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Rotary's Theme for 2015-16
The GREETERS:
03/24/16 Brian Hayes and Dan Sortman
03/31/16 Dale Berry and John Callander
04/07/16 Bill Niehaus and Chuck King
04/14/16 Brian Hayes and Bridget Herzog
04/21/16 Chuck King and Bill Niehaus
04/28/16 Shelley Fisher and Jack Workman
If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.
03/17/16
President-elect Ron Hollenbeck opened the Centerville Rotary Club meeting at the Clubhouse at Yankee Trace by leading the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Harvey Smith gave the prayer and Bill Niehaus led the singing of God Bless America.
The guests at the meeting included: Future member Chuck King; Dottie Overly, wife of member Don Overly; Louise Wier, wife of Mike Wier; Al Scott, Miamisburg Rotarian and his guest, Bob Mittag; and our guest speaker, Sarah Hippensteel Hall, of the Miami Conservancy District..
Our Greeters at the next meeting will be Brian Hayes and Dan Sortman.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President-elect Ron Hollenbeck said he had heard from Peachy Metzner that his daughter had lost her child and that therefore he would not be at today's meeting.
Ann Blackburn filled in for Shelley Fisher as a greeter.
Ron said he attended a two-day event in Columbus for future Rotary presidents and came away with the belief that our club is positioned very well in its projects and membership, etc. He said this coming year is the Rotary Foundation's 100th anniversary and it is hoped that every member will contribute $26.50 to the Foundation, which is what was contributed during the foundation's first year.
He reminded everyone that the Shoes for Orphans Souls program needs new shoes and socks from each club. Also objects for needy families, such as toothpaste, soap, and other small hygiene supplies will be packaged by the group at the district meeting and returned to the clubs to be distributed to needy families in the area. Baskets of items for the silent auction are also needed from each club, with the proceeds to go to Rotary International.
Boyd Preston said that each group doing a service project March 19 should take pictures of the group that can be sent to Carol Kennard to be posted on our Facebook page. On March 31, members will be debriefed on their projects to see whether they were worth doing and whether it was a good event.
Ron reminded members of our Fred Weir, who is home but missing being here at Rotary. He said calls and/or visits with Fred would be welcomed by him.
PDG Harvey Smith inducted Bill Niehaus as our newest member.
Bill said he is the administrator of Heartland of Centerville and has spent 20 years helping seniors and children, patients, and staff. He has been married for 17 years to his red-haired wife and has three sons. He is a Boy Scout leader and wanted to join Rotary to serve others and God.
Patrick Beckel in his Irish regalia, kilt and true spirit of the day.
Two other men with great spirit also joined our group this day. Below are Al Scott, a Miamisburg Rotarian, and his guest Bob Mittag (of obvious German descent). Al said his friend is from Minnesota, an Air Force veteran and philanthropist and a Cleveland Browns fan.
Bridget Herzog said that on March 24 we should bring in new shoes and socks for the district conference's collection project. You can also bring in a Payless gift card for shoes if you wish.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks for St. Vincent de Paul
Dan Johnson noted an ultrasound has indicated their new baby will be a girl.
Chuck King contributed $5, noting that the prostate cancer he was diagnosed with five years ago is now undetectable.
Mitch Biederman said he is half way to his $1,000 goal for the charity run he plans to make in May.
Mike Wier praised his wife Louise for attending the meeting with him. Dottie Overly was also with her husband Don at the meeting.
Carol Kennard said she was glad to be back after missing two meetings babysitting her new grandchild.
Doc Hoback paid $3 for missing three meetings recently.
Patrick Beckel stood up in his kilt and said he'd put in a dollar for Dottie Overly having to witness his attire, but then noted that around Centerville people would know what kind of kilt it was, whereas in Cincinnati they would have to ask, what is a kilt, and in Springfield they would say, "You got a lotta nerve wearing that." Cultural differences abound. Attitudes too.
John Beals noted that 12 days ago he and his wife Sally got back from a 12-day trip to Oahu and the Big Island where for the first time in about nine years Oahu was able to hold a surfboarding competition because of the big waves.
Erich said when he was in New York recently, a woman came up to him after noting his Rotary jacket, and said she wanted him to know they had hosted a Rotary exchange student. He also gave $10 for everyone to keep Peachy in their thoughts. Peachy said on Friday that this was the second miscarriage for his daughter, but that she is now doing better.
Those of us who did our March 19 service day project at Project Read had a great time sorting and packing 5,800 children's books. We even got served breakfast by Chris Houghton, the owner of Look At A Book, which partners with Project Read in getting books into the hands of new readers, either young children, people just learning the language, and adults learning to read.
Here Chris is seen greeting Rotary member Vas Appalaneni at outset of meeting.
Chris explains how the books are to be sorted by grade level before being boxed.
Tom and Mark look at the books to determine grade levels for sorting.
SPEAKER: Sarah Hippensteel Hall
PDG John Beals introduced our speaker Sarah Hippensteel Hall. He said she is the Manager of Watershed Partnerships for the Miami Conservancy District, a 100-year-old agency created after the 1913 Dayton flood. She has raised more than $12 million to protect and restore healthy rivers and aquifers, and improve and promote river access and recreation, he said.
Sarah graduated from Antioch University in 2010 with a PhD in Leadership and Change, John said. She also teaches undergraduate courses in leadership studies and resource scarcity and conflict. In 2012 she was presented with a Distinguished Service Award by the Water Management Association of Ohio.
Sarah said she grew up in Athens, Ohio, though her husband grew up in Centerville. She also went to Ohio State University, where she got her masters degree.
She explained that our area drains into a divided watershed, with the western half going to the Great Miami River and the eastern part flowing into the Little Miami River.
The Miami River Watershed takes water that goes on to the Gulf of Mexico, so it matters what goes into our storm sewers, she said. Flood damage has been controlled since the 1913 flood by the five dams constructed after that time with the help of the Miami Conservancy District, which celebrated it's one hundredth year last year, she said.
The dams are the Germantown Dam, the Englewood Dam, Huffman Dam, the Lockingham Dam, and the Taylorsville Dam.
Water is important for many of life's need, including recreation, agriculture, industry, health, wildlife, drinking water, etc., she said. Arthur Morgan, who became president of the Tennessee Authority and of Antioch College, was instrumental in creating the Miami Conservancy District and the area's dams that created a better protection than just building levies higher and higher, she said.
The area dams have held back water 1,816 times, Sarah said. They have a total capacity of 274,000,000,000 gallons, so "We're ready for the future," she said. Our underground aquifer is continually refilled with rain water. Ninety-nine percent of the community pulls drinking water from the ground, which is filtered through the ground and sand bowl. The rains have a lot of space to fill the bowl back up, she said.
Our region has had more rain than other areas but agriculture will suffer when it does not get water when it needs it, she said. Everyone knows about the problems with fertilizer/nutrient run-off, which caused algae blooms and toxicity at Grand Lake St. Marys and Lake Erie, she said. The nitrogen and phosphorus run-off have created problems that curtailed tourism and business in the area.
The Great Miami River is cleaner than The Little Miami River, she said.
Healthy rivers help create recreational activities that attract college-age students and there are 155,000 college students in our area, she said. Mad River attracts trout fishermen, and water areas bring new economic development along river fronts, some $260 million, she said. These are quality of life issues, she said. Rowing and kayaking are becoming popular and the removal of the low dam in downtown Dayton will keep such activities safer in that area.
Sarah said the Miami Conservancy District has had a 15-year-long dam safety initiative to deal with what should be done to keep up the dams over the past 15 years. Now they are working on the levies, she said.
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