FABRIC COLLECTION PROJECT
posted by June Ring
Some masked do-gooders were out last week leaving out, picking up, and dropping off fabric for mask making! Thank you Akron Rotarians for 10 donations with 6 drivers, totaling approximately 10 to 12 bags for www.gahss.org. Mahananda Luitel thanked all for the donations! If you come up with more at a later date reach out direct to their website. Thank you!!
 Julie Brandle, June Ring and Mahananda Luitel |  Ginakaye Maddox & Tom Knauer |  John Daily |
 Amador & Shannon Gonzalez |  Cyndi Kane |  Michael Wilson from the Akron Canton Foodbank and June Ring |
CHANGE COLLECTION FOR FOODBANK
posted by Lynda Farkas
Dear Fellow Rotarians and Friends,
Last Call…..This is the last week for the collection of the Akron Food Bank “coin boxes.” Please check those fat little piggy banks, pants pockets, purses and coin jars. Jan Ryan and myself will be more than happy to do “curb side” pick-up!” Please give me a call, text, email for assistants.
Many thanks to those Rotarians that did donate their change during the “material drive” for North Hill last weekend. We sincerely appreciate every coin or dollar donated. Thank you for joining in our donation to the Akron Food Bank in the name of the Akron Rotary Club!
We can also collect dock-side at Portage Lakes!
Please let us know by Wednesday, May 27th if you would like a “drive-by” coin pick-up! Lynda’s cell # 330.819.3739 or email, lfarkas2@neo.rr.com . Thank you!
MESSAGES FROM ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENTS posted by Susan Colville-Hall
Exchange to me this next year holds so much importance to me as a person and practically as well. To start with the practical, I am a junior in high school planning to finish high school this year and graduate early. This past year I have had my lasts and said my goodbyes to the high school Friday football games, the after school Starbucks runs with my friends, the classmates I will not see next year, and I have worked countless hours saving to pay for my own exchange instead of going out to eat with friends or buying new things. For me this has been significant in my life as it ends a big portion of my life and signifies change and growth as a person to be moving towards this next stage of my life. For this next year, I was planning on having probably one of the best years of my life going on exchange. In a strictly practical sense, not going on exchange would mean that I would be at home for a year probably working and then going to college since this past year I did not apply to colleges. While this is not the worst thing that could happen in this upcoming year, it was not the way I had pictured or wished to be spending my time. For me emotionally, this exchange also has significance since around 8th grade I have longed to experience rich cultures and speak in another language. It wasn’t until this past year that I realized it was possible for me to go and I started this journey. As I became more involved with the exchange students here in the U.S. I have seen first hand how life changing it can be. Seeing the exchange students at the last overnighter was one of the happiest and saddest things to see as we sat around in a circle at night softly singing a song together and enjoying the limited time we had. I saw the deep connections each of them made with each other often feeling a little bit envious wondering why I wasn’t in their circle not realizing that what you must go through as a group is something unique to everyone who goes on exchange. This bond is something so unique and precious that can’t be made in any other setting than exchange. For me, being culturally aware and being able to understand and communicate in someone’s own language has always fascinated me and been one of my goals. Exchange for me would allow me to explore these avenues and continue my french learning in a new way. As I continue to get older, I find myself wishing to find my own identity and who I really am and what my values are in life. For me, exchange meant my first journey alone where I would be faced with challenges whether I liked it or not and I would have to be able to overcome these. I think being able to overcome these and really be myself without my parents would allow me to find out more of who I really am and discover new things I didn’t know about myself. Ever since I was little, I have had a passion and yearning for travelling as well as I have always been interested in trying new food when we go out to eat or watching foreign films. This passion for me goes beyond just wanting to travel and see cool places. For me I think it means understanding people better and connecting. It means opening up my own thoughts and challenging them and making me uncomfortable. This next year I hope to go on exchange and experience the challenges and uncomfortable moments and the new people to further expand myself as a person and those I meet. Exchange to me means so much more than just seeing a new place and I wish I could fully express myself and what it means to me, but I think it would be impossible in words. If there is one takeaway from this is that exchange means more to me a virus and more to me than having to wait a month to go.Sincerely,
Lydia Olin-Hitt, a hopeful future outbound
A sign of the times, our Rotary exchange student Elin Na with Anita and Tom Gedelian (photo) at her side said good-bye at the airport with a selfie of their masked faces as Elin embarked on her long journey home to South Korea. When I met Elin the day before her departure, she was all smiles but sad to leave until she saw the photo book of her Rotary Exchange Year with pictures of our Akron club members, exchange students from District 6630, events at Stow Munroe Falls High School, her primary host family Tom and Anita Gedelian, and her other hosts, the Nuñez and Lanzinger families. Tears formed and the urge to hug her host mom and me was hesitantly extinguished, a necessary action in this era of social distancing!!! Photos of fantastic memories for one exceptional young ambassador!!!! So much to be thankful for!!!! And, so you ask, “Why was she smiling?” Elin was holding a bag full of pins from her Rotary Club in Korea for me to distribute to members of the Rotary Club of Akron, something that will hopefully be done at our first non-distancing opportunity. A generous gesture, one that will help us remember this quiet, beautiful young lady and this stellar year marked only by this abrupt Covid-19 interruption. Hopefully, Elin’s adventures will bring her back to Akron someday. And, although there will be changes made to the Rotary Youth Exchange motto, “World peace, one handshake at time,” we pray that Rotary exchanges will start again in the not so distant future.
Elin Na (Hye Rim) from Yeoju (city), Gyeonggi-do (province), S. Korea has spent this year with the Rotary Club of Akron. Because of our Covid-19 pandemic, April 16 she will be returning to her parents who are real estate agents, and her younger sister and younger brother. In case you are interested, Yeoju is located in the middle of the Korean Peninsula where many ginkgo trees grow and the temperature has extremes (very hot and very cold).
While in Akron, she attended Stow Munroe Falls High School where she enrolled in multiple classes and played the clarinet in the marching band and the concert band. She especially enjoyed marching in the Brown’s Game in the fall when the SMFHS band played at halftime. She now understands the NFL!!! Elin easily made friends and was able to take advantage of many opportunities to experience American culture, both through Rotary and her host family. One of her favorite experiences was going to Disney World and spending time with Jill Flagg Lanzinger’s family during Winter Break. Jill and her family had volunteered to host Elin in May and June.
Her host parents, Anita and Tom Gedelian, opened their doors and hearts to Elin. She spent time with their grandchildren and celebrated her birthday Korean style at Seoul Gardens with the whole Gedelian gang in January. She felt very comfortable at home with the Gedelians.
Elin had planned a trip with Anita to visit another Gedelian daughter and her family in Texas in April, but that trip has been cancelled.
Elin has also had the opportunity to spend time with the Nuñez family. She and son, Manny shared an interest in band and were great friends at school. Rachel and Jacinto have great welcoming expertise as they hosted Sotaro Yamasaki, our RYE student from Japan, for a good part of last year.
Elin has been a wonderful ambassador for her country and a delightful visitor to the U.S. She was so looking forward to the Eastern trip to visit Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. in March, and to meet all the other RYE students but that trip was canceled a week before departure. And now the summer Western Trip to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Colorado and California has been canceled. No luck for Elin!! We are sorry Elin will miss so many of the spring cultural events such as Prom, our Rotary 6630 Conference, and graduation as well as summer prospects of fun in the sun. But a decision to return is always best when personal safety is the focus. It is certain that we will miss her delightful smile and her eagerness to help us learn more about and appreciate Korean culture. Here’s a photo of Elin as we hiked the Bike Trail at Brust Park along the Cuyahoga River in Munroe Falls last week while maintaining good social distancing!
Zoé Mayeur, from Brussels, Belgium, spent the 2019-2020 exchange year with the Rotary Club of Akron. Because of the current Covid-19 pandemic, she left April 5 to return home to ride out the rest of this storm with her parents and older sister Fanny. In her own words, “The trip was not easy but I made it home. I am quarantining with my parents and my sister so I enjoy my time with them, we go on bike rides, we cook, we talk.” Like most people in the time of Covid-19, her parents are not working. Normally, Zoe’s mother serves as a Federal Ombudsman for the Belgium Parliament. Her father is a criminologist in charge of helping prisoners who are released find jobs and then he follows up on them in their work. While in Akron, Zoé was enrolled in classes at Stow Munroe Falls High School. Eager to try something new, she started playing the clarinet in the marching band and participated in cross-country and track and field. She said she“likes playing on a team because of the team spirit.” Zoé especially enjoyed marching in the Brown’s Game in the fall when the SMFHS band played at halftime. She now understands Americans’ enthusiasm for football! Due to her curiosity and eagerness to discover new things, Zoé made friends in her classes, in the band, in the SMFHS Interact Club and in her sports. Consequently, she was able to take advantage of many opportunities to experience American culture, through Rotary, her school and her host family.
Her host parents, Jen and Richard Carroll, generously opened their doors and hearts to Zoé and treated her like one of their own children, of which they have two - Audrey and David. Audrey was our Outbound Exchange Student to Germany last year. Zoé spent a lot of valuable time with her new family and celebrated the ordinary things of American life. One of her favorite experiences was going to Puerto Rico during Winter Break with her family to enjoy the warmth of one of the U.S.’s Caribbean territories. And life was not too boring after the orderfor “shelter -in-place” was issued. The kids enjoyed playing games, watching movies and cooking.
District 6630 Exchange students have been using Zoom to connect for the last 3 weeks, thanks to Shelia Hedrick who connects us all. Before her departure, Zoé took time to demonstrate a no-cook dessert recipe made with Belgium cookies (biscuits) and whipped cream, it was so delicious looking!!! She “was happy to share one more thing about [her] before leaving.” Wish we could have tasted it!
Zoé has been a wonderful ambassador for Belgium and a delightful visitor to the U.S. Like Elin, she was so looking forward to the Eastern trip to visit Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. in March, and to meet other RYE students. A disappointed ambassador to say the least, Zoé took the cancelation in stride as well as news of no summer Western Trip to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Colorado and California, understanding that personal safety comes first. So Zoé, too, will miss so many of the spring cultural events such as Prom, our Rotary 6630 Conference, and graduation as well as summer prospects of fun in the sun.
Zoé’s “goal this year was to be immersed in a new culture with people who don’t necessarily think like [her] and learn from them and to share [her] Belgium culture with them. We can say that she more than accomplished this goal. And she is still eager to help us learn more about Belgium. We hope to connect with Zoé using Zoom one day soon to see her smiling face and listen to her charming voice again and learn more about Belgium culture.
Her greeting to us:
“I miss you and the rest so much... Stay safe!”
Rotary Exchange Student Zoé Mayeur from Belgium