone have a great week, stay safe and healthy – Thanks