President Chuck King opened the meeting noting this is our Tenth week since we stopped meeting in person, and our third Zoom club meeting.
The club said the Pledge of allegiance and then recited the 4 Way Test. Brian Hayes shared a prayer.
Ron Hollenbeck shared portions of a thank you letter he received from Design Outreach noting the impact of our first donated well that has operated in Malawi for 7 years without any problems. Here is the letter:
Brad Huffman said they had a good video call with our exchange student, Yok in Thailand last night. Yok shared her thoughts about her short experience here, and getting settled back in at home. The call was video recorded and Brad will share it with the club.
President Chuck King shared these announcements:
- Last week I talked a little about what we know about getting back to face to face meetings. What we are doing at this time is:
- Have weekly Zoom meetings every Thursday and at a minimum conduct a Zoom social once a month
- The next Rotary Zoom Social will be at 5:30 next Wednesday 27 May – Link will be sent out to the club
- Periodically call all members to see how they are doing and if they need anything – I will be sending a reminder
- Develop a short survey for the membership to see what the membership would like to see, to help develop our transition plan - final edits are taking place and the survey will be sent out soon.
- This past Monday, we held our corporate board meeting for May, key items of discussion were:
- Our payment to cover RYLA expenses was returned due to cancellation and we did not support the Americana Festival over the Fourth of July since it has been cancelled so a total of $1,100 was freed up in our budget. A decision was made by the board to donate the money to deserving charities. Since the club has donated over $3,000 to the Dayton Food Bank, Boyd Preston has researched various charities and has recommended the money be shared with BOGG and the Artemis Center.
- Electronic payments through Clubrunner credit card processing option that is linked into our website and our billing would allow for a clean integration. Electronic payment would make for much easier payment of dues compared to checks only. It is still to be determined on how the fees would be handled for a charge card. Because of the charge fee between 4-5%, it is not practical to charge for happy dollars
- Because of the current COVID situation, it is unlikely we will be able to have our Pancake Breakfast in October. Brad Huffman and Adam Manning will be forming a committee to look at other options for fundraising
- Sofie will be looking into options for service projects that can be done with the appropriate protection and spacing
- We will not expect anyone to participate if they are uncomfortable with this
- The District has postponed all student exchanges for the 2020-2021 school year
- Judy Budi provided an overview on the scholarships – 13 applicants were interviewed, and 5 students were selected. Kim Paras has sent each student a book related to their area of study/interest
- Judy will be our club speaker along with the scholarship winners at or 11 June meeting, where we will learn more about our award winners
- To keep connected as a club, please send a short note of any news about yourself or family to Carol Kennard at cgkennard@woh.rr.com so she can post it in our Centerville Rotary Club eBulletin. Text photos to 937-581-6744.
Happy Dollars
Our Happy Dollars for April – June are going to The Castle in Centerville that provides mental health services to people in need – please be generous with your Happy Dollars for this good cause. Then send a check to the Club mailbox : Centerville Rotary Club, PO Box 41431, Centerville, OH 45458,
Prior to starting Happy Dollars, Boyd Preston asked Kim Senft-Paras what she was preparing in her kitchen during the meeting. Kim noted it was broccoli-leek soup!
Harvey Smith ($10) was happy since he got a hair cut and now feels 40 pounds lighter! Susan Schnell ($20) said it has been awhile since she’s seen everyone and is just happy be here! Mike Weir ($10) missed last week and also got a haircut. Dick Hoback ($5) was happy to see ALL of Boyd on a bigger screen today.
Elda Gotos Gay ($20) was very excited as her son and his daughter are arriving for a visit. Ray Merz ($10) gave to celebrate his youngest grandson graduating from Ohio University and although the job he was going to do is not available due to the coronavirus, he will stay at OU and be a research assistant in astro physics. Ron Hollenbeck ($20) thanked Carol Kennard for getting the eBulletin out each week while meeting virtually. Joyce Young ($10) said it was fun to see everyone again!
Terry Hanauer ($20) is still in Michigan but wanted to recognize Ron for his leadership on the Life Pump project. Jim Harris ($10) also thankful that Ron continues to do a great job with the water project. Boyd Preston ($20) noted Ron is a classic example of Service Above Self!
Dale Berry ($20) gave happy dollars to ask for the Centerville Rotary address where we can send our happy dollars:
Centerville Rotary Club, PO Box 41431, Centerville, OH 45458
Frank Perez ($10) recognized Ron’s efforts and is happy the Zoom meetings are going so well. Chuck King ($20) shared he is chair of the HR committee at his church and has a new appreciation for the challenges of choosing a quality insurance plan. Mark Febus ($10) was happy to see everyone.
Speaker: Bryan Stewart, Workforce Director, Montgomery County Education Service Center
Brian Hayes introduced our speaker for the day - Bryan Stewart, Workforce Director with the Montgomery County Education Service Center and Learn to Earn Dayton. Bryan works with major businesses and school districts in the area, through the Business Advisory Council. He coordinates career fairs, power lunches, signing days and more, to help get students exposed to potential career choices. He coordinates with 23 local school districts and works to partner schools with businesses so students can gain hands-on experience so they have
the proper skills to be career-ready upon graduation.
Mr. Steward noted in the last nine weeks, close to 40 million people became unemployed. A Stanford University economist estimates that 42 percent of recent layoffs will result in permanent job losses.
Of every 10 students who enter high school, only 2 complete college, and in urban areas, that drops to 1 in 10. Mr. Stewart shared there is a mismatch between how education feels they prepare students for the workforce and what businesses expect.
Learn to Earn Dayton focuses on improving student success, starting at an early age. He stated early achievement gaps compound and often make it difficult, if not impossible, for a child to catch up academically and socially.
COVID-19 has radically changed how we do things, but the underlying issues won’t go away. There is a need to build a system to allow students to achieve their full potential and be college and career ready.
Mr. Stewart noted that 10,000 people turn 65 daily in the U.S. Nearly half of Wright Patt’s employees are close to retirement. And as of this year, nearly half of all registered nurses will reach traditional retirement age. Currently in Ohio, there are 20,373 open computing jobs, yet only 1,672 computer science graduates this year.
Students need real employability skills - soft skills like communication, problem solving, customer service. These skills can be taught in schools but are best learned through internships, mentorships and job-shadowing programs for high school students.
Action items they hope to achieve:
- Establish more internships for high schoolers
- Develop a Computer Science Teacher Network
- Establish a regional CyberPatriot after school program
- Participate in the Ohio’s Computer Science Education Week
- Work with local employers to get mentors/equipment into classrooms.
Bryan can be contacted at bryan.stewart@mcesc.org
President Chuck King closed the meeting with: Every one have a good week, stay safe and healthy!
