Steve Dunton, former Co-President, opened the meeting by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mike Dunton, Program Host, led in a meaningful invocation about connections in our lives.
INDUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS:
Steve led in the induction ceremony, bringing Jeff Frye and Chris Shulby into our club officially. Jeff was sponsored by John Pribonic, who stressed the importance of being out in the community and wearing our Rotary, shirts when we are working. Chris, who has extensive background related to Rotary, saw John weeding in a Rotary shirt and stopped to find out about the club, Chris told us that his Dad was Club President in North Carolina, and that he started a Rotaract Club at The Ohio State University and later became a part of the Columbus Rotary. Jeff, sponsored by Dick Hall is a returning member of the club. He told us that he and his wife are lifelong residents of Stow and that they have 5 ½ grandchildren at this point. Many years ago, they hosted a Rotary Exchange student from Belgium and they have very involved in each other's live ever since, traveling back and forth many times. Wecome! We are glad to have you as part of our club.
PROGRAM:
Mike Dunton, Program Chair, introduced himself as the speaker by saying that he and his brother Steve are third generation public servants, Mike as a firefighter and Steve as a police officer. Mike has been named Chair of the Disaster Response Team for District 6630 and shared with us what this new program will look like as it is fully developed.
Part One, creating the service is where we are now. The plan is to create teams of local members so that when a disaster strikes we can work with the Red Cross to help. At this point, we would be available to do things like distributing food and water and making phone calls to family and other people, depending on the level of help that is needed. We would not do things like building searches, become involved in debris removal, or use power tools.
Part Two of the plan would be to establish each local response team from as many clubs in the district as possible. The example Mike used was in the case of an extended power outage ( 24 hours or more) senior citizens, who have agreed to participate, would be contacted to see if they need something such as electricity for oxygen, or phone charging or help getting to another location where there is power. Since people will be pre-registered to participate in the service, group members will have information about their potential needs available on an I-Pad. The Rotarians would be identifiable by vests they would wear. The team members would call 911 if they felt it was necessary but could do other things that would leave the first responders available to give their necessary level of care. Finding an individual in serious distress, would mean that we would recognize that it is not the team member's job to care for the person but rather to know to call 911 or in some other way to get the help that is needed.
Teams would contact individuals to participate in the program through fire departments, Meals on Wheels, Council on Aging, Adult Protective Services, Clergy and places like the Stow Senior Center. It will be important before the program begins that we recognize the boundaries legally and with insurance to make sure things are carried out securely.
CELEBRATIONS:
Wedding Anniversaries: Doug and Andy Denton are celebrating 62 years of marriage this week while Dawn and Jared Miller are celebrating 23 years.
Drawing: Steve's table had the winning ticket but the queen of clubs was drawn, so the pot will continue to grow.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction: Gail Moseley has the Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction Tickets. Cost is $150 for a ticket that includes two dinners and two drink tickets. If an extra dinner is needed on a ticket, the cost is $40.00, There is also a virtual option available for $100 that includes no dinner. The event will be Wednesday, October 8. There will be no morning meeting that day. People who reserve and pay for tickets by September 1 will go into a drawing for two tickets to “The Book of Mormon” which will be presented at E.J. Thomas Hall on October 1.
Other items needed are Silent Auction baskets, gift cards in $15.00 amounts, wine for the wine pull and help the night of the event. Sign up as you sign in next week.
Adopt-A-Spot: Marty Tass said that the spot is looking good and he thanked De-De Mulligan and Mary Parr for weeding last week. Linda Trevorrow will weed this week.
Foodbank: Steve Dunton explained that tonight is Foodbank time from 4:30 to 6:30. If you would like to come but have not registered on the Foodbank's site, go to Akron Canton Foodbank, register as a volunteer so that when you get there, you just need to put in your phone number to get credit for your volunteer time.
Summer Sunset Blast: Steve reminded us to sign up to help sell 50/50 raffle tickets at the event which will be at Silver Springs Park on August 30 and 31 this year. Help is needed from 5:00-10:00 each day. Sign up as you sign in. John Pribonic also told us to be on the lookout for Stuff the Truck at Summer Sunset Blast which will collect items for Stow's Helping Hands Program.
Stuff the Bus: Dinah thanked everyone who participated in the event last weekend, and Carrie Malotte, in particular for all of her work in the background to make everything run smoothly, Supplies and snacks filled two school busses and cash donations totaled more than $2000. That will be a tremendous help to both teachers and students during the next year. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, boxes of snacks were delivered to every school in Stow. Amazingly the two busses were emptied in 15 minutes. This was a true example of many hands making significant work much easier. And Eric Green's donated donuts helped too!
Board Meeting: The minutes of last week's board meeting are attached to these minutes.
Dues: If anyone wants to pay dues during the next couple of weeks, please give your money to Andy Denton or mail it to P.O. Box 1352, Stow, OH 44224.
Football Books: Dick Hall thanked everyone for their cooperation in getting the football books sold, and for getting the money and the stubs turned back in. If you still need to turn things in please do it before the first game which is August 30.
Bulldog Bags: By September 13, the following items are needed from us: fruit cups, microwave pasta cups, toothpaste and tooth brushes, 24 or 32oz. jars of pasta sauce, 1# boxes of pasta and 18oz jars of grape or strawberry jelly. No nuts of any kind, please. Items can be brought to a meeting or dropped off in the lobby of City Hall.
Steve closed the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Today: 4:30-6:30 Volunteer time at Akron-Canton Foodbank
Friday, August 15, 6:30 District Event: Guardians Game for Polio Plus at Progressive Field. Go to www.rotarydistrict6630.org for more information.
Wednesday, August 20, 7:30, Regular morning meeting at The Center when James Armstrong of the Summit DD Board will be our speaker.
Saturday, August 30 and Sunday August 31, 5:00-10:00 Summer Sunset Blast at Silver Springs Park
Wednesday, September 10, Next Foodbank Time
Friday, September 12, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall.
Wednesday October 8 in the evening, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction at The Center