04/23/15 Phil Raynes and Mark Balsan
04/30/15 Harvey Smith and Dan Sortman
05/07/15 Bill Abrams and Jeff Senney
05/14/15 Ed Flohre and Dan Johnson
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
04/09/15
Club President Vas Appalaneni opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Harvey Smith gave the prayer, and Peachy Metzner led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included: Our speaker for the day, Meredith Florkey, Education and Marketing Coordinator for Learning Tree Farm.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Club president Vas Appalaneni reminded club members that the Bruckner Shoes for Orphan Souls drive that our Rotary District is participating in, needs members to bring in new shoes, socks, and/or checks to help buy such items.
Vas said the Rotary District's Youth Exchange program needs help with hosting in-bound students. It has ten students in the exchange and still needs a few families to host a student for a full year or for just a few months, he said.
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Vas also noted that the Rotary District Conference is April 17/18, to be held at the Hope Hotel and that you need to register if you plan to attend. Dr. Hoback plans to go and hopes to see some of his colleagues there. Nine members had signed up by the April 16 meeting, he said. The golf outing is April 17, and the foursome only has to have two club members, so you can get others outside the club to be part of your four-some.
Everything was "Peachy-keen" at the District Conference with Ron Hollenbeck and Peachy Metzner there.
Kim Senft-Paras sent a note saying the five Yoshino cherry trees planted by our Rotary Club as part of Operation 1000 Cherry Trees, a project started by Dayton area Japanese-born businessman Alex Hare, are now in bloom. See pictures taken on a cloudy April 16, 2015 day, below: Also the Peace Pole to commemorate Rotary's theme of "Peace through Service" is shown in the third picture below.
Carol said Kim sent a reminder that at 10 a.m. April 19, club Rotarians can meet at Wright-Patt to help Kim and the five others who have said they will be there, plant cherry trees as part of the District's cherry tree project.
Pat Beckel, president of The Heart of Centerville, passed out information about The Community Affair, presented by The Heart of Centerville, that will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 2 at Cross Pointe Center. It is a chance to bring together Centerville and Washington Twp. businesses and organizations with local residents and the public. The event offers free family fun with bouncy houses in the parking lot, food trucks and displays by the local stores outdoors. There will be outdoor booths for car dealers, lawn care, and other businesses not hurt by inclement weather. It should be a fun family affair, he said.
Ray Merz said they interviewed 16 applicants for six Rotary club scholarships of $2,000, and that "it was a wonderful experience."
Ray read excerpts from three letters the club received from students who attended the recent RYLA leadership program at Camp Kern. Josh Holtz said he really enjoyed the outdoor experiences and team work. The only thing missing was some down time, he said. He liked the team adventure challenge, including the climbing course "in which the team really bonded and we had an amazing time."
Justin Flanagan called the weekend "unique" and said that he made new, close friendships. The third camper, Harsh A., said he also ended up making "great friends." He said his team was last, but that "I wouldn't trade it for anything. We had so much fun and got close in the span of a weekend. We're going bowling soon."
HAPPY BUCKS:
Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks to help support the VA Gardens project.
Lee Hieronymus paid $5 for his birthday and then challenged the club to pay $500 when their birthdays come around, to the Paul Harris fund, which he did this day. He asked that "now until next year" everyone with a birthday do the same as he did.
Dan Johnson gave $20 for his birthday, noting that he is now another decade older.
Carol Kennard, who also served as greeter on this day, noted that the Hithergreen annual golf outing is May 18th at Yankee Trace, and also that just four months into her retirement, she now has a new part-time job as the interim part-time park director for Clark County Park District. Their park director has retired and they have a park levy coming up, so they needed someone to take on the role of director at this critical time.
Peachy Metzner noted that Rebuilding Together Dayton is coming up and that it will be in Dayton's Westwood neighborhood. Club members volunteering will work the morning shift, he said.
SPEAKER: Meredith Florkey, Education and Marketing Coordinator for Learning Tree Farm
Meredith said she has a background in early childhood education and formerly taught at a private pre-school in Centerville. The Learning Tree Farm, located at 3376 S. Union Road in Dayton was established in 1973 as a hands-on outdoor learning facility for children and adults and has as a goal for 2016 to become a nature-based pre-school for the Dayton area, she said.
It will need additional funding to create such opportunities, she said. It will need to fix and repair some areas, such as their outdoor patio and to add an educational building. Children spend too much time indoors these days, she said, and the center hopes to change that by offering children the ability to interact with the farm animals, learn about nature, and enjoy the act of running through open fields and rolling down hills, something some children have never experienced, she said. The farm is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization governed by a board of trustees, she said.
Funding comes from various sources, including admissions, fund-raising, sponsorships, and donations. The farm serves 5,000 school children a year, from nine counties, she said.
She said they had a Little Red Hen pre-school program last fall in which the children planted wheat, which they hope to make bread from. They also had a spring wildflower program.
The farm's patio is crumbling and roadside interpretive signage is needed. They plan to add 10 more acres to their 85 acres, and in their education program have children explore the outdoors and then talk about it and learn words and sounds and write about what they have seen as part of their experience. They will incorporate nutrition and healthy living as well as planting, harvesting and cooking segments. The program has been working with business people to make a business plan and three-year budget, she said. They have contracted with architects and contractors, the health department, fire department, and parents and staff.
She said on May 9 the farm will offer live music, food trucks, a tour of the current education center and visits with the baby animals and other animals on the farm at their Vintage Farm Fun Event.
They also have plans to have a flower campaign in which they will plant a whole field of sunflowers, and also raise beans on the farm. She said the Kettering Banjo Society will be playing at their Vintage Farm Fun event. Tickets are now on sale and are less if purchased in advance of the event, which runs from 3 to 7 p.m. The event will support the new education building remodeling efforts as well as the refurbishing of the Century house's patio. There will be:
Food from Harvest Mobile Cuisine, Live music from the Kettering Banjo Society, Desserts sold by 2 Cups Bakery, Vintage fashion show featuring: Finders Keepers, Riley Street Vintage, and Bea Unique Designs, and MaggieMae's Colours.
Children's craft for mom, Silent auction featuring vintage farm décor and themed packages, Tours of our new education building, Children's yoga with Imagination Yoga, "History of the Farm" booth, Meet and greet our fantastic animals and tour the farm grounds, our gift shop will be open as well!
Dinner is included with the ticket price. Drinks and dessert are sold separately.
Advanced Sale Tickets
$20 per person
$40 per couple
$70 for a family including up to 3 children under the age of 18 within that household
For more information check: www.learningtreefarm.org
Walk-In Individual or Families
◦These are normal admission prices: $3.00 per person
◦ $10.00 maximum per family
◦ Children under 2 years are free
Learning Tree Farm is open during daylight hours to visit the animals and enjoy the outdoors. If no staff are in the Century House office, there is an honor box for admission fees on the bulletin board in the driveway turnaround
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