Ron called Carly Hall to come up and receive our check for Homefull. The check was for $1,364, our Happy Buck donations from the last several months.
Carly gave an update on the number of homeless people helped by Homefull in 2016, stating it was 4,500, with 40 percent children. The average age of homeless children is 9 years old, she said. Homefull looks for solutions to help the homeless. They feel that finding employment for the homeless is one of the solutions to combating poverty, she said. The group has an urban agriculture program with micro farming and PSA. They have landscaping crews that can help landscape your business or home, and a farmer's market. There is also a golf outing at Country Club of the North coming up in May, she said. She had fliers for this to hand out. The PSA program gives you a box every week of the agricultural produce they have, she said.
Ron had sign-up sheets on each table for members to let him know if they will be at the April 20 meeting at the Kennard Nature Nook, as box lunches will have to be ordered for that and he needs to know the exact number needed for the day.
Happy Bucks: Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks for The Victory Project, a privately funded Dayton after-school program for young men involving the three "E's": Education, Entrepreneurship, and Enlightenment.
Peachy gave Happy Bucks noting his doctor told him he doesn't have prostrate cancer.
Ron Hollenbeck then gave, telling everyone he had filled in for Peachy's doctor. This got a large laugh from the crowd, and then Ron went on to say that his car has 100,000 miles on it, but then mentioned something about his wife and her new dog, and that maybe they needed to wait a while for a new car.
Mark Febus gave for the Victory Project and then Kim Senft-Paras gave $5, mentioning RYLA coming up and that five scholarship winners have been selected and that they will come to a Rotary meeting at the beginning of June. She also noted that our exchange student from India, Saloni Bagwani, is very happy, as she is on the track and field team at CHS and got to go to Mason and throw the discus, and threw it 13 feet further than she had ever thrown it.
Boyd Preston gave, saying he was happy to see our speaker Lisa Tucker and Carly Hall at the meeting.
Joyce Young gave for several reasons, one being a sad dollar to hear that Janet Thobaben died this week. She and Cecila Elliott, who died earlier this year, were long-time members of the Centerville Historical Society, and helped record the area's early history in books like Centerville Place, and material about Normandy Farms, etc.
Mike Wier gave to announce the 4 p.m. 25th Anniversary concert on May 7 at the Kroc Center on Keowee Street, of the Ohio Valley British Brass Band, with a special work commissioned by Steven Bulla to be played.
It's pretty impressive:
Ohio Valley British Brass Band 25th Anniversary Concert Dayton Kroc Center 1000 North Keowee Street Dayton, Ohio May 7, 2017, 4 p.m. Free. In commemoration of its 25th anniversary, the OVBBB will honor the history and tradition of the band by performing a concert on Sunday afternoon, May 7, at 4 p.m., at the Ray and Joan Kroc Salvation Army Center in downtown Dayton. For this special event the OVBBB is pleased and honored to welcome the internationally acclaimed composer/conductor and former chief arranger of “The Presidents Own” United States Marine Band, Stephen Bulla, as artist in residence for the weekend. Bulla will be guest conducting the band on four of his significant original compositions for brass band, including the world premiere of “Valley of the Adena,” commissioned especially for this occasion by the Ohio Valley British Brass Band and the “Fantasia for Euphonium and Brass Band,” featuring Francis Laws as soloist. Also included on the program are a variety of pieces from the brass band repertoire: a delightful overture to the operetta “La Belle Helene” by Jacque Offenbach; a medley of tunes from the 1949 film “Down to the Sea in Ships,” especially written for the OVBBB by tenor horn soloist Tad Stewart; John Williams’ energetic “Selections from The Cowboys,”; and one of the band's favorite tunes through the years—Sir Arthur Sullivan’s beautiful “The Lost Chord.” The concert is free and open to the public. The Ohio Valley British Brass Band was founded in February 1992 by Francis Laws and the late Ed Nickol, and since January 2009 has been under the leadership of music director Michael Gallehue. The 45-member ensemble is comprised of professional musicians, active and retired educators at the secondary and collegiate levels, students, and the premiere brass and percussion players from the Ohio Valley. Since its inception, the OVBBB has played extensively throughout southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky, including featured performances with the Cincinnati Pops and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestras. The OVBBB has also performed for the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference, the American School Band Directors Association State Convention, and was the keynote performing ensemble at the Wisconsin Brass Band Festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Over the past twenty-five years the OVBBB has been joined by featured guest performers of local, national, and international acclaim, including trumpet virtuoso Allen Vizzuti and John Philip Sousa IV, great-grandson of the famous American composer and bandmaster. The band has an extensive musical repertoire, including marches, overtures, show tunes, light classics, popular music, and patriotic selections.
As for more Happy Bucks....
Butch Spencer said he is leaving on vacation, but was leaving his business card in case anyone decides they want to buy a car.
Drew Carter gave and Chuck King gave, noting he was called to jury duty, but was dismissed. He said he told them he knew Ron Hollenbeck.....you've got to love this club for their great sense of humor. Erich Eggers, meanwhile, said he wished he would be called for jury duty, as he has never served.
Brad Thorp gave for the Victory Project and Don Gerhardt gave for Lisa Tucker, our speaker, noting, "She's running the shop." Don has always gotten her to donate for the Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser we hold each year in October.
Doc Hoback gave for Jim Harris collecting the wine in his vacation absence. He advised that people who didn't want to go out and purchase wine for our club's wine barrow could put dollars in the glass on the collection being displayed this day.
Dan Sortman gave for being on vacation in Florida, where he said it was windy, and that they had a rip tide.
Carol Kennard gave $10 for being gone for several weeks, heading up north to see her daughter dance and to see her son and his son...and to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. A lot of shops were closed there, she said.
Jim Harris gave for the Victory Project and Jeff Senney gave for his grandkids being home for Easter and the older kids a week later.
Rebecca Quinones gave noting that Little Sofie (sp?) is now the goalie in Lacrosse for the youth and middle school teams. The equipment she was supplied with was WAYYYY too big, so they had to go online and order all new equipment for her, she said. Noting: Small but mighty!
Brian Bergmann said he was in Columbus last week working on a car and said he was happy that his second son was coming for Easter and happy for the fine weather the last few days....sunny and in the 60s and 70s.
Kisha Taylor brought her dollar in change and gave it for her first week as a new member. Yeah...Kisha.
Jim Hester said he has been giving for his despair for the Reds, losing so much, but now that they had won some, he was considering giving for their wins rather than losses.
Harvey Smith gave, saying: "I'm so happy Peachy is going to see his psychiatrist." Again the crowd had a good laugh at the jibes this tribe gives one another...
Ray Merz gave for being Happy and Dan Johnson gave for his Easter birthday, and Mark Balsan gave for being Happy and Erich Eggers gave for being Happy.
Today's Speaker: Lisa Tucker, owner of Bill's Donut Shop
Boyd Preston introduced our guest, stating that since Don Gerhardt had already spoken about her, that he would be brief, which he is not known for, so there was a bit of chuckling going on. He said Lisa Tucker would be talking about some of the great work being done to address the needs of the community. He said she is a long-term resident of the community and has been here since the fourth grade, and that she and her brother Jim are co-owners of Bill's Donut Shop in Centerville.
Lisa said she and her brother bought the shop from their father Bill Elam and his wife Faye in 1995.
She said her mom and dad began the shop in 1960. In 1983 they heard about a little boy who had Leukemia and granted the first Special Wish for him, to go to Disney World. Now more than 1,500 Special Wishes have been granted, she said.
The picture below, which hangs in Bill's Donut Shop, shows the late Bill Elam holding a Special Wish child. The poster was made in 1999 when the 600th Special Wish had been granted.
Lisa said they have sponsored T-Ball teams for many years and in 2011 helped the people in Joplin with a semi filled with 100,000 items donated by area residents. She and her husband drove out with the semi to the church, where the items were donated to help the victims of the tornado, and since then they've made three additional trips to help church volunteers with a housing project.
On Tuesday afternoons a group of 12 to 20 women drop in at Bill's to crochet plastic sheets, made from donated plastic bags, into mats for the homeless. It gives them something to lay on when the shelter runs out of bedding, or if they need to keep up off the ground.
The shop sets up a Christmas tree in the same back part of the shop before Christmas, with names of children they get from Artemis House, which is for battered women. She said she and her brother take care of the need of the mothers, and they put the names and ages of the children on the paper angels on the tree, and customers pick names and bring back the gifts requested for the children. This past year there were 16 women and 63 children, she said, adding, "It is a really growing population." Everyone of the angels were taken from the tree, she said.
They also collect used cell phones so that women can call 911 for free when needed.
She said this is the third year they have provided a free lunch program on Mondays for the Children at Chevy Chase (subsidized housing), where there are often single mothers. There are 200 adults, and 400 children under the age of 15, she said.
The Monday program includes the local police and the mayor of Centerville and usually a kickball game, Lisa said. The Life Enrichment Center in Dayton donates two bicyles a week.
Lisa said this interaction with the police introduces them as a friend and helper.
Lisa noted that there are three food pantries in Centerville, one at the Methodist Church on Franklin Street, one at South Minster Presbyterian Church, which actually delivers the groceries, and one at Harmony Creek on Bigger Road. If people donate individual food packages at Bill's, she gives them to the Food2Go program, she said.
Bill's Donut Shop has the Super Hero Run coming up, with the proceeds to go the Special Wish. That will be on April 29. You can walk or run or walk behind a stroller, however you want, she said. People come dressed as their Super Heroes...
A book about the donut shop, with stories supplied by customers, should be available on the 22nd of April, she said.
Also, she has spearheaded a committee that is hoping to raise enough money to outfit the local football team with helmets that show the pounds per force when a kid gets hit, she said. That will enable coaches to see if there is a concussion and/or the need to pull the child from the game.
She said the donut shop is open 24/7 and "business has really, really grown." Her father would not believe the volume they do now, she said.
They have 35 employees, all full-time workers, with insurance benefits, and retirement if they choose to participate in that. It is now going into the third generation, with her brother's son Cody working making donuts, she said.
Lisa didn't mention this, but in March, 2013, Bill's Donut Shop was listed in Saveur magazine as one of the best 50 donut shops in the U.S. It also was reviewed in USAToday by another reviewer that year, and listed as one of the top donut shops in the U.S. Truckers have been known to alert one another when they are passing through the area to be sure to stop at Bill's Donut Shop. Several driving cross country have stopped in when yours truly was there, and they told us how they were alerted to the shop by other truckers.
Pictured below is the magazine cover featuring the top donut shops in each of the 50 states. Bill's Donut Shop was rated tops for Ohio. The donuts are always fresh and the coffee is brewed in small pots. There are also muffins and cookies, apple fritters, filled, and cake, and glazed donuts, the big pretzel donut, etc. And don't forget the giant donut cake that has to be ordered ahead. It's a big glazed donut with whatever colored frosting you want on it, and whatever message you want. They are a big hit at children's parties.
Lisa didn't tell you all this, but if you haven't visited, you've missed one of Centerville's best places to visit.
.JPG)
.jpg)
