President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Sivaji Subramaniam provided the prayer.
Today’s quote provided by Don Overly: "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Welcome today’s guests:
- Dottie Mead, Past District Governor
- Andy Higgins from the Centerville Noon Optimists, who shared information about their sponsored Community Read of “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. All are encouraged to read it and then join for the discussion at Epiphany Lutheran Church on Feb 21. The book explores the impact of social media on children.
- Arnie Biondo’s son, Matthew
PDG Dottie Mead came forward to present past president, Sofie Ameloot with the Club Excellence Award. She noted it is awarded to clubs that reach at least 13 of your goals and all dues are paid on time. She also reported on the Club Foundation Banner (which will be presented at a later date.) Our club with 66 members, donated $364.48/capita, which makes us the #1 club in the District. The next clubs in line donated $294/capita, so we were well above them. Congratulations and thanks for everyone’s generosity!
Dottie also mentioned a recent Podcast on literacy was great! You can listen to it
HERE.
Today’s Announcements
- Elda and Harvey have COVID but are recovering, Ron B is in the hospital. We are keeping them all in our thoughts and prayers.
- Thanks to the Social Committee, especially Sofie & Pat for a great social at the Cottage Uptown. There were ~40 in attendance, including some sponsors of our Golf/Pancake events. A good time was had by all!
- Highway cleanup (9/27 - 8am-12pm) and Victory Project cleaning (9/25 - 4-6 pm) volunteers are still needed.
- Arnie reminded all to sign up to work Pancake Day!
- Uriah reminded all to pick up your Pancake tickets to sell.
- Sofie said to mark your calendars for Oct 16 for the next social. Details coming soon.
Happy Bucks this quarter will go to Disaster Relief for those affected by the recent flooding in Texas. Rotary District 5840 will distribute the funds.
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms.
- Pat B gave for his birthday, and his son, Duncan’s new album is on all platforms so give it a listen!
- Lisa GM was happy to be here.
- Chuck K was happy.
- Gina S was happy, and had a good anniversary.
- Arnie B was back from Europe, and thanked Sofie for helping set up the In-bound exchange student event in his absence.
- Sofie A for her husband’s birthday, and thanks for coming to the social.
- Rand O is back from Europe, and was fortunate after his flight was cancelled, he was able to get on the last one out before the airline went on strike.
- Lee H’s Farm report noted we are down over 3” of rain, Crops are being harvested early as a result so you will see lots of large equipment out and about.
- Carol K was happy she has editorial rights after Lee shared a joke that will not be included here.
- Brad T joked about the liberty founding members take when sharing for Happy Bucks
- Jim H was happy Centerville schools remain top ranked.
- Mark K for the good weather, last weekend’s football success, and looking forward to another great weekend of football.
- Uriah A had to leave early to set up for the Art Show at the Joyce Young Center and encouraged all to stop by there after attending Mark Febus’ 10th Anniversary celebration.
- Frank P was celebrating his son.
- Raj G for the good work of this club.
- Wyatt T announced the Camp Kern golf outing fundraiser helps send kids to camp so please support it if you can. He had a great anniversary trip to Jamaica, and was sad Joe Burrow was injured.
- Dottie M gave a butterfly report, noting she released a monarch this morning and her granddaughter released her 16th butterfly this year.
- Andy gave thanks for the farm report and thanked Rotary for the mission of peace.
- Ron H for today’s guests.
- Sofie A asked everyone to please ask for sponsorships to the Pancake Breakfast as we’re a bit behind this year.
Drew Simon and Kate Bostdorff from the City of Centerville were our guest speakers today.
Drew said his main job is an event planner, and he likes to bring fun to the community.
Drew has been with the city 3.5 years, and he previously was with WHIO TV - went from the news gloom & doom to the city where happy things are occurring!
Drew said the City plans over 50 events each year. The most well-known are:
- Fall Fest - Oct 4, 12-5 pm at Stubbs Park. There will be Family Bingo with prizes and corn pits - dry corn like a sandbox for kids.
- Summer Concert Series - very successful. Updates to Stubbs Park made event set up much easier this year.
- Centerville Sunday Series is a new indoor series at the Sinclair-Centerville location. An Elvis tribute band will play this Sunday, and tickets are sold out for the 1600 capacity. The concerts are free, but require a ticket, which can be acquired online or at the City Building. The first 2 shows are already sold out. Information can be found here: https://www.centervilleohio.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=171
Some other upcoming events include:
- Uptown Holiday Walk and tree lighting ceremony on November 23
- Business First events - breweries, uptown shopper - Oct 23 trick or treat at local businesses, followed by the showing of Hocus Pocus at Town Hall Theatre.
The Summer Concert Series had over 50,000 in attendance this year.
The total social media touch points show that we reached a larger number than our community as a whole.
Partnerships are important and continue to grow. Hope4Centerville is a new partnership group of churches.
They focus on building on community through volunteerism with over 168 volunteers. The City builds a strong volunteer/citizen based engagement with the community.
Drew asked everyone to give their feedback on how the City can keep moving forward with their mission and vision. They continue to improve the culture of this community so people look at Centerville as the place to be.
Kate said a lot has been going on in the city with renovations at Benham’s Grove and Stubbs Park. This year they are working to update the master plan for Yankee Trace, which operates now with no public funding, and is celebrating its 30 year anniversary.
Uptown improvements to follow include public lighting changes and more public parking.
Quality of Life is a big focus of the City. The Concert Series is completely free, and they bring in good bands. They sell sponsorships for all events at every level. They start selling those in Nov/Dec and can build packages to meet needs of the businesses.
Some businesses outside the community can come in as sponsors - those who provide services to our residents.
The old barber shop on Main Street will be redeveloped soon. The City is investing $300,000 in upgrades for the building while reviewing potential uses.
