President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes provided the prayer. This being the first meeting of the month, the club sang God Bless America.

 

Quote of the Day: “No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted."  Aesop

 

Thanks to Ron Hollenbeck for greeting today, assisted for a time by Don Overly.

 

 

Today’s Announcements:

 

Pat Beckel was our Sergeant at Arms with assistance by Brian Hayes.

 

 

 

Thoughts from outgoing President, Adam Manning:

Adam gave a big thank you to the club for your dedication and giving of time. He understands that time with family and friends is valuable so he appreciates all who volunteer to further the mission of the Centerville Rotary Club. Thanks to Board members, Assistant Governors Boyd Preston, Frank Perez, Ron Hollenbeck, and Chuck King; Don Stewart for serving as the District Treasurer; Mary Nenninger, our Assistant Governor; and the Yankee Trace staff who do a great job for us. We are surrounded by folks who have similar interests and this club donated over 200 hours volunteering to serve other organizations this year.

 

Some accomplishments include:

 

Adam said his last ask is to support Sofie as the club has supported him. Thanks Adam for a great year!

 

Adam then announced the Service Member of the Year Awards

Kristin Hutton - served on both fundraising committees, provided publicity products with a quick turn around.

 

Kelly McDonald - served on both fundraising committees including leading the Golf Outing, was our representative at numerous community events, was nominated as a Dayton Daily News community Gem of the Year for his work with the Dayton Diaper Depot.

 

Bill Menker - served as our International Service Director, spearheaded the highway cleanup, and eclipse glass sorting for Astronomers without Borders, and is serving on the new Environmental Committee.

 

Crissy Allums - kept service projects in line by leading 12 service projects this year, and is truly living service above self, as she did that while having both knees replaced!

 

Adam then announced the 2023-24 Rotarian of the Year Ron Hollenbeck, who continues to go above and beyond for Centerville Rotary and beyond, served as an Assistant Governor, presented to numerous clubs to raise funds for water pumps which has created a life changing experience for others, donated 165 pints of blood so far (20 gallons). He has truly made an impact on people he’ll never meet Congratulations, Ron!

 

PDG Harvey Smith then inducted Sofie Ameloot, as the next president of the Centerville Rotary Club and Sofie inducted her Board

 

 

2024-25 Centerville Rotary Board (some members missing.)

 

President Ameloot then shared some thoughts for the year:

 

Dear friends,

I’m really honored to take on this role as Centerville Rotary president and I cannot thank Adam enough for leading us this past year.

As Adam just said, we have accomplished so much! We probably touched several thousand lives both locally and abroad, with our work, not to forget Operation Warm, we just kicked off.

 

My vision for this year is very simple. I would like to focus on women and children, the environment and membership. In doing so I want to increase the visibility of the Rotary in Centerville.

 

How shall we do this for our women and children?

 

First, I would like for us to provide a service for all kids in Centerville,

- At CHS there is a need to help with at risk kids. We can help with their attendance by providing food to start the day and help fill Mr. Carroll’s food pantry.

- At the middle school level I would like to bring in a hands on museum exhibit perhaps broadening this even to kids in downtown Dayton. As budgets are cut there is simply no money for science field trips like there used to be.

- We are already covering the elementary kids with our dictionaries and thesauri.

 

Also, I was very impressed with the “Girls on the Run” non profit. I would like to partner with them if possible.

 

In the past we have worked with Artemis, helping women in need and I would like to do that again.

 

Second area of Focus

Throughout Rotary in general and our new District Governor Dottie Meade in particular, there is a big push to protect our common legacy: the environment.Two months ago David Trout took the lead of establishing our NEW environmental committee.Together with the Centerville Education Foundation and the CHS Environmental Management class, we are hoping for a great collaboration with the high school kids on projects like the green school initiative or the solar challenge.Time will tell what they finally will come up with but I am sure Dave will keep us up-to-date.

 

Third area of Focus

Thirdly, and this is nothing new if we want to survive as a club I would like to focus on increasing our membership. We simply must bring in more members; it is all hands on deck!!! I would like to realize this through many more social events for our members and as you get to

know each other better my hope is you will want to bring your non- Rotarian friends to become a member because we are such a cool group of people! I really would like for you think hard about who you know and who would be a good addition and bring them along. Remember, the club pays for the first two meals of a prospective member!

Once I have it all together I would like to give you all a calendar of Rotary events you can put on your fridge or you can add ClubRunner on your phone. It’s such a great tool with all members phone

numbers and addresses, in case you need each other. And All events are listed there.

 

We will have our 3rd visit to Sueño on August 29th. It’s a beautiful place downtown Dayton with great Mexican food and wine.

And Brad Huffman has offered his place on Sept 12 for a potluck dinner, the club takes care of the wine. Please let me know if you would like to host in October.

 

Then let me tell you a little about myself.

As many of you know I am from Belgium and I came here as a student, now 32 years ago. I’m one of 4; I have 2 older brothers and a younger sister. My brother Frederik is coming to visit for the wedding and I hope to bring him to the next meeting.

 

I met my husband, Greg Camp, who is from Winston Salem, NC, at Duke University for Law School. We got married in Belgium and moved to Rocky Mount for my husband‘s job in a private law firm.

 

We had our three girls there. Most of you have met one or more of them.

Noë is now a teacher and tennis coach in Marion Ohio. Tomorrow, Marie therese is returning from Belgium and will look for an internship here till December (any ideas? 🙂) She is planning to go back in January to study a masters in business. You know already Delphine will study architecture at OSU starting in the fall.

 

Noë is getting married on July 27th and so we are very excited about that and she is doing her part for the Cleveland economy by bringing in 20 Belgians and lots of North Carolinians for the wedding.

 

My first taste of being part of a civic organization was in Rocky Mount when I became a member of the Junior Guild, similar to the Junior League. The women from the area were committed to giving back to the community and to volunteer for 36 hours per year. We had a thrift store to also raise money for scholarships for students.

 

After 20 years we moved to Centerville for my husband‘s job at PNC so we had to start from scratch. Noë reminded me that she had a connection to Rotary way before I did, through the Interact Club and through our exchange student Matcho with Arnie. Then I visited Rotary with Rebecca Quiñones and you all became my new family. I was very happy to have found you!

 

Weekly meetings gave me a much better understanding of this area and allowed me to give back here too, and along the way I could teach my kids to be involved in their community, which is a must in my opinion. I’ve been a member for almost 7 years and I will do my very best for this club.

 

We may change a few things along the way - we are working on a business membership. We will meet for the first time when this meeting is over to discuss ideas. And maybe we try to have a breakfast meeting. We can work on that after the wedding.

 

Please excuse me in advance for communication gaffes. It’s bound to happen that you will all stare at me and think: what did she say now? So I might have spoken Dutch or I just came up with a new word.😊who knows!

 

I’ve never been in this kind of role so please be patient with me and help guide me to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I would like to thank you in advance for all you will do in this upcoming year! I am looking forward to working with ALL of you very much.

 

Ron Hollenbeck announced he was caught off guard with the Rotarian of the Year award and would like to say thanks for the recognition. He really enjoys being part of this fabulous club.

 

 

Kelly McDonald brought something back from Hawaii for Sofie. Shirley, a former District Governor in Hawaii makes Glass Bead necklaces, with all funds going to Rotary Foundation. Sofie thanked Kelly for the thoughtful gift.

 

Kelly also announce that instead of giving our weekly speakers a pen, they will now be thanked with a book plate with the name of speaker in a book that will then be available to check out from Centerville Library. This will help improve visibility of Rotary, and support the Rotary focus on literacy with this meaningful donation.