President Chuck King thanked our official greeter and helpers.
President King called Susan Schnell up front to have her new member ribbon removed from her badge, which had to be a pretend removal because John Callander still has the badge and ribbon. Anyway you put it, she's full fledged now.
PDG Harvey Smith inducted the three new members into the club this day: Bill Menker, Dawayne Kirkman, and Jill Reid. Each got to tell a bit about him- or her-self.
Here above you see Dawayne Kirman saying he grew up in Kentucky and the Rotary Club there sent him on an exchange to Holland. He said he grew up in a small town without a stop light, and
that was a great experience for him. He said he's taught at Sinclair for 18 years and has a wife and three kids.
In the picture below you see Bill Menker, who grew up in Indiana. He said he has been an associate manager at the Centerville Public Library for 20 years. He has a wife and two daughters, with the oldest 21 and the other a senior in high school, an all-state soccer player
Jill Reid is at the right in the above two pictures. She is from Springfield and had been with the Washington Twp. Rec Center since 1997. She was also with the Central YMCA health and fitness daycare. She said she was recently widowed. She has daughters, two step children, 7 grandchildren, and is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, where she majored in recreation administration.
Susan Schnell said they spoke with the Interact Club at CHS this past week, but that there was very little attendance at the meeting. They talked about the RYLA applications and said they hope to get at least one attendee.
Because of the recent virus scare, Chuck King said he did not know if the District Conference scheduled for March 23-25 will be held or not.
Past President Boyd said the PETS conference in Columbus had been cancelled.
The board meeting Monday, March 16 is at 5:30 p.m. at the Centerville-Washington Park District Headquarters, and a attending a board meeting is one of the meeting requirements for new members, so you can get this out of the way by attending then, if you choose to do so.
President King said earlier that Service Days will be in late April and include Hannah's Treasure Chest, the Food Bank, Project Read, and Shoes for the Shoe-less.
The Senneys will be hosting an event at Zinks, Tuesday March 31st from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. featuring guest speaker Andra Watkins, a best-selling author and motivational speaker, who spoke to the club August, 2018. If interested, RSVP Jeff at jsenneny@pselaw.com.
* This is the item that may or may not go on as planned. ...President King said the District Conference will be April 23-25 in Wilmington,OH. The project on the 25th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. will be supporting "Sleep in Heavenly Peace," a project building beds for children who don't have any. Mike Watkins from Butler County was our guest speaker Dec. 5. They are hoping for 150 people to participate. Our board approved donating $500 to help fund materials.
District grant requests are due at the end of April. Operation Warm, Dictionaries and Thesauri, are on the agenda.
Closing reports for Operation Warm showed we supplied 534 coats, and received $2,500 from the district to help with our purchase last year.
We got a $1,700 district grant that helped us buy and distribute 864 Thesauri and 792 Dictionaries.
The deadline for students to submit applications for RYLA was March 13. Three students could be chosen and there was a March 25 deadline for those selected to submit completed health forms and release of liability forms, but those dates might be moved back a day or so, President King said last week.
Happy Bucks this Quarter go to the Alzheimer's Association.
Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers and Club Treasurer Gerry Eastabrooks collected the Happy Bucks.
Many of the Happy Bucks this session were given for our three new members: Dawayne Kirkman, Bill Menker, and Jill Reid.
Erich gave $4 saying he is still working on his house. Ron, Chuck, and Harvey all gave for the three new members. Don Overly gave $10, for the new members and "Go Flyers." Though soon it was learned their season was over because of the virus scare. Wayne Davis gave and Mark Balsan gave, shouting out for the Flyers. Kim, of course was happy to see Bill Menker as a new member, and to be back herself from her broken arm. Crissy gave for the new members and Mark Gerken said he was glad to have his daughter home. Dan Johnson, Lee Hieronymus, and Boyd gave for new members, and Doc Hoback said he had also been on a cruise. Irene and Kitty gave for the new members and Carol gave for the new members and her family's recent two losses. Sofie gave for her daughter Noe being at the club.
Jeff Senney said his son is having an engagement party in Salem, Mass., and he had planned on flying, but now plans to drive. Katie and new member Jill Reid gave for the new members and Vice President Brian Hayes gave $20, for being 20 years on the job and he and his wife Erika celebrating their 24th wedding anniversary. Matt Kuhn gave for his wife being at the club and for his daughter coming home Sunday for Spring break.
Our Speaker of the Week was Dr. Brian Ceccarelli of It's Time 2
Vice President Brian Hayes introduced our speaker. Brian and Brian it was...
and this is the doctor who retired from his orthopedic surgical practice and started a not-for-profit program to empower students to speak up against bullying and to change their own attitudes for their own mental health. He said this year alone he has spoken to over 20,000 students. He said he wore his jeans to our club because he had just come from Alter High School where he had talked to 800 students.
This past Thursday he said he talked to an entire freshman class. He said he likes to get into the schools and find out why are we here today. The kids who may all look happy, may not be, he said. He said 5,200 kids, or about 100 kids a week, take their lives in suicide in the U.S. The numbers may be even more, as that number was from 2016, he said. The rate of 10 to 14 year olds committing suicide has tripled in the last decade. He said schools are understaffed in dealing with mental health issues. He said 90 percent of kids have fears. They don't go outside because it's dangerous, he said. He said he left his practice at age 60 and created a 501-C3. "I need more help. I can't do this all by myself," he said. "I do all the planning and all my money started the program. Students are cutting and burning themselves," he said. They are taking curling irons and putting them on their chests to get pain, taking their life everyday. In places like Oakwood, Centerville, Bellbrook, where both parents are working, the kids feel they don't have parents, he said.
"I don't have anybody to talk to," they say. But cutting yourself is not a phase you're going through, he said. As a doctor people make assumptions that you are rich, he said. "I grew up poor, in a small town in western Pennsylvania. Immigrants there worked in the steel mills. Their parents spoke many different languages and "I learned to appreciate other people's cultures. We all got along." He said his father was a cop and also an alcoholic. "Mom and dad used to fight. I was going to get a double barrel shotgun and I was going to shoot my dad." Instead he called his dad's sister. "I made a choice to change my whole life," he said. He said he had identified an adult in his life, an aunt
across the street, someone he could call for help at 2 o'clock in the morning.
"With every single one of us, what I see of you is 40 percent below the surface. .We don't tell anybody. We teach kids to be mean, to be angry people," he said
One thousand kids want to be a ball player, he said.
He said he had a video that was too long to play but that the people he would mention were real and in the video. Amanda, an 8th grader, identified with the LGBT kids and she was afraid her parents would get mad if they knew.
Elija's mom had two jobs and they never met during the day and he didn't have a bed.
Raj said he was teased because he was an Indian.
A boy with an amputated leg got bullied in Bellbrook.
Oakwood lost five kids in less than seven years. You don't hear about it because it would be a stigma, he said.
Sleep deprivation can cause anxiety and depression and mental health issues, he said. Many students are so attached to their phones they often don't get more than one or two hours of sleep a night.
Brian said we have to change the stigma of "I need help."
We have to ask, what kind of person do you want to be. You have the choice to be the kind of person you want to be, he said. We need to raise awareness in the community and encourage kids to make good choices and that they're not going to be alone. This needs to be a community movement. They need to know we're behind you, he said. We're there for you. The Hope Squad puts kids in school as peer to peer, partnering, but adults need to step up and take the phones away at 10 p.m.
and say no phone, no game. We all want peace. "I'm not here to solve your problem but I'm here to listen to them."
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