President Arnie Biondo welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.

 

President Biondo shared these announcements:

 

PDG Harvey Smith inducted new members:

Ashlee shared she is a Senior Financial Planner at James Investment, married, with a 7 yr old daughter, French bulldog puppy, rescue mutt and 2 cats. She loves camping, canoeing, and anything outdoors.

 

Dan Wilson was originally from Chicago, was a Director of Quality at a steel company, has three grown kids, and three grandkids all in the Dayton area. Dan is looking forward to meeting everyone and participating in civic activities.

 

 

President Biondo reminded everyone about the upcoming social at Lock 27. September 28 6:30-8:30 pm is Quiz for a Cause at Lock 27 Brewing. They will put us on social media, and we’ll have trivia, 50/50, and other fun activities to support Operation Warm. There are some opportunities for volunteers to help run the event. It is an 80s theme and a good way to promote the Rotary Club of Centerville. Come early and have dinner or you might find yourself standing!

 

Reminder that our September 22 meeting will be held at Grant Park, McEwen Road entrance for our 50th Anniversary project groundbreaking. Please let Sofie Ameloot know of your sandwich choice if you haven’t already.

 

Adam Manning announced the next Pancake Committee meeting is September 15, 11 am at Yankee Trace. We will also pass out tickets that day so get ready to sell!

 

Crissy Allums said to watch for details in upcoming emails about the  Diaper Depot, Hannah’s Treasure Chest and blood drive.

 

 

Pat Beckel was our Sergeant-at-Arms today and noted it was great to be greeted by Erich Eggers. Erich used to be SAA and that’s where Pat learned the art of fining people.

 

Happy Bucks were given generously for:

 

 

President Biondo introduced our speaker today as one of the best friends of Rotary. Frank Scott is from the Dayton Rotary Club, and has served the District through many different roles, and now is our District Governor.

 

Frank noted he brought gifts and passed out a theme pin for everyone! He then presented the club with the theme banner that starts with the first female president of Rotary, who is well qualified for the position. He noted our newest members fit the Rotary goal this year of  50% male, 50% female.

 

 

Frank noted he reviewed the five-year giving history of our club and congratulated us as one of the clubs that does the best in donations (per capita). He would like to see $100 per capita this year which would result in $250,000 into our district if all met this goal. The District average is $72 per capita, but our club was $422 per capita last year. The Presidential Unit Citation will be coming to our club again.

 

Frank shared he has been in Rotary for 15 years, and belongs to the Dayton Rotary Club since he works downtown. He was president of the Dayton Club in 2012-13, which was also the 100th anniversary of that club. He recognized and thanked all of the Assistant District Governors in our Club and Don Stewart who is the District Treasurer.

 

Centerville is always a very giving club. This year for first time, the District had to turn down some requests, as there was not enough funding. The Rotary Foundation has a 3-year cycle - after 3 years, the District gets 50% of the donations back, 25% goes to global grants, with 25% to district grants. The other other 50% stays with RI for global grants and programs. Donations the last couple of years have been low primarily due to COVID. The District was still able to award $40,000 in grants this year.

 

Polio is still a major focus of Rotary. Six weeks ago a case showed up in New York. We’ve had 2 generations since polio has been endemic in the US, so this is alarming. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where it has not been eradicated. It is difficult to vaccinate because the people in those countries tend to move around a lot.

 

$1,500 for polio eradication per club is the District’s goal.

 

Membership is another focus and our club has met this year’s goal of bringing in 4 new members. We would add 160 new members to District 6670 if all clubs meet this goal. Closer to 3,000 before pandemic, but numbers are down considerably now. Frank complimented our club on the mentorship program for new members which helps promote engagement.

 

Another goal this year is to increase our social media presence. Frank pointed to one club that gained 9 new members from social media contract. The District is now using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Heidi Schiller is the District PR chair who does all of the postings.

 

The future is in our youth. One club uses a Student of the Month program to celebrate excellence and expose them to Rotary. The Youth Exchange is back with a student from Spain at the Batavia Club. Our district has 3 incoming and 1 outgoing student this year.

The Youth Peace Action program was started last year to acquaint High School students with peace initiatives around the world. 35 students participated on Zoom on Monday evenings last year. They hope to stimulate interest again this year. Work is underway to get Interact & Rotaract clubs active again. Rotaract members are now full fledged members of Rotary. Our District held RYLA twice last year - which is a weekend of leadership activities at Camp Kern for high school students.

 

Next week our speaker is George Ironstack from the Myaamia Center, Miami University.