CANTON ROTARY’S “PACK THE BUS” FOR CANTON CITY SCHOOL CHILDREN
On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, President Michelle Mullaly and her band of merry Rotary "elves" hit the ground running for the 2nd Annual "Pack the Bus" program. Rotarians along with office staff, met President Michelle at the WalMart on Tuscarawas Street to shop for the children of Canton City Schools. Three hours later a grand total of $4,520.88 was spent on non-perishable food, clothing, winter coats, hats, and gloves, and hygiene products. These items were added to the items donated by Rotarians and the public, which were collected on Wednesday, November 15, 2018.
President Michelle and her "elves" met later that day at Allen Elementary School and helped her unload the trailer. Many helping hands were needed, so the children and staff of Allen Elementary stepped in to cheerfully help the Rotarians unload the items into a classroom where it was sorted.
Thousands of children across the United States are hungry and here in Canton, it is no different. According to recent census information, 48% of the children in Canton live in poverty. The Canton City School District does its part to help alleviate some of the hunger amongst their students by offering breakfast and lunch free of charge to all of the student population during the school week.
During a recent Rotary meeting a Canton Rotarian relayed this story...."my wife, who was a school volunteer, told me about a Canton City elementary student who had complained about an upset stomach. The student was asked if he needed to use the restroom and his response was "no". He was then asked if he had had breakfast. The student replied he was given something to eat when he got to school that morning. The student was then asked what he had eaten for dinner the night before and his response "I had ice cubes for dinner".
It is thrilling to know that just a few hours of hard work and some extremely generous individuals can change the lives of so many.
NOVEMBER CHARACTER CHAMPS, JANELL DIMA AND ANDRE GILLEMS
During Canton Rotary’s meeting on Friday, November 16, 2018, Rotarian Mike Brown introduced the Character Champs for the month of November, Janell Dima and Andre Gillems, from McKinley Senior High School.
Janell plans to attend Bowling Green State University this fall and major in Architecture.
Andre plans to become an athletic trainer or a sports analyst. His top choices for college are currently California University of Pennsylvania, Kent State University, the University of Toledo, and Ohio Wesleyan.
SEMI-ANNUAL HEALTH SCREEN & WELLNESS FAIR
The Canton Rotary Semi-Annual Health Screen & Wellness Fair was held on November 17, 2018, at Mercy Hall Auditorium. This event continues to grow, and we’ve even had an individual tell us the Health Screen saved his life!
Pheneos Nyabera has become the "posterboy" for this event. Pheneos attended a recent Rotary meeting and relayed his life was saved because he had participated in the April 2018, Health Screen event. His blood draw and analysis detected previously undetected prostate cancer and he was immediately informed to contact his doctor to start the necessary lifesaving treatment.
Our next Health Screen will take place on Saturday, April 27, 2019, from 7 am – 11 am.