President Elect Kelly McDonald welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Harvey Smith provided the prayer.
Our inspirational quote from Don Overly "Be thankful for what you have – “Start each day with a positive thought and grateful heart.” Roy Bennett
Thank you to our greeters today Raj Grandhi and Dale Berry.
Introduction of Guests:
Crissy Allums introduced Amy Radachi who is also our guest speaker today. Amy is a 19 year Rotarian from the Dayton Rotary Club. She was past secretary and past President of the Dayton Club. Don Stewart added that Amy is also a bowler.
Arnie Biondo introduced his two guests today. Peter Biondo is Arnie’s oldest son and Dee Snow is currently our exchange student, Enzyme’s host Mom.
Recap and LOOKING AHEAD:
- The Board had a meeting on Monday and approved $400 for Global grant for Cleft Lip and Pallet surgeries in collaboration with Rotary Club of Venice, Nakomis Florida. The surgeries help to restore kids health, welfare and dignity. We will hear from them in May as part of Operation Smile.
- Board also approved aligning our club as Rotary Peace Builder club. Brian Hayes and Kelly are the charter members of the Peace building Committee. Invitation is open to all Rotarians. This will give us a dedicated team working on an areas of focus of Rotary International.
- Working on a collaboration for a peace pole installation at Grant Park with the Centerville-Washington Park District.
- On your tables you will see a one pager about public image Ad hoc committee to extend our name, our visibility in the community. Kelly has emailed this to Club members as well. We have some spots in this Ad hoc.
- Save the Date flier on the table and QR code is now available on the Club Runner website. May 9th is our 5th year of the Golf outing.
- We may take Rotary meeting on the road and have a meeting held at Hannah’s Treasure Chest on May 17th. We will bring box lunches there. We are looking for opportunities to take Rotary on the road. We are excited. If you have any nominations for places to host or organizations to host, we welcome them.
- District Gala is on 04/25/25 at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Area C) from 5pm – 10pm. Ticket price is $65 per person. Registration is up on the District website.
- 03/04/25 is our next Coffee Club meeting at ContempoRoast at 7:30 a.m.
Kelly mentioned that this quarter’s Happy Bucks are going to District 5300’s Fire Relief fund. We are exceeding well of our expectation with donation. Thus far I believe not including today we are at $8500. Thank you for all your help and it is amazing the magic of Rotary to help others.
Happy Bucks:
1.Pat Beckel – if you do not feel good, stay home and do not get the rest of us sick. My youngest son has always been a thorn on my side. He has been accepted by the University of Cincinnati. He was unfortunately turned down by Ohio State. He has 4.1 GPS, student government, a national champion gymnast. We did not mention his criminal record. In college they are down to 15 gymnastic team in the country for men. He is now committed to University of Cincinnati cheerleader. He will meet lots of cute girls.
2. Jim Harris – just happy, glad to be here. Don’t go to Emergency Room, the whole town is there.
3. Don Stewart – just got back from a music cruise. Had a wonderful time.
4. Raj Grandhi– just happy.
5. Dan Johnson – just happy.
6. Elda Gotos Gay – Just happy, very happy.
7. Brad Thorp – could hardly contain himself for the farm report today; he barely slept last night thinking about the farm report today.
8. Lee Hieronymus– today is quite the conclusion to the on-going farm report. We learn about the seaweed that reduces the methane gas in cows. Last week, we learned about the five dairy cows and he knew them and Dr. Don Overly knew about them. The man is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. The farm report went on for another 5 minutes or so and he also instructed everyone to use their arms as he kept going on with his lengthy farm report.
9. Don Overly – happy
10. Socks Bowersocks – just happy.
12. Bill Menker – for our guests.
13. Kirstin Hutton – sorry for being late. Happy to be here.
14. Arnie Biondo – happy for our guests.
15. Brad Huffman – happy for our guests.
16. Kelly McDonald – happy for our guests.
17. Lisa Goris May – happy standing next to Brian.
18. Amy Radachi – our Club does day 100 if you donate a $100 and I am going to give $20 and you can keep the change day for my 19th year anniversary.
20. Jackie D’Aurora – been on the Board of Rebuilding Together Dayton for 10 years and past Chair.
Our speaker today was Amy Radachi with Rebuilding Together Dayton.
Introduction of our speaker today (Amy Radachi) was done by Kelly McDonald.
Amy has been the President and CEO of Rebuilding Together Dayton since September 2009, following her tenure as Executive Director, a role she held since July 1998. She founded the affiliate in 1996 as a member of Preservation Dayton Inc. and served as its Board President for three years. Additionally, she contributed to Rebuilding Together’s National Affiliate Council, liaising with affiliates across four states. Beyond her leadership at Rebuilding Together Dayton, Amy has played a significant role in Dayton’s preservation and community development efforts. She served on the City of Dayton's Public Arts and Landmarks Commissions and led the Dayton View Historic Association as President for four years. She graduated from the Neighborhood Leadership Institute (1995) and Leadership Dayton (2002). Her contributions to the community have earned her numerous acknowledgments, including being named one of Dayton’s Ten Top Women (2003), a Dayton Business Journal Forty Under 40 honoree (2008), and Rebuilding Together’s Executive Director of the Year (2012). She leads the coordination of the Miami Valley Non-Profit Housing Collaborative, bringing together eight major housing
Amy’s Presentation:
Our Story
In 1973, a small Sunday school class picked up hammers and paintbrushes in Midland, Texas. They had seen their neighbors struggle with home repairs and chose to dedicate one day to the elderly, disabled, and low-income homeowners who needed a hand. Their compassion inspired others, and the movement grew.
Rebuilding Together Dayton joined the effort in April of 1996, seeing a need in our region. On our first National Rebuilding Day, we renovated eight houses with the help of 105 volunteers. Since then, we’ve assisted over 1,500 homeowners in 63 neighborhoods and ten cities across Montgomery County.
Rebuilding Together Dayton’s goal is to create a safe and healthy homes for Dayton’s low-income seniors. On average, our homeowners live on less than $17,000 a year.
We envision safe homes and communities for everyone. To make this a reality, we are repairing homes, revitalizing communities, and rebuilding lives. If eligible for one of our programs, we provide home repairs or modifications at no cost to the homeowner.
1996 Founded by Preservation Dayton, Inc.
1998 First Executive Director hired and moved to space donated by Home Builders Association.
2001 Rebuilding Together Dayton unveiled Neighbor Care, a year-round, county-wide home repair program. Neighbor Care provides the services of skilled tradespeople who perform urgent home repairs and home modifications, such as wheelchair ramps and handrails.
2006 Milestone of 500 homes assisted.
2006 Moved into the University of Dayton’s Rubicon House.
2008 Heat the Town program started in partnership with DACHA.
2009 Launched Seasonal programming.
2010 Milestone of 1,000 homes assisted.
2011 Rebuilding Together Dayton formed a collaboration with the Greater Dayton RTA by moving into the former Interstate Mortgage building on Main Street. RTA provides donated office and warehouse space.
2014 For the first time, we targeted a specific neighborhood for our Rebuilding Day efforts by partnering with East End Community Services in Twin Towers neighborhood. Nearly 800 Rebuilding Together Dayton volunteers worked on 20 projects in the Twin Towers neighborhood, providing $200,000 worth of improvements.
2015 Launched Seasonal Safe@Home Program and DPL partnership.
2015 DACHA was dissolved, and RTD continued the Heat the Town program.
2015 to 2017 Targeted the Westwood neighborhood.
2016 Launched Community Revitalization Partnership Strategy. A coordinated approach between our affiliate and our neighborhoods, foundations, corporations, residents, and volunteers to build and sustain a safe, healthy, and thriving community.
2018 Targeted the Carillon Neighborhood.
2019 Focused on Disaster Recovery Program for those affected by Memorial Day Tornadoes and Targeted the Edgemont Neighborhood.
2020 Rebuilding Together Dayton celebrated 25 years of repairing homes, revitalizing communities, and rebuilding lives for low-income senior homeowners in Dayton. We targeted the Pineview, Edgemont, and Miami Chapel Neighborhoods.
2021 Targeted the Pineview and Lakeview Neighborhoods. During a community-wide clean-up on our 26th NRD, we collected 4.7 Tons of waste.
2021 Rebuilding Together Dayton concluded Disaster Recovery after three years. In 2021 alone, RTD assisted 74 homeowners with 407 repairs.
2022 Moved into the Kuhns Building in the Dayton Arcade Complex.
2022 Targeted the Madden Hills, Miami Chapel, and Edgemont Neighborhoods for our 27th NRD.
RTD was awarded a $1.8 million reimbursable grant to assist eligible homeowners with home repairs and modifications in Carillon, Edgemont, Miami Chapel, Wolf Creek, Five Oaks, and Old North Dayton.
2023 Targeted the Carillon, Edgemont, and Miami Chapel for NRD, held on 4/29/2023.
2024 Targeted Carillon, Edgemont, and Miami Chapel for our 29th NRD.
RTD was awarded $1.3 million from the Carol M. Peterson Fund (courtesy of the Cincinnati Federal Home Loan Bank).
2025 Rebuilding Together celebrates its 30th National Rebuilding Day all year with our "30 for 30" campaign.
Our Vision:
That everyone in Dayton and Montgomery County would have a safe and healthy home.
Mission:
Build community partnerships and provide home rehabilitation for low income Dayton area homeowners, particularly the elderly so they can live in warmth, safety, and independence.
Our Services:
Our Safe and Healthy Housing practice model is the foundation of our home repair and modification work.
Our 25 Health and Safety Priorities provide a common framework for our affiliate network to complete comprehensive in-home assessments and set repair objectives based on each homeowner’s special needs and health status. Each home has varying degrees of need and some projects may only address a single priority, such as installing a ramp, or several items, such as roof repair, energy efficiency upgrades, and grab bars. This framework also provides a means for Rebuilding Together affiliates to track and report the results of our repairs, helping them to set clear expectations with our clients and provide a platform for further partnership and collaboration to meet unmet needs.
What are the 8 Principles of a Safe and Healthy Home?
- Keep it Dry
- Keep it Clean
- Keep it Pest-Free
- Keep it Safe
- Keep it Contaminant-Free
- Keep it Well Ventilated
- Keep it Thermally Controlled
- Keep it Maintained
Most Board Members of Rebuilding Together Dayton are graduates of Leadership Dayton Class.
Relationships Amy has with Rotarians have been very helpful in the success of her organization. RTD is always welcoming new partnership.
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