Past-President Brian Hayes welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club, lead the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, and provided the prayer.
Quote of the day: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Announcements:
- Brian Hayes gave thanks to today’s greeters Mike Wier and Sofie Ameloot.
- Adam Manning announced a golf/pancake zoom will take place today at 4 pm. Check the email for the link and join the fun of planning our fundraisers.
- Kelly McDonald reminded everyone of the Rotary social gathering at Bock’s Brewery this Friday, 5-7:30 pm.
- Matt Kuhn noted around 25 years ago a program was started called The Children of the Dump in Puerto Vallarta which helped start a school for kids. He realized when talking to Ron Hollenbeck about the program he will be talking about next week, that it is the continuation of that same program.
- Guests welcomed today were Cody Terrell, returning guest of Adam Manning, and Sherry Hayes, guest of Sofie Ameloot. Sofie said they met through tennis and Sherry may be interested in joining the club.
- Erich Eggers noted his guest, Bob Dorwart, had planned to be here again but had a conflict this week.
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 said it was good to see the room full again this week, and is grateful to be part of this club
- Chuck King thanked Erich for the window referral
- Dan Wilson for Brian’s book
- Ron Hollenbeck was happy Elda decided to join the ‘bad boys’ table
- Elda Gotos-Gay was happy to be at that table
- Ger Eastabrooks was happy to be at that table, too
- Matt Kuhn was happy
- Bob Sachs for hurricane relief
- Erich Eggers was happy to be here
- Chris Norman was happy to be back
- Dave Trout was happy
- Kelly McDonald got in 72 holes of golf while in South Carolina but was hesitant to share scores ;-) He was happy to be back
- Jim Harris for today’s guests
- Dan Johnson Who Dey!
- Adam Manning for our speaker, Amanda DeLotelle and guest Cody Terrell
- Carol Kennard for the love of family and love and support of the Rotary family during the recent passing of her father.
- Jackie D’Aurora for her twins’ 28th birthday today
- Sofie Ameloot for Sherry visiting, a full room and 7 badges with red ribbons in the name badge box (new members)!
- Mike Wier announced his first great grandson was born today! Congrats great grandpa!
- Wayne Davis was glad to see Erich back
- Don Stewart noted his wife just left for FL - in the spirit of Boyd Preston, he clarified he’s not glad she’s gone, but glad for her!
- Jeff Senney discovered it takes 5-6 hrs to prepare for each 2-hr tax law class he is teaching at UD. HIs wife, Sharon is happy, as it keeps him off the streets
- Susan Schnell had no laundry money today but was still happy
Pat Beckel noted COVID is stronger now than ever before so be careful.
Our speaker this week was Amanda DeLotelle from Miami Valley Meals.
Amanda DeLotelle worked for the hospitality industry at Victoria Theatre and was named Daytonian of the Week during the pandemic for starting Miami Valley Meals.
Amanda noted restaurants were donating food to pantries but with fewer volunteers during the pandemic, the parties were getting overwhelmed. Citilites shut down and so she helped connect them with the House of Bread to help process food donations. Then St Vincent DePaul asked for help. Her other restaurant friends started helping, too as they were not working during the COVID pandemic.
Initially they cooked out of other kitchens at the House Of Bread, and Life Enrichment Center. Then they were able to rent space on Edwin C Moses Blvd and eventually bought the building.
Amanda said they looked at existing organizations to identify where need is and how to get food to people. They partnered with the Food Bank and made meals out of donated rescued food to then distribute as cooked meals.
Amanda wrote her first grant for $1,200 to secure funding for equipment and has now written many successful grants.
Their motto is:
Serving those who serve the hungry
Another benefit of delivering food - it gets them in the door, where they can then ask how else to help.
All meals are free of charge and their partners pick up from them to deliver out to families in need.
Each food delivery comes in a box truck, usually 10 pallets of food, and they don’t know what they’re getting until it shows up. Chefs figure out what to make from food provided that day.
They also receive some farm waste. And they were fortunate to get a large donation of spices, which allowed them to put more flavor into the prepared dishes.
They prepare 1/2 pan or individual servings, depending on need, and all containers are oven and microwave friendly.
Their partners include 40 nonprofits, Dakota Center, Sinclair pantry, BOGG, Have a Gay Day, and more.
Since 2020, they have distributed over 525,000 free meals into the community through 97 partners in 35 Dayton zip codes.
Recognitions received include:
2022 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics
2021 Not-for-Profit Business of the Year
2021 AFP Greater Dayton Acorn Award
2021 Montgomery County Food Summit Community Partner Award
11,000 turkey meals were distributed at Thanksgiving (they purchased the turkeys).
Amanda said she has13 paid staff, and always need volunteers to help during the week. They work to keep it fun while addressing a serious issue of food insecurity.
Restaurants can donate food but there are specific rules to follow. They are funded primarily through grants and donors. Additional SNAP will be ending in February, so the need will be greater.
Volunteers can be age 16+.They also work with the Goodwill Senior program that supplies people who want some job experience, Goodwill pays for them.
They get product from larger vendors like Kroger through the Food Bank, rather than competing with the Food Bank.
Large groups of volunteers can be pre-arranged and duties include packing meals, organizing, and cleaning. They have 1-5 volunteers on a typical day or can accommodate around 10 from a special group.
Brain announced next week’s greeters are Uriah Anderson and Ashlee Walton. February 2 is our next meeting, and being the first meeting of the month, we will sing.
Our speaker next week is our own Ron Hollenbeck, sharing his experiences with the recent Heart to Heart visit in Mexico.
Past-President Hayes led the group in reciting the 4 Way Test and wished everyone a good week