Centerville eBulletin 08 31 2017CPIX (Sep 03, 2017)

Rotary's Theme for 2017-18

The GREETERS:

08/31/2017 Harvey Smith and Matt Kuhn

09/07/2017 John Beals and Butch Spencer

09/14/2017 Brian Bergman and Dan Sortman

09/21/2017 Bob Fry and Don Stewart

09/28/2017 Deb Dulaney and Brian Bergman

10/05/2017 Jack Durnbaugh and Jennifer Gibbs

10/12/2017 Brad Huffman and Boyd Preston

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

Just 38 feet left in truck to fill Sunday morning. This picture taken Saturday, when it was not quite as full. On Sunday built a wall to separate what would come in next. May be filled by Sunday rather than Monday if things go fast.

Yellow Rose of Texas Thank you....from family in Texas who have relatives here. This picture also taken on Saturday, as next one with girls from the Centerville High School Cross Country Track Team who brought in 4,000 donated diapers and baby wipes.

Next picture shows: Three men and the truck Sunday, with the wall to hold things back.

And then there's lots of donating still coming and volunteer help from everywhere:

Lisa Elam Tucker and her mom Faye Elam. Lisa's look kinda says...not another picture...but they haven't stopped working since day one.

Some of the cardboard boxes in this picture held items brought to a wedding in Casstown. The Best man was from Centerville and the married couple had asked for donations for the Harvey victims.

Waiting on the next donations to put away. Thanks to all Rotarians and Centerville area and beyond residents who have been so generous in service above self, either in donating or in volunteering to help transport the donations to the trucks and Houston.

The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Clubhouse at Yankee Trace at noon. Past President Ron Hollenbeck led the Pledge of Allegiance. Brian Hayes led the prayer, noting that the storm victims in Texas are in our prayers, and Don Gerhardt led the singing of Our Country Tis of Thee, singing one of their best renditions of the song in a long while. Good job, all. The guests must have helped.

A couple extra pictures from the Aug. 31 meeting that didn't get in because of a computer glitch (over-stuffed bulletin perhaps) follow:

Wayne Davis, new Centerville City Manager, and John Beals, a past district governor

Harvey Smith and our two guests: DG Mark Mabelitini and City Manager Wayne Davis

Today's guests included: Jim Briggs and his lovely wife Mary Ann; our new District Governor Mark Mabelitini; and our new Centerville City Manager Wayne Davis, who has lived in Centerville 20 years and was a city manager in Montgomery in Hamilton County, and already said he's ready to become a new member of our club. The Ayes have it that he won't be waiting long. Welcome Wayne...Below you see Jim and Mary Ann.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Past President Ron Hollenbeck stood in for our new president Peachy Metzner, who is still working on getting back to health. Peachy is still fatigued and and missing all of us, as we him...Semper Fi! Peachy.

Below you see Ron introducing our speaker for the day, Mark Mabelitini. Ron presented him with a check for $560, the $8 per member of the club that Rotary has asked to support our district being named a Peace Builder.

Ron had said at the last meeting that the district has been asked to contribute $25,000 to become a Peace Builder for Rotary, which would amount to $8 per member, but rather than hit up each member for the money, the board decided to give $560 from the club for its 70 members. DG Mark said we were one of eight or nine clubs in the district that have submitted their contributions thus far.

Ron mentioned again what Kim Senft-Paras had talked about last week, noting that the Dayton Rotary hopes other Rotarys will join them in the Peace Walk Sept. 10 and that we should nominate a peace walker from the club. The walk is from 4 to 6 p.m., with people gathering at 3 p.m., and a band concert afterwards.

Today was the deadline for getting the money in for T-shirts that say Rotarian at Work, worn on Service Days.

Ron mentioned again that if we want to sponsor a youth exchange student for the 2018-19 Rotary Year, the deadline for getting information in about who might be interested in helping house the youth is September 15, so let Mark Febus or Rebecca Quinones know of your interest in helping. Rebecca said she thought there must be at least one Rotarian in the club who would like to have an exchange student in their home. The Rotarian is just one of the people who would share the responsibility of housing the youth, she said.

Frank Perez said that he and Jennifer Gibbs are helping drive the donations from sponsors for the Pancake Breakfast this year and that they can use help in getting sponsors for the breakfast. He said he hopes each member can get at least two sponsors. If you need his help in asking a sponsor, he is willing to do that.

Ron called Harvey Smith up front to be presented with a special honor:

Our District Governor Mark Mabelitini presented Harvey with a specially inscribed glass memento signifying he is now a second major donor to the Rotary Foundation. He also received two special Rotary pins in that regard. See picture below:

And we also heard about a plea for help:

Bill's Donut Shop has been gathering donated items to take to Houston, Tx., to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey. They gathered two box trucks of items and had them on their way by last Thursday and sent out word about the items needed and then hired a truck and driver for a semi to haul more items. It will leave Tuesday morning, so items must be delivered to the Donut Shop by Monday, one of the two co-owners, Lisa Elam Tucker, said. In pictures below you will see Lisa and also there's a picture of her brother Jim Elam, a co-owner of Bill's, with his and Lisa's mom, Faye Elam, widow of Bill Elam, who started all the service above self charity work that stems from Bill's when he helped with the first Special Wish.

Lisa contacted the Castle Hills Church of Christ in Vandalia, which has a disaster response team, to get one of the box trucks and then got another truck from Voss Chevrolet to transport the items up to the church for delivery to Houston. After loading three box trucks, she hired Yowell Transportation to get a semi and driver to leave Tuesday morning with more goods, which were being put into the semi next to the donut shop with the help of area volunteers. Dave Douglas, a former Washington Twp. employee, was seen helping out Thursday, along with many other community members, adults and children. One helper who coaches young kids in football also noted that the Centerville Police have been big volunteers in the Houston effort.

Needed still:

Feminine hygiene items, rubber gloves and boots, mosquito repellent, underwear for both sexes, adult and children; disposable diapers, Depends, Baby Wipes, toothbrushes and tooth paste, plastic totes to carry what few items they have left. Lisa said the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department donated 5,000 tubes of toothpaste. One of the most wrenching stories was a woman who came into the donut shop and said her whole family lived in Texas and that they lost everything. It put everyone in tears, she said. Lisa had gotten word out about the need for donations through Facebook and word of mouth. "Social media," she said. Below are pictures taken Wednesday when the box trucks were being loaded, with a crowded inside shop filled with donations that had started coming Tuesday night.

(Note: There was an interloper in the above picture)

The semi leaves Tuesday morning, so get all donated items in by Monday. You can also donate directly to the Red Cross. Specify for the Harvey Hurricane.

www.redcross.org

Friday night and a volunteer helping out takes a break with Lisa and crew. See volunteer below, who looks very much like a member of the Centerville police department. An important one.

HAPPY BUCKS:

Sgt.-at-arms Erich Eggers collected Happy Bucks for Operation Warm. Each $20 donation buys a new children's winter coat distributed by Hannah's Treasure Chest in partnership with local social agencies. Gerry Eastabrooks, our club treasurer, made the rounds with the collection cup. "I hear you, but I can't see you," Gerry seems to be saying.

Erich said to reach last year's goal of 340-350 coats, the club has to have $7,000. We have five more weeks to get coat money and we are $4,000 short now, which would mean he needs to get about $800 a meeting for the coats. But, there's a catch. Two anonymous donors have agreed to contribute $2,000, so there would only need to be $2,000 more in coats, but that doesn't mean we can't try to exceed last year's goal, Erich said.

He donated for two coats, one for recognizing Harvey Smith's contributions and one for the guests, our new district governor and new city manager.

Matt Kuhn's coat donation was for getting to see his son at the U.S. Air Force Academy this weekend. Pat Beckel donated for four coats, two for the city manager and district governor and Harvey's contributions, and another $3 for attending the U.S. Open next week in N.Y.

Harvey and Joyce Young donated for coats and Mark Balsan gave $5 for Harvey's contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Sofie, Ron, Jeff, Carol, Brian Bergman and Ray Merz were all coat people, with Ray giving for the second half of the coat he gave for last week. He told a story about a man who owned a large warehouse and was putting away $20,000 a day. Jim Harris gave for half a coat and Harvey. Boyd gave his for his coat in honor of Harvey too. Don Stewart gave $5 for Harvey. Judy Budi had to stop and count her money to get a coat, and said her son Matthew is getting married. Katie Neubert told of how a boy at the Kroc Center wouldn't take off his heavy coat though it was summer, because it was his Rotary coat and he didn't want to lose it. She said SICSA is one of 29 groups sending an animal care technician to Huston to go down and bring animals that had to be left on their own back here. Money for cat food and dog food can be donated to Texas groups such as the Houston ASPC, Texas One and Austin Live...check on Internet for more precise info on these groups. Frank Perez gave for his undefeated Cleveland Browns, and Mike Wier gave his coat donation, noting he grew up in Texas, right outside of Houston, and remembers the Day that Carla hit. He said his best friend in San Antonio got evacuated and they had 4-feet of water places. Rick Terhune gave for his coat in Harvey's name and Arnie gave for our guest Sofie and District Governor and City Manager, and Ohio Task Force One and their work in the Houston area. Chuck King gave for a coat and John Beals gave, mentioning Harvey and his generosity and saying: Go Bucks. Our new Centerville City Manager Wayne Davis also gave saying that he's glad to be back with a Rotary Club.

Today's Speaker: New District 6670 Governor Mark Mabelitini

Past President Ron Hollenbeck introduced our speaker. He said Mark is a member of the Rotary Club of Sidney, Past President of the Rotary Club of Tipp City, and a Paul Harris Fellow. He has been involved with the Four-Way Speech Contest, Rotary Youth Exchange, and RYLA. He joined Rotary in 2006 because his employer wanted him to join, and he stays because he loves being a Rotarian.

He has also served on public and non-profit boards including the Downtown Tipp City Partnership, Tipp City Restoration and Architectural Board of Review, and SafeHaven Inc., a mental health support center.

Mark received a BA in Public Administration from Capital University in 1998 and a Master of Library Science degree from Indiana University in 2002. After 20 years as a manager and administrator of public libraries, he is now the owner and recreational/personal chef for At Home Bistro. lCooking has always been his passion, and now he gets to follow his passion as a career.

When he is not cooking he is a substitute school teacher because he loves seeing children learn and he often learns something from them. Sometimes you need to be around kids to help you see the world with a fresh perspective, he says. He is married to Alaina Mabelitini, past president of the Rotary Club of Sidney and current Assistant Governor, and has a son and three stepchildren.

Mark started by showing off his tie with an Australian flower design picked by the International Foundation President Ian HS Riseley

Mark said he becoming a district governor requires a lot of training and he went to San Diego, California in January for training, where it was in the 60s, the same as back here, so he got no bragging rights for being in southern California in the winter. He got a tie to wear and a scarf for his wife but then they were all invited to give $135 to the Foundation and with more than 1,000 people there, they quickly got $45,000, with selling hats, gloves and scarves. He also went to Baton Rouge for training as district governor, and a week in Cincinnati.

Mark said that in July he learned a lesson from a rebound student, a student who had gone to Japan as a Rotary exchange student. He said he learned most by saying yes to whatever was offered, including eating fermented soybeans and raw horsemeat, the latter that he liked. He said it taught him a lesson and he had the best exchange ever. He talked about a polio survivor who has seen symptoms come back years later and a zone director who was made a tribal elder. He talked a group that placed a well in an Africa village and of a villager saying that "because of you the babies aren't dying." Our club should be proud for proving pumps to provide clean and safe drinking water in Africa.

He said he learned a lot from 4-Way Test speakers. One spoke about a lady deaf who could not define the concept of normal and of a young man who spoke about why he should be able to date our daughters. RYLA is now inviting Rotarians to visit the program, where instant friendships are born among youth and the Youth Exchanges 4 D's, including a 5th...no dumb stuff.

Mark said at Otterbein there were 70 outbound students with unbelievable talent. "By saying Yes to these things my life has been so much better," he said.

Mark said Rotary is attempting to get younger members to keep the clubs viable and in do so is also trying to have more family-friendly events so the whole family can be involved, as young people often have children and don't want to be away from family that much. Children often come to meetings and help out in service programs. We are lucky to have such help at our Pancake Breakfast...Sofie and Pat Beckels two boys, etc.

To stay viable in our district, clubs need to add at least three members each years and not lose any. "We need a net increase of 3 members," he said. There are 35,000 member in a zone and Rotary has lost two zones. Saying yes has gotten him where he is in life, he said. It helps you try new things and look at issues with new eyes. He said Rotarians also need to show people how the club can benefit them, and not just how our Service Above Self...in helping others...is one-sided. What we give, we get back in kind if not in matter. Say Yes....he says.

Before the end of the meeting we all sang Don Gerhardt's original Pancake Breakfast song:

The meeting was closed with the reciting of the Rotary Four-Way Test.