Centerville eBulletin 08 25 2016 (Aug 25, 2016)

Rotary's Theme for 2016-17

The GREETERS:

09/01/16 Raj Grandhi and Carrie Lifer

09/08/16 Rebecca Quinones and Adam Manning

09/15/16 Matt Kuhn and Mark Balsan

09/22/16 Chuck King and John Beals

If you cannot greet on the day assigned, contact Kitty and she will schedule a replacement.

08/25//2016

The guests at the meeting included: Bob Young, of the Blue Ash Rotary, together with members of the District Membership Committee of which he is the chairman; PDG Ron Britt of the Lebanon Rotary; PDG Pat Edwards of the Franklin Rotary; Wendy Kissel of the Middletown Rotary; and Wesley Boord of the Oakwood Rotary; Dottie Overly, wife of member Don Overly; Mark Mabelitini of the Sidney Rotary, the District Governor Elect; Sara McGarvey, with Symphony at Centerville, an assisted living facility on Paragon Road. She is a guest of Ann Blackburn; Stephanie Pyles, guest with Wendy Kissel; Jennifer Webb, with Key Bank, a guest of Ann Blackburn; Maria Arechiga, of Mexico, an exchange student with the Dayton Rotary Club, attending Centerville High School; and three Interact Club members from Centerville High School, co-presidents of the Interact Club: Anand Shah, Abby Magoffin, and Noe Camp; along with Saloni Girdhari Bagwani, our exchange student from India, speaker for the day.

Greeters at the next meeting will be Raj Grandhi and Carrie Lifer

The Centerville Rotary Club met at noon at the Clubhouse at Yankee Trace Golf Course. President Ron Hollenbeck led the Pledge of Allegiance, Sivaji Subramaniam gave the prayer, and Ron Hollenbeck led the singing of God Bless America.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The district membership committee joined us to meet with our club's membership committee after the meeting. Bob Young leads that group.

Member Bill Abrams was back with us again at this meeting.

Ron reminded members that the mixer to meet new and prospective members and network with one another would be at 5:30 p.m. this day, Aug. 25, at Carrabbas. There will be hors d'oeuvres.

Ron announced that Dan and Katie Johnson had their baby, Julia Grace, coming in at 7 pounds and five ounces and 20 inches long.

Ron also reminded everyone of the upcoming District Trilogy Aug. 27 at Normandy Church.

Rebecca Quinones noted that the Interact students attending the meeting had brought along water bottles, selling for $10 to help support their water pump project in Malawi.

Boyd Preston said that help is needed after next Thursday’s meeting in stuffing tickets for the Pancake Breakfast fund-raiser in envelops.

Ron said $3,000 has been raised thus far in the Operation Warm project to get winter coats for kids. That adds up to 150 coats thus far, so we’re half way to our goal of 300 coats, he said. He noted that he talked to Bill Shula and was advised to get in touch with the person dealing with district grants to see what money we may be getting to help buy coats.

Bob Young said more info will be forthcoming on a Zone 30/31 Institute meeting in October. Three zones meet in the Cincinnati area, he said, and meetings rotate. We can get tickets to attend a luncheon during the meeting.

Ron said we will have two new club member inductees, Tracie Hoker and Mark Febus (he’s with Home Care Assistance), as soon as their badges come in.

It may look like some of our members were ponying up to the bar at the Aug. 25 meeting at Yankee Trace, but appearances may be deceiving. With the addition of the district membership committee and the Interact Club members, the meeting became temporarily standing room only. The tables became full and members milled around until another table could be brought in.

Note in the picture below, Jill, from the front desk, helping set up a table for the group.

Still, the one table was not quite enough, so member Mitch Biederman took it upon himself to make do at the sign-in table.

Luckily for Mitch, he didn't have to stay on his knees for the whole meeting. He looks a bit more regal and comfortable in the picture below.

HAPPY BUCKS:

Our Sgt-at-Arms Erich Eggers was absent, so Rand Oliver collected Happy Bucks for Operation Warm (Coats). The coats cost $20 each and will be given to needy children through Hannah's Treasure Chest.

Carrie Lifer gave for half a coat and for getting to sit down at one of the full tables. One of the gentlemen sitting at a full table got up and gave her his seat. As a pregnant mother near her due date, she said she was happy to sit down.

Judu Budi said her son Matthew is getting married next year, and her niece had her second little boy.

Ann Blackburn gave $10 for a water bottle, and for a coat, and reminded people that they can have papers shredded at the bank where she works from 10 to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Brad Thorp also bought a water bottle and Deb Dulaney gave for mentioning her trip to Hilton Head.

Drew Carter also bought a water bottle, as did several others.

SPEAKER: Saloni Girdhari Bagwani, our Rotary Exchange Student from India, seen at the right in the picture below. The three Interact Club members are on the left, and Carrie Lifer is next to them. Ron, Peachy, and Boyd can be seen in the background.

Member Jim Hester introduced our speaker Saloni Girdhari Bagwani, noting that her first day at Centerville High School, she turned 18. He said it took 24 hours by plane for her to travel here.

Saloni showed slides of India, noting that she lives in central India, in a town with about 2 million residents. Tigers roam in a park and actually like jeeps with tourists to follow them in the park, she said.

She showed a picture of her family and their home, a double house, she said. She noted that she is the youngest in the family. Everyone cried when she was leaving, she said. She is used to having family around on the weekend when she was home, and that is what she misses most right now, she said.

On the other hand, that is teaching her to be more independent, she said. She said she attended several schools, and that there are three boards. She said she went first to the Century board and then to the State board, and then to junior college. She has finished with her high school work, so she will not have to do another year when she returns home, she said.

Saloni said she has been to many Rotary conferences and said she has grown up with Rotary. A neighbor was the president of the local Rotary Club and got her to interview to be an exchange student, she said.

She said she had a tendency to be late getting up in the morning and wouldn’t you know it, she missed her bus on the first day of school. This is her first trip abroad, she said. She has traveled through much of India and visited the Taj Mahal.

Saloni showed slides of the oranges for which Nagpur is known. It is considered the best city in India for livability, greenery, public transportation and health care indicies. It is famous for the Nagpur Orange and is knokwn as the Orange City for being a major trade center for oranges cultivated in the region.

Nagpur is also called the "Tiger Capital of India" as it connects many tiger reserves in India to the world. It is among the important cities for the information technology sector in Maharashtra. Nagpur is located in the center of the country with the Zero Mile marker indicating the geographical center of India.

What are these fellows doing? Looks like swimming...or...?

Visiting District committee member sit at this table.

Centerville Club members who got here early enough to get a seat.

The group ended the session by repeating Rotary's Four-Way Test together.