President-Elect Kelly McDonald welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer. Brad Thorp led singing of God Bless America.
Today’s quote provided by Don Overly: "If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present." Roy T. Bennett
Today’s announcements:
- Congratulations to the March birthdays, Club member’s wedding anniversaries, and Rotary joining Anniversaries. (View list to the right)
- Welcome today’s guest: Gino Garcia, who is from Peru and moved here from Spain. Was a Rotarian in Peru & Spain, and would like to join a club here. He met some of our members at the Rotary Coffee Club this week.
- Upcoming meetings/events
- 5 pm today zoom for Public Image ad hoc committee
- Standing meeting Sunday, 4 pm for the Golf Committee (Reminder May 8 is the Golf Outing this year and our primary charity is Hannah’s Treasure Chest.)
- March 17 Board meeting at the Joyce Young Center
- March 18, 5:30-7 pm combo social/Rotary Women Connect 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.
- Frank Perez announced the District is looking for 4-Way Test Speech Contest judges on March 30 at Wright State. See Frank if you’re interested.
- District Gala is on April 25, sign up on the District website
- Pat Turnbull announced we are sponsoring CHS students to attend this year’s RYLA in March. The students will share their experience afterwards.
- Rotary booth at the CHS College Night was a success. Arnie & Nancy Biondo, Kelly McDonald, Brad Huffman, Amy Hary, and our exchange student, Enzyme interacted with lots of parents and students promoting Rotary Youth Exchange.
- Centerville Rotary appeared in the Centerville Dispatch on February 20 with a photo promoting Operation Warm. Kelly submitted the photo.
- Registration is open for the Golf Outing for sponsorships and golfers. Sign up now!
- We still have some open seats for the April 26 Out of the Pocket fundraiser. Let Kelly know if you can attend. We want to fill the table.
Happy Bucks this quarter will go for Rotary District 5300 Fire Relief (LA area).
Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with help from Jim Stuart.
Pat announced the City released the Summer Concert Series and there are great tribute bands on the schedule this summer and concerts are FREE. They will be back at Stubbs Park. See the lineup
HERE.
Happy Bucks were generously given for:
- Pat’s Humidor was on Good Day Dayton this morning so he paid a fine
- Kelly M was sad his Jayhawks are out of the AP 25.
- Ron H for water and sanitation
- Socks B was happy and next week he will be out of town so needs someone to volunteer for meeting set up and take down
- Lee H gave a history of the Poland China Hog, which was first bred on the Hankinson Farm in Blue Ball, Warren County, Ohio in 1816. It is the oldest American breed of swine and was developed on Lee’s cousin’s farm.
- Brian H for his Rotary and Wedding anniversaries
- Uriah A will miss the Farm Report next week, as he will be in California for his sister’s wedding
- Gina S for guests
- Brad H gave thanks for the opportunity to share about Rotary Exchange with families at the Career Fair. He will be speaking to 8th graders next.
- Carol K asked members to send her photos of Rotary projects around the world to highlight in future bulletins
- Harvey S gave for the families in California affected by the wildfires
- Elda GG was happy and welcomed Gino
Our speaker today was Kayla Berry with Elizabeth’s New Life.
Kayla shared Elizabeth’s New Life center has been in Dayton for 36 years. They were established as a pregnancy resource center first, but have expanded to providing more services. The CDC says OH is ranked 8th in infant mortality, so they focus on infant health.
Their mission is all about saving babies and saving lives. They serve the family as a whole.
Four pillars of their programs:
Marriage Works! OH is a pre-marital counseling program for couples and individuals, and includes classes and retreats.
New Generation Youth Education (formerly Go for the Gold) - they go into middle & high schools to talk about healthy choices in relationships, and healthy boundaries. They are now also doing follow up meetings with students 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after their initial meeting.
Holy Family Prenatal Care is the only place in the country that provide care for Medicare-eligible moms during pregnancy and delivery.
Women’s Centers of Ohio are located in Dayton & Sidney. They provide free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. They can also help to get health insurance and social services.
Kayla shared a success story about a woman who had a 3 year old son, was doing high level prostitution to be able to provide for her son, and discovered she was pregnant. She came in search of an abortion, but instead, found a team of people who cared and shared how they could help. She decided to keep the baby, and afterwards found a great job through connections, and eventually got a Bachelor's degree so she can succeed in the workplace.
The women at the center can earn baby bucksby taking classes and then use those bucks at their boutique. They oftentimes find a community of likeminded people in the classes.
Boutiques are available until the baby reaches age 4.
2024 statistics:
81% moms coming in with the plan to abort, chose to keep the baby
10,474 middle & high school students were educated
2,391 babies saved
468 marriages clients served
They have several fundraising events coming up:
There are many ways to support the organization - volunteer, get involved, donate, etc.
President-Elect Kelly thanked Kayla for the information, led reciting of the 4-Way Test and wished everyone a good week.
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