President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club Zoom and led the Pledge of Allegiance and provided the prayer.
Our Theme this month is Peace and Conflict Prevention and Resolution
Thought of the moment – is from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Today our Guest Speaker is Chris Stanley from the Fisher-Nightingale House and he will receive a proper introduction here in a few moments.
Announcements included:
- Carol Kennard gave one last chance to order your 50th anniversary t-shirt. Email cgkennard@woh.rr.com or call/text (937) 581-6744 with your order now!
- Ron Hollenbeck got confirmation from Carol Hughes and Frank Scott that they will attend the April 21 meeting to hand out the new Paul Harris Fellow awards.
- Mike Wier announced we now have 23 people signed up for the Dragon’s game and still have plenty of tickets. If more Rotarians don’t sign up we will open up to others next week.
- Arnie Biondo reminded all to go get sponsors for golf and/or pancake day. Let him know if you need help.
- Sofie Ameloot is looking for raffle prizes for the golf tournament. Let her know if you have items to donate! Ideas: wine, cooler, umbrella, etc. Will take anything that’s nice!
Kim Senft-Paras shared the 50th anniversary tidbit:
We began the month with Dayton Rotary speaker Kelly Lehman. Kim and Mark Febus met with her yesterday to see how our club can be more involved in the district initiative and the April 23 Youth Peace Advocacy, Leadership & Service Day. They are trying to get CHS Interact students involved.
In 2012-13 yearly theme was Peace through Service and our club planted cherry trees and a peace pole at Centerville Library. Alex Hara, Japanese born business man who lives in Dayton was inspired by the tsunami donations so he started a program to plant 1,000 cherry trees in Montgomery County.
Next month’s theme is Rotary Water and Sanitation Month and Ginger Clark will bring tidbits to the club!
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 for:
- Boyd Preston $20 fine for earlier comments about the ebulletin and for KY
- Kim Senft-Paras $20 for KY and for the opportunity to make presentations on peace initiatives, which made her realize the club’s impact
- Mike Wier was docked at Cozumel Mexico and he gave us a view of the sea, noting it was 80 degrees which made us all jealous
- Chuck King $20 as he just got back from a week in Fort Fisher, NC which was the largest sea-land battle in the Civil War. It was the last open port to Wilmington and after it was shut down, the war was over in a couple of weeks
- Ron Hollenbeck $20 for KY and said he tried to take a short cut with a wood project and got the drill bit stuck, but now all is back in good shape.
- Arnie Biondo $20 for KY, noting in comparison he had a very minor inconvenience with a couple inches of water in basement. He called Mark Gerken’s Servicemaster for help - thankful for a fellow Rotarian who provided great service
- Susan Schnell only found $5 in the clean laundry pile but gave a total of $20 for being happy in general, for KY, and for being on spring vacation from school
- Elda Gotos-Gay $20 for KY
- Carol Kennard $20 for a great visit with her kids and granddaughter
- Harvey Smith $20 sad for people in Ukraine
- Sofie Ameloot $10 for Ukraine, also listened to the Belgium radio perspective and it’s just too hard to listen to.
- Brian Hayes $20 for Ukraine and for fellow Rotarians who celebrated birthdays/anniversaries in February
Our guest speaker this week was Chris Stanley from the Fisher-Nightingale House.
Chris Stanley shared that he spent 24 years in the Air Force, retiring in August 2001. He lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Florida, and moved around for 24 years with the Air Force. Came to Dayton after hurricane Andrew and spent the last 9 years of active duty here. He and his wife decided to retire here, and they have 4 kids and 16 grandkids!
Chris is the Executive Director of the Fisher-Nightingale House here in Dayton. They support military caregivers who have to travel here for medical treatment. The house allows families to stay together and provides physical/emotional support.
They have supported more than 25,000 families since 1990. Despite COVID, they were still able to support 542 families in 2021.There are 92 Fisher Houses in operation around the country.
The FNHI is a non-profit organization that supports Wright-Patterson Fisher House and the Dayton VA.
The house first started in 1994, when a family receiving treatment saw people sleeping in waiting rooms and envisioned a Ronald McDonald house type for military families. The Fisher family built 3 houses and now there are 92 houses across the country with three new houses under construction.
A local family donated $1.05 million to build one at the Dayton VA, which opened in 2018.
Because these houses are available for families, there is an annual savings of $1.7 million in hotel costs, along with free food. The guests pay nothing as long as a military family member is receiving treatment.
They never shut down during covid.
More than 95 cents of every dollar donated is available for program expenses.
Chris then shared a
video tour of the Fisher-Nightingale house:
2 story, 16 bedroom facility with an elevator, kitchen with 2 sets of everything, family room, patio with grill, dining room, bedrooms all with private handicap accessible bath.
They provide a home away from home. The west Dayton location is a food desert so they use Shipt for grocery deliveries. They make sure the refrigerators are fully stocked and available for families. Also provide taxi service for families. Distance is no issue; will take them anywhere.
Donations directly impact and change the course of someone’s recovery. Family’s love is good medicine.
Susan Schnell shared she knew about the Wright-Patterson Fisher House - 2 Days ago handed in a paper about Fisher House Foundation. Thanks for your good work and encouraged others to support.
Next week we get back to face to face meetings (the first two will be hybrid with Zoom support) and our speaker will be Charles Anderson from S.C.O.R.E.
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