President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club zoom and led the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.

 

 

Our Theme this month is Peace and Conflict Prevention and Resolution

 

Thought of the moment – is from Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

 

Updates from Committee Chairs:

 

Brad Huffman announced the date for the Golf Outing has been changed to Friday, May 6. May is wedding season at Yankee Trace and they are back in full swing this year. There will always be a conflict on Saturdays in May for the ballroom. The good thing about moving to Friday is that we can allow more golfers.

 

Carol Kennard reminded everyone to get their 50th anniversary t-shirt orders in by February 20. Can email cgkennard@woh.rr.com, text, or call (937) 581-6744 Carol and have it billed to your account or send in a check. And it is only $17!

 

Mike Wier said there are still seats available for the May 3 Dragons baseball game. Email Mike with who’s coming. We’ll have three rows together, with 10 seats in each row. Everyone will get paper tickets to use that day.

 

Chuck King reminded about the District grant training on Feb 16, 6:30 pm on Zoom. W must have someone from our club attend so we can apply for grants. Go to the District 6670 website to sign up  http://rotary6670.org/

 

Ron Hollenbeck met with Greg Bixler of Design Outreach and members from District 6690 who are also partnering on the LifePump project. The company actually drilling the bore holes and installing pumps say they are quite happy working with Design Outreach, as other companies have let them down. Other pumps break down after 6 months. They love to install the LifePumps, saying, “Once installed we can walk away and don’t have to fix them.”

 

 

Centerville Rotary 50th Anniversary Trivia

Kim Senft-Paras shared a video to show how Rotary promotes peace.

Rotary chooses to work toward peace. Bring people together to find ways to reduce violence and build trust. Rotary Peace Centers do great work. As we gain new prospectives, we have the power to save the world.

 

Kim then asked everyone to share what we as a club have done to promote peace and help change the world.

 

This quarter we are collecting  Recovery Bucks to help relief efforts in Kentucky where they had all of that devastation.

 

Brian noted we support a lot of programs that are actively involved in doing good deeds in our area and around the world. For example – Luke 5 Adventures whom we supported with $2,412 in Happy Bucks last year did 270 hikes and is on track to open 5 new chapters in 2022. And they just won the top award given by the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association. So, Kudos to them and thank you for your generosity.

 

 

Many Happy Bucks were given for:

 

Please mail your Happy Bucks to the Club’s PO Box here:

 

 

 

 

 

Rita Cyr has been with RMHC since 2002, and both she and Amanda are Dayton Rotarians. Rita has prior non-profit administration experience, working to improve lives. Amanda Burks is the Chief Development Officer, who joined RMHC in 2018. Prior to that she did PR and fundraising for nonprofits.

 

They shared a video which you can view on the website HERE https://rmhcdayton.org/about-us/ 

 

The first Ronald McDonald House was in Philadelphia 44 years ago. In 1974 Fred Hill, a Philadelphia Eagles player had a daughter with leukemia and although he could afford the best care, he saw families who didn’t have resources to be able to be there with their children. The Philadelphia Eagles partnered with McDonalds for promotions at the time - Shamrock Shake promo. They agreed that a portion of proceeds would be given if they called it the Ronald McDonald House.

 

 

RMHC is in 90% of the top children’s hospitals, and is found in 56 countries/regions. There are currently 700 programs, serving 1 million families.

 

In 1980 the 14th Ronald McDonald house in the country opened up here in Dayton. It opened with 7 guest rooms, serving families with cancer patients. In 1998 they doubled in size with a 2nd location on Valley St across from Dayton Children’s.

 

In 2007 they saw the demand and needs of families and looked at expanding, but then with the economy drop in 2008, they had to take a different approach. In 2016, they opened first Family room inside Dayton Children’s and in 2017 opened a Family room inside Miami Valley Hospital outside the NICU.

 

 

Their goal is to provide safe and affordable accommodations near where the child is being treated. They provide beds, hot showers, a stocked kitchen, laundry, and playroom. Provide a quiet, relaxing space to be together, reflect, do homework, etc.

 

RMH has 7 medical partners, although the majority of families come from Dayton Children’s. There is no fee for the families, but there is a $15/night suggested donation. Fundraising handles the rest. The facilities are open and staffed 24/7/365.

 

Family rooms are dedicated spaces within the hospital that provide the same amenities other than overnight accommodations.

 

 

In 2021, RMHC served over 53 Ohio counties and were in 27 US states in addition to Ohio last year, along with 7 countries. People travel to Dayton for pediatric care. Top diagnosis they see are cancer, premature birth, respiratory issues, seizures, and testing.

 

 

What does McDonald’s do? The RMHC are not owned by them nor are they a line item in their budget, but local owners are very supportive. Eighteen owners operate 84 McDonald’s in our region who fundraisers all year long for them.

 

Change boxes at drive-thru and inside restaurants - donations all stay local. And there is also a Round-Up for RMHC at the restaurants. One cent for every Happy Meal sold goes back to RMHC. Sleeves for Support program sells koozies for the plastic cups, and proceeds go to RMHC.

 

Local McDonald’s owners Debbie & Ray Wright give lots of support.

 

All money raised here stays in Dayton. They pay no dues or fees to the main office. McDonald’s pays for national staff.

 

 

How can you help?

Upcoming events include

 

They are now looking for a 3rd location and doing a capital campaign currently. They had to turn away 63% of the families last year.

 

Houses are staffed 24/7/365 with awake staff at the houses and Family Rooms. They are committed with professional staff, 13 FT employees for three programs that never close.

 

Many hospitals do have some houses for adult patient families, but not at the Dayton Ronald McDonald House. 60% families last year were outpatient.

 

 

Next week our speaker will be Matt Wahrhaftig from the Kettering Medical Center Foundation.