04/12/2018  Dick Hoback and Jim Harris

04/19/2018  Jack Durnbaugh and Ray Merz

04/26/2018  Deb Dulaney and Arnie Biondo

05/03/2018  John Callander and Jen Gibbs

 

 

Dick Hoback and Jim Harris were today's official greeters. Dick arrived first and helped set up the flags, etc.

 

Here are an array of the Rotary flags that have been exchanged with other clubs over the years.

 

Club President Peachy Metzner, President-Elect Boyd Preston, Arnie Biondo, who has just arranged for our club to host an incoming Youth Exchange student from Peru, and Vice President Chuck King, know how to lead, organize, and keep the club on track.

 

Here Peachy pauses to speak with Don Gerhardt, who had a blood vessel in his eye break recently. He said his doctor predicts it will heal itself. 

 

The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace at noon. Club President Peachy Metzner led the Pledge of Allegiance; Ray Merz gave the prayer, leading with a quote from the late poet Maya Angelou: "If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, do so  prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is to be present in the present--gratefully."; and Brad Thorp led the singing of God Bless America. Another grand rendition by the club.

 

 

 

Our president Peachy Metzner is seen below on the left.

 

 

President Peachy called up Harvey Smith and Joyce Young, representing the Rotary Foundation, for the presentation to Jim Briggs of his Paul Harris plus six pin, which has a red stone, which Harvey joked was blood type, adding, "we're trying to squeeze you for all we can."  

 

Peachy mentioned at a previous meeting that the Kettering Rotary Club will be holding a benefit  for Multiple Sclerosis in honor of Andy Scholes from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 28 at Romer's Bar & Grill, with music and entertainment by Ryan Roth. There's a 50/50 raffle Romer's appetizers and a cash bar. Tickets are $20.

 

 

Erich Eggers, our Sgt.-at-Arms, called for the Happy Bucks, collected by our club treasurer Gerry Eastabrooks.   

 

Club President Peachy gave for being Happy.

Boyd Preston gave for being grateful for those who volunteered for the club's Service Day(s). He also gave for the Brunner Literacy Center.

Chuck King gave for a golfing outing with no injuries.

Arnie gave for being Medicare eligible now. A Happy $5.

Dale Berry gave for being Happy.

Butch Spencer gave, and Lee Hieronymus gave for being Happy to be here and having to leave early. He said he was going to Wilmington College, where he is on the board, which was why he wasn't in his flannels. And then he offered to sing the College song. He had no takers but he sang it anyway.

And then someone asked, "Wasn't it a Quaker college?"

Mike Wier mentioned being in a championship with one of his brass bands and winning a bronze medal. They competed with 13 other bands.

Frank Perez gave for being Happy to be here.

Ron Hollenbeck gave, noting he would be heading to California to see his granddaughter.

Carol Kennard gave, noting she still has yard signs for the upcoming May 8 Recreation levy.

Harvey Smith gave for a senior paper his granddaughter presented.

Dick Hoback just can't get enough of travel and is heading to Panama.

Jim Harris gave, and Eric Beach gave, stating he was happy to be back after two weeks absence.

Sally gave for her trip with Rotary to Keeneland. She didn't bet but had a good time with the Rotarians and the good food served up. I thought I heard her say she did pet the horses.

Brian Hayes gave, stating he didn't know if it was a happy or sad dollar, but he is now a four-car family, where the buck stops with him.

Dan Johnson gave a whopping $20 for his new born daughter Mara Claire. He and his wife Katie welcomed the 6 pound 14 ounce, 20-and-a-half inch beauty this past week.

Kitty Ullmer gave $10 for her 10 years in Rotary, stating it is hard to believe it's already been 10 years...with all these great people. 

John Beals gave for his trip with Sally and the other Rotarians to Keeneland, and wasn't too sad at losing his $5 bet. 

Ray Merz gave for a vacation to Amsterdam. Hope he looks up Mae Berkel, who lives in Holland these days. (Hope he doesn't mistake one of their many marijuana cafes for a real cafe. Or come back with blue or orange hair...seen over there long before it became popular over here with some.)

(And if he takes one of those canal tours, he'll get an eyeful too.) This was all after Anne Frank's time.

Also there was happiness for Daddy Dan, and mention of helping plant 650 Christmas trees. And Erich Eggers said he was happy for Dan, and that Sally didn't bet on the horses.

 

 

 

Boyd Preston gave a brief synopsis of our last two years of the all-club service days, Noting that in the two years since we started doing this twice a year, the club has put in 1,000 hours of volunteer work, which is six months of volunteer work. 

He said that our recent mid-March Service Day(s) had 39 participants, with 11 family/friends, and one Interact Club student from Centerville High School.

 

This was the first time the group did a project at St. Leonard, which is what brought Prentice Lipsey to the club this day. "I came to thank Rotary for delivering in a big way," he said. The seven people who came to help out painted the main dining room and the health and rehabilitation center in about four hours. It would have taken about a week to do that in-house, he said. He said he was sorry he didn't take pictures of what it was like before the Rotary group came to help out. Jen Gibbs and her husband, along with Dan Johnson, Matt Kuhn, Harvey Smith and Mark Balsan helped out. They brought the supplies and Bill's Donuts. Prentice said the group did so well that the residents were able to go back to the dining room at dinner time.

 

 

 

Dale Berry talked about  the House of Bread. Deb Dulaney, Jeff Senney, Brad Huffman, and Dave Trout were among those who helped out. They served French Toast this day. Dale said there were also four students from a vocational program in Dayton public schools and two ladies who just enjoy volunteering once a month. They did a lot of cracking eggs and serving, he said. Jeff Senney worked in the dish room, where the water has lots of Clorox in it, so your clothes are sure to be bleached a bit in the process, he said. They feed 230 people a warm meal every day, he said. They were told that program would like to have Rotary volunteers back more often, as they do the job well.

 

Dale said the work sometimes involves more than just working in the kitchen, as once they drove a van down Route 35 to pick up a file case a man had donated. They were asked if anyone could drive a stick-shift, and he could, so off they went. 

 

 

 

Jim Harris spoke about the Project Read volunteer work, which involves sorting and packaging children's books that have been donated. The project work was from 9 a.m. to noon, and in that time the group managed to pack up 3,017 books. Carol Kennard, Kitty Ullmer and her mother Irene, Jim Harris, Boyd Preston, Chuck King, and the Executive Director of Project Read, Laura Mlazovsky, took part at Project Read's Washington Twp. location next to the the Antiques Mall by Sam's Club.

 

Jim said Project Read is a coalition of public and private entities that work on building a life time of literacy. There are 100 literary organizations and schools involved, he said. Sinclair Community College houses Project Read's office headquarters. The group has a Help Line for adults, and helps adult learners in local classes, and tutors adults in reading and English as a second language. He gave other statistics about the number of adult learners and said that in 2017, 12,000 books were distributed to schools and non-profits and directly to children. They operate with the executive director as the only full-time person, he said.

Frank Perez gave a presentation about the group that helped out at the Food Bank, which he said is located west of I-75 and just north of 35. He said it is a beautiful warehouse, and that he thought Toyota had helped out with it in some way. The warehouse supplies the food banks and pantries, he said, with two exceptions. They make lunch boxes for seniors, about 900 a month, and lunch bags for children, about 1,500 every week. Those helping out from Rotary included Brian Bergmann, Sofie Ameloot, Phil Raynes, Adam Manning, Gerry Eastabrooks and her daughter Amber, Kim Senft-Paras, and an Interact student from Centerville High School, he said.

They received a tour of the facility after their work. Frank said the organization hopes to start a garden to grow their own food. Frank left paper and crayons on the tables during the meeting so people can write words of encouragement to be placed in the lunch bags of the children.

 

 

 

Katie Neubert spoke about BOGG Ministry's program to distribute food at Chevy Chase. She said Frank Perez and Boyd Preston were among those helping out. It was the first day of Spring, and it snowed, she said. They handed out food to about 50 people. They had lettuce and boxed food, like lasagna, and bread. The people could say what they would like to have and the volunteers helped them carry what they chose to their apartments.

BOGG stands for Because of God's Grace. It is a non-profit that provides food and clothing and other essentials, along with love and support, bringing the church out into the world, with a mission to come together, Katie said. This is also like Rotary, she said, as the mission is not just to get together in the room where we meet, but to go out and help others. What we do has an effect outside of this room, she said.

She said at SICSA they calculated national average worth for volunteer work as $23 an hour. She said our 1,000 hours of volunteer work in the past two years is worth $23,000. Helping families to be able to have food for their meals is a great thing, she said. 

 

 

Ron Hollenbeck spoke of the crew that helped out at Hannah's Treasure Chest. They did a variety of activities from lights, setting up tables and sorting clothes, building shelves, and dealing with mail to be sent, etc. Dick Hoback, Peachy Metzner, John Callander, Deborah Preston, who is Boyd Preston's wife, and Ron were among those helping out. Also, Sally and John Beals, Joyce Young, and Rebecca Quinones, and her daughter Sofia were volunteers.