And in walks Ann Blackburn, our new member-capturing and captivating member, who knows her banking. The hat holder is Jim Briggs. It was a day in the 20s with about 4.5 inches of snow on the ground and the day after the snowfall that caused most of the schools around to close Wednesday because it was still snowing in the morning and the highways were treacherous.
Our returning guest Joe Thumser seems to enjoy our club. And Chuck King, his friend, hopes he joins soon. Let's hope so too. Joe is semi-retired and is a professor for Defense Acquisition University in Kettering, a Department of Defense school.
Joe comes in and takes a seat at a table with Jim Harris, Dottie Overly, and Irene Ullmer. The latter two are honorary members of the club, family. Brian Bergmann stands in the background.
PDG Harvey Smith comes in and talks with Don and Dottie Overly, probably about the UD win. Later Harvey will bring us the bad news that our member Jack Workman is now on life support, having had heart problems.
Our president Peachy Metzner sits at a table with one of our guests from the Brunner
Literacy Center. Jessica Hunter is the Grants and Donor Relations Manager for the center. She came with our guest speaker Celine O'Neill, executive director of the center.
Kim (R) and Georgia Mergler (L) are ready to greet member Carol Kennard and Joyce Young (seated).
Gerry Eastabrooks, our treasurer, knows her way around the books, being in banking herself. She helps collect the Happy Bucks.
And these three guys...enough said. Erich (L), of course, is Sgt.-at-Arms and helps collect the Happy Bucks.
Frank Perez, standing, always adds energy to the table.
Harvey and Jim....they always have a good word for everyone.
And in neighborly fashion, Brad Huffman invites his neighbor to be a guest. On the right is Todd Lucius, financial advisor for Ameriprise. He's branch manager. Brad is holding one of the free pens and Todd holds what looks like it could be money, only it's his ID badge.
Raj Grandhi in the yellow shirt is ready to listen to our president make announcements.
The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace at noon. Club President Peachy Metzner led the Pledge of Allegiance; Harvey Smith gave the prayer, asking that we keep Jack Workman (at Southview) in our prayers, as he is now on life support; and Brad Thorp led God Bless America, sung by club members.
GUESTS at this week's meeting included:
Our speaker, Celine O'Neill, and Jessica Hunter, of the Brunner Literacy Center in Dayton; Joe Thumser, guest of Chuck King; Todd Lucius, guest of Brad Huffman; and Georgia Mergler, guest of Kim Senft-Paras.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President Peachy Metzner conducted the meeting.
He thanked Kim and Georgia for helping greet our members and guests.
He then invited Boyd Preston to the front to make an announcement.
Boyd said he got an e-mail from the district governor, stating that at the upcoming president-elect meeting, which Boyd will be attending, they will be collecting picture books for children to send to a club in Mongolia.
Boyd's message to all via e-mail later, said: I will be attending All-Ohio PETs training in Columbus on March 9-10. The District Governor-Elects will be holding a service project among attendees by collecting children’s picture books that will be shipped to Rotary District 3450 – Mongolia. These books will then be translated from English to Mongolian by local high school students. They will make sticker tapes that are placed in the books with the Mongolian translation. A portion of the books collected will be translated into Braille in the same way. The translated books will then be distributed to school children in rural Mongolia by both Ohio and Mongolian Rotarians. They are looking for any children’s picture books but will gladly accept all books that would be appropriate for school aged children, kindergarten – high school.
Peachy reminded everyone that the next board meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 19, at Park District Headquarters, 221 N. Main Street, across from Benham's Grove from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
He also reminded people to get any new ideas for projects to members of the grant-writing committee just formed in the club.
Ron Hollenbeck passed on this message:
Hi Kitty, here are a couple of pictures showing Centerville Rotary members assembling bookshelves for Project Read this past Wednesday evening. They were very appreciative of our efforts, and were pleasantly surprised at how much we accomplished. It's amazing what a bunch of guys can get done when they are armed with rubber mallets!
Centerville Rotary members who participated were Brian Bergmann, Mark Gerken, Jim Harris, Frank Perez, and Ron Hollenbeck. The pictures are below.
Anyone with ideas for projects that would need grants to help complete, should let Boyd Preston, Chuck King, Joyce Young, or Frank Perez know.
A past note:
The District Conference will be held April 27-28 at the Hollenbeck Baylay Center in Springfield. Instead of last year's basket presentations from each club, they want to do a district project and put together hygiene kits. Each club, if they choose to participate has to choose a certain item to provide. He said Joslyn Smith of the Fairborn Club is the chairperson for assembling the kits. Each club can then choose a charity to distribute the kits to. Peachy said last week that he thought Hannah's Treasure Chest might be an apt choice for our club. Club member Sofie Ameloot also noted that Artemis is in need of soaps, body lotions, shampoos and other toiletries for the women who have been victims of domestic violence. Such items may be brought to the club, if you have any you've collected and have not used at home.
The meeting was then turned over to Erich Eggers, our Sgt.-at-Arms, and Gerry Eastabrooks, our treasurer, to gather Happy Bucks for Brigid's Path.
HAPPY BUCKS: The Happy Bucks go to help Brigid's Path this quarter. The organization works with babies born addicted, and their mothers. They took in their first baby recently.
Chuck King gave for his guest and for Kim and Georgia serving as our unofficial greeters.
Brad Huffman gave for his guest, Todd Lucius, noting he is the father of two, one of which is a newborn.
Raj Grandhi gave for Brigid's Path, as did Peachy, who said he was happy to be here, and Kim gave for Brigid's Path, and Georgia Mergler, her guest, gave for the group helping with the survey that should aid their long-range planning, and Carol Kennard said she was just happy, and Arnie gave, saying they need three families to host the incoming Rotary Youth Exchange students, and now have one-and-a half. Joyce Young gave for Brigid's Path and Ann Blackburn gave for the successful mixer, which had about 25 members in attendance. They plan to have another next month, she said.
Frank Perez gave $5 for the five Rotarians who help shelve books at the Antiques Mall for Project Read, and Don Overly gave for UD, and Lee Hieronymus gave for "everybody standing," and Jim Harris gave for the group who helped at Project Read Wednesday night. And he also said something about his grandkids.
Irene Ullmer gave and Kitty Ullmer gave one for Harvey and his prayer for Jack Workman.
Ron Hollenbeck gave for Jack and for Brigid's Path. M.G. gave for Brigid's Path and Brad gave for being happy and late. And Mike Wier gave for his birthday, a National Holiday, he said, and someone asked how old he is, and he said 52.
Doug Bockrath gave for Brigid's Path and Jack Workman, and for the owner of the dog he was dog sitting, coming to get his dog.
Judy Budi said she was happy to see her Xavier players now being number 5.
Brian Bergmann said he was happy to see 15-18 student volunteers from the Interact Club at Centerville High School working at the House of Bread last Sunday.
Dan Johnson gave to make up for missing some meetings and noted that Brad Huffman's guest Todd once worked at Merrill Lynch.
Rebecca Quinones said her husband Carlos was on the Colonel's list at Wright Patt Air Force Base, one of about 15 moving up from Lt. Colonel...Everyone clapped.
Brad Huffman gave $5 for his guest being there and Adam Manning coming over for the SuperBowl.
Todd Lucius, who admitted he is a Michigan fan, gave $5, noting that now he's more a UD fan.
This Week's SPEAKER: Celine O'Neill, Executive Director of the Brunner Literacy Center.
Celine is seen on the right, and Jessica Hunter, Grants and Donor Relations Manager, is on the left.
Our club Vice President Chuck King said Celine is currently the executive director of the Brunner Literacy Center in Dayton, which provides free, one-on-one tutoring to adult learners who want to improve their reading, writing and math literacy skills. Prior to joining the BLC Celine was the manager of learning and organizational development at the University of Dayton and retired from there in 2015. She has been a member of the Dayton Rotary Club since 2016, and heads the Restored Citizens Committee.
A native of New York City, she has held a number of managerial and executive positions in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in New York and Ohio. She has also been a management consultant and trainer for more than 25 years, Chuck said.
He said Celine received lher MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communication Arts and Sciences from St. John's University.
Her volunteer activities have included efforts on behalf of children, refugees, and other people in crisis. She lives in Kettering with her husband Tom, and is the mother of two adult daughters.
Celine showed a number of explanatory charts about the organization, one of which appears below:
Celine said she became involved with adult literacy two-and-a-half years ago after she left UD. She said it was then that she realized the stigma attached to illiteracy. Lack of literacy is not limited to one class, but it is more prevalent among the poor, she said. It keeps people from many aspects of life, since they can't read prescriptions and instructions for work-related task. They can't open a bank account or read rental or credit agreements, or understand their children's report cards, or follow directions or read street signs or navigate. (An aside...one young man who couldn't read, told how he used to go ahead of time when going on a date, to scout out the route and to go to the restaurant and ask about the menu, etc., so he would seem to be able to read...this from a story done for the Dayton Daily News).
Celine said a man who was a sharecropper never learned to read because he could only go to school when it rained and they weren't in the fields.
She said 36 million in the U.S. read below the third grade level. One in six adults do not finish high school. She said 75 percent of state prisoners did not complete high school.
Forty three percent who lack literacy are in the lowest poverty level.
She said $232 billion in healthcare costs are linked to low literacy.
Goals of the program can be personal and/or professional, she said. For some, English is a second language. The organization has four programs: Adult Basic Education, bringing an adult's reading and math competency levels to 6th grade proficiency.
General Equivalency Diploma (GED): Preparation to secure a GED credential by covering a 7th-12th grade curriculum. The program provides practice testing opportunities and develops higher level writing and reading comprehension skills.
Continuing Education: Individualized study beyond a GED or high school diploma, such as preparing for college entry, licensure, certifications, or qualifications necessary for a particular career.
And: English for Speakers of Other Languages, which could include preparation for U.S. citizenship.
The BLC was established in 2011 by two Sisters of the Precious Blood congregation, founded by Maria Anna Brunner, for whom the center is named.
Celine said the BLC had 150 volunteers and 471 students in 2017. Some 46 earned their GED, ten got jobs and ten became U.S. citizens, among the group.
She said learning to reads is a basic human right that improves the quality of one's life. It also shows that each person is worthy of being treated with privacy and dignity, she said, citing a list of the group's vision and beliefs. "It gives people hope," she said. It also gives them a better sense of their world, she added.
They have three locations: The Bennett Cooper Re-entry Center at 1901 S. Gettysburg Ave.; also at 4825 Salem Ave.; and on Riverview Avenue.
Adults from age 19 to those in their mid 80s have attended, Celine said.
She showed pictures of the center where the adults meet, showing the casualness of the setting, with people sitting around tables rather than in rows as in a classroom.
The organization has a 5K run in the fall and depends on donations and volunteers to tutor. You don't have to have been a teacher to tutor, she said. You can contact the center at 937-567-9600 for information about orientation workshops. You can also visit their website to donate at brunnerliteracy.org/donate.
And some pictures taken at the end of the meeting after we had said the Four-Way Test.
The meeting was closed with the reciting of the Rotary Four-Way Test.
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