President Arnie Biondo welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and lead the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. PDG Harvey Smith provided the prayer.
The club then sang Happy Birthday to Brian Hayes who was in attendance, and Vas Appalaneni, who was absent!
The quote for today was: "The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail." Nelson Mandela
This week’s announcements:
- President Biondo gave thanks to today’s greeters - Ron Hollenbeck and Dave Trout. Next week’s greeters are Mark Balsan and Wyatt Thorp.
- Next week our meeting will be in the Academy Room
- Dale Berry announced Mike Thonnerieux has been hired as the new Township Administrator to succeed Jesse Lightle, who took a job at Sinclair. Mike is a CHS grad, has lots of experience in local government, including leading Recreation and then Public Works for the City of Beavercreek. He officially starts February 27.
- On a sad note, our former exchange student, Yok’s mother passed away recently. Her father had passed away prior and she has no siblings. See Arnie for her email address if you’d like to send her a note.
PDG Harvey Smith then inducted our newest Rotarian, Gina Smith. Carol Kennard is her sponsor and Ger Eastabrooks is her mentor. Gina became aware of Rotary when meeting with Carol about a new job as Administrator for the Centerville-Washington Foundation. Gina's mother had polio, so she wanted to be involved in Rotary’s initiative to help eradicate polio worldwide. Gina is an author, her husband owns Star City Paint, and they have two children. Welcome Gina!
More Announcements:
- Sofie Ameloot reported for the Golf Committee that Bob Sachs has secured our first sponsorship! He convinced his good friend who agreed so he could play golf with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, support a charity, and have his company Bront Machine acknowledged! Great work, Bob!
- Crissy Allums amounted she is working on organizing several community service projects including cleaning milkweed seeds for the Park District to prepare for planting in the spring and to help out at Artemis. Stay tuned and watch for more info from Crissy!
- Sofie Ameloot announced the next social will be on Tuesday, February 28, 5:30-7 pm at Rumbleseat Wine, 101 E Alex Bell Rd. Sandwiches, chips, and cookies will be provided. RSVP to Kelly McDonald by Feb 23. kellymmcdonald@outlook.com
- Ginger Clark also has service project - let her know if you’re interested in helping. The Heart of Centerville will host the annual Merchant Mart on May 21 at Stubbs Park. Could use volunteer help or if Rotary wants to have a booth, $200 will buy a membership to Heart of Centerville, then we can display at all monthly events.
- The next Rotary Board meeting will be held on February 20 at the Kennard Nature Nook, starting at 5:30 pm.
Happy Bucks for this quarter go to support Florida Hurricane Relief. Pat Beckel, our illustrious Sergeant of Arms, presided. Happy Bucks were given for:
- Pat Beckel’s wife got back from China after 4 months away.
- Ger Eastabrooks welcomed Gina and announced she is going to be a great aunt!
- Carol Kennard welcomed Gina and reminded all to make sure you teach your children how you pay your bills and where all of your important documents and passwords are located!
- Jeff Senney for his daughter expecting her 5th child at the end of the month, and his son’s wife is also expecting around the same time.
- Sofie Ameloot gave thanks to Bob for the golf sponsorship, to welcome Gina, and she’s taking a quick trip to Belgium in March
- Rand Oliver was just happy
- Jackie D’Aurora welcomed Gina and was happy we’re not seeing snow in February
- Ron Hollenbeck has been presenting to other Rotary clubs about the Heart to Heart program
- Elda Gotos-Gay gave thanks for the sponsorship and welcomed Gina
- Ginger Clark received a scholarship science award for writing an essay on sustainable practices. Congrats Ginger!
- Jim Harris celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary, said everyone wants to hear all of the stories, but there are some he’ll never share!
- Erich Eggers was in Las Vegas for the Kitchen and Bath Show. Found a $22,000 toilet - is self cleaning for the toilet and user. And also saw a $27,000 bathtub. Let him know if you’re interested! He was happy to have his guest Bob Dorwart here again. He then turned over his $30 winnings.
- Bob Dorwart said Erich is remodeling his house and he’s a little nervous now after hearing about those bathroom fixtures.
- Ron Bowersocks was happy to not complain about anything
- Dale Berry for Gina, noting he was at her wedding!
- Mark Febus for his company receiving a regional award as the 2023 best home care provider! Congrats Mark!
- Harvey Smith gave a warm welcome to his good cousin Gina (wink, wink)
- Brain Hayes for his birthday
- Uriah Anderson was just happy
- Arnie Biondo for new members and veteran members inviting new people to join the club
- Adam Manning was just happy
Our speaker today was Amy Copp with Crayons to Classrooms.
Amy Copp joined Crayons to Classrooms in 2020 and prior to that came from Dayton Children’s. She received a degree from WSU in Marketing. She and her husband, Matt have 2 children.
Amy shared, “I love school supplies!” It is a luxury for students and they don’t want them to ever go without. Students can feel embarrassed or ashamed if they don’t have the proper school supplies. Teachers spend $500-$1,000 per year of their own money to make sure all students have what they need. Crayons to Classrooms is trying to eliminate out of pocket expenditures by teachers or give them the opportunity to purchase other things they can use in the classroom.
They have a new logo, but are doing the same work. The logo explained: Top represents their partners, the bottom represents the educators, and the pencil yellow dot in the middle represents the students.
Crayons to Classrooms started by serving 8 schools in 2009, and now serve 122 schools Dayton, Trotwood, Miamisburg, and other area districts.
They serve schools in Montgomery, Warren, Clark, and other counties in our area. In the 2022-23 school year, they will serve over 3000 eligible teachers and 40,000 students.
Teachers come into their store and can take around $800 worth of supplies during a single shop for FREE. Teachers can shop two times per year. They also provide other supplies such as socks, cleaning supplies, etc.
They distributed $2.8 million in school supplies last year!
When students are prepared, they spend more time learning and feel better about themselves.
How they get supplies:
- Kids in Need Foundation (one of 40 centers they work with)
- Target/Kroger - items they no longer need/sell
- Supply Drives by community organizations such as the Summer Stuff the Bus drives in August
Volunteer opportunities:
- Store workers
- Classroom solutions - die cuts for classroom use; ask teachers what they need and try to provide it
- Emotion sliders pipe cleaner with a bead - move to how they’re feeling
- They find a use for everything including scraps
Volunteer to shop - when you volunteer, you can gift to a teacher (including those from schools that don’t qualify.)
Eligible schools provide list of teachers, and although they serve pre-K through 12th grade, it is mostly primary classroom teachers. Schools that have at least 60% students participating in the free/reduced lunch program are eligible for Crayons to Classrooms.
President Biondo thanked Amy for sharing information about the great program.
Next week’s speaker is Jane Keiffer from the Artemis Center.
President Biondo led the group in reciting the 4 Way Test and wished everyone a good week.
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