President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer.
Today’s quote provided by Don Overly: "Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” By Mary Lou Retton
Thanks to Brad Thorp for being our greeter today.
President Manning gave a remembrance for today’s anniversary of the September 11 attacks on our country. Adam was a Junior in High School in 2001, in his journalism class when the art teacher ran into the room announcing a plane hit the World Trade Center. 3,000 lost their lives that day. We will never forget.
Announcements:
- CHS Spirit Chain raised $318 in Happy Bucks donations last week from club members and the Board matched the donations, so they received over $600 from our club.
- Board Meeting is at 5:30 pm on Monday, Sept 15 at the Joyce Young Center. All are invited to attend.
- Adam and Sofie attended the Interact Club meeting this morning where 35 kids showed up! Ben Lawson, the Club’s advisor, really draws kids in so the club is growing. They talked about how the kids can help at Pancake Day and offered our Club’s help with their projects.
- Highway cleanup (9/27 - 8am-12pm) and Threads of Miami Valley (9/24 - 6-8pm) service projects still need volunteers.
- Pancake committee will meet at 11 am next week at Yankee Trace. There’s still lots of work to be done so come help!
- Sofie reminded all of the social tonight at the Cottage Uptown, 5-7:30 pm with lots of food and drinks!
- Lee got an email about a Peace seminar but never got a follow up. We are a peace club - Lee, Brian, and Kelly are members from our club. Lee shared photos from a Rotary Peace Park he visited in Alberta Canada.
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 today, assisted by Brian Hayes.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat B gave thanks for so many people helping find interesting speakers. His son is cheering for UC games this year, so he may have some free tickets to share.
- Brad H is headed to Munich for Octoberfest and a visit with his host family, and then to Palm Springs to see Paul McCartney in concert.
- Chuck K was happy to be here.
- Ron H shared he will never forget where they were when the 9/11 attacks occurred. They were in Colorado on a river trip, off grid. When they came off the river and people started telling them, they didn’t believe it until they saw it on TV.
- Mark F announced their 10 year anniversary celebration is coming up September 18th, so please attend.
- Uriah A announced an Art Exhibition on September 18 at the Joyce Young Center from 6-8 pm. There will be a live watercolor demonstration and they have 60 pieces of art so far.
- Mark K was happy for the Bengals and OSU having a good weekend, and he is off to Alabama for 3 days with his grandkids.
- Dan J was happy.
- Jim H was happy.
- Carol K had a great time in Maine, staying at Rachel Carson’s cabin (early environmentalist who sounded the alarm about the harm DDT was doing to Bald Eagle eggs and writer of Silent Spring https://www.rachelcarson.org/), also watched a humpback whale for over an hour, and met Ashley from the show, Maine Cabin Masters.
- Jeff S had fun in Canada fishing and is going on a trip to Europe - southern Prague.
- Sofie A reminded all to come to the social tonight!
- Lee H advised all to check your boxwoods. If they are brown, they need sprayed or you’ll lose them by a worm/caterpillar. Siebenthaler has the correct spray.
- Adam M was happy.
- Don S had a great trip to France on a Viking river cruise.
Our guest speaker today was Beth Flippo, CEO of Dexa, who work on drone development, build drones, and manage a drone delivery service.
Beth shared their company has FAA approval for drone delivery and she is a drone pilot.
Drone delivery fits into how we’ve been doing delivery over history. Beth showed several slides giving the history of moving products.
How we move shapes how we live. At first, society lived along the coastline. Trains came along and people moved to areas along train lines.
Then came trucks, which were moving a lot of stuff and for the first time, we were seeing precision delivery. Main streets popped up and people started spreading out - no longer bound by train tracks.
Cars were introduced and initially there was one car per family for dad to take to work. Still had home deliveries or walk to town to get special things.
Supermarkets were invented in the 1970’s providing a one stop shop. This was the first time you didn’t know who made your food.
Once E-commerce started, malls & local shops started closing. Dollars are leaving our community when we shop online. It generates a lot of packing waste, fuel, and trash. Drone delivery gives us everything as online - once local stores can do drone deliveries, you will chose quality from local shops, and it will kill Amazon.
Sunday grocery run no longer needed - can order daily what you need that day. Less waste - no more food going bad before you eat it.
Return to healthy eating with fewer preservatives. Shelf life not needed any more.
Young people want to buy healthier food. Drone delivery is same time and cost anywhere in the country. Drone delivery can help eliminate food desert areas - they can get delivery of fresh foods from Kroger directly to their door.
Drone delivery will help our local stores thrive. Drones are an eco-friendly delivery option that all should try to support
Manned aviation is safest way to move people. Drones are regulated by the FAA and drone traffic controllers. They have a digital remote ID and fly up to 400 feet in the air. Right now it costs the consumer $5 per delivery for order, but there is no cost to the store.
Their program is very focused on groceries. It currently has a 5 pound weight limit, but they are trying to get up to 20 pounds.
In NYC, robot doormen are being used. The drone hands the package off to ground robot that will bring it to the door.
Typical delivery is 15 minutes, however, their average delivery is 11 minutes. Drones fly at 40 mph and are limited to 3-5 miles.
The Dexa drones are one of only 4 in the country that have officially received Part 135 Air Carrier Certification from the FAA.Their goal is to have free delivery by making money on ads and product placement instead of charging a delivery charge.
They manufacture in Dayton, fully American made and a majority of the parts are American made, too.
They have 20-25 drones in operation now and will build more now that they are certified. They land on rooftops of the businesses and recharge there.
Rotary Peace Park in Alberta Canada sent by Lee H.