Co-President Steve Dunton opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Program Host, Bob Oborn followed with an invocation about relationships. He also thanked Todd Hearty for getting us checked in and welcoming our visitors, Pau Lake, Landen Lake, Mike Dunton, Jack Evans, Katie Allen, and our speakers, Karen Melton and Julie West.
PROGRAM: Bob Oborn introduced Julie West and Karen Melton to present the program on the Ghana Peace Jam Conference. Both women have been very active Rotarians. Julie joined Rotary in 1991 and since was District Governor for 2012-13 and has attended 20 Rotary International Conferences. Her career was in telecommunications. Karen also has had very significant Rotary involvement since she became a member in 2000. She has been president of the Cleveland Rotary Club, where she continues as treasurer and was the treasurer for District 6630 from 2021-2024.
Julie began by thanking out club for their support of the conference, which took place in Acrra, Ghana last June. Although Peace Jams occur throughout the world, the West Africa Center for Peace Foundation, which has existed for 20 years was founded by Wisdom Addo. The Peace Jam is a huge influence within Ghana, where there are 45 tribes and lots of conflict. Peace Jam is a youth education program where mentors who have participated in the program earlier help to train youth in the importance of peace and peace efforts and then train some of those youth to become mentors.
While participating, the students not only have a lot of fun through music, dance and entertainment, they plan service projects for the following year working in smaller groups. The students decide on activities to improve their situation and then as their final step, evaluate the outcomes. This particular conference of 900 people was broken into groups that cleaned up trash, studied and tried to eliminate sexual harassment, and worked on the problem of drug abuse. Julie made the point that even though they were in a different country, the pressing issues are similar. The students had teams of debaters who worked on the importance of free and fair elections, and also examined the possible threat of AI to elections.
The women stressed how very warm and friendly the people at the conference were and how they were so impressed with everything. They gave special acknowledgement to Laymal Gbowee, a pillar of the Ghana Peace Jam. She shared with students how she was told many times that she couldn't do something, but she proved them wrong and accomplished what she started out to do. She inspired the students that they could do the same thing.
Peace Jam will have a table in the House of Friendship at the District Conference this year and everyone is encouraged to stop by.
HAPPY BUCKS: Steve Dunton shared that his oldest son, Joe, was married this past Sunday to his new wife Leslie and added that Rev. Doug Denton performed the ceremony.
Brad Ruth is back from visiting his son who is studying in Florence, Italy. Two issues really struck him. One was the lack of a large cup of coffee and the other was how much being around people who speak a different language is isolating. But, they had a great time anyway.
CELEBRATIONS:
Rotary Anniversaries: Julie McLain, Pilar Parsons, and Eric and Denise Green are all celebrating their first anniversary as Rotarians this week.
Birthdays: If you see Jen Ramsey, tell her happy birthday.
Drawing: Denise's table had the winning ticket but Mike Dunton drew the ace of clubs, so the pot will continue to grow.
CONCERN: Don Coughlin is dealing with some health issues that probably will require surgery, so he will be missed for a while.
Several others in the club are dealing with health issues and we wish all of them a speedy recovery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Scott Miller shared specific information about the Golf Outing information and sign-up that went to all members this week from Maria Ferrara. In one place, we can forward information to sponsors, sign-up, pay and set up the foursomes. Credit card payments will go through Zeffy. We get the full amount that is charged but any tips that are given support Zeffy. A default tip will be added to the payment after the charge is made but when asked about the tip, if you put in zero and you will not be charged extra. When you pay by credit card, you will automatically get an e-mail with a tax deductible receipt. It is also possible to pay by check, made out to the Stow-Munroe Falls Rotary Club Foundation, and it can be given to Scott at a meeting or sent to PO Box 1352, Stow, OH 44224. Go to https://tinyurl.com/SMF-
The committee is also accepting donations of golf balls, $10 and $25 gift cards, company swag and cash. Bring them to a meeting. Items will be used as prizes or to purchase prizes.
Board Meeting: Our board will meet on Friday, April 11 at 7:15 a.m.at City Hall.
The Bunny Trail Hop will be Saturday, April 12 from 10:00-1:00. Gail Moseley asks that you sign in to help when you come in next week. Great weather is guaranteed!
District Conference: This will be on Friday, April 25 and Saturday April 26 at the Cleveland Marriott in Warrensville Heights, Ohio. Bob Oborn says that it is an ala carte menu so it is possible to sign up for as much or as little as you would like to attend. Go to https://rotary6630.org to register or to find out more information. Remember that the club will reimburse you for your costs, with the exception of a hotel bill.
Steve ended the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Monday, April 7 at 4:30, scholarship meeting at City Hall.
Wednesday, April 9, 7:30 a.m. regular morning meeting when the winners of the Four-Way-Speech Contest will present their speeches. (They are great...don't miss it.)
Wednesday, April 9. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Foodbank Volunteer Time at the Akron Canton Foodbank.
Friday April 11, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Saturday, April 12, 10:00-1:00 Bunny Trail Hop
Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, District Conference at the Cleveland Marriott in Warrensville Heights
May 10, Heroes Day
May 10, 7:00 p.m., Interact Talent Show at the High School
Friday, June 13, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Tuesday, July 2 in the evening, Bob Oborn's Installation as District Governor at The Center.
Wednesday, October 9, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction in the evening. No morning meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Denton
330-474-7265
330-414-1934