President-Elect Kelly McDonald welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer.
Quote of the day provided by Don Overly: "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." Jackie Robinson
Today’s Announcements:
- Golf Outing registration is now on the ClubRunner website and Golf Genius. As Hannah’s Treasure Chest is our principal charity this year, we will have a Rotary meeting there in April.
- We are combining the next Social event with the Rotary Women Connect on March 18, 5:30-7 pm at Heavier than Air Brewing. Focaccia pizzas and beer tasing, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be available. It is open to the public and an option to learn more about Rotary.
- Lee Hieronymus shared that Paul Shultz from Miamisburg Rotary Club who helped start our club will be the next club president and he is over 90 years old! He encouraged our charter members to serve as president again.
- Rotary Coffee Club will take place on March 4, 7:30 am at ContempoRoast.
- Welcome to today’s guests: Pat Beckel’s guest and potential member, Cristina Hyde; Carol Kennard’s guests from the Park District, Kristen Marks and Jake Hensel, potential member; Harvey Smith’s guest, his son Steve Smith who retired and is moving back to Ohio.
- The Foundation ad hoc group is meeting today to firm up their final recommendations to the Board.
Happy Bucks this quarter will go for Rotary District 5300 Fire Relief (LA area).
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with help from Brian Hayes, whose voice has returned!
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat B was in Orlando this weekend to watch his son compete. He ate at an all you can eat lobster place. Also, this weekend, the top gymnasts will be competing at the Dayton Convention Center Saturday afternoon.
- Pat B donated for Don S who didn’t have cash this week.
- Andrea S was grateful to be alive
- Arnie B shared that Heavier than Air employed his son - they met through a Rotary meeting! Also, his son helped Nick, Jr figure out how to make focaccia pizza.
- Mike W announce the Ohio Valley British Band will perform on Monday, March 10th at Wright State, 8 pm
- Wyatt T was happy to be back
- Ron H for guests and potential members
- Adam M for guests
- Elda GG for guests, particularly Steve
- Harvey S was glad to introduce his only son
- Frank P was happy to be back from SC
- Mark K for spring weather this weekend
- Socks was so happy he could hardly contain himself that Lee had a Farm Report this week
- Lee H shared a Turkish farmer is using VR goggles on cows (viewing a field of green grass), which resulted in and increase of 5.25 quarts of milk production. The Toronto Zoo asked people to stop sharing cell phone videos with the apes. The gorillas are getting distracted and not interacting with the other apes
- Chuck K said having guests today was Udderly Fantastic
- Jim H is happy to serve on the scholarship committee and proud a CHS grad was appointed an executive at Nationwide Insurance.
- Jake H for the warm welcome
- Kristen M announced her Mom and Dad (retired optometrist) are on a Rotary trip in Kenya, fitting eye glasses and performing eye exams. And they are both almost 80!
- Carol K for the Park District visitors, thanks to Crissy for filling in last week, the enjoyable heat in Florida and lucky they got out before Key West had flooding on Monday
- Ray M shared there are still good Merz folks in the world, referring to a newspaper story about Friedrich Merz who won Germany’s national election, and promised to unite Europe in the face of challenges from both Russia and the United States.
- Kelly M enjoyed the WSU campus after attending a Youth Peace Conference and met the new director of pre-health program
- Dan J shared: When does a joke becomes a dad joke? When it become a parent. :-)
- Rand O has to go back to FL
Our speaker today was Austin LiPuma with For the Love of Children (FLOC).
Austin said he is an attorney by day, where he works with kids in need. He lives & works in Cincinnati, but comes to the Dayton area to promote FLOC.
FLOC’s mission is to provide love, support, and resource to area children in need. They are 100% volunteer based. Every dollar goes directly to children who need it and are often overlooked. They serve children in the greater Dayton area who are neglected, abused, in foster care, or who are in need of community resource.
Austin believes you can make most impactful changes when you start in your own backyard. They have served around 10,000 kids to date.
FLOC has 17 directive programs geared toward providing resources to children. Cooking, literacy, education classes, and more. He noted they use talents of their volunteers to help others. Contact them if you have a skill to share.
They try to be a gap stop between services provided.
Children being brought into foster care through Montgomery County Children’s Services were initially given a garbage bag to collect their belongings. This was a terrible way to make a difficult transition—until FLOC stepped in around 10 years ago. Now every child making this difficult transition does so with a brand new duffel bag filled with age appropriate comfort items.
Birthday Club - some kids don’t know when their birthday is. They use legal resources to help track down that info for a child. Every child represented through Montgomery County Children’s Services receives a card and gift from FLOC on their birthday.
Anti-bullying Program - There are so many different avenues for bullying. Lots of kids don’t feel there are resources or hope. When told you’re unworthy because of your economic status, you believe it. They host an anti-bullying rally and provide education and support.
The Boutique - A place where they can shop for nice outfits, like for Prom, a dance, etc. Have fashion professionals volunteer to help with this. Helps kids feel good about themselves. Boutique Manager is Patty Christopher, (937) 620-0717.
Other programs:
- Betsy Hoobler Skill Center with tutors and mentors in academic support. If you would like to volunteer, contact Maria Rodriquez (205) 533-2494.
- Education Center - provides books for children. For many, it is the first book they have owned.
- Tools for School - computers available to use.
- Grant a Wish - a letter of recommendation from an adult and a letter of intent from the child is needed.
- Blessings in a Bag - supplemental food for weekend meals.
- Christmas for Kids - they have provided magic for more than 35,000 kids in the past 12 years.
Montgomery County Children’s caseworkers and other government agencies identify the kids in need.
They are located on a whole floor of the Talbot Tower now which includes classrooms, kitchen, auditorium, etc for kids and guardians.
They partner with the Boonshoft Shriners Ronald McDonald Program who support kids coming from other countries for needed surgery.
Transportation - they can go to them or utilize ride-share and public transportation. There are no defined geographic limitations but primarily serve the greater Miami Valley - Auglaize County to Monroe primarily.
President-elect Kelly thanked Austin for the great information and announced there are still some seats available for our sponsorship to the Out of the Pocket fundraiser.. Proceeds go to building the new Creative Commons area at Centerville Library.
Wyatt Thorp announced the Social Security Fairness Act was passed. The windfall requirement deduction (if you receive a government retirement) has been eliminated. Call the Social Security office now to see if you qualify for additional benefits now.
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