President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club, led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and gave the prayer.
Th thought for the day comes from Cassandra Claire: “As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”
President Brian had the following announcements:
- Next week speakers are Jacqie Powell & Pam Plageman with the Dayton Convention & Visitors Bureau.
- Three weeks ago I mentioned in my opening address the donation opportunities that will be presented to us this coming year. Rotarians frequently want to support or be a sponsor for the Pancake Breakfast and Golf Outing and in the next year we will also be celebrating our 50 year anniversary. No later than our first meeting in August (the 5th) we hope to have the Pledge Card available to you so you will be able to plan how you want to support these projects. As a reminder, each Rotarian is asked to sell or pay for 150.00 worth of pancake tickets. We recognize that some of you may have paid in late 2019 or early 2020 so Mark Balsan and Ger Eastabrooks are going to track down all of that information for the pancake committee. The opportunity to make a quarterly contribution toward your pancake commitment will start again in the last quarter of this year for the 2022 pancake breakfast.
- That brings me to where we are today - after this roller-coaster ride we described as 2020 we find ourselves getting back to normal. We have eliminated the Zoom meeting in an effort to foster face to face encounters and club involvement. That being said, with our next quarter of dues statements about to be sent, we want to remind you that we will resume billing for the lunches ($12/meal or $156/qrtr). I want to encourage you to come on out and join us. Yankee Trace has enhanced the meals, the food is excellent and plans are being made for some exciting things coming up that you won't want to miss.
- We are having great fun working to get back to normal and re-implement our previous systems.We are looking forward to seeing everyone at a meeting real soon.
Adam Manning announced planning for this year’s Pancake Day will begin next Thursday, 11:15 am at Yankee Trace. Please consider joining the Pancake committee and help plan for this great event.
Ron Hollenbeck announced RI approved global grant for life pumps in Malawi. On Aug 7 & 21 we are invited to the facility in Columbus where the pumps are made to help clean some parts that go in the pumps. Ron is going on Aug 7 and would like to have others get involved in this Rotary project.
Ginger Clark gave the Operation Warm update. We have a total of 14 meetings this quarter so to meet our goal, we need to raise $757 each week. ($10,600 total) At 925 currently so quite a way to go, however, before the meeting, she had an anonymous donor pledge $500 with an offer for others to match.
Brian introduced our guests: Matthew Wahrhaftig from the Kettering club, DG Carol Hughes and her grandson, Camren, and Mary Nenninger our Assistant Governor.
Our Happy Bucks recipient for this quarter is Operation Warm, purchasing winter coats for children.
Chuck King was our Sergeant at Arms today and collected these Happy Bucks:
- Sivaji Subramaniam was happy to be here and to see Carol Hughes. Also his first granddaughter was accepted to the University of Pittsburgh in Dental School.
- Matt Kuhn gave for a coat.
- Judy Budi was glad to see so many people and had great weekend at Hocking Hills.
- Lee Hieronymus is enjoying making hay and excited since he got a new baler.
- Mike Wier was happy to see everyone.
- Jim Stuart was just happy.
- Jeff Senney was happy because Ger gave him half of her cookie, so he matched the $500 anonymous donor and then took it up to $1,000. Thanks Jeff!
- Ger offered Jeff the other half of her cookie and said she was happy to be sitting next to Jeff.
- Jim Harris was happy to be here.
- Ray Merz was thankful for the blessings of the season.
- Chuck King got to work at the Grotto Gardens and Bill Menker joined him to mulch & weed.
- Carol Kennard gave $6 for her granddaughter Kaycee’s 6th birthday.
- Brad Thorp was happy.
- Uriah Anderson was happy for the great weather.
- Harvey Smith gave in honor of our DG Carol Hughes.
- Mary Nenninger was happy that our Club meeting is only 5 miles from her home.
- Carol Hughes said is was great to be with such dedicated club members.
- Camren was glad to meet all of these Rotarians.
- Frank Perez was just happy.
- Ann Blackburn said she will match with a $500 IOU next week.
- Elda Gatos-Gay was happy.
- Bob Fry gave $500 since Jeff put in $1,000.
- Ron Hollenbeck said he will do $500 as well and was thankful because two of his granddaughters got COVID and both survived it (4 yr old was hospitalized.)
- Matt Kuhn was happy.
- Ginger Clark was happy to get a 4.0 in her summer semester of classes.
- Adam Manning was happy to sit next to Arnie Biondo.
- Arnie Biondo gave for 5 coats since he’ll be gone for a month.
- Kisha Taylor was happy to be back.
- Dick Hoback was happy to welcome our District Governor Carol Hughes and donated 5 coats in her honor.
- Don Overly was happy for Jeff who got the big donations started.
- Don Stewart said he will do $500 if Chuck King does $500 and Chuck said OK.
- Brian Hayes gave a coat.
Our speaker today was District Governor, Carol Hughes.
Arnie introduced our District Governor, Carol Hughes, who helped us get our golf outing off the ground, which resulted in raising $13,500. Carol is retiring from the Springboro Chamber of Commerce in 6 days.
DG Carol said she ives in Springboro and is a member of the Springboro Club. She’s originally rom England, but has been here for 28 years, and an U.S. citizen since 2008. She has 4 children and 4 grandchildren. Her partner is also a District Governor - they met at a DG training!
She shard a quote from Paul Harris that is still so relevant today:
Rotary was built on fellowship and friendship through business connections with an interest in serving the community. She noted there are probably other members you haven’t seen in awhile. She encouraged everyone to reach out, hang out, and maybe even pick someone up to bring to meeting.
This year’s RI President is from India, and his English is phenomenal. He introduced several
phrases to help guide this Rotary Year
- Think Big! Do Big! (Set lofty goals for the club, how to attract younger members, people who don’t always look and think like us, more females, more under age 40)
- Each one Bring one (30 years ago 1.2 million Rotarians, same as today. He has challenged us to get to 1.3 million) Carol said to bring someone new to lunch, let them feel what we do in our club.
- Host Rotary Days of Service (Host a project with another group of people who are non-Rotarians.) District wide Service Days this year include - Sept 25, 2021(Bed Build in Springboro) and April 30, 2022 (Rebuilding Dayton Together - help seniors stay in home by fixing it up.)
- Empowering Girls Initiative (Zones 30-31 doing a program to teach girls about sex trafficking and how to recognize the signs.)
- Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee (Focus on more diversity in our Club). Our district is hosting a Youth Peace Symposium on April 23 - all kids going to RYLA are invited, 6 college professors peace, diversity, inclusion; at Arcade in Dayton
- Our District will be hosting a Gala Dinner to kick off the District Conference at Carillon Park on Friday, April 20, 2022
- Foundation Support - this is the fuel that keeps Rotary engine running
- Polio Eradication - Oct 24 is World Polio Day,
DG Carol then shared a slide about our Centerville Rotary Club - we have a lot to be proud of!
Did you know the average age of our club is in the low 60’s? In England, the average is 75; concerned about aging of Rotarians, need to bring it down to sustain Rotary
Bequest members commit at least $10,000 in your will.
DG Carol then shared questions for club to consider and suggested we revisit during a later meeting.
Oftentimes when someone is asked why they’ve never thought about joining Rotary, they say, “Because no one has ever asked me!”
Lee Hieronymus noted that whenever a District Governor is introduced, all stand to salute and honor Rotary International.
President Brian thanked DG Carol for sharing with our club and presented her with a Centerville Rotary 50th Anniversary polo shirt. Her grandson, Camren then led the group in reciting the Rotary 4-Way Test.
