President Chuck King opened the meeting and welcomed our guest, his wife, Elaine King.
Chuck noted this is our fifteenth week since we stopped meeting in person. Many Rotarians welcomed Don Gerhardt, who was able to attend his first Zoom meeting today. Don noted he celebrated his 83rd birthday yesterday, and 60th wedding anniversary today!
Chuck led the group in the pledge of allegiance and the 4 way test, and then Rev. Harvey Smith shared a prayer with special prayers for the passing of Robin Parker, and asked all Rotarians to keep Kitty Ullmer and Joyce Young in their prayers as both have been in the hospital.
President Chuck King shared the following updates:
- I talked to Kitty Ullmer earlier this week and she is still in Miami Valley Hospital downtown, she was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and she is being treated for breast cancer. She appreciates her Rotary family calling and sending cards. Please keep Kitty in your prayers
- Tuesday afternoon, I received notification that long time member Robin Parker passed away last Friday at the age of 89. He joined Centerville Rotary in March 1975. Many of us didn’t have the opportunity to meet him, but those who became Paul Harris fellows by donating $500 and receiving 500 Foundation points to get to $1000 to qualify, received them from Robin.
Chuck then shared the Rotary year-end review:
I’ll start out by saying this has been an interesting year. Overall, I’d say the Centerville Rotary team pulled together and made this year a great success.
On a sad note, we lost two members this year.
October 21, John Beals passed away. John was always active in the community and was a member of the Centerville City Council, and was a very active, involved Rotarian. He was a past club president, and a Past District Governor. John always had suggestions on ways to improve the club and he suggested many of our outstanding guest speakers. He is greatly missed by the club.
As I mentioned earlier, we lost Robin Parker on 19 June.
Another sad note was the passing of Irene Ullmer, age 96, Kitty’s mother who became an honorary club member in 2014. Irene attended most meetings and was always at one of our service events with Kitty.
Even though COVID-19 slowed us down a bit starting in mid-March, we got off to a great start.
- Our exchange student, Yok, from Thailand arrived in early August
- She continued studies at Centerville High School and learned to play the violin in the school orchestra. Unfortunately, due to the COVID outbreak she returned to Thailand several months early.
- She also worked at our pancake breakfast.
- Our first service project was supporting Boomerfest at St Leonard.
- We helped with parking and had a manned Rotary booth to answer questions about Centerville Rotary.
- Sofie Ameloot became a US citizen on 15 August.
- We held the first Pancake Breakfast Sponsor dinner in August as a kick-off to the Pancake Breakfast season
- The purpose was to thank our sponsors, let them know what Centerville Rotary does for the community and the world, and to let them know we are good stewards with their money
- Adam Manning and Carrabba’s catered an excellent meal and everyone had a great time
- Even though many sponsors could not make the meeting, they appreciated the invitation and thanks us for what we do
- We went on to have an outstanding Pancake Breakfast with Sponsor response collecting $15,549. After the breakfast sales and expenses, we had an exceptional income of over $26,600.
- My thanks to Adam Manning & Brad Huffman as the committee leads, Arnie Biondo and Sofie Ameloot for Sponsor sales and to all the members for their hard work to make this happen
- We also had our District Governor, Sigrid Solomon join us in September to outline what the Rotary 2019-2020 goals would be
- SERVICE PROJECTS – most of our service projects were accomplished in September through early December. Unfortunately our planned projects in April were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions
- We received District Grant Checks for Operation Warm for $2,500, and in conjunction with Happy Bucks, we purchased 534 children’s coats donated to Hannah’s Treasure Chest to distribute for needy children in the southwest Ohio area (we have donated 2964 coats over 6 years)
- We received a grant check for $1,700 for our Literacy program and purchased 793 dictionaries and 864 Thesauri for 3rd and 5th graders in the Washington Townshi- and Centerville schools
- BOGG – food distribution in Chevy Chase Apartment area
- Dayton Food Bank – Prepared holiday distribution drums with stickers
- House of Bread – prep and serve meals to 250+ individuals
- Adopt A Family – clothing toys books for 20 needy children at Christmas
- St Vincent DePaul – bedding, personal supplies
- Boomerfest – St Leonard
- Providing How-to books at Habitat for Humanity home dedications to the new homeowners (cook book, home repairs, gardening, financial planning, & how to grocery shop)
- Grants
- We submitted Rotary District grant requests for 2020-21 and were awarded the following
- Operation Warm – winter coats for children - $2,500.00
- Literacy – Dictionaries/Thesauri - $1,500.00
- COVID-19 Foodbank Support - $500.00
- Ron Hollenbeck worked for Global Grant for Haiti Life Pumps (goal was 11), but details didn’t fall into place, between Centerville and other district clubs, they donated over $30,000 to purchase 3 Life Pumps from Design Outreach for Haiti
- Donations
- Club Donations to the Rotary Foundation are over $20,000 ($778 polio)
- Happy Bucks
- Operation Warm - $7660. + grant $2500= $10,160
- Dayton Food Bank - $1517 (club donated $1,000 + $500 Covid Grant) $3017 total
- Alzheimers Association - $1665
- The Castle - $2,205 – send in Happy Bucks if you haven’t
- Other Donations
- Artemis Center - $550
- BOGG - $550
- Haiti Life Pump Project - $5,000
- Guatemala Literacy Project - $1,000
- Diversity Council & Kalaman Golf outing sponsor - $500
- (total $44,647) with scholarships: $54,647
- Scholarships
- Thanks to Judy Budi and the Education Foundation for Interviewing 11 student scholarship applicants via Zoom and selecting 5 for $2,000 scholarships.
- Students will be attending (1) Bowling Green U, (3) The Ohio State U, and our first trades scholarship to Hobart Institute of Welding Technology
- Outstanding Service
- At our Christmas Party in December we had enjoyed a good meal, listened to the Centerville High Jazz band, and were honored with the attendance of our District Governor Sigrid Solomon
- To close the event, we announced the winners of the Service Above Self Awards, presented by Sigrid to Arnie Biondo for leading Pancake sales and putting the club’s name out in the community with a sign for the portable dog park; to Adam Manning for his Pancake support and catering the Sponsor Thank You dinner; and to Kitty Ullmer for her ongoing support to publish the weekly club news bulletin.
- The Rotarian of the Year was presented to Sofie Ameloot for volunteering and leading numerous club drives and maximizing sponsor sales for the pancake breakfast
- COVID-19
- The new year got off to a smooth start
- Kisha Taylor held a successful 4 Way Speech contest in February
- Planning was being done for service projects in April, we were lining up students to attend RYLA, District 4 way speech contest, we were getting information on the District Conference in Wilmington in April
- However COVID-19 raised its ugly head and our face to face meetings were stopped, and all District meetings, conferences and training were cancelled in March
- Our last in person meeting was on 12 March. We continued club communications through a weekly e-mail and 8 weeks ago we started Zoom Club meetings and have also had Zoom corporate board meetings and club socials.
- Conclusion
- I’ve tried to hit the highlights of this past year
- Special Thanks to Gerry Eastabrooks our treasurer, Mark Balsan our secretary – without those two, our club would not run
- Also Brian Hayes, our Vice President for lining up a great group of speakers throughout the year
- We have an outstanding Corporate Board that keeps the club moving forward, and keeping me out of trouble
- Most importantly, I thank every member of the club for making this one of the best clubs in Rotary – I’ve visited a number of clubs over the past few years, and I’m always Happy to come back to Centerville.
- Before I turn this over to Harvey, I want say to Frank, with all the challenges coming in the next year as President, you are not alone and have the support of the club to work with you.
- Thank you for a great Rotary Year!
PDG Harvey Smith thanked Chuck for his steady leadership during these unusual times and noted we welcome his continued guidance and advice. Harvey then administered the Rotary Oath of Office to incoming President Frank Perez.
Frank began with thanks to Chuck King for a fantastic Rotary year and then introduced the 2020-21 Rotary Board:
President - Frank Perez
President Elect - Brian Hayes
Vice President - Arnie Biondo
Immediate Past President - Chuck King
Treasurer - Gerry Eastabrooks
Secretary - Mark Balsan
Club Affairs Director - Brad Huffman
Community Service Director - Sofie Ameloot
New Generations Director - Mark Febus
International Service Director - Ron Hollenbeck
Education Foundation Director - Judy Budi
Rotary Foundation Directory - Joyce Young
Frank noted he knows club members are anxious to return to in-person meetings and shared that the reopening committee has determined the main criteria for returning:
- significant downward trend in the COVID cases
- recommendations from the local governments
Frank shared some ideas the committee has discussed for how the meetings might look once back, with the main focus being on keeping everyone safe:
- 4 people per table
- Masks strongly encouraged except while seated at a table
- Continue offering a Zoom option for those who don’t feel comfortable coming or while on vacation.
The Pancake committee has now expanded to be a Fundraising committee, as it is highly unlikely we will be able to hold the Pancake Day fundraiser this year. The committee is considering other fundraising options, and will share ideas soon.
Frank noted we have a strong club, thanked all of the past leaders who he encouraged to get involved again as their expertise is needed now. It is a year of “All Hands on Deck” so we can handle the new challenges. He asked everyone to:
- Reach out to other members to see how everyone is doing and keep in touch
- Get involved in the activities of the club even more; help however you can
- Share your Rotary experience with others which creates excitement, friendships and interest in what we do; Others will want to be a part of Rotary.
Frank shared his main goals for the year:
- Grow the club
- New fundraiser
- Continue to be a leading club in the district
- Provide scholarships for high school students
Frank closed the meeting and wished everyone a good week.
