President Annette Oborn opened this morning's meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Program Host, Don Coughlin followed with the invocation which he called a "political prayer" by Morris Udall.
Annette thanked Steve Dunton, Sgt. at Arms and his helper Pilar Parsons for getting everyone checked in this morning. She then welcomed our guests, Parker Daferraro, Brianna Johnson, Elizabeth Kargbo and Andrea Schepis, our speaker.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Carrie Malotte told us that the library's silent auction is now live. The have 41 baskets with something for everyone. Check it out at www.smfpl.org and then go to the silent auction section. The bidding ends Saturday, April 27 at 5:00 p.m.
Andy Denton thanked Linda Trevorrow for taking the meeting minutes last week. Her help was much appreciated!
CELEBRATIONS:
Wedding Anniversary: Marty and Debbie Tass are celebrating 49 years of marriage this week.
Birthdays: Linda Trevorrow and Karen Monbeck both have birthdays tomorrow. Pat Messmore led us in singing really well to Linda.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
New Members: We have six people who have been approved for membership and are eligible to be inducted next week. If you are a sponsor of Matthew Aguiar, Amy Budnik, Aurora Cooper, Dawn Miller, Keith Redmon or Jennifer Ramsey, please let Annette know by Sunday whether or not both the person you are sponsoring and you will be available on May 1. If not, another time will be scheduled for those not available on the 1st. Annette's cell is 330-813-2059.
District Conference: This will take place this Friday and Saturday at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls. Registration is now closed but new members are welcome to attend the informational session for new members which will be at 3:30 on Friday, April 26. There is no charge for that session. On Saturday, our Club Interact will be leading the blanket-making for Moms and babies as part of the district project. Our own Bob Oborn is chair of the whole conference.
Cluster Project: The final time that we will pack housewarming packages for NAMI will be Thursday, May 30 at Community Support Services. Let Annette know if you want to help at 330-813-2059.
Heroes' Day: Chairperson, Jeff Film said that things are well underway for the May 11 event. On the 10th Interact students and Rotarians will gather at 4:00 at the FOP Lodge behind The Church in Silver Lake to prepare the plants and flags that will go to the veterans and retired first responders in our communities. Then at 8:00 Rotarians will gather at the same place to pick up deliveries. If you are able to help, please text Jeff at 330-352-4895. When you make your delivery, ask if the recipient is willing to have their picture taken for publicity purposes and forward the photo to Annie Hanson-Hilare at 330-730-6424.
Fifth Wednesday at the Rubber Ducks: Following our tradition of having a social event instead of a morning meeting on any fifth Wednesday, we will attend the Rubber Ducks game on Wednesday, May 29 at 6:35 in the evening. Tickets are $12.00. Steve Dunton and Jeff Film are managing this event.
Golf Outing: Scott Miller, Chair of the June 14 event says that all is progressing well. An all-in-one form for sponsorship and golfing is attached to these minutes. Remember to give your donations of golf balls, company swag and gift cards to Todd Hearty for prizes at the event. You can also contribute money instead of items and the committee will purchase the items. The next meeting of the committee will be Monday, April 29 at the FOP Lodge behind The Church in Silver Lake.
Club Interact: Dinah Henderson, Advisor introduced two students who hope to go to RYLA this summer, Bree Johnson and Parker Delferraro. Dinah also said to save the date for the "Back to School Bash" on August 17 with more information to follow.
Bulldog Bags: The organization would appreciate the following donations from us by May 8: cereal cups, CapriSum, sunscreen, boxes of 8 granola bars, 8-pack boxes of hot chocolate, Manwich sloppy joe mix. Bring your donations to a meeting or drop them off in the lobby of City Hall.
PROGRAM: Don Coughlin, Program Host told us that he has been a Rotarian for most of the past 36 years. He lives service as he has a lifetime membership in three organizations and has also been the Mayor of Stow. He believes in "Service Above Self:.
He introduced the morning speaker, Andrea Schepis who for 36 years taught art in the Stow-Munroe Falls Schools. Howeever, she grew up as the daughter of two artists schooled by the Cleveland Institute of Art. She is thankful to her parents for her love of art and art history.
Andrea shared information about her journey in art and particularly talked about a couple of experiences that broadened her thoughts of artistic possibilities. Twice she was a participant in "Earth Expeditions" through Miami of Ohio. For each experience she spent 12 days in another country. The first was in Balize where she saw the world through marine biology as she snorkeled through live and dead coral, and also soaked in what the Balize zoo had to offer. After that she did "paintings of extinction" on floppy discs that had been donated to her, and she repurposed them.
Her second experience was in the Peruvian Amazon with no refrigeration and no electricity. Participants were taught to take home any trash so as to take it out of the Amazon. They took night hikes in the jungle and caught and banded birds and then let them go. All of this was based on studying how to relate to nature through art. Since that trip, she is composting, using as little plastic as possible and has been painting at-risk pollinators. She re-purposes things like guitar strings, bread tabs and even silica jar beads into artwork so that nothing goes to waste.
Recently, she has been a part of the non-profit, Akron Soul Train's Artist in Residency Program where 12-14 people are chosen every year to receive $1000 to develop their art form for a full year. They are located at 191 S. Main St. in Akron across from Lock 3. A gallery of the various art forms changes regularly and they also offer a gift shop.
President Annette closed the meeting by leading us in the Four-Way-Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday and Saturday April 26 and 27, District Conference at Sheraton Suites
Monday, April 29, 6:00 Golf Committee Meeting at the FOP Lodge
Wednesday, May 1, 7:30, morning meeting at Bellacinos with Dr. Andrew Shoffstall of CWRU speaking about Biomedical Engineering and Research
Wednesday, May 8, Bulldog Bag items due
Friday, May 10, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Friday, May 10, 4:00 Heroes Day Preparation at the FOP Lodge
Saturday May 11, 8:00 a.m. pick up Heroes Day items to deliver
Tuesday, May 14 6:00 Interact Senior Banquet
Saturday Morning May 25, Planting for Adopt-A-Spot
Wednesday, May 29 No Morning meeting but Rubber Ducks game in the evening
Thursday, May 30, Pack bags for NAMI, Cluster Project
Friday, June 14, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Saturday, August 17, Back to School Bash
Wednesday, October 9, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction at Guys Party Center in the evening. No morning meeting
Submitted by Andy Denton