Thanks to guest editor, Boyd Preston, for this week's meeting notes!
Our Rotary theme for this month is Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention
President Arnie Biondo welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and lead the reciting of the Pledge. PP Brian Hayes provided the prayer. Lee, Jeff, and Brad lead the club in singing “God Bless America”.
President Biondo had several announcements:
The thought of the day is from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Guests include:
Cody Terrell–friend of Adam M. Cody’s membership application has been submitted.
Cody introduced his guest, his cousin’s wife, Christine Hutton.
Jill Waters, a visiting Rotarian from the Oakwood club.
Arnie welcomed back our long-time member, Don Gerhardt who has not been able to make a meeting in person for some time. Club joined in with a strong round of applause.
Our greeters today were Uriah Anderson and Ashlee Walton
New member induction: Ron Bowerstock. His sponsor is Harvey Smith and mentor is Sivaji Subramaniam.
Ron grew up in this area and graduated from Fairmont High School. He worked for a subsidiary of NCR before joining the Navy where he served on submarines. Following his enlistment, he was a fireman for the Dayton Fire Department for 30 years. He lives in Bethany Village and has 6 children, 10 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
Directors/ Others report to the club:
Brad Huffman- Golf outing will be on May 5th. Looking for more members for the organizing committee which is starting up now. Let him know if you are interested in joining. Jim Stuart requested any leads you might have for potential sponsors.
Crissy Allums- Community projects- she was at Hannah’s Treasure Chest today and they reiterated how happy they are with the winter coats we provided through our Operation Warm donations.
Kisha Taylor- 4 Way Speech contest- Centerville High School has not had anyone sign up yet but she remains hopeful. Alter High School unfortunately, is not able to participate this year.
GREETER SCHEDULE
Please arrange for a sub if you are unable to greet on your assigned day or contact Crissy Allums.
February 9 = Vas Appalaneni and David Trout
February 16= Mark Balsan and Wyatt Thorp
February 23= Pat Beckel and Brad Thorp
Happy Bucks for this quarter go to support Florida Hurricane Relief. Our Sergeant of Arms this week was Kelly McDonald with help from Brian Hayes. Happy Bucks were given for:
Kelly McDonald - happy for many Rotarian friends and he and his wife recently volunteered at The Threads of Miami Valley, a charity he learned about when they presented to the club last November.
Brad Huffman - for Don and Kisha joining us today.
Sofie Ameloot - happy today’s golf sponsorship meeting went well. Her work in this area last year had additional benefit of finding a potential member who has now turned in an application.
Kisha Taylor - glad to be back, has been very busy
Bob Sachs- happy days are getting longer
Lee Hieronymus - great to see Don again and the Miamisburg club just approved their by-laws again.
Dale Berry - for new member and Ron and he went to the same elementary and high school.
Ron Bowerstock- happy to be a new member and for his 81st birthday, which was yesterday.
Elda Gotos-Gay - happy to be here
Crissy Allums - for our new member and Kisha being back
Don Overly - having Don back. He has been an important and long-time contributor to the club
Rand Oliver - for Don and being back from a great vacation in Hawaii with his wife
Brad Thorp - for Don being here
Harvey Smith - for Don and our new member, Ron
Jim Harris - for Don and our new member and the very strong member turnout again today
Mike Wier - for Don
Sivaji Subramaniam - welcome back Don and for all our new members
Gerry Eastabrooks - for Don
Bill Menker - last weekend, had a great service day in Columbus area with other members of the club preparing water pumps for Design Outreach for installation in areas of need around the world.
Jill Waters (visitor)- happy to be here
Adam Manning - for Don and great attendance today
Ron Hollenbeck - for Don, Kisha and he just made his 150th donation at the Community Blood Bank.
Ginger Clark .- has earned her Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP) certification. She is also the new Region 3 chairperson to the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association.
Chuck King - for Don and the last 747 plane was delivered by Boeing yesterday which is an end of an era. Over the past 50+ years, almost 1700 of these planes were put in service.
Jeff Senney - for Don being in attendance. Don brought him into the club
Our speaker this week was our own Ron Hollenbeck who was sharing an overview of the Heart to Heart (H2H) international program aiming to help those in need in Mexico.
H2H is a collaborative partnership between Rotary districts and clubs in the US and Mexico
Includes individuals, businesses/ corporations, and non-profits
in both Mexico and the US, and the Rotary Foundation
Objective is to provide humanitarian services to those in need in Mexico
Started in fall of 2004 when District Governors in zones 30 & 31 agreed to support a water well project in a rural town in Mexico Rotary District 4170 area
Mexico City and adjacent rural areas
Our own District 6670 participation in this important program:
H2H project fair is conducted during 1st quarter of the year.
Information is provided to Rotary Districts for their review and participation
District has annually pledged $15,000 in District Designated Funds (DDF) to H2H
District has previously funded five (5) Global Grants totaling $48,000 in DDF
This includes $10,000 in DDF towards the John Germ Cancer Center in Guadalajara, Mexico
During the 2022-2023 Rotary year, District 6670 has made pledges of $15,000 to two H2H initiatives
$10,000 for dry toilets for the indigenous community of Las Guayalas
$5,000 towards a draft GG that is targeted to provide a “Clean-In-Place” system for food processing
100 in 100 Program:
In 2021, the Ciudad de Mexico Rotary club celebrated its 100th year of Rotary service.
Club was sponsored by the Rotary club of Dallas, Texas
Initiative to engage at least 100 different US Rotary clubs to do service projects in Mexico
There is a list of opportunities for US clubs, depending upon their interests and funding options
Service projects range in size from ~$500 to ~$10,000
“Volcanes Community Education Project”- Ron is helping to spearhead this effort
Championing a school renovation project in Puerto Vallarta
Need for air conditioning maintenance/repair
Estimated cost is $4,300
Total project is for $10,800 and includes school supplies and building maintenance/repair
85% of students are girls. Fits in with Rotary’s “empowerment of girls” focus area
Harvey added that the District and our club had previously supported an initiative in Mexico for buying school uniforms for children whose families could not afford them.
How we can help:
Our Centerville club has already pledged $1,000 to support this initiative
Checks can be sent to:
Rotary Club of Santa Barbara
Sunrise Charitable Foundation
ATTN: Frank Tabar
P.O. Box 50355
Santa Barbara, CA 93150-0355
If a 501(c)(3) tax receipt is needed, minimum donation is $500
Please attach a note to your pledge indicating that it is in support of “Volcanes Community Education Project for air conditioning maintenance/ repair”
Please let Ron know of any pledge or wish to discuss further
Hollenbeck407@msn.com or 484-678-4460(c)
President Biondo led the group in reciting the 4 Way Test and wished everyone a good week.
Our speaker next week is Amy Koop with Crayons to Classrooms.
GREETER SCHEDULE
Please arrange for a sub if you are unable to greet on your assigned day or contact Crissy Allums.
February 09 = Vas Appalaneni and Dave Trout
February 16 = Mark Balsan and Wyatt Thorp
February 23 = Pat Beckel and Brad Thorp
CLUB NEWS
Dear Bill,
On behalf of the entire Design Outreach team, thank you for spending part of your Saturday with us and giving of yourself to prepare LifePump drive rods for transport to Africa later this year. The conversations, laughter, and collaboration were all wonderful. Plus, we estimate that thanks to your service day and others, we save anywhere from $800 to $1,500 per pump built!
The drive rods you handled will make their way to Malawi and Zambia, where they will be a key component of new LifePumps. We are on our way to achieving our bold goal of installing another 750 LifePumps in the next three years. Your contribution to this next shipment of pumps has been integral. Most importantly, communities with LifePumps will be transformed physically, economically, and spiritually via safe, reliable water and the Living Water.
We are grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside you with hearts filled with love, mercy, grace, and devotion.
Blessings,
Rhonda, Rich, Quin, and Jason
P.S. Seeing families and folks of all ages participate Saturday was inspiring. My 13-year-old son will be joining me at our next service day. Please find below a link to sign up for that event on February 18. Even if you cannot make it, feel free to send on to others who might be able to attend.Including kids 12 and up. Thank you!