President Adam Manning welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. Bishop Brian Hayes provided the prayer.
Today’s inspirational quote was provided by Don Overly: “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude”. Denis Waitley (motivational speaker).
Thank you to our greeters today: Rev. Harvey Smith and Vince Carone shown below greeting long time member, Rev. Sivaji Subramaniam.
In addition to our speakers, Britt & Mollie Thorp from Reclaim Ceramics, guests included:
- Gary Hayes, a guest of Sivaji’s and a potential member. Gary is the General Manager of Bob Ross Auto Group.
- Kristy Spivey joined us again and is a guest of Pat B. Kristy has turned in her membership application.
- Sherre Wright, a previous member who has been attending the Rotary Women Connect club meetings and helped at the Golf Outing last week.
President Manning had a few announcements:
- Last Friday’s Golf Outing was a rousing success! 90 golfers participated this year and over $24K was raised through sponsorships only. Thank you to all who contributed, especially Frank and the other hard-working members of the golf committee. A special shout out to the staff at Yankee Trace for the excellent service we received.
- Thanks to Pat B. for joining Adam to appear today on Good Day Dayton. Was a great opportunity to highlight the fundraisers this year and the projects our funds support.
- The next Board meeting is this coming Monday at 5:30 PM in the Joyce Young Center at the Rec Plex. All are welcome and for any new members, this is a good way to help lose the red ribbon.
- At the June 18th club meeting here at Yankee Trace, we will be recognizing our scholarship winners for 2026. We have 10 participants this year, so please try to join us to support these students.
- Uriah reminded the club that tickets are still available to the Dayton Dragon’s game on May 28th. They are free and include a $5 credit for the concession stands. Spouses & guests are invited.
Happy Bucks this quarter will go to Operation Warm.
Pat Beckel was the Sergeant at Arms with assistance from Brian Hayes.
- Pat B.- for the golf outing being a great event and for the good job Adam did today on Good Day Dayton promoting the club. He also shared that the Summer of Freedom Event helping disabled vets and those suffering from PTSD will be on June 25th at Stone Valley Meadows in Franklin.
- Don O.- for Frank and the golf outing committee’s hard work.
- Harvey S. - great day and for all the great work by the club.
- Elda G-G.- golf outing.
- Lee H.- Very good golf outing and gave a modified farm report. Leveraging his 40+ years of firefighting experience, Lee shared that a 14-year-old shorthorn cow was rescued by the local, volunteer fire department in Reily Township, Ohio after being stuck in muck of a local pond. She had almost her entire body trapped by the time help arrived.
- Raj G.- great golf day and welcome to our speakers.
- Sivaji S.- special guest, Gary and other guests.
- Boyd P.- golf outing and our guests.
- Dale B.- all components of the golf outing that were all excellent.
- Ron H.- for Sheri being here and our 2 potential members. Also, for the coffee club’s service project on constructing gardens at the VA Center.
- Chuck K.- for all the workers at the golf outing and today’s guests.
- Jim H.- for the golf committee and all who helped and our guests.
- Mark K.- for the successful golf outing and the great weather we had. Looking forward to the Preakness this weekend.
- Jeff S.- happy to be here.
- Dan S.- great golf event and was happy they were able to find Harvey’s hat that blew off his head on the way to his assignment on hole #7.
- Gina S.- happy to see our guests and potential new members. She went to the Neon Theatre downtown last night to see a film on homelessness. It was a fundraiser for Daybreak Dayton, Miami Valley’s only youth homeless shelter. Gina also shared she has been selected as the keynote speaker for the Dayton Metro Library’s Writers and Author’s Symposium on September 26th.
- Adam M. – the golf event and our guests.
- Brian H.- for our great club.
Today’s speakers were Britt and Mollie Thorp from Reclaim Ceramics, a new Centerville business located at 30 N. Main St. who were introduced by Pat Beckel. Britt is the son of club member, Brad Thorp.
They are both well trained and experienced in their field. Mollie taught art for 13 years in public school and Britt taught art in private schools. Their joy is getting others excited about ceramics and fostering their creativity. As a result, they can meet students’ needs at all skill levels, from beginner to those already working with this medium.
Britt always wanted to return to Centerville and Mollie is very happy with the change of pace. While looking for a location for their dream, they saw the potential in the uptown Centerville building built in 1812 that last hosted the barber shop and is across from Town Hall Theatre.
They acquired it in January and spent the next 4 months on renovations and improvements, much of which they did themselves, to turn it into a functioning ceramics studio. They had an open house for the community on April 25th and are now fully up and running.
They offer classes, a gallery and special events. Classes can be 1 time or 6 weeks of more intense instruction and experiences. All tailored to an individual’s wants and expectations. Classes center on wheel throwing (working with the pottery wheel) and hand building your own creations. Events consist both of special classes hosted by Mollie and Britt and private events. A 1-time class costs $60 and includes instructions, clay, drying and the glaze. You get to keep your product.
The name Reclaim Ceramics refers to the fact that unused/ rejected clay is processed and recycled into more clay-based projects.
Mollie and Britt selected “The Hidden Life of Trees” as the book we will donate to the library in their honor.
President Elect Manning led the group in reciting the 4 Way Test and wished everyone a good week.
