Meeting Notes March 18
Posted by Ken McEntee
Camp Cheerful. Jim Jumpa headed up an effort to build new office space at Camp Cheerful. A group of Rotarians donated 193 hours to complete the project.
Food Bank Friday. Being the first Friday of the month, this week is Food Bank Friday. Please remember to bring stuff for the Strongsville Food Bank to the meeting. The Food Bank is particularly looking for canned vegetables and jellies (not jelly beans).
Fish Fry. Volunteers are needed to help serve fish fries every Friday evening during Lent at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, President Jerry Balint announced. Rotarians traditionally help at this event. If you're interested see Jerry or Ruth Grega.
Bridgestone Invitational: Our club is offering discounted tickets to the Bridgestone Invitationalat the Firestone Country Club on August 3-7, 2011. The good news is that we keep 75 percent of the tickets sold by club members. If you know anybody planning to attend the event, let them know that our tickets are heavily discounted compared to what they'll pay through Ticketmaster - and the proceeds go to a good cause. For more information, contact Dan Cricks.
Child Safe: The annual Strongsville Child Safe Day, coordinated by Jeff Ellis, will be held on Sunday, April 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center. The community event teaches safety in and out of the home to children and parents and draws more than 1,000 people annually. Rotary is a sponsor of the event. For more information, contact Jeff.
Youth exchange: Our club next year will host a girl from the Philippines through the Rotary Youth Exchange program, Denny Daar announced. Two host families are needed - a family for each semester of the school year. All who have been involved in Youth Exchange have reported that it is a great experience. Presently Larry and Alice Frawley are the host parents to Brenda Castelan, from Mexico. For more information about hosting a student, contact Denny.
Student guests. Speaking of students, senior class officers of Strongsville High School joined us for breakfast at our meeting on March 25. The students, James Hartig, Kevin Kesicki and Zvirimumwoyo Chinoda Jr., were accompanied by advisor Mike Sack.
Medical mission. Dr. Art Basa has returned from his annual mission to the Philippines where he performed voluntary surgeries and medical treatments. This year he started to do clef palate reconstruction.
Youth Leadership. Dale Finley announced that the club this year will sponsor two students to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program, a five-day camp to be held at Hiram College. By nurturing youth through RYLA, Rotarians provide the skills young people need to succeed as future community leaders.
Easter Bunny. About eight to 10 club volunteers are needed to help at the city's annual Breakfast with th Easter Bunny, to be held on Saturday, April 9, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center. Volunteers help to serve a family style breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, juice and coffee. Rotarians have traditionally participated in this fun event. For more information, contact Jack Miaskowski.
District conference. The annual Rotary District 6630 conference will be held during the weekend of April 29 to May 1, at the Beachwood Hilton, Jack announced. Among the speakers at the conference will be former Cav player and current announcer Jim Chones. This year, the annual district assembly and conference are combined into a single time and location. Our club will host its annual hospitality suite on Saturday night of the event. For more information contact Jack or Jay Dzurilla, co-chair of the event.
Run 4 Fun. The club's third annual 5K Fun Run will be held Saturday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m., starting at Pathway Church, at the corner of Prospect and Foltz Industrial Parkway, announced Brenda Jumpa. This year the format has been changed to a "guess your time" race. The object is to guess what your time will be prior to staring the race.
Key Bank has committed to a $500 sponsorship, and additional sponsors are needed. About 600 runners are expected. This year, you can join in without running - you can buy an entry fee and send somebody to run in your place. Items also are needed to fill the complimentary goody bags. This is a new time and location this year, departing from the previous morning race at Westfield SouthPark Mall. Following the race, a party will be held at Molly McGee's. Contact Ann-Marie LaPorta for more information.
View or download the event flier here.
Get all the information from the event media kit here.
Member bio: Bill Matthews, CEO of Blaster Chemical, is best known to most club members as the title sponsor of our annual Chili Open Golf Classic. Bill grew up on the south side of Chicago and attended Rockford College with a major in business administration and economics. He went into a management training program at Illinois Tool Works and later took a job in manufacturing engineering with Borg Warner.
Bill transferred to Strongsville in 1980, later taking a position with Medina Fastener & Tool. He expected his stay in Northeast Ohio to be temporary, but he came to love the area as a great place to raise a family. After starting a manufacturers rep agency, he landed the Blaster Chemical account after another candidate blew off a lunch meeting with CEO Bernie Porter. "He was so mad that he was going to give the account to the next guy who walked in," Bill recalled.
Bill and his wife, Jan, raised two daughters and have four grandchildren. He loves boating and clay shooting.
Guest speaker. Dr. Dobie Moser, founder of the Strongsville Youth Commission, talked about the organization. He hopes to establish a countywide version of the group at the suggestion of Rotarian Mike Gallagher, former Strongsville councilman and current county councilman.
Queen of Hearts. The table ticket was worth $38 and the Queen was worth $796. There were 30 cards left. The winner drew a loser and the Queen lives.
Words of Wisdom.
Following the Chili Open an inebriated Rotarian walks into Bilo's. After staring for some time at the only woman seated at the bar, he walks over to her and kisses her. She jumps up and slaps him silly.
He immediately apologizes and explains, "I'm sorry. I thought you were my wife. You look exactly like her."
"Why you worthless, insufferable, wretched, no good drunk!" she screams.
"Amazing!" he exclaims. "You even sound like her."
Quotable.
"Holding onto anger is like grasping onto a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who gets burned. - Gautama Buddha
"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." - Will Rogers
Fish Fry. Volunteers are needed to help serve fish fries every Friday evening during Lent at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, President Jerry Balint announced. Rotarians traditionally help at this event. If you're interested see Jerry or Ruth Grega.
Bridgestone Invitational: Our club is offering discounted tickets to the Bridgestone Invitationalat the Firestone Country Club on August 3-7, 2011. The good news is that we keep 75 percent of the tickets sold by club members. If you know anybody planning to attend the event, let them know that our tickets are heavily discounted compared to what they'll pay through Ticketmaster - and the proceeds go to a good cause. For more information, contact Dan Cricks.
Child Safe: The annual Strongsville Child Safe Day, coordinated by Jeff Ellis, will be held on Sunday, April 17, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center. The community event teaches safety in and out of the home to children and parents and draws more than 1,000 people annually. Rotary is a sponsor of the event. For more information, contact Jeff.
Youth exchange: Our club next year will host a girl from the Philippines through the Rotary Youth Exchange program, Denny Daar announced. Two host families are needed - a family for each semester of the school year. All who have been involved in Youth Exchange have reported that it is a great experience. Presently Larry and Alice Frawley are the host parents to Brenda Castelan, from Mexico. For more information about hosting a student, contact Denny.
Student guests. Speaking of students, senior class officers of Strongsville High School joined us for breakfast at our meeting on March 25. The students, James Hartig, Kevin Kesicki and Zvirimumwoyo Chinoda Jr., were accompanied by advisor Mike Sack.
Medical mission. Dr. Art Basa has returned from his annual mission to the Philippines where he performed voluntary surgeries and medical treatments. This year he started to do clef palate reconstruction.
Youth Leadership. Dale Finley announced that the club this year will sponsor two students to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program, a five-day camp to be held at Hiram College. By nurturing youth through RYLA, Rotarians provide the skills young people need to succeed as future community leaders.
Easter Bunny. About eight to 10 club volunteers are needed to help at the city's annual Breakfast with th Easter Bunny, to be held on Saturday, April 9, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center. Volunteers help to serve a family style breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, juice and coffee. Rotarians have traditionally participated in this fun event. For more information, contact Jack Miaskowski.
District conference. The annual Rotary District 6630 conference will be held during the weekend of April 29 to May 1, at the Beachwood Hilton, Jack announced. Among the speakers at the conference will be former Cav player and current announcer Jim Chones. This year, the annual district assembly and conference are combined into a single time and location. Our club will host its annual hospitality suite on Saturday night of the event. For more information contact Jack or Jay Dzurilla, co-chair of the event.
Run 4 Fun. The club's third annual 5K Fun Run will be held Saturday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m., starting at Pathway Church, at the corner of Prospect and Foltz Industrial Parkway, announced Brenda Jumpa. This year the format has been changed to a "guess your time" race. The object is to guess what your time will be prior to staring the race.
Key Bank has committed to a $500 sponsorship, and additional sponsors are needed. About 600 runners are expected. This year, you can join in without running - you can buy an entry fee and send somebody to run in your place. Items also are needed to fill the complimentary goody bags. This is a new time and location this year, departing from the previous morning race at Westfield SouthPark Mall. Following the race, a party will be held at Molly McGee's. Contact Ann-Marie LaPorta for more information.
View or download the event flier here.
Get all the information from the event media kit here.
Member bio: Bill Matthews, CEO of Blaster Chemical, is best known to most club members as the title sponsor of our annual Chili Open Golf Classic. Bill grew up on the south side of Chicago and attended Rockford College with a major in business administration and economics. He went into a management training program at Illinois Tool Works and later took a job in manufacturing engineering with Borg Warner.
Bill transferred to Strongsville in 1980, later taking a position with Medina Fastener & Tool. He expected his stay in Northeast Ohio to be temporary, but he came to love the area as a great place to raise a family. After starting a manufacturers rep agency, he landed the Blaster Chemical account after another candidate blew off a lunch meeting with CEO Bernie Porter. "He was so mad that he was going to give the account to the next guy who walked in," Bill recalled.
Bill and his wife, Jan, raised two daughters and have four grandchildren. He loves boating and clay shooting.
Guest speaker. Dr. Dobie Moser, founder of the Strongsville Youth Commission, talked about the organization. He hopes to establish a countywide version of the group at the suggestion of Rotarian Mike Gallagher, former Strongsville councilman and current county councilman.
Queen of Hearts. The table ticket was worth $38 and the Queen was worth $796. There were 30 cards left. The winner drew a loser and the Queen lives.
Words of Wisdom.
Following the Chili Open an inebriated Rotarian walks into Bilo's. After staring for some time at the only woman seated at the bar, he walks over to her and kisses her. She jumps up and slaps him silly.
He immediately apologizes and explains, "I'm sorry. I thought you were my wife. You look exactly like her."
"Why you worthless, insufferable, wretched, no good drunk!" she screams.
"Amazing!" he exclaims. "You even sound like her."
Quotable.
"Holding onto anger is like grasping onto a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who gets burned. - Gautama Buddha
"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you." - Will Rogers