Inside the room, our guest speaker, Gerald Parker, is seen setting up the materials needed for his presentation. Our Vice President Chuck King, on the left, helps out.
Carol Kennard and Boyd Preston have lots to discuss, as Judy continues greeting those coming in.
Our guest Isa Quinones is greeted as she enters with her mom Rebecca, who is seen talking with Centerville High School Principal Jack Durnbaugh.
The light above them shed a bit much into the picture, and the sun was shining brightly outside, but hopefully you get the enthusiasm these two bring along.
Jenn Gibbs enters the scene and we see Isa a bit better in this picture.
And here's Jack Durnbaugh with our past-president Ron Hollenbeck talking to Frank Scott.
And one of the best greeters ever...zooming in with a big hug, is Lee Hieronymus.
And former past president Brad Thorp enters, allowing us to sing GBA better than ever each week.
Ron Hollenbeck and Peachy seem to be pondering something big....hmmm.
Mark Gerken lets Judy know he is a new member and that this is their first introduction to one another. Good going, Mark.
The two take a minute or two to chat.
And again the light doesn't do these two men the honor they deserve. Our guests are from the Dayton Rotary and include John Lyman (L) and Greg Birkemeyer, who has been nominated to become our District Governor for 2020-2021. He has served as assistant district governor three times and is now a district trainer.
Ram Nunna chats with Greg.
Sally Beals also graces the lights as Judy greets her.
And here comes Bob Fry, back from 80 degree, sunny Florida, and letting us know about it on this day in the 30s, with snow...His wife stayed behind to soak up the sun for him for a while.
A look inside at the bouncing lights and the good people of the Centerville Rotary Club.
More of the same
And a bit more of the jolly crowd.
And then some...and look at all that sun....too bad it wasn't as warm as it looks.
And our guest knows that a tie can get in the way...at times.
And here is our ever-clapping Ann Blackburn trying to run out of the picture again.
The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace at noon. Club President Peachy Metzner led the Pledge of Allegiance; PDG Harvey Smith gave the prayer. thanking for our opportunity to serve others; Brad Thorp led God Bless America, sung by club members.
The guests at this week's meeting included:
Montgomery County Juvenile Court Magistrate Gerald Parker: Dayton Rotarians Frank Scott, John Lyman, and Greg Birkemeyer; and Bowling Green University students Isa Quinones, and Matthew Biondo; and Dottie Overly, wife of Don Overly.
Matthew Biondo was already seated when I discovered he had arrived with his dad, member Arnie Biondo. He and Isa, daughter of Rebecca Quinones, our Rotarian of the Year, know one another, as both go to Bowling Green. Matthew is a senior and spent 2013-14 in Bavaria, Germany, as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. He lived in a town near Munich called Kaufbueren. He is on Spring break.
Isa's mom gave an extra $5 during the Happy Bucks for five resumes she wanted to hand out for her daughter, who would like a summer internship. Jenn Gibbs took one, being in need of extra help at SICSA this summer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Our president Peachy Metzner is seen below. Among his announcements was that the Rotary Four-Way Test Speech contestants will be at Rotary next week.
Brian Hayes said they expect about 10 students from Centerville and Alter high schools to participate.
The club members judging the student participation will be Rebecca Quinones, Harvey Smith, Jeff Senny, Mike Wier, and Lee Hieronymus.
Peachy noted that the memorial service for Bev Callander, John Callander's wife, who died of cancer, will be held Saturday, March 10, at 10 a.m. in the chapel at David Cemetery, in Kettering.
President-Elect Boyd Preston spoke about the upcoming all club work days in March. About 25 people out of the 70 members have signed up so far, he said, so more need to step up and pick one of the fun places to serve. St. Leonard, a new addition to the group, is already filled, with Rotarians ready to help paint there.
Boyd also thanked those who brought children's books for him to take to the upcoming President-Elect meeting. He said Project Read donated four boxes of books, and he got others from members of the club. Now he has to find room for his suitcase in his car.
The Foodbank of Dayton, also new to the group projects, was also filling up.
On Friday, March 16, those working at the House of Bread from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., will help prepare and serve a hot, nutritious lunchtime meal to about 230 people. They'll help with the clean-up afterwards and be provided a meal at 1 p.m. with the other volunteers.
Saturday's schedule includes a project at Grant Park, the Foodbank of Dayton project, which will have volunteers either packaging up boxes of juices and canned goods for individual clients, then preparing and sealing them for distribution; or, assembling individual kits of juices and pre-packaged meals for children's backpacks for distribution to schools in a three-county area.
Also you can volunteer at Hannah's Treasure Chest, where volunteers will unpack and then wrap donated diapers in 25 count packages for distribution to clients, help prepare spring appeals letter for mailing; replace exterior floodlight bulbs, etc.
Project Read includes unpacking, sorting and re-packaging into smaller boxes donated books for local schools, reading programs and Habitat new homeowners.
At St. Leonard Senior Community volunteers will be painting one of the dining rooms.
On Tuesday, March 20, volunteers at BOGG Mobile Meals (5:30-8:30 p.m.) will help with set-up and tear down. You might help distribute food, work the grill, handle check in, help with games with the kids, or interact with clients one-to-one.
Sofie Ameloot said she still needs money and/or full-size bottles of shampoo for the District Conference. Our club's contribution is 325 bottles, so each member should bring 5 bottles or money for the purchase of same in the next few weeks. She said she has 80 bottles and $172 to spend thus far.
At a previous meeting Boyd Preston 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 Nepal. (Originally he said Mongolia.)
Boyd's message to all via e-mail earlier, 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 said they need to make a decision about a proposal for a global grant for an International Scholarship. It would be for a Kim Forester (sp?). She wants to pursue post graduate studies in London, England. It's been nine years since she graduated from Centerville and Hans Berkel, a member of our club, was then alive.
He also reminded people to get any new ideas for projects to members of the grant-writing committee just formed in the club.
Anyone with ideas for projects that would need grants to help complete, should let Boyd Preston, Chuck King, Joyce Young, or Frank Perez know.
The Rotary Leadership training is coming up for parts one and three on April 14. It will be held at the Greene County Career Center. The club will pay for a member's training. Peachy said Boyd, Chuck King, Brian Hayes, and Frank Perez will be attending.
The District Conference April 27/28 will be held in Springfield and the shampoo donations are for the hygiene kits, some of which will be brought back to the club for distribution to charity.
The conference will be held at the Hollenbeck Baylay Center. 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. 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 he thought Hannah's Treasure Chest might be an apt choice for our club, and/or Artemis.
Peachy said you can register on-line via e-mail. The event will be a fun-casual event with food trucks and tours of the Heritage Museum, etc. and a kids camp on Saturday.
Peachy said a new Rotary Interact Club has been formed in Monroe and plans to hold their first fund-raiser, a "Spring"hetti Dinner, Hosted by Interact Club of Monroe March 20, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Monroe Elementary Cafeteria, 220 Yankee Road. Adults: $10; Children 12 and under: $4.
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 not long ago and now have three, we've been told.
Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers and Mark Balksan, our club secretary, collected this week's Happy Bucks.
Here's Erich
And here is Mark Balsan, our club secretary, standing in for Gerry Eastabrooks, our club treasurer, this week.
Erich gave his Happy Bucks for being invited to participate in Centerville High School's Career Fair, an opportunity for juniors and seniors to learn about various careers, including the trades and investments, etc.
Peachy gave for Brigid's Path and Boyd gave a grateful $5 for the children's books donated by members and Project Read, and for Greg Birkemeyer coming to our meeting and preparing for the 2020-2021 District Governor role.
Harvey Smith gave for Brigid's Path, and Chuck King gave for our guest speaker taking time from his work to speak before our club members this day.
Arnie Biondo gave for Greg Birkemeyer becoming our District Governor in the not too distant future. He said his son Matthew is looking for a summer internship, possibly in the beverage industry.
Ram Nunna gave for Brigid's Path and Dan Johnson gave for the UD Flyers, who ended up losing their next game and are now out of tournament play.
Ron Hollenbeck said he's hoping other clubs will work with our club to get more water pumps to supply clean water to those in need. He also noted that his wife's beloved dog has found a place on her calendar marking its first birthday. And when he looked farther, he did not find his birthday on the calendar. Remember, that was the same dog that chewed into the paint tubes and got yellow paint all over their carpeting.
Our Dayton Rotarian Frank Scott gave for two potential global grants and another for having met his wife at BG.."Go Falcons!" he shouted.
It was also noted that there would be 70 committee people in the room for help when Greg becomes the District Governor, and it was noted that Brigid's Path received a grant from the Kettering Rotary Club.
Brad said something about Ram's Birthday and Carol Kennard gave for Brigid's Path. Mark Febus gave for his sister having a baby boy.
Jim Briggs and Kitty and Irene Ullmer each gave for Brigid's Path.
]eff Senney gave for getting to see his grandbabies again this week.
Mark Gerken gave and Don Overly gave for a UD update, and Bob Fry said he was so happy to be out of the 80 degree weather and into snow...and everyone gave a big...OOOOOOOOOHhhh, knowing he was just gloating over his sunny days in Florida.
Dick Hoback and Jim Harris gave for Brigid's Path, and Jim mentioned Wright State basketball's big win.
John Callander gave $5, thanking everyone who sent a card regarding his wife's death. He said he never saw so many cards.
Mike Wier gave noting that the Ohio Valley Brass Band's next play date will be Monday night with Wright State's trumpet ensemble. There will be 17 of the college age trumpet players and 42 of them, he said.
Ann Blackburn gave for letting us know she found her club badge,...finally...
Sofie Ameloot gave for Brigid's Path, and Rebecca Quinones gave for having fun and $5 for the five resumes she had for her daughter Isa.
Katie Neufert gave for looking for interns for SICSA this summer.
Brian Hayes gave two Happy Fives...for 18 years at his job, two years here, ands 27 years married to the same woman.
THIS WEEK'S SPEAKER: Gerald Parker, Montgomery County Juvenile Court Magistrate, speaking about an after-school CrossFit program he created for at-risk youth, where court-involved juveniles are brought to Centerville CrossFit for intense workouts, learning life skills while building self-esteem, discipline and character.
Below you see Gerald Parker, our speaker, with Chuck King, the club's vice president.
And here you see our club president Peachy with Gerald.
Our Vice President Chuck King introduced our speaker.
He said Gerald grew up in Cincinnati and is a graduate of Georgetown College, where he excelled in both academics and athletics, serving as captain of a national championship football team.
He attended law school at Northern Kentucky University's Chase College of Law and after law school became Montgomery County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, trying numerous criminal cases.
Chuck said that during Gerald's time as prosecutor he volunteered as a mentor, bringing local youths interested in law to observe court sessions.
After being a prosecutor, he joined the law firm of Dyer, Garofalo, Mann & Schulz.
Chuck said Gerald frequently volunteered his time speaking with ex-felons, assisting them in receiving their Certificate of Qualifications for Employment to improve their employability in the work force.
He created an after-school CrossFit program for at-risk youth, as noted above. His wife Janna is a Miami County Prosecuting Attorney and they have two beautiful daughters, Zoe and Maya.
Gerald said he is familiar with Yankee Trace because he was married here five years ago in June of 2012.
Gerald said that as a judge, one sees all cases, from traffic tickets to delinquency matters and felonies, up to murder and rapes. He said he has a passion to serve Beyond the Bench.
He got the idea as a magistrate, to take a half dozen kids on probation and start training them once a week. He showed a video done by James Brown of NewsCenter 7 about him and the program he started.
A young man prosecuted for aggravated robbery told the judge, if you are prosecuting me for aggravated robbery, make sure my little brother doesn't go through the same situation.
Adults need to invest in young people, as the Opioid epidemic is not going away, he said, and often it turns into drug violence.
Gerald said he found that young people in trouble often need to be outside their environment. He worked with Building Bridges, a non-profit, and does gym work with CrossFit. He calls part of his program: Embracing the Suck...they need to break down to build up. By working out and working with others to learn technical lifts, they can learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable, he said.
He told of a young boy who hadn't eaten all day. Since Spring Break was on, and he had gotten his food at school, he hadn't eaten since the previous Tuesday, and it was Thursday.
There has to be a community within a community to make things work, Gerald said. He has the kids learn about eating healthy at Whole Foods, and Subways and Chipolte. If the kids aren't staying in school and doing their work there, they can't keep coming to the workouts, he said, so they have consequences for what they are doing.
He talks about Burpees for Building Bridges. Southbrook Christian Church is where he attends church. He took the kids to see the Black Panther movie, and by using CrossFit, and letting them see him also doing the workouts, helps them learn a different environment and to see that they can have self esteem and improve their lives in different ways.
The kids learn they have to work hard for change.
Some reactions to the CrossFit fitness program from Gerald's Facebook page:
J Alvarado Joshua Easton here is what I was talking about. How CrossFit/ Fitness programs help train the body and therefore the mind, to be disciplined and learn new healthy habits. Motivates people to make better choices. Also to experience working out as a better way to work out feelings of anger or depression, instead of turning to alcohol and drugs.
Larry D Dixon That's a great way to show kids another way to Live this Life. Having them to focus on more than their circumstance and beating the odds! All i can say is keep 'em sweating/learning judge...
Chaca Tzintzun Adam Huff I'm going to try and get something like this going at our facility. Any help would be appreciated brother.
...........
The meeting was closed with the reciting of the Rotary Four-Way Test.
